Four Things #7
Four things #7..
Working with brands as an independent artist always warrants a healthy amount of caution, and I do worry sometimes about the role of sponsorship in the arts in general. But in the case of Yadastar's 20 year long tenure with Red Bull as the "Red Bull Music Academy", it's pretty safe to say that the amount of positive energy (and financial means) injected into this scene by them will be sorely missed. Last week saw the end of this collaboration, and although Red Bull will remain active as a sponsor for festivals and the like, the much more constructive journalistic work RBMA provided will not be continued. As a final parting gift, RBMA has archived the 400 lectures, 1500 articles and 6000+ (!!) radio shows it has produced between 1998 and 2019 here for you to dig into, a vast and incredibly valuable archive of the world of (electronic) music. Honestly, apart from perhaps the work the Smithsonian does on historical musicology, I can't really name a collection like this.
For this edition of Four Things, I picked four excellent RBMA lectures from their vast archive, and jotted down some thoughts on them, because it's my news letter and I can do whatever the hell I want :) Back to normal proceedings next week, tell your friends to subscribe and check out the archive https://tinyletter.com/Martyn-Deykers.
Martyn,
Nov 5, 2019
FIRST THING: JEFF MILLS (RBMA BERLIN 1998)
The very first Red Bull Music Academy lecture was held in 1998, with techno originator Jeff Mills. I came across this interview only recently and loved how Jeff is so much more open hearted and accessible here than in later interviews. He speaks candidly about the early days of Detroit techno, Underground Resistance and about his DJ'ing. This is long before "the Art of DJ'ing" where DJing is sometimes mythologized into something much more elevated than it actually is. I found that most of the real greats actually approach their trade in an almost holistically simple way. Mills talks about what he comes across as a touring DJ and how he continually manages to rock crowds to their core. Hosted by Yadastar co-founder Torsten Schmidt. https://www.redbullmusicacademy.com/lectures/jeff-mills-lecture
SECOND THING: DJ SPINN & RASHAD (RBMA MADRID 2011)
This is probably my favorite Red Bull Music Academy lecture. Chicago DJ's Spinn & Rashad take the audience (and the interviewer) through their own incredibly engaging oral history of Chicago music and connect all the dots between the earliest Fast Eddie records to Steve Poindexter to Ghetto House to Juke and Footwork. Everything makes perfect sense with the two reminiscing about DJ'ing at teen raves to making tracks for footworking battles. While most lectures in the archive focus on certain artists and their body of work, what makes this particular interview more valuable in my opinion is that it's almost an anthropological document of a highly localized music and scene. Add to it that Rashad's story is now forever lost (he passed away in 2014). It just makes me happy that this is available for everyone to watch. https://www.redbullmusicacademy.com/lectures/dj-rashad-dj-spinn-windy-city-boom
THIRD THING: DIGITAL (RBMA ROME 2004)
Similar to the Jeff Mills lecture, this interview with the OG drum 'n bass dub warrior Steve Carr aka Digital, has that very down to earth, relaxed manner about it that has made watching RBMA lectures so inspiring. Where magazine interviews or TV features are often a bit more calculated and contrived, the lecture setting, a knowledgeable interviewer, artist hanging in the couch, laid back crowd vibes, makes it possible to discuss the artistic process more matter-of-factly. And I think what that does, is make the listener / participant feel like it's more attainable. I have myself walked away from a lecture thinking "I'm gonna go home and do this." What i learned from knowing Steve over the years, is you don't have to make everything dramatic, keep it simple, honest and straight forward.. Just do it and don't bother about scene politics and other distractions. Especially refreshing today as it sometimes seems people's careers are stifled by expectations from the outside world. https://www.redbullmusicacademy.com/lectures/digital-roots-rocker
FOURTH THING: TONY VISCONTI (RBMA MADRID 2011)
Feeling like a career in music is 'attainable' is obviously a little bit more difficult when you are listening to the producer of (amongst many, many others) T-Rex and David Bowie! Tony Visconti's body of work is essential listening for anyone who's involved in music period but in electronic music in particular. And although he doesn't expand on technical aspects much, his approach to producing records and getting the best out of artists with a wide variety of personalities are easily translated to other settings, and therefor very inspiring and educating for anyone. Great interview by Benji B as well who has been responsible for several really well researched and insightful lectures. https://www.redbullmusicacademy.com/lectures/tony-visconti-1
I have a few "honorable mentions", lectures I enjoyed a lot but not in my top 4: Wally Badarou, Sheila E, Chris and Tina from Tom Tom Club. And here's my own (extremely tired) lecture with Benji B from 2011.