Turntablism

Originating Location: US

Originating Era: 1970s

Key Artists

 * Kid Koala
 * DJ Spooky
 * DJ Shadow
 * Mix Master Mike
 * Otomo Yoshihide
 * Christian Marlay
 * Philip Jeck

Key Albums

 * Kid Koala - Carpal Tunnel Syndrome
 * DJ Spooky - Celestial Mechanix: The Blue Series Mastermix
 * Otomo Yoshihide / Les Scuplteurs Des Vinyl - Memory And Money

Genre Description
Turntablism is a genre of music based on the manipulation of vinyl discs on a turntable -- sounds simple enough. This can include scratching as well as sampling. There are two main schools of turntablism -- hip-hop based turntablism, which often creates beats out of the sounds of scratching and the samples/loops, and noise based turntablism, which grew out of the school of musique concrète and places an emphasis on collage of disparate elements, as well as just the noise of scratching/loops. In a way, both are similar to the tape-based work of many other artists, including acts like Negativland, though they use a different media for much different results, which are typically much more musical as well. Hip-Hop based turntablism, however, does not describe all DJs -- only the ones who actively participate in the playback of the records and use it as an instrument; not just the ones who tend to let records play (though there are fewer of those these days).

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