Strictly 4 My Underground Homo Deep House Thugs: DJ Sprinkles - Midtown 120 Blues

Pete Chambers from mnml ssgs got me onto this: Terre Thaemlitz as his politically charged deep house alter ego DJ Sprinkles makes an album of absolutely gorgeous, lustrous deep house, strewn with embittered soundbytes railing against the disenfranchisement of gay/transgender/black/hispanic house fans by capitalism, in particular Madonna, who gets targeted for particular ire owing to "Vogue". People might be familiar with earlier (and also fab) release "Sloppy 42nds".

Thematically it's like a queer-Pipecock, but musically it's totally undeniable - like Moodymann meets Playhouse meets really lush stuff like early Deep Dish or Dubtribe Sound System at their best. Lots of tinkling pianos, ear-tickling rhythms, and melodies that swell up irresistibly like a good pill. In particular "Sisters, I Don't Know What This World Is Coming To" is like peaking into the mind of God.

Tip!

Where do I hear some of this stuff?

This is the best I could find: some instrumental samples from the first two singles. The album isn't out until January, and it's on a Japanese label. (Terre Thaemlitz lives in Japan.) Might be tricky to track down, which is a shame as I like what I'm hearing.

http://www.wordandsound.de/article/56525
http://www.mbeat.de/catalog/Dj-Sprinkles-Aka-Terre-Thaemlitz-Grand-Central-Part-1-p-40847.html

Wondering if I can vote for this this year or if I should wait until next year. It's def. top ten material after only one listen.

thread title of the year

The other record this reminds me of: the first Maurice Fulton. Alla that plush shit.

Put onto this by Tim F, and he's right, it's an incredible record, absolutely lush. Also worth hearing the Sprinkles remix of Ultra-Red, which you can get to from here:

http://www.comatonse.com/soundfiles/#hush

Re: the Madonna "Vogue" thing, Thaemlitz has been on that for at least a decade, something I was reminded of while re-reading his liner notes to Love For Sale - Taking Stock In Our Pride (on which he also re-versioned earlier Sprinkles track "Sloppy 42nds"):

'...A condition which entered a downward spiral during the early '90s with Madonna's "Vogue", in which most of the Queer community had no problem with her representing a dance form deeply rooted in African-American and Latino Transgendered communities with the phrase, "it doesn't matter if you're Black of White, if you're a boy or a girl."'

I've said it before.. Thaemlitz is gifted. One of the few artists where the whole discography is essential. Glad to see Mule is getting his work wider appeal, the earlier Mille Plateaux and his own Comatonse output is wonderful too.

this is dope thnx tim!!

LWE has a review of this up now: http://www.littlewhiteearbuds.com/dj-sprinkles-midtown-120-blues/

Very, very good. Reminds me of both Silentintroduction and Pansoul. Check it out...

awful gay, political deep house music.

seriously though, pretty good in places. House Music Is Controllable Desire You Can Own is a jam.

this is dope thnx tim!!

― deej, Saturday, November 29, 2008 6:41 PM (2 weeks ago) Bookmark

also good: that song hush now which is on some compilation

It's available for free on Terre Thaemlitz's home page.

http://www.ultrared.org/publicrecord/archive/2-04/2-04-001/2-04-001-01.mp3

What I like is the way it loops 'hush now' at first and then 'silence = death' towards the end playing one off against the other. Again, as with the DJ Sprinkles record, the concept explained sounds laboured and like it's going to be dreadful listening, despite the worthiness of the concept, but the execution is so flawless that it works. I guess it reminds me of Matmos in this. The concepts always had the potential to make for dull music but they were never second to the sound.

thakig u tim

can't wait to hear this. i picked up the you again? comp earlier this year and it is ace (i don't know about "peaking into the mind of god" ace, but v good nonetheless)

also, search "class" (loco dice remix) by social material (another TT alias)

this sounds good

I should probably listen to this.

Also, RE: Madonna's "Vogue" - that song has always bothered me, particularly the bridge when she starts rattling off all of these icons of beauty and they're all white. I mean, "Rita Hayworth gave good face"? Really? :| Anyway, I read a piece on this by Essex Hemphill that was great, let me see if I can find.

Rita Hayworth was half Spanish.

HOOS is mexican btw

the criticism is not that all the people mentioned in vogue are white, it's more about the lyrics "It makes no difference if you're black or white
If you're a boy or a girl".

what thaemlitz is clearly having a go at is the appropriation of a gay/black/latino artform by madonna. To then tell these people that these things which they identify themselves with don't matter could be seen as a bit of a kick in the teeth.

great album though, i dismissed his ouput and a lot of force/mille stuff cos i was a grumpy litlle techno/idm fella, really up for revisiting

Rita Hayworth was half Spanish.

― Kevin John Bozelka, Thursday, 18 December 2008 21:03 (28 minutes ago)

Errr... what is your point.

Anyway, here is the Hemphill criticism I was talking about, I had to type it up since I couldn't find it online but it's from a piece entitled "To Be Real":

...But from Madonna, the legendary "material girl," the raider, the plunderer, you will never hear acknowledgment of the fact that voguing grew out of Black and Puerto Rican gay ball communities.
Her "Vogue" song, a commercial hit, was an insult to these communities because the litany of names she calls in the song as representative of the style and attitude deliberately excludes Blacks and Puerto Ricans. Obviously Madonna must believe that Blacks and Puerto Ricans have contributed nothing to the theater of style and attitude originating in this country, since names like Josephine Baker, Dorothy Dandridge, and Celia Cruz are conspicuously absent from her list of the beautiful ones.
Black gay British filmmaker Isaac Julien raised an important issue regarding Black art and culture... he said, "I'm more interested in questions concerning the commodification of Black art and culture. I think questions such as commodification provide a more realistic analysis and critique of Black art as we approach the end of the twentieth century." Not only are questions of commodification more critical then we may yet realize, but urgent questions about American and Western cultural appropriations of those it despises, marginalizes, and disempowers also emerge from the interrogation Julien suggests.

Also, bell hooks has some interesting criticisms RE: racial politics & Madonna. I think it's a pretty interesting topic of discussion, even though it doesn't stop me from enjoying her music.

not bad

This fucking album. I'm 3 minutes in and just, yeah. . .

It's good to know that Ball'r, first heard last year, is probably going to be still at least top 5 of 09 at the end of the year.

So completely rules my best of 2009 already after half a day of constant listening !

so yeah this is really beautiful

this grew on me in a big way. grand central part one! it's extremely referential, which is usually annoying, but it just works.

Huh? @ gays being offended by "Vogue," which is like the gayest song Madonna's ever done (the whole "Stroke a pose" thing). I'd think they'd be more pissed at, say, "La Isla Bonita" ("...where a GIRL loves a BOY and a BOY loves a GIRL.")

not getting it

ignore the tracks with the spoken word and just check out the endless hall/house of mirrors

got this on CD in japan at tower this summer and I've been digging it too, it's pretty classic terre stuff, I think, reminds me of other comatonse things

the sample from shadows and fog on "grand central station pt. ii" is so excellently deployed

Lol "stroke a pose"

been meaning to check this out but been wary because his old ambient house stuff sucks so bad. i love "lovebomb" and "couture cosmetique" and dig "means to an end" but this guy crawled so far up his own asshole intellectually that it's hard for me to think he could let it all go and get into a deep house thing. but tim f's description at the top makes it sound pretty successful.

i know there's a main thaemlitz thread around here but let me just say that the 2nd track of lovebomb, where he autotunes some revolutionary radio propaganda broadcast to minnie riperton's "loving you" needs to be put in the smithsonian or something

Leaving aside the monologues (mostly mixed very low so you can ignore them if you want to) there's actually something oddly... anonymous about this album?

Which I don't mean as a diss, more like: in spite of all the conceptual baggage that attaches to thaemlitz generally and this album specifically, the music itself is really just trying to be the best of its type, the kind of thing any house producer would be really really proud of having made.

Which is my roundabout way of saying i think you'd like it notwithstanding your concerns, winston.

omg haha

When Madonna came out with her hit "Vogue" you knew it was over. She had taken a very specifically queer, transgendered, Latino and African-American phenomenon and totally erased that context with her lyrics, "It makes no difference if you're black or white, if you're a boy or a girl." Madonna was taking in tons of money, while the Queen who actually taught her how to vogue sat before me in the club, strung out, depressed and broke. So if anybody requested "Vogue" or any other Madonna track, I told them, "No, this is a Madonna-free zone! And as long as I'm DJ-ing, you will not be allowed to vogue to the decontextualized, reified, corporatized, liberalized, neutralized, asexualized, re-genderized pop reflection of this dance floor's reality!"

it's good that it's mixed so low

i'm fine with the lyrics applied in madonna's case but it's always been specifically the case of the pop star voguing and the homos on the side as back up dancers for it (continuing to this day re: beyonce, lady gaga) that just seems off and awkward

the sample from shadows and fog on "grand central station pt. ii" is so excellently deployed

― susan fassbender (donna rouge), Friday, 26 June 2009 02:24 (Yesterday)

More info on this please.

when I see him out there, in his make-up, getting knocked around and falling in a big tub of water with all the people laughing, I can only think "he must have suffered so to act like that"

"it's good that it's mixed so low"

yeah but the whole album is mixed that way, on purpose so say the liner notes. it's amazing that it doesn't turn into complete sludge. i haven't heard anything from 2009 that sounds like this, although i might put it into the whole "aquatic" faction of dance music (maybe political non-fiction to drexciya's sci-fi and chain reaction's stalagmitic explorations. maybe.).

fuck, i'm scaring myself now by thinking "what if I'd never come across this album...."

aamazingly, in the same week that i picked this up, also got Round Two - "New Day" , which I'd completely missed out on. Fuuuucccccck! Goosebumps, within 5 seconds.

i'll co-sign on this album. easily among my favorite full-length bobbins of 2009, even if it did come out in 08

I've read that Terre Thaemlitz made this as a reaction/reflection to the current/a recent deephouse revival. Have I missed this? Without derailing this thread too much, what's been going on that's worth checking (all I seem to hear my way in revival terms was disco and prog/kraut influences for the last 12 months)

Oh, the MCDE (Motor City Drum Ensemble) mixes of "Grand Central Part 1 (Deep Into The Bowel of House) are killer also, especially the "Raw mix"

Might be worth noting that there's a letter from Terre Thaemlitz in the July issue of Harper's - about Catholic ROTC military academies.

can you c+p for nonsubscribers?

didn't know i was logged in! here:

Jeff Sharlet’s opening tale of how the U.S. military managed to provoke the household guns of an entire Muslim community with the slogan “Jesus Killed Mohammed” was a choice example of how easily American democratic ideals can be tainted by faith-infused nationalism, resulting in childish vandalism and bizarre pranks. This dynamic extends past the conflict described by Sharlet to another religious community that militarized under cultural pressure: American Catholics.

The spread of Catholic ROTC military prep academies in the United States (which is not paralleled in Europe) goes back to World War I and was the result of Catholic immigrants (particularly Germans and Italians) attempting to prove their loyalty to their new, largely Protestant homeland. My father attended this kind of Catholic academy during World War II, then went on to teach at several such institutions as a Dominican brother until he was dismissed in the 1970s for voicing his opposition to the Vietnam War. As a child, I found it impossible to reconcile the “Thou shall not kill” tenet of his faith with his lifelong immersion in military prep–particularly since he had never expressed any interest in entering the military himself.

During a recent visit home, I found a letter he had received in the early 1940s from the headmaster of his former high school, instructing all Catholic boys to approach the draft board with tremendous enthusiasm for the fight at hand, and with a request for placement within a Catholic academy for military training (as opposed to a training assignment elsewhere). The unintended subtext of this letter was that a Catholic ROTC could protect you from the draft: boys who entered the academy also had the option of becoming clergymen. But requesting to be trained at a Catholic academy did not mean you would necessarily be sent to one. How many boys who followed the letter’s instructions found themselves swept onto battlefields sooner than they might have been otherwise?

Raised as a “graven idol-worshipping Catholic” in Springfield, Missouri–headquarters of the Assembly of God church mentioned by Sharlet—I can already imagine evangelicals citing this letter as further proof of the need to treat Catholics with mistrust. As Sharlet’s reporting reminds us, suspicion of the Other is eternal.

Terre Thaemlitz
Kawasaki, Japan

cool thanks, i was hoping he'd put it on the comatonse website but he hadn't

"The Occasional Feel-Good" is such a great payoff.

This is pretty lush. I want a real copy. Where in the UK?

House Music Is Controllable reminds me of (early) Bark Psychosis; if they'd made a record straight after Blue and gone total house.

i think juno has it

nice to know that other homo deep house thugs read Harper's. had a subscription since i was 17, eight years on and i'm still rockin it.

This album would be great without his obnoxious rants. I have a number of issues with the things he says but I love the music. In the end, it's just going to be a novelty item because the preaching he does is so terrible and limited. I can't even listen to most of this anymore because of the talking. He should have offered it as an instrumental and done his preaching in the liner notes. As it is, this is like Moby going off on one of his albums. Love the music, hate the decision to include his holier-than-thou ranting on top of every track.

can you elaborate on what you disagree with in terms of his rants? to me thaemlitz is speaking some serious truths.

i mean, i think you're missing the point if you just don't want them there at all, but i can understand-- it just ain't your thing.

i think the "vocal house sux" stuff in the intro is kind of eye-rolly tbh

my problem is that he sounds bitter, whether i disagree with him (the intro) or kind of agree (ball'r).

who wants a bitter house record?

