Vinyl Fetish 1.1
Clearly it’s not just me. :)
Over the past few weeks I’ve attended a few gigs where the DJs/Artists were using CDJs or laptops, or a combination of the two. The most surprising was the small army of DJs that were performing with (and supporting) Snoop.
I wasn’t the only one it seemed. I overheard a few people in the crowd express some disbelief when the DJs pulled out their CD wallets. While the hip-hop crew is opening up their arms to the digital thing, the crowd still needed some convincing. I actually thought their use of this gear was fairly ho-hum. I’m sure they’ve got mad turntable skills but they could definitely learn a thing or two from Phil K or James Zabiela.
During the Easter break I had the chance to see Blockhead. Other people have given mixed reviews of his performance but I thought it was brilliant. Some were put off by the laptop thing, but a lot of his set seemed very improvised; kind of like he was jamming in his living room. It sounded wicked. Armed with Ableton Live he was dropping in all sorts of loops and really feeding-off and reacting to the crowds response (and quickly). I left the venue feeling completely inspired by what I saw. The thought of having (effectively) dozens of sound sources right in front of you instead of just 2 turntables is really compelling right now.
G’s gig was great. This time around he’s only touring with a CD wallet and some headphones.
My laptop arrives next week. :)