Next month sees the release of a collaboration between Trojan Records and DJ Spooky called DJ Spooky Presents: 50,000 Volts of Trojan Records
* There’s a lot of genres with huge libraries out there – what attracted you to Trojan’s catalog?
Trojan set the tone for alot of dj’s out there. Aside from Chris Blackwells Island Records, they were probably one of the best known Jamaican labels – the funny thing is that they both started out of the same warehouse in London, and everything went from there. I collect old records, so the basic vibe for me was to figure out how to flip the material to showcase alot of producers techniques. Lee "scratch" Perry and King Tubby were masters of the dub tradition, but Perry also produced alot of Bob Marley, so how do you balance that? The list goes on, but you get the idea: alot of hip-hop came out of the same time period, and I just wanted to focus on the origins of the styles.
* Why reggae? Are we witnessing a resurgence in reggae and dub?
I think people are bored with alot of the mainstream stuff they’ve been spoon fed, and I think that means people are listening to stuff with new ears. Also, Itunes and all the downloading culture stuff has opened peoples ears too. In the last 10 years, we’ve come a long way to get out side mainstream stuff, and this is just the beginning. Reggae just filled out around the world, and became the dominant non-American underground sound. Anywhere you go, you’ll hear reggae. I think it’s just something people relate to on a fundamental level.
* You seem to be an advocate of mash-up culture. What’s your take on this creative movement?
No doubt, for me, progress – cultural, social, political – means that people are going to have to face the fact that we’re a mixed culture, and mash-ups are the sonic equivalent of the kind of flipped out mixed world we live in. Once things get digital, anything goes. Mix John Holt with Bjork, why not? Flip Ravi Shankar into a track with Lee "Scratch" Perry, sure… Anyway, that’s my philosophy. It breaks down how we think of control – kids all over the world are growing up with this kind of mentality, and I just think dj culture is the tip of the ice berg.
* Copyright is in much focus. On one hand, some say that as artists live older now their work needs to be protected for longer; on the other hand, some argue that copyright restricts creativity; and there are plenty of arguments in-between. What’s your take on the copyright issue?
My basicc motto these days is simple: the way the law is written and the way we live are parting ways. The way reggae was working in the 1960’sa nd 70’s – people bought and sold rhythms – is the way we live in the era of the downloadable file. Soundfiles are kind of like dubs – you flip ‘em and create a new style from old. The vibe is about sound-as-ecology, you look at the way we create as part of an ecosystem, and the rest falls in place. Copyright law is about making sure the system works, and I think that the original intent is solid, but the system has been really distorted by alot of things – it’s a long story. But don’t get me wrong – I think that things can be advanced, and more more transparent, and that would make alot of lawyers mad at me!
* We’ve seen how the democratization of video tools and distribution has made everyone a video director. Are we at the same stage with music? Will there be a distribution platform for mash-up and user-generated music as big as YouTube?
It’s all going to be on-line in one way or another, and that means access is part of the creative process. Just being to be on-line doesn’t mean you’ll be creative, but if your community values things – whether you’re a student, a teacher, a professor, a club promoter – then trading files, giving material away as promotion, all will be part of how people absorb the culture of exchange that networks are fundamentally based on. A network is about transmitting and receiving information. So is reggae! It’s just a slightly different angle on the way people build community based on information. If it ain’t got that swing, it don’t mean a thing.
* Thank you
DJ Spooky Website
Trojan
DJ Spooky Presents: 50,000 Volts of Trojan Records On Amazon
Sneak track (mp3)
Facebook
Twitter
Digg
Reddit
StumbleUpon