Sorry to break it to you, donna, but if you look at what is being said in regards to Strictly Rhythm and whatnot, thaemlitz is right on... i mean, i love me some Todd Terry and MAW as much as the next queer, house-loving guy, but Strictly did turn towards a more commercial, filtered sound that betrayed its roots....the same thing is happening with Ibadan right now, one could argue, as is evidenced by many of Dennis Ferrer and Jerome Sydenham's recent sets....

that came out a lot more condescending than i meant it to, j03. sorry-- i just kind of agree with some of the shit that's being said, and also think that people are kind of pressing this too hard as a house record-- it really isn't a house record, imho, but an electronic treatise on house music, philosophically speaking.

anyway...

I don't want philosophy mixed in with my music. It diminishes the number of times I can enjoy the album. I'd have to listen to the album again to tell you specifically what I disagree with and it's not so much that I disagree with too many of his statements but I just don't enjoy having to hear him talk over every song (or nearly every song). I would enjoy it more if he had just written an essay and included it in the liner notes and left the album instrumental.

I really like the talky bits. I think it's kind of funny to half this pseudo academic thing grafted on to the dancing body, and I think the synthesis between what he's saying and how the music expresses it works pretty perfect. I don't really understand this thing I've realised on ILM lately that people seem to get really annoyed when some piece of music (or whatever) espouses a different opinion to theirs, as though that were some flaw in the music that the guy making it just doesn't understand or whatever. I mean fine if you think, I dunno that this record is a bit too STRICTLY VOCAL or whatevs with all the talking and just with the guy would be quiet so you can keep dancing, I mean I can respect that, but all this "I'm glad you can barely hear what he's saying because it's hella stupid" kindof annoys me for whatever reason. I guess its because I can enjoy something without necessarily agreeing with it and it seems a bit, well narrow-minded maybe?

dj sprinkles is the gay moodymann

i guess that i just don't really hear this as a house record, as i mentioned above, and thus don't really think it can be criticized in the same way as a house record.

it's clearly a house record though

and yeah, i mean, i love moodyman's rants on his records, and tend to like the rants on this record, too. i feel like it is somewhat important to have someone addressing these issues who is actually a practicing musician rather than just a critic-- so what KDJ is to Detroit and the African-American roots of house music, Thaemlitz is to New York and the polysexual roots of the New York house scene.

yeah i think TT regards this as a corrective to what he dislikes about house music in 2008 so in that sense it's def. a house record

xp

After going back through the album briefly, there aren't as many annoying spoken parts as I remembered but the Midtown Intro and the end of the Madonna thing really bother me. He was sitting at a table with the person who taught Madonna to vogue, he was outside the Loft, he was the king is his mind and he's bitter that he hasn't received the attention he thinks he deserves. I may have overstated my annoyance at the spoken bits since they don't seem to be all over every track like I had remembered but I still think this album would have a longer life if he hadn't included those statements over the music. Liner notes is the place to rant and complain about your lack of fame.

not in the same way that Ron Trent's new album is a house record, r1o--- yeah, this is more housey than "Raw through a Straw" and etc, but i find it hard to imagine people really jamming to this in a big room, with or without the vocal bits/

also I don't sense as much bitterness as most people do from this record. in a sense, i just think thaemlitz is raising the idea that a lot of popular house music is based on conceits of love, unity and togetherness, when much of the actual house music world is based on exclusion and capital. i don't necessarily agree with these ideas all the way, as i find that house music is what you want it to be, but the points that are raised are interesting sociologically and historically. that's all.

xxxps Blue is probably a pretty good soundalike actually (bigshot in any case) prefer this tho

I do kinda like the "fuck you, it does matter if you're black or white, it just doesn't matter to you because you're on the right side" attitude a little bit, but the losing my edge for the paris is burning brigade angle rubs me the wrong way too.

Sisters, I don't know what this world is coming to sounds like water coming down a staircase btw

table is sorta right tho, you can't really dance to this I mean

Sisters, I don't know what this world is coming to sounds like water coming down a staircase btw

this track is so amazing

thats my fav track

yeah frankly i dont know how u can really get like offended by what hes saying here, i dont agree w/ all of it// its not my worldview but then i listen to rap so im used to this sort of thing.

i think that the spoken bits really make sense to the album & i def cant imagine the album without them -- that would be weird

'this sort of thing' being 'views i dont actually agree with' not inferring that TT's views here are even close to the level of 'offensive' some rappers are

can someone recommend me some more faggy jazz echoey piano music that you know of while we're at it.

I'm listening to Drive-By by The Necks right now which ALMOST fits the "faggy jazz echoey piano music" description to a T.

In that it's literally (1 60-minute piece of) echoey piano jazz with an amazing groove.

checking it out!

not to be jerk, but you can get that entire Necks track here: http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?z0mzbe1ujwq .

i also highly rate it.

lol at "yes just one track"

One of my very favourite albums / tracks of the decade, without a shadow of a doubt.

Back when I ran the library film & music department and we'd play music, this was the single piece of music that garnered the most "wow, what's this, where can I get it" comments from both students and academics. Everyone loved it.

^^^bolsters my theory that Drive-by aurally (orally?) simulates (stimulates?) a good round of the sex...

It gets really spacey about 20 minutes in

Their debut album was called Sex as I recall.

i 4got this album existed

i don't hate it by any means but it's not all that, really now

. He was sitting at a table with the person who taught Madonna to vogue, he was outside the Loft, he was the king is his mind and he's bitter that he hasn't received the attention he thinks he deserves.

I don't necessarily agree with this, and also, even if Terre is bitter then so what? I'll afford his the right to be if that's what he wants to put out (not to mention this is a very personal document, there's autobiography in the arguments and vice versa).

Am I the only one that thinks putting essays in liner notes is more pretentious/annoying than putting it in the music. It seems more. . . underhanded (that's not the right word but I can't think of the correct one)

And yeah, this album is all that.

if you're making a record with a 'message' these days, when the music itself is being increasingly disassociated from the physical medium, you're probably not going to get the message across with sleevenotes.

he'll also release a 30 hours piano solo as mp3 (on a data DVD). and only 30h because of FAT32 limitation.
Midtown 120 Blues is gorgeous btw.

no idea what this sounds like but i just love the title of the thread.

"To preserve the dynamic range of the original recordings this album was mastered without compression and is intentionally quieter than some. Turn up your stereo volume for best playback."

And indeed it does sound AWESOME when pumped loud through a pair of B&W 685s with a meaty amplifier. It's about space and depth and sensuality.

As much as I don't really like listening to music on headphones, you can swim in the depth and richness of the production on some good phones (e.g. the hats on ball'r, which you can feel as much as you can hear)
Terre (in general) has quite a knack for drawing an emotional response through his sound design.

Another vote for those Motor City Drum Ensemble remixes. Great, great stuff.

The various DJ Sprinkles material on Mule (Grand Central, Pt. I, Brenda's $20 Dilemma, Midtown 120 Blues, Sisters, I Don't Know What This World Is Coming To) is one of the strongest bodies of work any electronic dance music producer has assembled this past year.

okay, after listening to this in my car very loud for the past couple of days, i do declare: this is the best thing i've heard all year. everything about it is perfect, from its more ranty moments to its pulsating ambient moments to its totally unbelievably DEEP DEEP house bits. i would really love to hear this album on even better speakers than the ones in my car, or my m-audio studio monitors. might have to go to oakland to do so....

EDB totally OTM, this album is really spacious on headphones..

some of the spoken bits make me think of bogdan raczynski's "fuck you dj"

Thematically it's like a queer-Pipecock, but musically it's totally undeniable - like Moodymann meets Playhouse meets really lush stuff like early Deep Dish or Dubtribe Sound System at their best.

finally got around to hearing this, and i don't know ... it literally sounds ten years old to my ears, and not particularly remarkable compared to the stuff you cite

i just don't care about this record at all. every time a 12" comes out, i listen expecting it to suddenly be interesting. it's not.

okay, i'm gonna be an asshole here, pipecock, but can you explain why? because to me, this is infinitely more interesting than most of what's come out this year, which has tended to ape older sounds without improving on them much...whereas this record definitely apes older sounds (as in yr right, moonship) but improves upon their aural content-- i mean, just listen to the stereo pans in "house music is controllable..." in the first minute, there are three (if not more) recognizable elements moving back and forth, from left to right to left etc, including the strings which start on one channel and end on another every iteration.

i also admit that i am biased because i am pretty into what Thaemlitz/Sprinkles opines on most of these tracks, and find the persona to be quite fascinating.

yeah but fuck you "most europeans"

huh?

not you <3

Another thing I really like about this is the Big Gay Migration narrative, the move from the country to the city. I think for gay people especially there is the feeling that city is a place for escape and also redemption I suppose. I kind of forgive Thaemlitz for wanting me out of his turf a little on this one, even if it reminds me of a kind of "there first" ownership people try to take with music or "scenes." The sound of the train isn't this man/machine Kraftwerk thing, its more like an echo that brings that brings the possibility of escape from the backwaters leaves a trace, like a line heading home from the city. I'm uncomfortable with how it tries to shoehorn this music into a political statement, I feel like it puts too many words into the mouths of the people vogueing on his dancefloor back in '88, but I can really love it as this intensely personal record of a specific time for him, and how it holds this tentative root of community that maybe people come to the city to find.

"In 1986, at age 18, I left Missouri by train, pulling into Midtown Manhattan's Grand Central Station some 72 hours later. Until that point life had, quite frankly, been miserable, each and every day facing verbal and physical harassment as a queer-fag-pussy-AIDS bait. The climate in New York wasn't really so different. But from within my isolation I saw others isolated like myself. One of the places we met, in our self-containment, was on the dance floor. The nastiest and seediest clubs were located in Midtown. That's mostly where I DJ'ed, at tragic places like Sally's II and Club 59. In the early 1990's, Disney bought 42nd Street, closing the places around which transgendered life revolved for many of us. That "community of isolation" was scattered to other cities, other states, other countries. Isolated, still...."

i think at least some of the ppl profiled in paris is burning (or if not them, then other drag ball regulars) WERE kind of pissed about the madonna thing - hard to tell who the person speaking on the record is tho

and i guess you could argue "vogue" might not have happened at all were it not for PiB (some were pissed about the movie, too)

http://i386.photobucket.com/albums/oo305/lejospopo/pib.jpg

major crush on this guy btw

agree!

"okay, i'm gonna be an asshole here, pipecock, but can you explain why?"

i don't think asking why makes you an asshole.

"because to me, this is infinitely more interesting than most of what's come out this year, which has tended to ape older sounds without improving on them much...whereas this record definitely apes older sounds (as in yr right, moonship) but improves upon their aural content-- i mean, just listen to the stereo pans in "house music is controllable..." in the first minute, there are three (if not more) recognizable elements moving back and forth, from left to right to left etc, including the strings which start on one channel and end on another every iteration.

― gonna be a long hot summer for the MS Word paperclip (the table is the table)"

so stereo panning is that big of a deal?!

to me, the technicalities of a record are as close to meaningless as possible. i'm interested in the quality of the music (no matter if it is supposed to be "old school" sounding or brand new sounding), and this just doesn't cut it. and it's not that i disagree with the politics of it, if anything that makes me want to like the record more than i would have knowing nothing going into it. the music just doesn't move me, especially not when compared to so so many great records that have come out this year. i would much rather listen to many other "retro" style releases like the Ron Trent shit for damn sure.

Pipecock even though i love this record it vaguely pleases me that you don't as I wouldn't have expected that.

Though perhaps I should have? Haven't listened to this in a few months but from memory this guy's production style reminds me of Losoul. Do you like/dislike Losoul? I'm gonna go out on a limb and say not much?

i don't own any Losoul records, but i'm not against their music. it can be alright. i guess the same is true with this, if someone was playing it i wouldn't be irritated, but i wouldnt be running up to ID the tracks either. the hi-hats and things are a bit clicks-and-cuts sounding for my taste, but thats the only obvious problem i have outside of the melodies and shit just not grabbing me.

pipecock, stereo panning of three different elements in a syncopated fashion creating aural illusions of space might not be a big deal, but it's good sound design.

i also don't buy your technicalities line, that's complete bullshit.

"pipecock, stereo panning of three different elements in a syncopated fashion creating aural illusions of space might not be a big deal, but it's good sound design."

not really anything to write home about though. i just don't hear anything in these tracks that is any more or less "old" sounding than any other record of its type.

"i also don't buy your technicalities line, that's complete bullshit.

