Randomness

 

Such is life. I’ve been meaning to write some more spontaneous gibberish for a while, and when I finally get my finger out I’m cut down by Covid. This means that all physical activity feels laboured and is to be avoided. It also gives one the familiar, but nevertheless daunting feeling, that all energy has gone, never to return. I go running a lot, but over the last 6 months have cut down hugely because of a muscle injury. And I was about to try and resume what I felt would be a normal routine when this happens. Of course the tendrils of forced inactivity stretch themselves into other areas of the psyche. Such as listening to and playing music. This is one of he biggest reasons why I keep this blog going. Apart from nurturing the token creative process, it’s stability and routine is very important to me. Also, when all else fails it takes very little physical effort to post something. It’s random, but regular, which makes perfect sense to me. As much sense as never aligning with anyone or thing in plain site. It would be nice if we all has the same, positive definition of what is good, but we don’t. It’s not a perfect world and the sooner that is understood then it makes it easier to negotiate. “Yada, yada, yada”. I also believe that we have reached a nadir of sorts with music. Not creation or permutation though. ““Every writer has only one story to tell, and he has to find a way of telling it until the meaning becomes clearer and clearer, until the story becomes at once more narrow and larger, more and more precise, more and more reverberating.” I guess that this is why I believe that playing other people’s music is the most underrated art form. At the risk of repeating past posts, the idea of being in a band and having to nail down the same songs ad infinitum by constantly practicing and rehearsing them feels just as routine the most boring job. The end result is something else of course, as is the reaction to it and the pleasure gained by playing it in whatever context suits it best. With DJing no two sets are ever the same, (unless they’re prerecorded), and the creativity is the culmination of knowledge gained in the most pleasurable of ways. At the moment I feel like shit, and even though I want to listen to music, I can’t be arsed. It seems like the ultimate paradox. There’s no effort involved is there? I suppose that’s if listening to music is always to be regarded as a passive process, which it is sometimes. However, most of the time I listen to it tends to be active. Does this take the enjoyment out of it? Is there a tendency to think too hard about something and over-itellectualise it? Well, that’s one thing I try to avoid doing. Was it always better BITD, or just different? How difficult can it really be to mix two records into each other? Is beatmatching a cultural foundation stone? I can understand sometimes people saying that there isn’t any skill in DJing. And it can sometimes be difficult to argue the opposite. There is though. Lots. The knowledge gained from listening to music with the minimum of critical thinking required to separate a normal human being from a protozoa is rich and never ending. Some are better than others at doing this, and then deploying that know how into playing records. Technical skill, while welcome can very easily fall into the flashy category and lose its appeal once one realises that one just want to listen and dance to something. Sound is everything, as is selection. Mixing is also extremely important, and I don’t consider it to be a “technical skill”. Doing it should be as natural as breathing. I have great admiration for anyone who can embellish a set with the appropriate pyrotechnics, but it’s not a prerequisite. Mastery of contemporary hardware is a great thing, but not essential. Of course it all depends on what you want. I would say that if tricks, effects and technique are to be a feature of a set, then they should be not only noticeable, but also have a human quality as well. In other words, if someone is controlling the situation, it would be good that whatever they choose to embroider it comes infused with their personality. It’s easier for this to be noticed when mixing with vinyl and on CDJs/XDJs I guess. Maybe Traktor and Serato to a lesser extent, and much less with Ableton. Is this still a thing? I think that while the technology is here to stay and will only get better, it has stalled for the moment and boredom has set in. Vinyl won’t make a comeback, like it ever went away. It will be pressed in ever decreasing amounts though until it’s only available on Bandcamp, or similar platforms, in the form of limited collectors editions. Something which is more or less the case now. The second hand market, and that of the Discogs sharks, will continue to thrive for the time being, until, ecologically, everyone agrees that it all has to leave the building.