Reading this excellent interview the other day got me thinking, which I like to do from time to time. It's author describes it as "real talk", but any interview is only as good as its subject allows it to be. Compare it with this, and it's black and white (pun completely intended). Clearly a good interviewee is passionate about his craft and thinks about it on a deeper level and, whether the listener/audience/fan/casual bystander agrees or not, it's not just about turning up and churning it out. Living the life is intrinsically linked to the self-respect and knowledge which is actively nurtured and picked up during its evolution.
Which got me thinking regarding the esteem that house, techno dubstep, etc and various other bastard forms are held in. Also the art of "keeping it real". How do you do that? Is it necessary to live it 24/7 or just turn up for gigs, spend occasional hours in the studio, write and read up regularly? Must you be able to cross pollinate at the drop of a hat. Go to the cinema and passively connect what you are watching with the life you are living? How "into it" can you be? How "house" is Lionel Messi and how "techno" Brian Cox? And are these characters as "real" and as passionate as they would like to appear to be?
DJing vinyl only is currently the last word, and we've been here before. However, it's been hijacked by the bores and reactionaries, (and I do not include Theo Parrish in their number). Nothing wrong with passion for your art, but lots wrong with taking cheap, sideways shots without the chops to back yourself up. The irony is that so much importance is placed on what is, like it or not, a conservative form, (certainly not a risk-averse one though) and, on the other hand, technology has taken over and the music has become of secondary importance for some. In between, those who keep everything going have been forgotten.
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