― gonna be a long hot summer for the MS Word paperclip (the table is the table)"

is that right? i mean, i did just release a record that was mixed down to cassette with hardly any EQing or stereo shit on it. and i mix it with some of the most beautiful and technical shit out there like the MVO3 record. none of it matters, its what's in the tracks that makes me buy it.

yeah, and the Disco Nihilist record would sound a fuck of a lot better if the sound design was of any concern at all. being an obstinate technophobe doesn't make one's sound any more authentic or hard, it just makes one seem like an obstinate technophobe.

and just tio clarify: i own the Disco Nihilist record, and fucking love it, but it could actually sound better. still one of the better releases of the year.

I finally got to hear some of this, and I really like the spacious and soft feel of the production overall. I was a fan of his ambient stuff in the early 90s, and this album doesn't seem a far cry from that stuff in mood. Stand-outs for me are 'House Music is an Uncontrollable Desire', and Grand Central pt. 2.

also I really want to thank the table is the table for that The Necks song. it is fucking great.

yeah, and Second Annual Report and Radioactivity would sound a fuck of a lot better if the sound design was of any concern at all. being an obstinate technophobe doesn't make one's sound any more authentic or hard, it just makes one seem like an obstinate technophobe.

and just tio clarify: i own Second Annual Report and Radioactivity, and fucking love it, but it could actually sound better. still one of the better releases of the year.

ha ha ha are you srsly comparing yourself to TG and kraftwerk? your boundless egotism fucking takes the cake, my man!

i'm sorry if that sounds mean, of course it is your prerogative to follow the methodology of whatever heroes you choose, it's just that like lenny bruce and bill hicks i am bound to speak truth to power.

also the sound design on Radioaktivität is amazing.

Also surely it was the highest of high-tech at the time?!?

Likewise with first wave Detroit Techno - now we might say "oh it was so much more authentic and soulful before protools and ableton and etc." but it's not like the original producers thought of themselves as technologically primitivist.

What I was getting at was the idea that if you aren't doing super high fidelity work, you aren't doing sound design. My decision not to use a Mac with NI Software and a copy of Ableton was a conscientious decision. Not using effects and limiting myself to four tracks was also a conscientious decision. It is sound design, even if it isn't a 5.1 mix at 24/96 with 16 aux sends of VST effects and 32 tracks of vsti's with painstaking automation.

Second Annual Report was recorded live in a room with a single cheap condenser microphone straight to cassette. Most of the electronics and effects were build at home by Chris Carter. They were about as far away from something like Pink Floyd or Tangerine Dream as you could get at the time. They were doing sound design even if they were working with cheap equipment at home.

A little Kraftwerk trivia: Ralph and Florian screwed over Conny Plank after Autobahn. Because of this he severed all ties with them and would hold a grudge against them until the day he died. Autobahn was extremely pristine and layered compared to Radioactivity. It was recorded in a first rate studio with one of the best engineers/producers in Germany. After Autobahn became a hit Kraftwerk started a world tour on it's success and they became even more in demand. Since they burned their bridges with Plank and they had money to spend, they made Radioactivity in their brand new studio during six weeks of downtime between tours.

If you go back and listen to Autobahn, Radioactivity and Trans-Europe Express in order, there is a fidelity drop on Radioactivity. That drop was them figuring out how to do it on their own. It sounds really grimy, not clear, reduced, and pristine like the albums on either side of it.

I love 2ndAR and Radioactivity. I think they sound amazing even if they aren't super polished. I think they have a lot of character and personality and I don't think they suffer from being a little rough around the edges. I don't think they have any less sound design than say The Wall by Pink Floyd. I don't think they contain any less sonic content than an ELO record.

I don't agree with Tom that sound design has nothing to do with the quality of a record but I also don't think that a good tune is ruined by not slathering on every last bit of production technology you can get your hands on. I think they both have their place and good music has been made in every shade of the spectrum. You have to be reasonable and take things on a case by case basis.

Re Vahid:

A. uh, no I don't think I am in the same league as TG and Kraftwerk.

B. You are not speaking truth to power, you are just dying to misinterpret what I said so you can say something nasty. I am glad that I could provide you with a victory in your life. You did it, man!

Also surely it was the highest of high-tech at the time?!?

― Tim F, Thursday, July 23, 2009 10:15 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

Not by a long shot. Even with the money from the credit card scam, their facilities were pretty rough early on. They had simple project studios and took their demo's into low budget commercial studios to record and mix. By the late 80's it was more about doing everything in a home studio. The 1st wave had money by then and the second wave was just coming in raw.

You have to remember that it was really expensive to put a studio together back then and there was a lot of borrowing going on between people in town. They were on the bleeding edge of prosumer equipment but their facilities were nothing compared to a Peter Gabriel or Feetwood Mac record of the time. It would be like comparing a Celine Dion record to Ellen Allien record. Sure, Ellen has some nice stuff but she doesn't have a six or seven figure budget for studio time and engineers in a multi-million dollar studio.

The underlying ideas of early Detroit records were extremely cutting edge, but their facilities were not.

Likewise with first wave Detroit Techno - now we might say "oh it was so much more authentic and soulful before protools and ableton and etc." but it's not like the original producers thought of themselves as technologically primitivist.

― Tim F, Thursday, July 23, 2009 10:16 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark

Again, their ideas were cutting edge at the time, it just that they were executing them with as little resources as possible. If you read interviews from the late 80's the Detroit guys acknowledge that their equipment was behind the times and cheap to begin with. Again, it wasn't about the gear, it was about the ideas.

The one thing they had going for them was that this stuff was brand new and they had functional urban scenes to pay them and keep them inspired. 25 years later it is easy to forget that feeling used to surround this music and inspire it's creation. A lot of crap records came out but a lot of brilliant records have some of that feeling locked into them. Some of it is the record itself and some of it me projecting that feeling onto the record. There is definitely something to those old records.

That being said, there is a ridiculous amount of great music being made these days. It isn't like the past has a monopoly on good music. The problem with today is that it is easy for music to seem cheap and worthless in an age of instant access to production tools and distribution. It's great that people who never would have had a chance to get out there can make their voices heard, the flip side is that there is an avalanche of stuff that is less than fantastic.

It is easy to get jaded when your buyers lists are filled with garbage week in and week out. It is easy to forget that they were always filed with garbage. Even during the golden eras there was still more bad than good. If you are willing to look there is no shortage of gems being dropped right now. Some of those gems are even being made on computers...

one of my favorite things about may or atkins (or aphex twin) records is that you can hear the imperfections of the early equipment: 4 or 8 bar quantized sections but on the 16th or 32nd beat there are ragged edges around the loops or samples. on lesser tracks these things would be detrimental, but for me the songwriting and joie de vivre of the tracks more than makes up for the imperfections. i agree that this in itself is a form of sound design.

Display Name: i get your point, and in fact agree with what you're saying. i was mostly reacting against pipecock's claim that sound design means nothing and trying to hit him at home, that's all.

wow, massive derail... let's see if we can get back on track.

pipecock wrote:
> the hi-hats and things are a bit clicks-and-cuts sounding for my taste, but thats the only obvious problem i have outside of the melodies and shit just not grabbing me.

"reverse rotation" is the only one that sounds clicky to me, and that's the kuniyuki collaboration, so maybe that had someting to do with it... the rest sounds like old-school samples and 70's drum machines. i think i read somewhere he used a lot of old, non-standard drum machines for this, but i can't remember where. in any case, terre'd probably get a kick out of your comment because he is definitely not a fan of clicks-n-cuts, as testified by the bonus track to the otherwise electroacoustic album lovebomb, "chng yourlove," which was done in a clicks-n-cuts style (and the title is written in the style of mille plateaux labelmates snd), apparently in protest to mille plateaux's shift away from abstract music towards the clicky stuff.

re: "being there first" and authenticity
some people were saying they thought terre was claiming to have been there first, mentioning the story at the loft, with the queen who taught madonna to vogue, etc.. i just kinda took it like weird stuff he experienced. i don't think terre is at all interested in authenticity or claiming to be an "original" in anything... which is also why this album sounds so "familiar" rather than "groundbreaking" (which several reviewers complained about). his whole project seems to be about the impossibility of origin, authenticity and roots (he even had that other house album titled "routes not roots"). over the years he's also talked in interviews about using different kinds of language in different projects, like academic-speak for computer music, and poetry on a lot of house ep's, as a comment on the kinds of discourse used around different genres. i took the didactic monologues in "midtown" like a play on old house record monologues ("this is jack's house," etc.) which are so over the top... for people to say terre is up his own ass, but at the same time not really feel anything one way or another about the quasi-religious rants in most house classics, is probably his intention - to trigger that kind of listener resentment within a musical context that is not supposed to be about resentment, and to actually "feel" a reaction to what is being said. in other words, breaking the numbness within a genre who's mantra is "can you feel it?"

there was some interview - can't find it now (i thought the xlr8r article, but don't spot the line) - where he specifically said "dj sprinkles is a signifier of the unheard dj's," which is about invisibility and goes against the "individual greatness" interpretations. i think any signs of individuality here are playing with our commercial expectations to see musicians in that way, and they bring out the problems of discussing anonymity/secrecy (which is vital to his queer/transgendered concept of house) within a marketplace demanding personality.

i think when listening to his records, he wants us to go beyond the normal point of deciding how it made us feel (loved it, hated it, didn't care, etc.), and actually think about how we came to be conditioned to feel those reactions in the first place.

anyway, i find it really funny that people are acting like this is filled with his talking, when his voiceover is only in 2 tracks! (midtown 120 intro - hello, INTRO WITH A TRACK ID TO CLEANLY SKIP TO THE MAIN TRACK! and the very end of ball'r - hello, THE END OF THE TRACK!). it seems he took all the courtesies possible to let people pass them over. at the same time, it's true the album is filled with vocal samples - most of them taken from those classic didactic house monologues, but NOBODY here has commented on how they manage to NOT be intrusive even though he chopped them up to say his own messages (having jesse jackson only say "sisters" instead of "brothers and sisters," and cutting up the "house is a feeling, no one man can own house, uncontrollable desire, blah blah" classic monologue [by i don't know whom, but you know the one i mean], so that it says "house music is controllable desire you can own")! which voices are intrusive and which are not seems to be a MAJOR point. (the shadows and fog re-edit so it sounds like she's talking about a drag queen being beaten up is sublime... and yeah, that classic sample "deep into the vibe of house" does sound like he's saying "deep into the bowel of house" ha ha!)

lots of humor in this album - which i think offsets a lot of stuff others seem uptight about... but i can also see how it sounds smug to those not expecting sarcasm. still, pretty funny if you ask me. :D

but... about the production quality - you really need nice speakers for this. otherwise it sounds totally strange. i can imagine people hating it simply because they haven't heard it on good speakers.

i haven't heard this on good speakers but it sounds awes on my alritish headphones.

the production is deceptively great on this. when i first heard it, it sounded kind of thin, but after listening on some really nice headphones I'm impressed. the lack of peak limiting and obvious compression makes it seem really spacious.

my biggest complaints are that his voice sounds really thin and awkward in the first track (maybe not really a production critique), and the break in "House Music is Controllable Desire You Can Own" seems just a few milliseconds off to me. That may be intentional, though, to make it sound more old school or something.

I don't like his monologue in the 'intro' track at all. I find it the lowest point on the album, and I always skip it.

Xposts Good analysis.

I've been thinking a lot about this record lately, mostly in adoration. Ultimately, I can't think of a dance record that makes me think quite so much as this has, it's ability to give birth to discussion is nothing short of admirable, far beyond most records where the discussion ends when you decide whether it'll work in a club or not.

Irregardless: it really isn't a house record, imho, but an electronic treatise on house music, philosophically speaking.

― gonna be a long hot summer for the MS Word paperclip (the table is the table), Tuesday, July 14, 2009 12:42 PM (1 month ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

I think is pretty OTM. Critiques of it being just a rehash of older sounds, I think, are taking a not so great reading of it. It seems to me more that this work is more a collection of the canonical signifiers of House music, turned on their head, than any attempt at making something new within the traditional category of House. Stop me if I start sounding like I don't know what I'm saying, but it's almost post-house in this respect: it resembles house because house is it's referent (take Grand central pt 1. which buries very traditional drum machines and synth sounds under abstract sounds. It's not a house track per se, so much as something that makes house its subject), it sounds like it because it is addresses it as such, hence the voice overs, samples, self-conscious use of 808 in GC pt. 1, etc.

And I've said it before and I'll say it again: you can't separate the autobiography and the arguments. This is an incredibly personal document (i.e. Grand Central pt. 2), and I admire Terre's ability to be so open. I believe this to be more the story of one individual's experiences than any sort of diagnosis of the problems of house (and of course the latter is articulated in the former, as someone who has presumable experienced and seen a good deal of disenfranchisement and marginalization).

Also, it really does sound that good.

Most, if not all, great political music is personal.

Yes.

Also, I forgot to talk about the end of the album, The Occasional Feel-Good, which, more than just a very nice track is such a perfect end to the album: Despite the pain, suffering, the disenfranchisement and disillusionment, after all of this there still remains those occasional moments of ecstasy you find on the dance floor or in your room listening to records.

It's kind of optimistic and beautiful, really, as a re-framing of a raison-d'etre of the whole thing.

