Validation Part Two

So I finally got around to watching the September 2012 instalment of "Slices". Looking at the interviews the ones featuring Shed and Steffi caught my eye first, followed by that of Dave Aju, a producer who I have a lot of time for and who I feel is doing as much as he can to gently jog the foundations of house while remaining within its confines. Well, both Aju and Shed have some very interesting things to say regarding the time, perception and validity which frames the art that they produce, and Shed overlaps nicely with Steffi when making points about being part of a "scene". Aju's example, of Funkadelic playing Duke Ellington, is particularly relevant, while Shed, although a touch reticent, doesn't come across as uncooperative at all. Aju is the most engaging, while Steffi and Shed aren't as natural in the camera's presence. In any case, after drawing attention to Shed's rather taciturn interview with Resident Advisor in the first of these themed posts, he comes across much better on film. "Well done, my son", as he would no doubt say himself.

I'm going the whole hog as far as a lot of this "outsider" house stuff is concerned. L.I.E.S., The Trilogy Tapes, Pan, Hinge Finger, to name but a few . . . all embracing the left field but still having the funk . . . the trick is though, how to play this stuff side by side with releases on Hot Creations, Ellum Audio and Visionquest. I'm serious as well . . . why not? Anyway, I think that the music is now at a crossroads of sorts, such as only comes up every decade. The recycling of house and techno has now reached such an intense phase that there is nowhere left to go except back amidst the archetypes and disguise them with sonic posturing. But it's all good, and we've never, in my opinion, been at such an interesting juncture.

And, coincidentally, RA have just uploaded a podcast from Ron Morelli, the blurb of which reveals a healthy disregard for the trappings of modern DJing technology. I haven't listened to it yet, and no doubt there's a healthy amount of tongue-in-cheek being applied, but it's quite refreshing to read, particularly when one is used to reading about god knows how many aspiring unknowns who seem to shell out willy-nilly on technology to do their donkey work for them. Who are these characters that we never hear about except on forums, comparing their latest software and having an intuitive grasp of it, but not of the music? I find that side of things a little depressing, and I'm no vinyl-only luddite . . . far from it, but I am a firm believer in crawling before walking.