Turntablism - a legitimate art form

I’ve been mulling this over for a while now. Whenever I get asked what I play, I tend to say “Turntables”, as this is where most of my music making goes on, whereas it used to be the guitar. This answer is generally followed by “Oh right, do you not play guitar or anything like that?”, implying that while I may call myself a musician, I don’t really play an instrument.

I can never be bothered arguing my case, so I generally say “I play a bit of guitar and stuff” and leave it that. I do consider a set of decks to be legimitate musical instrument, and turntablism to be an artform in itself. The first known use of turntables in the actual music making process (as opposed to the sound reproduction process) was in the 1940s by ‘musique concrete’ composers such as John Cage. Admittedly, the sounds and techniques used were extremely different to hip hop orientated turntablism, which developed independently. It was still an early indication that turntables could be utilised in such a manner.

Before I move on to the birth of hip hop turntablism, I must salute one man: Jimmy Saville. Without him, modern life would not be the same. As a young DJ, he noticed that the crowd would stop dancing when he had to change the record over (old school in those days, one deck, no mixer). So, he brought along another soundsystem and turntable, and there were (almost) no gaps in the mix. There was no mixer, and cueing the records properly was virtually impossible, but it was the start of something.

We all know the story of hip hop and how it started, so I won’t bother repeating it all. DJ Kool Herc, often ignored in some hip hop histories, was the one that started turntablism. Extending breakbeats by switching between two copies of the same record, so the crowd would keep dancing. This then moved into beatjuggling, manipulating the records and the mixer in such a way, that a whole new beat was created live. This remains an important element of turntablism today.

Scratching, one of the most recognisable elements in a turntablist’s set, was discovered almost entirely by accident. Grandmaster DXT was listening to a record in his room, when his mum shouted at him to turn it off, he put his hand on the record and noticed that all too familiar “chi-ki”. By experimenting with different velocities and direction, it was possible to alter the pitch and sound, manually composing a new melody or rhythm part. (For more of DXT’s scratching, be sure to check out Rockit by Herbie Hancock)

The first wave of hip hop prompted more kids to start looking through their parents’ record collection for breaks, and a new generation of turntablists such as DJ Shadow, DJ Q-Bert, The X-Men (now the X-ecutioners). These artists and more have produced some of the most exciting, vibrant music in the past decade.

Turntablism is abstract, turntablism is collage. It is taking sound sources and removing them from their original context to make a entirely new idea. It is recycling the old and new, it is taking the best bits out of songs and putting them all together. The best thing is, there's always going to be new songs for us to cut up.

[Jaemi]

Good article.
Aye I agree with you. And after seeing A-Trak perform last night, I agree with you even more.

[MarkMono]

Aye, agreed with every fucking word the first time I saw it, then wrote a scathing as fuck reply tonight about exactly how editors decide which posts are well-written and interesting enough to become articles, lost it, got utterly lost in my brand spanking new copy of Fruity Loops then decided that Dec didn't deserve to become embroiled in such a retarded debate and decided to leave it at that and get back to ma beats.

[the curiousity]

totally true, especially your idea that turntablism is collage, because, well, its like snapshots of a bigger work, tacked together. like finding the best bits of something and accentuating those by focussing in on them.

[Lowtone]

Good stuff!

[¡Punk!]

Jimmy Saville. That's shit hot.

[spoonie]

probably a good time to let people know that mr thing is playing at the QMU on march 11th as the first of a new night called monkeybars. £5 in advance, £6 on the door.

spoons
/x

[Stew]

Nice article.

[Bunnylingus]

*nods*

If only because I really enjoyed what you were doing tonight/whenever youve been djing and Ive been in.

[Dec]

Originally Posted by bunnylingus

*nods*

If only because I really enjoyed what you were doing tonight/whenever youve been djing and Ive been in.

Cheers, what I do when I'm in the Catty isn't strictly turntablism, it's more straight up DJing. I bring in elements of turntablism - beat juggling, sample manipulation - but it's mostly me just seeing how much I can get away with.

Word to the wise, The special edition of "Endtroducing..." is fucking astounding, and if you're not into much turntable stuff, it's a great place to start. In fact, here's some more reccomendations.

PhonopsychographDISK - Ancient Termites (album)

This is a landmark album in the development of turntable music, released by DJ Disk of Invisibl Skratch Piklz (Currently Herbie Hancock's tour DJ). A mish mash of all musical styles, with the most intricate scratching you'll hear. Featuring collaborations from Brain (Primus' drummer) and Buckethead (That guy with the KFC bucket on his head), this goes beyond hip hop, a musical evolution on wax that is a must have. (Missing Records on Oswald Street always seem to have a few copies kicking about)

Grandmaster Flash - The Adventures of Grandmaster Flash on the Wheels of Steel (single)

It all started here I guess. For some reason, I omitted Flash from my original write up, I'm fairly certain I'll be going to hell for that one. Anyway, this is 12 minute long turntable set from Grandmaster Flash, taking in all the popular breaks of the day. Flash's style and crate digging still serves as an inspiration for new generations of turntablists. HMV have this on vinyl for £4, with "The Message" on the flipside (that's £2 each for 2 classic tunes). If you don't have a record player, it's available on a multitude of "OLD SKOOL RAP" compilations that you can pick up for a few quid Or you can download it, but don't do that

I was about to post more but my boss is looking at me like I should be doing some work, I'll add to the list when I get home.

[StuntGirl]

Excellent article. I stopped calling myself a musician after i gave up the guitar and piano, but in some ways manipulating vinyl is so much harder. i thinks its time to rebrand myself.

[Neil.]

Turntabalism is a really awkward word. It has too be said.

I get much more of a challenge out of mixing than I ever did out of playing bass. I agree with your sentiment dec.