> my biggest complaints are that his voice sounds really thin and awkward in the first track (maybe not really a production critique)

yes, his voice is thin and hard to hear/understand in other albums, too ("trans am" and "silent passability" from couture cosmetique, "lovebomb" from lovebomb, etc. - even in his two radio dramas filled with voices, the voice mixing is often not up-and-front). it always sounds like he mixes it "inside out" compared to how normal voices would be inserted. i assume this is some kind of statement against artistic ego - a half-baked solution to get his voice into the track, but to do it uncomfortably.

according to a recent interview on soundslikeme (where terre talks about omd's dazzle ships), the discomfort is probably his as much as the listeners... sounds like he has voice hang-ups:

Q: Do you think there is a reason why so many Synthpop bands of the 80’s have this combination of electronic instruments and very distinctive voices?

A: It’s a very British male vocal reminiscent of Gary Numan, Pet Shop Boys, etc. Actually, my own voice is very similar to these voices, and listening to their records tends to make me uneasy in the way hearing one’s own voice is uneasy. In fact, it’s one very private reason I have just always fucking hated the Pet Shop Boys. I can’t get over it....

http://www.sounds-like-me.com/news/terre-thaemlitz-on-dazzle-ships-by-orchestral-manoeuvres-in-the-dark/

maybe terre skips the "midtown 120 intro" when playing the album, too, ha ha! it is kind of awkward to listen to, performatively. but that is also a kind of "underground" thing - not an image of underground, but really underground in terms of non-professional voiceover. kinda cool in that sense, just to think the document exists as it does.

does "ball r (madonna free zone)" sample alexander o'neal "the lovers"? or just coincidence?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rzEogTBtNMA

uh i mean "brenda's $20 dollar dilemma"

man i do love DN's history lessons...

i like this LP too, often boring but almost always beautiful (esp 'Ball'r') if that makes sense. i'm sure there is better stuff, i just hardly ever hear LPs like this in recent years.

Midtown 120 Blues chosen as album of the year by Resident Advisor.

yes, still need to hear this.

got this a couple of weeks ago. one of those records that gives me that 'why can't all music be this good' feeling.

It's a magic record, no doubt.

Strangely absent from a lot of end of year polls. Must be because it leaked in 08

The samples I've heard (from this URL) are intriguing. Is this disc available for download anywhere (legally, I mean)? I didn't see it on eMusic, 7Digital or Lala.

hmmm, looking at amazon, they don't have it on mp3 and only have the cd available as an import

Yeah, I'm just spotting that too. Four sellers of the disc (new).

I bought it on download from Juno

http://www.junodownload.com/ppps/products/1395328-02.htm?highlight=DJ%20SPRINKLES

Hm. That's certainly better than waiting for a physical copy via Amazon.

So Juno is totally reputable/cool/secure, yes? I always hedge a bit when asked to download a new media player, which I'd have to do with Juno (never heard of that site before, tbh). OTOH, seems like I'm downloading a new media player every day now.

You don't need to download a new media player, there is a embedded player on the site where you can hear clips, but you are actually buying a zipped folder of mp3s. You can pay by paypal or card, I've never had any problems with it.

I listen to it a lot at work.

Yeah, I (finally) figured that out. Downloads worked like a dream. It's an interesting site. Lots of stuff I've never seen anywhere else (I spotted a remix of Off The Wall that gives the song new, frantic energy (or at least so it seems from the sample)).

Anyway, thanks to all for the guidance on buying this disc.

(xp)

yeah, this and the redshape album tie for album of the year for me.

Ball'r was my song of the year before the year began. I.e. technically released in 08 there wasn't a moment I new of a better track this year.

I think this was the only album I bought/heard in full from 2009, actually.

oh yeah, here's the RA link: http://www.residentadvisor.net/feature.aspx?1121

They sez:

DJ Sprinkles - Midtown 120 Blues [Mule Musiq]
"There must be a hundred records with voiceovers asking 'What is house?' and the answer is always some greeting card bullshit about life, love, happiness."

In 2009, it seemed like there were at least one hundred more. But the above quote, taken from DJ Sprinkles "Midtown 120 Intro" and the album that followed, was a striking moment in which the complexity of life—and music—was laid bare in 80 minutes of house music. Questions became more important than answers, ambiguity more important than certainty, hearing just as important as listening.

Midtown 120 Blues provided plenty of pleasure as well. The sublime, building "Sisters, I Don't Know What This World Is Coming To" and the otherworldly ambience of "Grand Central, Pt.II (72hrs. by Rail from Missouri)" are two of the finest representations of the most important loves—deep house and experimental electroacoustics—ever put to tape by Sprinkles, AKA Terre Thaemlitz. But the album is RA's favourite because it went far beyond making a crowd move, providing music journalists with angles or satisfying the home listening contingent. It's the best album of 2009 because it makes us wonder that if other producers—hell, other people—were as consistently brave as Thaemlitz, what this world indeed would be coming to.

the Redshape album is actually really amazing. highly rec'd.

huh, my top 15 has four of those. most of the ones listed there made me snore, though i'm glad Lawrence got big ups, cuz that album was really lovely.

weird that the resident advisor list was so close to my list, i don't really listen to that much techno, still I think M120blues is gonna do well in the ilm yr end poll, i'm voting it #1 tho so persp

So, ResidentAdvisor picked this as their album of the year and it's great. Was it popular on here (i've only lurked for a bit, was too intimidated to in the past).

its really from abt the seven minute mark that sisters kicks off, still the best track imo

Dwight, check the thread, this seems to have gotten a lot of love on ILM including from people who don't haunt the usual dance music friends. Pipecock doesn't like it but that's like a roundabout endorsement really.

Tim Finney, I salute you for this thread and alerting me to this record, my fave of 2009 (tied with Memory Tapes)

Man this record is just too good. I've said it before and I'll say it again, the fact that it has caused as much as as considered discussion it has - even if you don't agree with what TT says - is a testament to the success of not just a 12" but a whole album of that not only transcends the 'can you dance to it?" criteria that forms so much of the backbone in current dance music discourse. Moreover, I'd identify its ability to really make you feel things (like, emotions and stuff) that gives it that sort of edge, where for me, a straight white man at the beginning of his 20's, to examine my relation to dance music.

i always wonder what brenda's $20 dilemma was and if it worked out okay

I love this record. I feel like an outsider to this discussion -- I don't really understand the nuances between different sub-genres of electronic dance music -- but after reading the thread and spending a few days with the album, some thoughts have developed for me:

• I think Sprinkles' rant in the opening song is a crucial table-setter. He is bitter (e.g., "Most Europeans still think deep house means shitty vocal house tracks"), but that's okay, and he softens it with humor (I thought the point of his anecdote about not being able to get into The Loft at the exact moment the DJ is playing his song -- "I shit you not" -- was to lighten the mood, as opposed to him just passing along some weird experiences he's had).

• Ironically, in spite of Sprinkles' dismissal of "shitty vocal house music," I think the vocal samples save the second song (Midtown 120 Blues). I say "saves" because repetitive instrumental tracks sometimes go on too long for me, and I look for something to hold onto (vocals work well in this regard, even if they are just clipped samples, like in this song).(n.1) I think this highlights a difference between experiencing the music in a club versus on headphones; in a club, I imagine you want the groove to lock-in and keep-going while you're dancing, but on headphones, I get anxious to move on to the next new sound or nuance or development.

• I love the idea of the club as a political arena and dancing as an act of political opposition or expression. Maybe Sprinkles doesn't mean it this way, but that's how it comes across to me.

• The way the piano softly drops into the songs is really lush and inviting.

• Has Madonna ever addressed this charge that she didn't give due-credit to trans-gendered culture (not sure that's the right phrase) in Vogue? My first thought when I heard the accusation in the song was that maybe she couldn't comfortably fit those references into the lyrics, but that doesn't make sense, and it's an even thinner defense if she directly lifted the notion of voging directly from that dance community.

• In some ways, this hit me like Burial's Untrue record. I felt like the sounds had floated in from outer space, even though I'm sure it's old-hat and uninteresting to those paying closer attention to the genre.

________________________________________
(n.1) For instance, someone upthread said that Sisters I Don't Know What This World Is Coming To doesn't take off until about the 7:00 mark.

Ughhhh. Sorry. That all sounds so stupid.

Let me just stop at: "I love this record."

Daniel, it isn't really necessarily 'transgender' culture. It's really about Madonna not giving due-credit to the culture of voguing, which was (arguably) a liberatory phenomenon mostly involving African-American men dressing up in expensive, often androgynous clothing, and posing/dancing/voguing in these costumes as a way of subverting dominant paradigms of white, straight culture. Leo Bersani (himself an old white guy) has critiqued the culture because he claims it essentially reinforces the repressive mores and cultural styles that the African-American men were trying to subvert. I don't know how I feel either way, but there are two great movies about the subject. One is "Paris is Burning," which is essential viewing for anyone and everyone, imho, and the other is a short documentary called "Tongues Untied," which discusses African-American gay men in Harlem in the 1980's, among other things...

That's interesting. Thanks. FWIW (not much, I admit), I took my cue from the lyrics I found online: "She had taken a very specifically queer, transgendered, Latino and African-American phenomenon and totally erased that context with her lyrics."

I mean, there were pre-op trangendered people in those houses, certainly, but many of the young Latino and African-American men were doing their own, more stylized and contemporary version of what might have been called 'drag' in the past.

here's a clip from Paris is Burning:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qGzfFaj2Jv4

you can watch the entire thing in segments on youtube, too.

"Ball'r (Madonna-Free Zone)" is also in reference to this culture— it was called 'Ball Culture,' forgot to mention that.

Wow. Never seen anything like that before (re: the YouTube clip). Puts a new gloss on the disc, and Sprinkles' comments.

DO watch the entirety of Paris is Burning. It's all on youtube.

Paris Is Burning is so fucking amazing

http://i386.photobucket.com/albums/oo305/lejospopo/pibyo.jpg

looks like a good doc - stuck it up on my netflix queue.

btw, the infamous Tongues Untied clip that has pretty much become part of my everyday spiel:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YHZxRvCldlE

you say this every day?

well, no. just, "i ain't you bitch *snap*. yo bitch is at home wit' your kids *snap*."

in fact, when i give my MFA thesis reading in the spring, my friend is gonna yell 'bitch' at me from the audience, and i'm going to say just that.

say the whole thing.

but you see, i'm not black. or 45 years old.

so maybe i'll just change it to : i'm a white, 25-year-old white man who enjoys ENJOYS taking dick in his rectum. i ain't yo bitch. your bitch is at home with your kids. (snaps included of course)

and if possible do that thing with your eyes.

i can do that.

Paris is Burning is great. I still haven't heard this album :-( Suffice it so say, if TT is angry about Madonna stealing someone else's culture for her own benefit, I get it. Everyone in the documentary is dead, and probably died poor.

sorry ...everyone FEATURED in...

Man, just added two more movies to my xmas-movie-marathon to-watch list. i have no idea how i frequently manage to be ignorant of so many important/well-known docs.

i would have something to say about midtown 120 blues if i was remotely capable of absorbing it all. i'm on my second or third listen and i don't even have the vocabulary to talk about what it does.

that fore-mentioned "Paris Is Burning" doc is great, watched it on Xmas eve and been playing Cheryl Lynn "Got To Be Real" and Diana Ross "Love Hangover" (both on the soundtrack" ever since.

It also reminded me of Malcolm Maclaren's vogueing tribute which is excellent:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a9KDmJQjS_0

i would have something to say about midtown 120 blues if i was remotely capable of absorbing it all. i'm on my second or third listen and i don't even have the vocabulary to talk about what it does.

Yeah, this is how I feel.

tongues untied is all over the k-s.h.e album (another DJ sprinkles alias). amazing. check out "crosstown":
http://www.comatonse.com/releases/k-she/

oops, sorry, this is the link with mp3 clips:
http://www.comatonse.com/releases/k-she/cd.html

> i always wonder what brenda's $20 dilemma was and if it worked out okay

probably the same story in the cartoon on the back of dj sprinkles "sloppy 42nds"?
http://comatonse.com/img/c006feefee.gif

oooh! thanks beavis. huh huh, huh.

re: downloads
here's dj sprinkles' take on juno and the rest:
http://comatonse.com/releases/c018/
http://comatonse.com/soundfiles/
to sum it up, terre's been burned by major online distributors selling albums without contracts. midtown 120 blues is apparently authorized for download through pay sites, but other thaemlitz albums are not.

NOTE: Be sure to tell Iris to remove the works from their EU partner Junodownload.com as well - I and others have noticed our works remained available on Juno for over a year after Iris should have removed them. They were removed after a second request was submitted to Iris.

Had no idea. So my Juno download purchase was unauthorized? Is Juno a disreputable service? FWIW, I searched for DJ Sprinkles on eMusic, but nothing from him is available there.

*THIS IS THE WAY ~WE~ JACK THE HOUSE*

Got halfway through Paris is Burning (mother's apartment's shitty internet connexion does not like youtube ugh). I like it a lot!

Although, I feel kind of weird watching it. As a middle-class cis white queer in my early 20s two decades on, this is clearly NOT my world and it feels intrusive and tourist-y to observe, almost. In part this might be a result of the film being MADE by a middle-class white lesbian who stood to gain a lot from selling the stories of marginalized queers of colour to a straight, white audience, but to some extent its an issue inherent in ME as well.

