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Looper's Delight
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I can think of one very significant thing that the 90's and perhaps this decade has produced in world musical culture: The rise of the DJ as Rock Star or Cultural Icon. It used to be that someone would play music between DJs and nowadays I see more and more shows where you see bands opening for prominent DJs. In the Goth/Industrial Scene that I frequent , recreationally, the DJ has surplanted the live musician as the dominant force. Nowadays if you want to play live in these scenes you practically have to beg the DJs , who now completely control the scenes to let you play and feel grateful if they will let you play (and for now money). We don't need to go to the 'are DJs musicians' argument that we've had multiple times on this list' There are obviously DJs who are wonderful musicians and go on to careers as composers and producers. I just think that it's telling that the vast majority of DJs that I encounter are not being particularly creative (with the exception of choice of sound and beatmatching for regularities sake) and that this has completely dominated a lot of music on the planet. It's also kind of amazing to me that the birth of the world wide web/internet and the proliferation of inexpensive methods to produce high quality music and there existence for the last 13 years seems to have not produced very much notable or long lasting music. I know that wonderful music has been created (and I think of our community as being really stellar in the production of that music) but it's interesting that none of it seems to be having very much impact on the culture at large. Everywhere I go, I hear oldies music playing...............every single bar I frequent, every single restaurant. In my life, I"ve never heard so much 'nostalgia' dominating our culture. Of course the democratization of media means that the paradigms will shift...............think the entire recent thread on how to release a digital release in this day and age. Ironically, I feel connected to people all over the earth who are really creative and active in their own artistry and the communalism of our own scene but at the same time, I'm seeing less and less kids taking music lessons. All of this could be the rant of a bitter old professional musician who's lifestyle is ending after 30 years of hard work, but I don't feel bitter for some reason. It's the most exciting time to ever be a musician on some fronts............certainly in terms of the kind of information that we have................................look at this list...............I haven't had to go out and buy every distortion box on the planet: I"ve just had to ask questions and then benefit from the collective wisdom of this list to make my own choices with limited budget to spend. I'm just musing, 'tis all!!!!! Looking forward to this year, creatively. I think we are going to do amazing stuff.................who knows? Maybe we'll define the decade when history looks back on us. We certainly have all the tools we need to do so. Now we have to produce.