Why does this always have to happen?

[scissors]

i remember going to see roni size circa the 2nd album which 'boasted' a live drummer with the reprazent crew twiddling away on computers/gear alongside. as an interlude they digital-djed a string of their biggest tracks together. this ended up being the highlight of the show... the conceit of liveliveliveness i think was novel and exciting for a minute (wow a guy is really up there jamming out brown paper bag) but, yeah, fluidity and nuance and whatever sort of visceral nimble virtuousity (+ continuity) going on felt ultimately at odds with the *rupture*, rhythmic danger, or whatever you want to call it.

i guess the implicit fear in the thread title is that 'rounding up the live drummers as bid for authenticity/whatever' will always correlate to eradicating the (exciting!) presence of technology in the rhythms. but dizzee hasn't had a jazz thing kind of moment has he? he at least seems more irreverent, more open to recording drums tracks only to fuck about with them after the fact. then again maybe there isn't a massive US hip hop cash scene equivalent to keep breadsides buttered (heh "Mother Grime"?).

 

[shakahislop]

I'm really happy when artists don't make enduring careers but rather burn up bright and disappear as fast as they came out of nowhere. the reason is that, while maybe not doing the same thing all their life, artists nevertheless mostly produce but variants of an idiosyncratic style that listeners understand quickly -- all the more so when an artist, because successful, spawns copy-cats -- and grow tired of rather soon. the though of, say, dizzee doing a U2 and clogging my cochleas for the next 20 years fills me with infinite dread, as much as i appreciated his initial efforts

prescient