In the same way that I feel disconnected from Thaemlitz's music, I feel removed from Paris is Burning. Removed from whatever process of education/integration/etc. into queer culture that exists? existed? at one point - that specific idea of queer culture as LOCALIZED and GEOGRAPHIC and COMMUNITY-BASED that is made explicit at various points in Midtown 120 Blues - my ability to view 'queer culture' as something I share ownership of is compromised, be it Deep House or drag or actresses of the 30s or whatever at any given point in time. As a result, I often feel like I appreciate queer film/music/art as an outsider/observer. Which is to say, Midtown 120 Blues sounds gorgeous and makes me profoundly ANGRY on behalf of Thaemlitz et al. and is a sublime artistic statement, and it makes me THINK but I don't necessarily think it was made for me.

I don't know if the above is particularly coherent but its the best response I can come up to the album for now. Suffice it to say, I will be listening to this album a lot more.

i dunno i just thought that movie was fun and that some of the guys were kinda hot

Haha! It is fun! And some of the guys are hot! But the movie made a couple million for Miramax and won a bunch of critics awards, and the ball-ers in the movie for the most part gained a bit of exposure, not much money, and...I dunno. From what I've read via google they got a pretty raw deal. One of them was murdered before the film was released, a bunch of them died of AIDS-related conditions in the early 90s. Not to fetishize tragedy or to diminish the strength of the movie's subjects - they're astoundingly interesting and strong people - but (to regress into undergrad-speak) the documentary seems to be 'problematic'.

I am writing in the manner of the kind of queer studies I usually want to punch in the face, but this is why I normally steer clear of this stuff. *Shaking My Head*

yeah ppl in documentaries don't get paid tho and they're not like innocent lambs, they were pretty much grownups who wanted to get a bit famous so like i kinda think its a bit patronising to frame it like that

like tough on them they missed the reality tv era

A few things:

1. Alex, this culture does still exist. It is even more glammed out now, for obvious reasons, but it DEFINITELY exists. I have been to a ball or two.

2. I highly recommend reading some Guy Hocquenghem. He pretty angrily, but logically, destroys the idea of 'ownership' of identity. Or at least he equates such an idea of 'ownership' with a capitalist framework that should be subverted. Check out "The Screwball Asses" or "Beyond Gay Identity." Or pick up a copy of "Polysexuality: A Semiotext(e) Reader." That has one of his primary essays in it.

3. As said above, Bersani has talked not only about the white lesbian who made the film, but also those who participated in it. In "Homos," he criticizes the ball'rs as actually glorifying the culture they are trying to mock by elevating it to a level of prestige— of capitalist excess and high, white-owned fashion— thus allowing themselves to be consumed. His critique is one that troubles me greatly, and I frankly don't agree with him, but I find it interesting nonetheless.

yeah i don't really buy bersani either tbh

i think this idea of doubling is kinda structural to what we define as "queer", this is gonna sound half formed/assed but i was thinking abt it in the car earlier so

so yeah in a way bersani is right but he also misunderstands how his criticism is kinda rootless. Queer culture isn't really about subverting existing cultural practice but doubling them, and it draws its power from the origin, it doesn't change its meaning but makes a changed copy, which is different. Like the original isn't reinscribed with queerness and this is why queering is kinda sketchy for me, like how gay cowboys are such an archetype but ppl were still surprised by brokeback mtn. its a dumb example but u know, "gay cowboys" as in the 50's muscle mag archetype r a different iconography from actual on the prairies john wayne cowboys and I don't know how successful queer culture has ever been at reinscribing itself on what straight culture, it needs its double in order to situate itself as other which is kinda how queer culture works maybe

i was thinkin maybe the exact opposite watching beyonce do single ladies on some awards show the other day

the vmas

hmmm, I think "Single Ladies" makes for an interesting case when set against "Vogue" in re: superstar musician appropriating a gay-originated dance style. I just wish I had more to say about it.

What's the context of the Singles Ladies dance - I thought it was just on some Bob Fosse-type shit, no?

ti4rn4n, you're right, but what Bersani eventually comes to (and Hocquehnghem suggested even earlier) is that queering in any fashion is exactly what you're talking about— a reconstituting of heterosexual, capitalist cultural norms, so that the heterosexual matrix in some way still controls the very 'subversion' that queers are supposedly performing. this is why i've sort of abandoned the self-identifier 'queer' in a lot of ways, since i sort of agree with Bersani and Hocquenghem on the issue.

anyway, i can talk about this shit for hours... n1ck saw Thaemlitz speak in amsterdam. when he told me, i was like, "you fucking lucky lucky boi"

xp the choreography is basically fosse vs j-setting, which is a style that came out of atlanta's gay clubs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-QRjkmLEuE

Huh. That looks insanely difficult.

Setting aside the promotion of child-rearing in late 19th century America and England at the apex of their imperialist ambitions, I never quite understood the conflation of capitalism with heterosexuality, especially since queers have been the most avid participants in a consumerist culture forever, but this is an argument for another thread.

i think if u look at this historically tho it makes sense - i mean the condition of homosexuality has been like this hidden culture, i'm thinking like dusty springfield slipping polari into interviews. A lot of gay codes have to work as secret signals that are wide open, obv not really anymore in western countries and also the internet has changed this a lot but. So I mean gay culture has had to grow up as a version of straight culture, so that it can pass and also be understood as its own discrete codes etc. U c that in paris is burning with the whole bit on "realness." So much so that you could make a point that it shows how successful the ball'rs apprppriation of like hollywood glamour etc. was, that it could so easily be re-appropriated back into straight culture via madonna, malcolm mclaren etc.

I think i'm a little less forgiving wrt beyonce because of that rumour that one of the dancers in single ladies/sweet dreams was the choreographer. I know it prolly woulda been kinda insulting to get called a dude for the girl dancer, but I still think they couldv let the rumour circulate and not deny it instead of shooting it down etc. well maybe not, but also when she did it at the vmas she had these white chicks also dancing with her and I was kinda like "couldn't they have had some guys 2?" I mean, I saw a kylie minogue concert where they had guys wearing can-can dresses but maybe that is b-c this is europe i dunno.

especially since queers have been the most avid participants in a consumerist culture forever

not true. but since this is a dj sprinkles/terre thaemlitz thread, i'll let that go for another time.

would be in interesting topic for a thread... more in terms of the history of the culture. at least some part of the perception of "mere consumerism" amongst homosexuals must have something to do with the death of Modernism, the transformation of fashion and entertainment (formerly "art") into global industries, the way that these niches that were carved out were stripped of any sociopolitical import...

there is a difference between Fred Schneider's take on secondhand and some stereotype of a nihilist, selfish "twink" rummaging through a vintage clothing boutique in nolita.

yes!

I think i'm a little less forgiving wrt beyonce because of that rumour that one of the dancers in single ladies/sweet dreams was the choreographer.

random that i happened upon this part of the thread just as i've been looking into beyonce's choreographer (for single ladies and other things), jonte. i've been hanging around some dancer and designer types in nyc and he's been popping up. i wouldn't know without bothering to check the single ladies vid itself, but he's definitely been in some of her live performances on talk shows and whatnot. some of his solo stuff (sorry if this is off-topic or whatev):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ot5YiAt5p0M

nah that's awesome

though otoh I am totally reinforcing another stereotype about gay people. probably lots of gay people don't have any talent or interest in art or fashion just like, you know, any large group of people that are not defined specifically as artists or people into fashion. I haven't left NYC in a while.

I got dragged to a gay club a year and a half ago and met Jonte. He seemed like a nice guy. He had an entourage and a miniature top hat.

alex in montreal wrote:
> that specific idea of queer culture as LOCALIZED and GEOGRAPHIC and COMMUNITY-BASED that is made explicit at various points in Midtown 120 Blues - my ability to view 'queer culture' as something I share ownership of is compromised

i think this is precisely the contradiction terre is interested in exploring, through a wide range of releases and writings - particularly the notion of subverting/complicating "identity ownership" as a form of domination. terre had a strange relationship to the midtown scene, too, since she was apparently so intimidated by the post-op transsexuals that she chose to closet her own non-op transgenderism and always DJ'ed dressed as a boy. so i think she would agree on the culture being LOCALIZED thing, but is the type of person who is suspect of COMMUNITY as something different from actual social interactions, which can be much more contradictory or fragmented or hypocritical...

the transcript to his recent talk in amsterdam is kind of about this - dissecting and rejecting both concepts of "minority" and the deleuze/guattari concept of "becoming-minor," yet conceding a time and place for both.
http://www.comatonse.com/writings/becoming-minor.html
excerpt: "My proposal to you, in identifying these various problems with both the "minor" and "minorities," is not to think about deterritorialization or reterritorialization, but overterritorialization. By "overterritorialization" I mean simultaneously engaging in contradictory social identities; forsaking pride for an open investigation of shame and hypocrisy; inviting confusion in our own life and the lives of those around us; and not only thinking of social alliances in terms of cooperation, but to actively engage in non-cooperation as a means of socialization."

shh! it's not me! wrote:
>probably lots of gay people don't have any talent or interest in art or fashion

i can't find the articles now, but i remember terre talking several times about how the gay/lesbian marriage thing (from a romantic perspective) is proof that queers are as unimaginative as everyone else, the same conformist desires pounded into them, etc... also, how many people see sexual reassignment surgery as "radical," when in fact it is the ultimate attempt to become something conformist (conventional man or woman) - even if the quality of the results often prohibit that conformity.

I would like the authors those articles to tell me why they think homosexuality is inherently radical in the first place, given other animals do it without killing each other, et al.

isn't what other animals do kind of irrelevant to radicality, being more or less relative to human societal norms

I'm just saying homosexuality itself sort of exists outside of ethics, hence (to some extent) radical/establishment dialectics.

Like, OK, so we're not supposed to want marriage. We're not supposed to want to change our sex to more closely align our inside with society's standards of the outside. Are we supposed to routinely and regularly jerk it in public in the name of gay radicalism? Would that do it?

(And I guess by "in public" I mean not gay bars.)

at this point then i just think thaemlitz's point is based on one contradiction too many

eric, i have a headache right now so i won't go any further, but this statement— "I'm just saying homosexuality itself sort of exists outside of ethics, hence (to some extent) radical/establishment dialectics" — is so myopic that it sort of made me chuckle through the pain.

ti4rn4n, you're right, but what Bersani eventually comes to (and Hocquehnghem suggested even earlier) is that queering in any fashion is exactly what you're talking about— a reconstituting of heterosexual, capitalist cultural norms, so that the heterosexual matrix in some way still controls the very 'subversion' that queers are supposedly performing. this is why i've sort of abandoned the self-identifier 'queer' in a lot of ways, since i sort of agree with Bersani and Hocquenghem on the issue.

ok but I feel like the only answer to that would be "uh, we know." I don't think anyone trying to emulate hollywood movie-stars, or atlanta cheerleaders is really gonna be too upset by someone pointing out that they're copying straight culture. I mean, its pretty obvious. There's extended bits where they talk about Dallas or one where Venus Xtravaganza talks abt wanting to become a suburban housewife.

well, i'm not saying that the people within the ball'r culture would be upset....in fact, i never said that. don't really know why yr response was so condescending.

There's no reason why homos need to think they're outsiders, tabes.

there are plenty of examples of and reasons as to why homos ARE outsiders. whether a homo wants to think and act like an outsider is a matter of choice. but when the dominant culture is so fucking repellant, i personally find it revolting that anyone would want to be an insider.

I guess you're not charming enough.

With a few reservations I agree with Alfred here. Historically, gays/lesbians etc were obv outsiders in the sense of being legislated against or entirely invisible or etc. And emotionally, radical queers sensibly believe that all people who go through the (usually at least partly painful) process of coming out ought to consider the sense of alienation they have felt as inclining them towards a deeper appreciation of radical class/sex/race (in addition to queer) politics. But this is clearly not the case for the vast majority of GLBTs, who are radical in barely greater proportions than any other community groups in the developed world. It is difficult today to see the experience of growing up gay or lesbian etc. as being, for most people, substantially more politically meaningful than growing up obese, say. Social alienation of any type can be politically empowering... or, perhaps rather, energising - I think in practice much of the process of politicisation of young queers is not always "empowering" in any meaningful sense, but rather is an extension of the kind of adolescent suspicion of authority and sense of oppression-of-identity common to many teenagers (but which, having had to hide their identity, young queers may not have enjoyed as fully as their straight peers), enlivened by a mostly very superficial reading of queer/marxist/feminist (and very occasionally race) theory, but ultimately something to be "worked through" until the young firebrand is finally comfortable with their (let us not be in doubt here) sexual identity, at which point their political opinions may be worth listening to, or at least honest.

At any rate, if capitalism is good at anything, it is accommodating (I will not say "commoditising", which would be the more correct but emotionally-loaded term) and catering for the needs of social groups such as GLBTs (as a whole or in its more specific formations). In this sense capitalism perhaps can only be said to the be the enemy of queers in the sense that it can be said to be the enemy of any person who is not a 19th century white male factory owner ("if only they would realise it!"). No political movement outside of anti-capitalism itself can be said to exist "beyond the horizon" of capitalism, which is why anyone who thinks queer identity is somehow the fundamental basis of all radical politics is usually being egocentric.

