Christian Marclay

The original DJ-Techtool-er. Discuss.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4yqM3dAqTzs

Kinda fetish to me. The record splicing was pretty funny though.

Alright, I've been reading DTT for a bit now and I made an account just to extol the virtues of Christian Marclay. He is more than simple "fetish" or "kitsch." Christian is one the first people to ever use a turntable as an instrument, excluding the occasional use by Dadaists/Fluxus-ists(?)//Surrealists/Futurists/etc dating back to John Cage in the 30's. His work then, and still, challenges what is typically thought of as a viable use for the turntable. He is a personal hero of mine and is the main reason I developed an interest in "DJing" (although not in the traditional sense and I do tend to borrow a little heavily from his cut-up technique at times.)

Marclay, along with Otomo Yoshihide, Philip Jeck, etc., completely revolutionized the modern use of the TT.

Edit: Sorry that my first post sounded kind of dickish, it wasn't my intention.

What an interesting person. Honestly.

I couldn't live that life, but I appreciate his dedication.

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Originally Posted by WEEDNIRVANA

Alright, I've been reading DTT for a bit now and I made an account just to extol the virtues of Christian Marclay. He is more than simple "fetish" or "kitsch." Christian is one the first people to ever use a turntable as an instrument, excluding the occasional use by Dadaists/Fluxus-ists(?)//Surrealists/Futurists/etc dating back to John Cage in the 30's. His work then, and still, challenges what is typically thought of as a viable use for the turntable.

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^^^This! That's pretty much why I posted this... he was way ahead of his time with this stuff and even though it's not EDM, I think more tinkerers should know about the kinds of things he was doing. And yah there were some folks doing things like this earlier (add John Hindemith to your list) but Marclay took it to another level. Cheers!

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Originally Posted by djproben

^^^This! That's pretty much why I posted this... he was way ahead of his time with this stuff and even though it's not EDM, I think more tinkerers should know about the kinds of things he was doing. And yah there were some folks doing things like this earlier (add John Hindemith to your list) but Marclay took it to another level. Cheers!

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I've never heard of John Hindemith before, I'll have to check him out when I get home from work.

Interesting stuff. But it's art - not music. Saying that he used the turntable as an instrument before hip-hop is debatable. He used a turntable/records as something to make noise with...

Still pretty interesting stuff. I hope Q-Bert gets a look at this (if he hasn't already).

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Originally Posted by Patch

Interesting stuff. But it's art - not music. Saying that he used the turntable as an instrument before hip-hop is debatable. He used a turntable/records as something to make noise with...

Still pretty interesting stuff. I hope Q-Bert gets a look at this (if he hasn't already).

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It may not be dance music, but that doesn't mean that it isn't still music. Dictionary.com defines music as "an art of sound in time that expresses ideas and emotions in significant forms through the elements of rhythm, melody, harmony, and color." Wikipedia states that it is "an art form whose medium is sound and silence."

Marclay's work (and that of other experimental turntablists/avant-garde composers/noise musicians/etc.) meets all of these criteria. All music is sonic art, why can't all sonic art be music? Music is what you make it, be it listener or composer.

The argument concerning what is or is not music is as old as time itself, and I could sit here and argue the musical merits of this type of work for hours, but I will save you from my ramblings.