Electronic and Experimental Music: Pioneers in ... - Aaaaarg

INSIDE ELECTRONIC MUSIC 251
musique concrète—the Etudes de bruits—using turntable technology to collect,
play back, and record the final version of the piece.
Turntablism is the use of the turntable as a musical instrument. A vital and
broadening DJ performance culture has emerged during the past thirty years.
Since about 1977, when Grand Wizard Theodore invented the “scratch”
technique, turntablism has been at the center of several musical idioms, most
notably hip hop, techno, electronica, and other kinds of house or dance music.
Each style has its own use of the turntable. What they have in common is an
affinity for active sound mixing as a performance element and the application of
electronic effects and synthesizer modules to broaden the sound spectrum of the
turntable.
A repertoire of DJ skills has evolved. Scratching is the manual reversal of the
spin of a record to run the needle backwards over the sound in a quick, rhythmic
swipe. The manipulation of beats is another intrinsic characteristic of turntablism.
A spinning record is itself a loop, especially when the needle is made to hug a
groove rather than move ahead with the natural spiral of the track. Beat juggling
uses either two identical turntable recordings or one disc and a digital sampler to
repeat the same sounds as a “breakbeat.” Digital looping and delay are also
common to beat manipulation. These techniques are for the turntablist what
finger exercises are for the piano player.
Like any performance medium, turntablism has its radicals, its
experimentalists, who push the form in unexpected directions. The omnipresence
of turntable music in today’s culture has been likened to an earlier generation that
grew up emulating rock-and-roll artists. “The electric guitar is an instrument
that’s fifty years old,” remarked turntablist Christian Marclay (b.1955). “It’s
already become a nostalgic instrument for baby boomers. Today’s new guitar is
the turntable.” 58 These experimental artists use the same equipment as their more
popular DJ counterparts, but with a different musical object in mind. They are no
different than composers who write experimental works for other instruments
and remain vastly outnumbered by those who write conventionally for the widest
commercial appeal. They view their instrument as a resource for new musical
possibilities.
Marclay is a key figure in the revival of experimental turntablism. He began in
1979 when hip-hop turntablism was emerging. Nicolas Collins calls him the “inbetween
man” in the development of this style. Marclay approached the music
from the perspective of an art school student. He sometimes shared the stage
with hip-hop artists, but also organized installations and events that were more
common to the gallery scene. After ten years or so devoted to turntable music, he
returned to art again. Now he is back and in great demand as a music improviser.
Collins thinks that maybe “he’s been forgotten by a generation. A lot of DJs
came up and started doing the same stuff. He came back in and people noticed
him.” 59
Marclay’s approach to his instrument is much like Cage’s towards the piano.
He does not use the trendiest turntable technology, preferring to lug around