I say this, of course, as someone very sympathetic towards the political aims of politicised queers!

My niece was born three days ago. I know exactly what it means to feel like an outsider: the older brother with no hope of bringing progeny into the world. I don't need to make myself an outsider.

You live a self-charmed existence, don't you, Ted.

Shh! Don't disturb his young gay smugness!

All's I'm saying is that a lot of forms of so-called radicalism in this particular context are starting to smell strongly of self-promotion.

Whatever, I'm just going to listen to "Hush Now" again and again. Among us non-radicals, silence equals comfort.

> I would like the authors those articles to tell me why they think homosexuality is inherently radical in the first place, given other animals do it without killing each other, et al.

first, those were examples of people challenging the notion of inherent radicality. second, the notion comes from dominant culture positioning homosexuality as a "threat" to dominant mores. "radicality" becomes a way of attempting to wield that possible power granted by dominant cultural fears.

...or something.

> I'm just saying homosexuality itself sort of exists outside of ethics, hence (to some extent) radical/establishment dialectics.

scary! replace "homosexuality" with "heterosexuality" and you have just written the formula for why we're in this mess.

His Resident Advisor podcast is really, really good - I'd love a copy of his private Depeche Mode remix.

No offense, guys, but I really want to hear a Weird Al parody of the intro.

replace "homosexuality" with "heterosexuality" and you have just written the formula for why we're in this mess

I guess that's always been my point here. This insistence on maintaining "otherness" errs when it tries to eradicate stray elements of "with-ness."

I come away from some queer theory feeling like the authors want me to disown my mother and father for daring to be heterosexual.

^^^ This is a pretty poor reading of queer theory unless you were reading, like, agit-prop zines from 18 yr old baby-queers. (The real-life example of this when I was at uni was a zine a girl I knew put together called "An Introduction to the White Capitalist Hetero-Patriarchy")

If anything, actual queer theory tries to break down any assumption that there is an "absolute" difference-in-identity between heterosexual and non-heterosexual people. It suggests that heterosexual people are constructed in pretty much the same way as homosexual people, the importance part of which is that it means they are a construction (i.e. not "natural", "god-intended" etc.). The consequence of this of course is that heterosexuality loses the monopoly on rightness. But, conversely, it cannot hold the monopoly on wrongness. Queer theory doesn't dislike heterosexuals, it dislikes a taxonomy of sexual identity (read: perversion) that tries to hypostasize what it means to be not-straight. It no more equals a hatred of heterosexuals than the feminist insistence that women can choose their lifestyle equals a hatred of men.

What a lot of people think of as "queer theory" is really a badly assembled rainbow coalition my-first-marxism which pats itself on the back for apparently transcending or revolutionising "gay identity politics" (because gay men are sexist classist racist pink dollar slaves after all) and then turns around and asserts the same brand of identity politics it claims to reject.

It's much closer to a misreading of Catherine McKinnon (i.e. radical feminism) than a misreading of Foucault etc.

Haha I don't the Rainbow Coalition is what you think it is.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rainbow/PUSH

It may be a bit of an Australianism to use "rainbow coalition" in the context i'm using it. It's less an official term than a put down.

Well in that case, the Australianists picked up the name of an American organization only tangentially related to gay rights and misused it.

You gotta admit that it's a great term for what I'm describing.

Sorry, but as an American, and probably even moreso as a black American, I just have whole other set of connotations associated with the term.

At the same time, it's perfectly understandable if non-Americans are unfamiliar with Jackson's organization.

right but rainbow coalition is a term used to mean a lot of different things in different countries anyway, usually multi-party majority governments

Oh. We don't have those.

Yeah exactly that's where the phrase comes from originally I'm pretty sure!

Alright, I guess I've been proven wrong.

about rainbows?

1. Call me an adolescent. I don't really care.

2. To Eric: Beavis said it better than I could: first, those were examples of people challenging the notion of inherent radicality. second, the notion comes from dominant culture positioning homosexuality as a "threat" to dominant mores. "radicality" becomes a way of attempting to wield that possible power granted by dominant cultural fears.

As stated above (in my last post), I don't really think that anyone has to embrace ^^this 'possible power'^^ of radicality as a prerequisite for being a homosexual. PERSONALLY, I embrace it because I believe it does have some power in threatening and challenging dominant cultural mores.

3. Tim F., I've been reading agit-prop queer zines since I was that teenager you're describing, and at this point (ten years later), I'm relatively well-versed in a lot of queer/feminist theory. However, I do find that the energy and passion of queer teenagers (especially punk rockers) remains energising and invigorating to me, though I am sometimes disappointed in the myopic nature of their anger.

3. To Alfred and Eric: I'm no less smug than either of you, so shut the fuck up.

(and tho i said it on the gay thread: alfred and eric, let's just agree to disagree. let a thousand flowers bloom, etc.)

Which gay thread, table? Clearly I'm missing out.

I have to say, this thread (which I'm somehow just reading now) warms my heart for a multitude of reasons, not least of which is how the DJ Sprinkles album spurred this much broader conversation about queer identity, etc. Good to see homos and the homo-friendlies stepping up to talk about some interesting, relevant stuff. More, more I say!

Mods: please retitle this thread Refutations of Smugness: DJ Sprinkles - Midtown 120 Blues

3. Tim F., I've been reading agit-prop queer zines since I was that teenager you're describing, and at this point (ten years later), I'm relatively well-versed in a lot of queer/feminist theory. However, I do find that the energy and passion of queer teenagers (especially punk rockers) remains energising and invigorating to me, though I am sometimes disappointed in the myopic nature of their anger.

I'm not disappointed - they're teenagers! They're supposed to be energetic and passionate in their hatred of parents. I just think Eric is too quick to conflate that with queer theory per se.

In much the same way that anti-globalisation rallies would fall over without teenagers but we don't award those same teenagers book contracts with Verso (or do we?).

unless it's a compilation of Aaron Cometbus writings, I don't think so. (and one of those has already come out!) (well, and Aaron is more of a 40-year-old teenage at this point)

This thread is really making me want to dig up the queer-theory-informed paper on drag I wrote when I was 19.

feeling too lazy to put that in 'v much in character' thread

> at this point then i just think thaemlitz's point is based on one contradiction too many

she'd probably be really glad to read that... :)

one of my best friends "surprised" me with this disc recently. told her about it about two weeks ago and it showed it at my door about two days ago. very excited to listen it it.

I love the conversation its generated on the thread.

http://img160.yfrog.com/img160/982/capture01jan122229.jpg

*facepalm*

this record is really beautiful

yeah, it's really rockin my world.

It's become my favorite disc of last year. In perpetual repeat (or almost so) in my car.

I feel fairly confident after four or five listens in saying that it's my favorite of '09, as well.

love it. how sick is the bass all over this album?? probably my favourite of the year too.

Yeah, gorgeous. A spoonful of sugar makes the medicine go down.

cant believe the podcast has barely been mentioned

his other house records are just as good... criminally under exposed compared to this one.

the only other thing i hve is lovebomb, what are his house-ey releases?

didn't see any mention of this yet:
http://www.residentadvisor.net/review-view.aspx?id=7062

New DJ Sprinkles song recorded during the Midtown 120 Blues sessions!

"what are his house-ey releases"

there have been a few, like "Terre Thaemlitz presents... You? Again?" which looks like a comp but i think all his productions. tip top.

this just came out:
(mule musiq 44) Terre Thaemlitz aka DJ Sprinkles - Masturjakor Vinyl 2010

and i'm willing to bet there are more than a few dance numbers on this:
TERRE THAEMLITZ "DEAD STOCK ARCHIVE / 売れ残り品アーカイブ"
The wet dream collector's box, with over 600 tracks in 320kbps MP3 format.

:)

thanks i was lookin at that, also haven't managed to hear the masturkator(?) yet

masturb/k/jator is very satisfying indeed.

The Routes Not Routes 12" are great. They are expensive now though.

Routes not Roots. (as in the delusian emphasis on lateral connectivity and against deep genetic axis...) yeah i'd love to hear those as well.

what about that Fagjazz stuff? anyone know if it's house-y?

this podcast is so damn beautiful. looking forward to this masturjakor stuff

you can hear (low quality) samples of it here http://www.wordandsound.de/article/62738

Sounds good to me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lEVVVlDP6yk

a dub of this^ appeared on the 'i'm starting to feel ok' comp in 2008 (credited to t. thaemlitz tho)

brilliant!

Opening chords and sine wave, sooo classic.

This album absolutely blew my mind during a cold, miserable New Jersey winter in January 2009. My neighbors couldn't have appreciated the bass.

The Kink & Neville Watson mix of "Masturjakor" is ace. The original, take it or leave it for now, but I could see it being incorporated well into an LP.

DJ Sprinkles is playing live with Carl Craig, Moritz Von Oswald Trio, Matmos, and Henrik Schwarz at the Royal Festival Hall in London a week tomorrow. Any ILXors going along?

damn that is a ridic bill

The RFH has great acoustics, but it's a sit down venue. Even though I'm working the next day, I'm really tempted.

I'm going to the RFH night. I originally assumed Terre Thaemlitz would be playing as Terre rather than DJ Sprinkles, excited to see this. My only concern is that I will miss certain performers. They seemed to have a lot of people on for a single evening.

ah... shit, I'm working that eve at a fuking Matthew Ship gig

Shipp. and he's great... just bad conflicts

i hear DJ Sprinkles is dj-ing in the lounge (lobby?) after the stage sets are over

There's a playing favorites piece with Terre by Finn Johannsen at Resident Advisor. And there's a longer, unedited version is up at Johannsen's site.

Ha! he skips over Madonna's Vogue predictably (in the RA piece http://www.residentadvisor.net/feature.aspx?1134 )

The unedited version is interesting: he seems to be suggesting that everyone has forgotten that Olivia Newton-John is Elton John's daughter, and that Michael Jackson was a Mormon rather than a Jehovah's Witness. Good editing.

yeah, most people i know are surprised if i mention olivia is sr. elton's spawn... i thought michael jackson thought he WAS god...

the new single is very good. surround sound 909 open hi-hat especially.

it's all about the bonus beats, what the hell is the female hip-house tracks that mixes in towards the end?

not sure about the neville watson remix. seems like they just threw a 707 drum machine over the bassline and turned the beat up, completely ignoring the subtlety of the original. the og is like this restrained, discreet take on wild pitch or something

ok, so obv, i'm a big stan for Terre Thaemlitz and all related projects...but i kind of think this "Masturjakor" single doesn't have much going for it. it essentially sounds like Thaemlitz approximating the sound of a early mid-tempo Fingers Inc. track.

i think it sounds more like dj pierre or la williams but with delicate drums

Why didn't someone tell me there's female hip house on this!

masturjakor is much more in keeping with the old dj sprinkles releases - especially bassline.89, which was deliberately over-the-top referential. i think it's really about dj-ing, in that it's like making tracks with other tracks. kind of anti-musician.

Report on the RFH gig anyone?

Really thick question, but how does one pronounce Terre Thaemlitz?

terry tame-litz

cheers.

i'd say more like "terry temlitz"
(with english pronounciation, the "a" in "tame" is too harsh/long)

hmmm... the full RA article on finn johannsen's site says michael jackson was jehovah's witness...
i felt much of it reads like there were problems with the tape transcription, maybe done by non-native english speakers, too.

also, i didn't get why he talks about the orb and kraftwerk samples in the RA version, but after reading the full one it seems he was also talking about todd terry, who certainly sampled a lot of kraftwerk.

just finished listening to his "Solipsistic Nation" (dodgy name for a radio show IMO) podcast and it is A.M.A.Z.I.N.G.

starts with one of my favorite pieces of music ever: the hour long "Sex" by the Necks, and goes on to ever slowly morph and transform it into something similar yet different, but just as mesmerizing and fucking gorgeous as the original. slow arcs of shimmering tones over the most sensual of bass grooves... psychedelic digital jazz at its best. mind -- blown.

another podcast linked on RA this morning: http://clubberia.com/music/podcasts/2

deep house set this time, swirly and whispered sprinkles and twinkles. picks up steam a couple times also - anyone know what the chanting is at ~61 mins?

around here we call him dj jimmies of course.

hah ive been saying tair thehm litz

^^ I have been doing this for years too. I even asked on the 'how do you pronounce thread'!

There's a long video interview by Todd Burns at the Red Bull Music Academy site: well worth watching.

I saw *so* many ilxorz in teh bar after this show at the Royal Festival hall when Terre was Djing as Sprinkles= I wanted to say hey but I kept seeing people across big crowds and I was honestly so drunk and jetlagged at that point that I wasn't sure of myself. I think I saw:

Ronan
the Lex
M0Mus

is it true?

Were you guys there?

i was! i was also at your (hilarious) lecture earlier in the day - was gonna say hi but lots of students seemed to want to talk to you, and i had to go meet the PR. thought i saw ronan briefly too, had to scoot off early to write the review though. terre's a great guy and his set was a+, and a brilliant way to conclude a night like that.

