ripley said:this is interesting.. I hadn't thought of it like that.
I think by dj in this context you mean the dj who also produces?
do you think djs who don't produce but only play records released by other people contribute anything to the scene (besides being publicity for the artists they play)?
What about the idea that some new ideas come from combining records bought in shops with other records bought in shops, in front of an audience? do ideas only come from the studio? Some of my best musical ideas come from the dancefloor.
What you're describing seems to me to treat the dj performance a passive/receptive experience for an audience.. and kind of a one-way, display experience for a dj.
what do you think?
I think that can happen in techno where DJs have often had the freedom and scope to make complex mixes from lots of different bits of source material. But traditionally in the London/sound system context (hardcore, jungle, 2-step, dubstep/grime) mixes have been short, even in drum and bass. The emphasis is on the drop, pushing the sound system, rewinds etc.
Also part and parcel of these small emerging, pressure cooker scenes (whereas I think techno was internationalised almost immediately with travelling DJs etc) there is a culture of constant forward movement in terms of production ideas...this is obvious, look how quickly we moved along the continium from house to hardcore to jungle then branching back to slower tempos with garage and on to dubstep and grime, all in the space of 15 years. Its a relentlessly progressive, actually pretty modernist culture in a way and that is central to understanding dubplate culture. And in some ways an elite culture but ironically democratic too.
I for one was never bothered about dubplate culture...it makes going out a much more exhilirating.
Interestingly you could argue that for some reason Sunday garage/2-step was devoid of a dubplate culture...
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