Were the other acts good as well?

yeah, it was a great night - somewhat truncated rvw in today's guardian

This album is unbelievable, especially House Music is Controllable Desire You Can Own

yep I was there...really enjoyed henrik schwarz and you guys set drew, didn't feel the craig/oswald/tristano thing at all...thought it was quite bad.

huh-- i thought the schwarz thing was a bit unimpressive, it felt sort of limited by 4/4 and also had a kind of dull pleasantness to it that the occasional dissonance couldn't mask; whereas the craig thing i found utterly engrossing.

limited by 4/4
Here we go again...

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2550/3821421397_54c9ec2957_o.jpg

I'm all about 4/4, but I think the deal was that if people are sitting in chairs then there's a chance for a dynamic in the music that has nothing to do with killing / not killing a non-existent dancefloor, so seated venue shows might reasonably have more playfulness about how rhythms appear and dis-appear. There's a weird transaction going on when techno is played to people sitting down in a culture-bunker like the RFH, it's an interestingly "unfair" situation.

On my part, I was referring to this Four Tet - There Is Love In You (2010)

And certainly would have loved to be there.

oh, i've never read that four tet thread, sorry. The Craig was no less 4/4 than the Schwarz - it was just that I somehow noticed it more with the Schwarz, the music seemed much more tied to the beats' structure. Also, I guess, at some level I expect that sort of vaguely improv-y piano to have a lot of rubato and messing with time/tempo and it was acutely clear that that couldn't happen. Somehow the sax was able to move more freely and more interestingly.

a lot of the audience had kind of dancefloor expectations - you'd get people whooping when the music seemed to reach a peak, and then a kind of deflation. And quite a lot of talking. Lex and I were sitting next to some utter twats who kept talking all the way through - actually they stopped talking during Matmos at some point! but they just would not stop during the Carl Craig/Von Oswald, especially at any quiet point, and when I leaned over and said something like 'if you want to talk, could you do it in the bar?' they started up this 'ooh, it's a concert, you can't talk' gigglefest and oh god blind rage. (afterwards, I got the tube home from waterloo: at embankment they got on and sat down next to me.)

IMO it's the snare on the 2 which can use much more deviation from in house and techno. Schwarz got that afro-swing sometimes... yeah, more swing.

I thought Tristano's piano was just truly dreadful throughout, like nothing to do with the music, really shrill and horrible. Craig seemed to just add a hi-hat now and again. That whole section sounded better when it was just Von Oswald's drums but overall it was like a really desperate lunge at being jazz imo.

I thought Schwarz at least had interesting and clear ideas, and just musically it stood up and really had some emotion to it. Whereas I felt Craig and co was just unrehearsed noodling, which could of course be great but I really thought it was bad as did my friend. The hero adulation at the end just mystified me too.

zoom: get thee to the funky house skeptics thread post-haste

I thought the Craig/Von Oswald/Tristano set was pretty dull, as improvised music goes it was fairly lifeless and disjointed. Hugely talented studio musicians don't always perform miracles on stage. Matmos were really fantastic, fun and the builds were amazing. Schwarz and Wesseltoft were fine enough, Bugge's jazz piano and Henrik 'matching' on the Ableton "Schwarzonator" software. I'd prefer to see Bugge + band and Henrik DJ but that wasn't what the night was about. Terre played a really neat deep house set but all I kept thinking was how good it would have been at Plastic People or somewhere else.

i thought matmos were great too...not just saying that cos drew is posting here, i've never listened to matmos before but i enjoyed it.

suck up

max i enjoy your posts over at ile...and believe me i am a harsh critic of posts

new dj sprinkles/k-she thing is excellent!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UJhHCThmpxw&feature=related

so good

has the routes not roots stuff been rereleased? B2B was on the 1st one.

no just "b2b". other side is "hush now" from some mp3 only compilation

I am pleased as punch that the club I'm a partner in has Terre coming for his first US show in a loooong time:

Friday, July 9th

DJ Sprinkles
Morgan Geist

U Street Music Hall
1115 U St NW
Washington DC

Really excited to see him play, really curious to see what the audience demographics are.

I bet all the 'true' heads are trapped outside by the bouncer while their white labels are being spun on the decks.

Really excited to see him play, really curious to see what the audience demographics are.

― I DIED, Thursday, June 17, 2010 8:56 PM (37 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

ME

Took me so long to hear this but I absolutely love it. It greatly satisfies inner underground deep house homo thug.

MY inner blah blah

well, no. just, "i ain't you bitch *snap*. yo bitch is at home wit' your kids *snap*."

― And now my dick is where? Oh, this is too rich (the table is the table), Thursday, December 24, 2009 1:25 AM (5 months ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

in fact, when i give my MFA thesis reading in the spring, my friend is gonna yell 'bitch' at me from the audience, and i'm going to say just that.

― And now my dick is where? Oh, this is too rich (the table is the table), Thursday, December 24, 2009 1:26 AM (5 months ago)

i wanna know if this happened

btw has anyone heard any of these?

http://www.comatonse.com/releases/deeperama.html

This is a completely intuitive and therefore bullsh1ne way of thinking about it, but this record totally does what I wanted Pantha du Prince to do before I heard him, and does it better and renders PdP unnecessary to my ears.

^^ I'm interested in those, based on his lovely dj set at RFH London earlier this year. On a Terre note I got a copy of the G.R.R.L. album. It's really hard work, the only track I like is 'Face' which is on the You? Again? comp. I guess a lot has changed stylistically between 1997 and now. The future is drum and bass??? Maybeee not.

Probably goes on the Terre thread.

i ordered one this morning so i'll let you know when it gets here

please do!

this came today btw, just listening. the one i ordered was Pastime Paradise, his website describes it as

"Dawn mix (6:30am), a little heavier on the smooth, deep New York vibe, with some male vocals."

can't find a tracklist for it anywhere but so far it is awesome. male diva vocal house.

the night in DC was great. really stretched out, languid vibe. grand central mcde bassline mix sounded incredible on the u hall system!

he should come to LA

http://www.sounds-like-me.com/news/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/1986-Self-Portrait-1.jpg

holy crap...

Mille Plateaux Back-Catalog Once Again Illegally Uploaded Into Major Distribution Channels
An Open Letter To The Press

http://www.comatonse.com/writings/milleplateaux2010.html

July 31, 2010
To all members of the press,

I am shocked to say the original Mille Plateaux back-catalog has once again been illegally uploaded into major distribution systems, including Beatport, etc. I am led to believe they have been provided the content by the distributor IODA, from whom I am attempting to get specific information about the uploader. (I will update this page as soon as I have confirmed information.) This is devastating news for myself, as well as so many other Mille Plateaux artists who struggled for years to have the works removed from illegal distribution.....

i would def never buy any comatonse stuff w/o checking hard where my money was going

I'm curious as to how often this sort of thing happens, which just makes me happy that I steer clear of mp3 sites. I can only imagine what sort of seedy things you'd find out looking at Beatport's business practices.

> ^^ I'm interested in those, based on his lovely dj set at RFH London earlier this year. On a Terre note I got a copy of the G.R.R.L. album. It's really hard work, the only track I like is 'Face' which is on the You? Again? comp. I guess a lot has changed stylistically between 1997 and now. The future is drum and bass??? Maybeee not.
>
> ― mmmm, Friday, July 16, 2010 3:35 PM (3 weeks ago) Bookmark

In case you missed the promo-sticker-like yellow star on the back cover reading the album was "brought to you by the boardroom mentality that brought you Space Jam," or the liner notes saying "G.R.R.L. assures the audience that each track is produced with 110% cyncerity," G.R.R.L. was a parody album in which Terre sarcastically produced tracks in all the genres labels told her/him they wanted once s/he got out of her contract with Instinct Records. They were then all put onto a single album, making it un-distributable by distributors who always wanted to categorize dance releases under a single hyper-specific category (like just House or Techno or Drum and Bass). There is a kind of funny graphing of the various genres on the back cover. In some interview Terre talks about all this, and other strategies of failure as an anti-capitalist practice... kinda funny and interesting.

The inner notes also end, "In the spirit of music award show recipients, G.R.R.L. would like first and foremost not to thank God for making any part of this possible." :)

Read the "G.R.R.L.ifesto" here: http://www.comatonse.com/releases/grrl.html

Also worth noting that all the tracks are well produced - in typical Terre fashion, the sarcasm is intended to pass without scrutiny by those not in the know... as apparently mmmm's comments prove. ;) I know scanner used to sometimes DJ the minimal track (i think it's called Troll), and that China Doll (Kill all who call me...) track used to be played on the local college radio station sometimes... all the titles are kinds of sexual stereotypes or ways people might describe someone while cruising... also funny.

oh, and the beatport/mille plateaux problem seems to be over:
http://www.comatonse.com/writings/milleplateaux2010.html

so the k-she record that just came out is sick. really inspired talk talk sample

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TdOToCMKGgQ

looks like there's a new album due next year

I hope there is more new stuff, the two recent 12s only include one track (Double Secret) I don't recognise.

Terre on NPR! http://www.npr.org/blogs/therecord/2011/01/10/132765657/deconstructing-gender-politics-in-dance-music?ft=1&f=2

cool, does anybody have the LWE podcast btw?

ugh its p. tacky spamming msg boards w/ articles abt u

terre writes about the charity-marketing around japan's crises...

http://www.comatonse.com/writings/helpingwithoutrecompense.html

sooooooo terre was pretty damn awesome last night.

the new record is a re-release of routes not roots, though given that it was a japan-only vinyl release in 2006 it probably just counts as a new album, and it's AMAZING - even better than midtown 120 blues. "hobo train" is the most epic thing.

I like this:

youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mdGa4Oa2MaY

yeh, that's nice!

wish i'd manage to persuade someone to go to this

P.s. Routes Not Roots = would acquire.

wow, love these tracks. Anything house with an intro that talks about 'what house is' I love. Someone should do a mix of only these.

even better than midtown 120 blues

if this is true, hot damn. need to find a copy

I'm not sure it's better but it is as good. In fact, it's basically the same record.

Thanks for the tip on Routes on Roots, I didn't know about that one. Looks like you can get it cheap from Amazon.fr (at least if you live in the EU), so I ordered it right away.

A rare perfect rating on Resident Advisor.

Haven't gotten a copy yet (I'm hoping this review means local stores will actually stock it), but I can't say I'm surprised.

LOVE this. i can see why brotherlovesdub would say its the same record, but really while the sound palette is similar, i find it less langorous/ambient and more... well, idk if i would go as far as to say banging, but it finds a wonderful balance between melancholy and straight up rhythm+bass exhilaration. its not as fragile or wispy as midtown 120 blues and a few tracks really build up some momentum. i could def do without the 6min long interruption of "Stand Up", tho, i mean its interesting to hear it once, but i'll be skipping it from now on.

omfg B2B when the lush synth pads roll in ((((d-_-b))))

So, I'm thinking I prefer Midtown 120 Blues to this, but I wouldn't kick it out of bed for eating crackers...

it finds a wonderful balance between melancholy and straight up rhythm+bass exhilaration. its not as fragile or wispy as midtown 120 blues and a few tracks really build up some momentum. i could def do without the 6min long interruption of "Stand Up", tho, i mean its interesting to hear it once, but i'll be skipping it from now on.

agree on all of this - think this is why i prefer it to midtown 120 blues...

I was wondering, has Thaemlitz actually released much house music (or dance music in general) before these records? I bought one of his experimental electroacoustic albums on Mille Plateaux back in the 90s, and while the liner notes had some interesting queer polemics, the music was mostly boring as hell, which made me write him off for years. Looking at Discogs, most of his records are classified as "experimental" or "ambient", are there any gems among them? I really like "Between Empathy And Sympathy Is Time" as an experimental piece, but is the rest of Lovebomb as good?

The "You? Again?" compilation has a lot of dancier stuff that he released under other pseudonyms. It's great.

lol at that apache sample in the mix of june's lost area. works tho!

fav sprinkles thing (and one of my fav tracks of last year) was the remix of low point on high ground

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rrTApQIZU-U

"lovebomb" is largely more, uh, 'conceptual' pieces, not very much house action there. i second the 'you? again?' comp (those two tracks that sample "see line woman" especially)

very excited to hear this k-s.h.e. album

the video version of "lovebomb" available through comatonse is the one to get (and it comes with an audio cd, too). the visuals bring it together.

the "lost area" remix is so awesome

sprinkles' latest remix! the people doing these skylax videos are absolutely insane, haha!

<iframe title="YouTube video player" width="480" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/pJOZK0GQ4aU"; frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

oops - sorry

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pJOZK0GQ4aU

Just got Routes not Roots. Cross Town is so fucking marvelous. Is there an important distinction between the new release and the original 2006 version? There seems to be a new mix of Fuck the Down Low and Double Secret (Dub) instead of Double Secret. Is it worth tracking down the old one instead?

does the new double secret have a talk talk sample on it? if not then you should def get the earlier version.

No. it doesn't....hm. ok.

Oh no wait. Maybe it does.

saw him dj at love fever on 2nd of april. he was really really good. hardly anyone there had heard of him though, which was a bit strange tbh. was hoping to meet some homo house thugs.

ah how was that? - I went to Sud instead - quite a few people there seemed to have been at sprinkles beforehand

deep as you like! terre really got into it, was great to hear tracks from midtown on such a big system... would definitely go again. lost my phone at some point and one of the organisers called my friend the next day to say they'd found it :)

This love fever night - its a new thing, right?

that's the one i went to the other week. even the venue was quite nice!

http://www.lovefever.org/

Oh it was those that had the Larry Heard party - I went to something else that night as well:/

I really wanted to go to DJ Sprinkles thing a few weeks ago but had a load of tix for Schmulletover.. frustrating. He was good when playing records at RFH last year w/ Matmos and Moritz von Oswald etc...

Not sure of these are known about but;
Here's a great mix (if someone can spot the track coming in at 49 mins, please!) - http://www.clubberia.com/music/podcasts/2-CB-002-DJ-Sprinkles-a-k-a-Terre-Thaemlitz/

Another I haven't heard yet - http://www.madelikeatree.com/Pages/grrl.html

mmmm; sounds a lot like one of his own.

by the way, for anyone who likes midtown, also check out Terre Thaemlitz presents... You? Again? if you haven't already.

Love the parallax bros track in the clubberia mix - not sure what the 49 min one is - theres a moodymann amp fiddler track in there toward the end tho

> There seems to be a new mix of Fuck the Down Low and Double Secret (Dub) instead of Double Secret. Is it worth tracking down the old one instead?

the changes are not big. "fuck the down low (what's your secret mix)" literally only adds 30 seconds of a nice break within what otherwise sounds like the original, and "double secret (dub)" is just a bit more straight forward then the origina, which had a few more ambient breakdowns (but still always within dance range). but i guess the idea was just to make the old vinyl-only tracks on cd, and vice versa... more for hard fans.

re: clubberia podcast
> Here's a great mix (if someone can spot the track coming in at 49 mins, please!)

i love that record, too! b-side to manoo & francois a's "traffic ep"!!!

Thank you Beavis!

Just reading about the Love Fever parties. I HAVE to go to these, they sound like they could fill a void.

So does anyone else have Soulnessless yet?

There's a new album? Sweet. My boyfriend was gonna see them play in Brooklyn last week but it sold out.

midtown 120 <3

perfect hurricane music

great interview

http://www.sfbg.com/noise/2013/02/21/nite-trax-lost-mix-dj-sprinkles

yes it is. thx

Very.

love him/her

wow

classic thaemlitz. love the lady gaga take down, lol.

Has anyone heard the new mix album? I d/l'd a vinyl rip while I'm waiting for the CD to arrive, it's sounding niiiiiice

yeah, really really enjoying it. That Gene Farris track ('Good Times') is particularly delicious.

Loving this mix, and also this track.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_37o7I9sV8

That Gene Farris track ('Good Times') is particularly delicious is exactly what I came to say.

Having acquired Terre's new remix comp and mix cd, I'll say both are through and through ace all around. But that's no surprise, of course.

really into the ducktails remix

Queerifications & Ruins is insanely good. Loving this.

I'm gonna go out on a limb here, but: Terre Thaemlitz is the best and most important producer of the last 10 years.

Yeah, you're definitely out on a limb...

careful!

i got no respect for philosophers + the music is mostly boring so no i wouldn't say terre is that important

terre is very good at acting self important though

i'm interested in philosophy and what terre has to say, but i don't think it's particularly "important." i'd be curious to hear why someone does think so, though.

hard for me to accuse anyone of that (xp). i don't know about "importance" but i actually like the mix cd more than his productions, several of which i really like and am incredibly impressed by but i always feel like the sum is a little less than it should be given all of the stuff going on in his tracks, that there's something i'm looking for that isn't actually there. i sort of feel like he misses a basic benchmark of funkiness. in general. for me, personally. it isn't where he's at. there's an attitude, a softness, and a hallucinatory vision i hear in his tracks that i find really appealing but i just need more funkiness than that, it's what pleases my body, i'm too much of a sensualist to do without it.

i mean the bass is really fierce and trippy, but it doesn't have the kind of perpetual motion that's just there in, say, a theo parrish track. someone else you could accuse of being self-important if you wanted to.

theo is kinda insufferable in interviews esp w/r/t what constitutes real dj'ing

A bona-fide genius. The real deal. He's a really smart dude and isn't shy about offering his (informed) opinions. I can see why that might be offputting to some, but it doesn't make his music any less sublime.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=99yPUgvDhdY

Perhaps because I was kind of veering towards the "challops" side of things, I don't think I actually meant anything by important (since I have no idea how "important" s/he is in the grand scheme of things), but good lord have I fallen hard for Terre's work in the last 5 years.

wowowowow that remix comp is pretty special huh

Yup, I'm more psyched about it than the mix personally. There are cool things about 'Where Dancefloors Stand Still,' but I feel it works more in the mode of anonymity Tim IDs upthread.

Posted in the Bobbins thread, but if ya missed it here's my interview with Terre:
http://crackmagazine.net/music/dj-sprinkles/

dudes, for real, do you know this one? with the dialogue in the middle? is something else.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QoO0X0oXyLA

also stuff like this what the hell. ambient remix. i dig it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QGUZ4kkGdwM

i heard terre is on this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nls3MXiBdXM

oh actually it turns out it's a remix of this

http://www.discogs.com/DJ-Sprinkles-Mark-Fell-Complete-Spiral-EP/release/3611534

xxxpost yeah the Oh Yoko remix is excellent.

love complete spiral ( tho the remix of adultnapper is my fav sprinkles)

sprinkles' remixes, for example the stunning june - lost area (sprinkles' lost dancefloor), often remind me of holy ghost, inc. (most obviously their "a walk on air") - very atmospheric, with unsettling vocal fragments and active tribal percussion including the occasional breakbeat.

the remix comp is absolutely wonderful; the music is so beautifully detailed.

This thread has one of the best titles.

*THIS IS THE WAY ~WE~ JACK THE HOUSE*

― autogoon collective (The Reverend), Sunday, December 27, 2009 1:32 PM Bookmark

This record is SO expensive! I really want a copy but I am not rich/crazy.

It's being reissued soon so hopefully you can pick it up.

Here's a great interview with Terre by Lex

http://www.factmag.com/2014/04/29/deeper-underground-fact-meets-terre-thaemlitz-part-one/

awesome

tremendous as always, can't wait for the rest of it.

eh fact still stuck in 2003 with the enforced multipage articles to boost page views

think you mean 2013, the same year many had similar complaints about the heavy burden of clicking extra times because ad money pays salaries

h8 clicking

if thaemlitz had any political integrity at all she'd take a stand on this but no, not one EP. OVERRATED.

i was so disgusted i worked out the wear and tear on my mouse for 4 clicks, multiplied over the projected 4 parts of the article and sent FACT the bill

I read on mobile devices, so.. it's a pain in the ass.

zoom in on next button, click, oops, fat fingers clicked the wrong thing. go back start again. Flag. Lots more articles on mobile friendly sites since agggggges ago.

Oh man sorry, I had no idea :-(

thaemlitz's website has no ads and some similarly great pieces.

xp rmde

I've been listening to this record as much as ever. Can't wait to read this.

That's ok dickbait

a person who complains about a non-mobile-friendly website layout re a terre thaemlitz interview in an online music mag and then makes vague suggestions that they are being persecuted for being called out on how idiotic this is and then resorts to a homophobic slur is basically the blonde woman in the following story, which i really hope you'll read, it's edifying.

From
We Are Not Welcome Here
Address for "Charming for the Revolution: A Congress for Gender Talents and Wildness,"
Tate Modern, February 2, 2013
http://www.comatonse.com/writings/2013_we_are_not_welcome_here.html

Later that evening, while DJ-ing at the after party, I was harassed by a drunk, middle-aged, standardly attractive heterosexual woman with long blonde hair who had apparently walked through life without hearing the word, "No!" At least not in a night club. While I realize that may sound like a mysogynistic generalization, my years of experience as a DJ have shown the two types of people who never fail to give me trouble are heterosexual long-haired blonde women, and heterosexual middle-aged German men in casual blazers.

She began by asking me to play something by Madonna. I joked that she clearly did not know who I was (ref. my anti-Madonna tyrade in "Ball'r (Madonna-Free Zone)"). She persisted, moving on to request Billy Bragg and the Pogues. As I was in the midst of playing a deep house set, I asked why she would even imagine I had such music with me. She continued with her requests, and I kept explaining I didn't have the type of music she wanted to hear. It is amazing how people presume DJ's always carry an arsenal of mainstream pop records. Sorry, I don't play at coming out parties or wedding receptions.

After what must have been at least ten minutes, I finally said, "I guess my answer to your requests is, 'No!'" This did not go over well.

"What?!!"

"No! My answer is no!"

Total shock-face. "How dare you!"

I pointed to the day's curator Stuart Comer, who was standing a few meters away, and suggested she complain to him. Her response was, "Who's that? Your boyfriend? What are you, faggots?" I pointed once again to Stuart and she repeated her insult, at which point I began screaming at the top of my lungs, "Yes, that's right! We are all faggots! This is a faggot party! Where the fuck do you think you are? We - are - all - faggots - here! This - is - a - faggot - party!"

At this point, the staff and people on the floor began to realize what was happening, and moved her away - but she remained on the dancefloor flipping me off until closing time. The most disturbing thing was that she was accompanied by a WGM friend who could have been an attendee at the symposium. If so, and if you read this, get a new fag hag because your old one is broken. She clearly despises you - probably because you are the only person with a penis offering her the vapid emotional understanding she craves but cannot find in the drunk, heterosexual men with blonde hair she attempts to have meaningful relationships with. Both of your lives have been lived a million times.

err dickbait is his user name

anyway, I didn't mean to derail the thread. Was just pointing out that I'm surprised fact are still sticking their head in the sand with such a redundant style layout, especially for an online magazine with articles.

sorry mattresslessness, that didn't occur to me I was just going off of "clickbait"

sorry for the misunderstanding micarl.

He seems like a really intense interview subject.

Another recent excellent interview:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mWbA_1CoGJQ

Looking forward to reading Lex's later today when I have a sec.

Tremendous interview, Lex - must have been a lot of prep considering Terre's rigour.

http://lmgmblog.wordpress.com/2014/02/04/terrethaemlitzinterview/ another recent one (i haven't had a chance to read it yet).

thx for nice words everyone

Tremendous interview, Lex - must have been a lot of prep considering Terre's rigour.

she was intimidatingly intelligent tbh

Look forward to setting aside an afternoon to reading this in full. Terre's interviews and articles are always really great.

I was surprised that midtown 120 became so scarce. How much were copies going for online?

he's very generous with his intelligence though. I spoke to him in a bar after a queer festival and it's no-bullshit but inclusive at the same time. a pretty unique trait, i think.

great interview Lex, I'm looking forward to the rest of it.

Great line.

How is uploading tracks to YouTube and Soundcloud any different from dumping a box of 100,000 CD-R copies of your favorite track at the biggest shopping mall in town and just walking away?

How does this album keep getting better every time I listen to it, even years after release?

otm

otm otm, i keep bringing it back into the car with me. such a warm comforting vibe. and "the inevitable comedown" last track is the perfect closer, it's like BOOM ~~LIFT OFF~~~~ you are more powerful than you were before you pressed play.

lol by "the inevitable comedown" i meant "the occasional feelgood"

haa

wtf tickets to her july show at dance tunnel (london) sold out in TWO MINUTES.

this album got reissued by comatonse a couple weeks ago, if anybody needs a copy

Got the reissues and oh god they are good

not a single mention of this?!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CAjU_6yw2Gs

It was in everyone's EOY ballots last year.

my mistake.

no mention on this thread is what i meant.

Thanks for mentioning, amazing track.

She's in the Guardian today - http://www.theguardian.com/music/2014/oct/25/dj-sprinkles-terre-thaemlitz

“Audio consumption is always about a gap between producer and listener,” she said. “When I was growing up in the Midwest, I twisted things like Gary Numan, or Depeche Mode, or Kraftwerk to fit my experience. That’s a precondition of music, from the consumer side. And the fundamental relationship between me and audio is still as a consumer. It’s not as a performer; it’s not as a trained musician. I’m a consumer who’s basically making collages, and playing my record collection for people,” she said. “In the end, I’m suspect of all of it. I’m not turning to these genres because I think they’re so capable of expressing the issues at hand. In a way, I’m trying to point out that the real issues aren’t getting dealt with by simply enjoying the music.”

http://www.newyorker.com/books/joshua-rothman/depth-dance-floor-music-dj-sprinkles

Finally bought a copy of Midtown 120 Blues from the Comatonse website. If you're looking for a copy, they're cheapest here: http://www.comatonse.com/releases/shop_currency_usd.html#c022

Ho-ly shit. That New Yorker piece.

Got me listening to Sprinkles' remix of Oh, Yoko's 'Seashore' all day. What an amazing track! Didn't know Will Long/Celer was involved, let alone knowing about the existence of this remix. I feel so much richer than before having heard this. Truly amazing.

immediately always read the thread title as "Strictly 4 My Underground Home Depot House Thugs..."