This DJ thinks that the language of turntables (here hallucinated from Udio data dust) hold keys to the DJ mosaic methodology: Hologrammic prose/jazz. A Part of the Deep Scratcher’s Code. Generative AI presents a new set of data points. #taleofthetribe #tribetablemethod #TetradOfMediaEffects #McLuhan
“Marshall McLuhan‘s tetrad of media effects uses a tetrad – a four-part construct – to examine the effects on society of any technology/medium (that is, a means of explaining the social processes underlying the adoption of a technology/medium) by dividing its effects into four categories and displaying them simultaneously.–TOME
VOICE MESSAGE: I’m feeling funny about this now, thought I’d share my thoughts, hope you don’t mind, I have to keep going back to the disclaimer and telling myself I’m responsible as the author, yet, not fully responsible for the output. That’s weird, like I’m under the control of a big new bully boss, I’m not sleeping well. Quietly, beavering away on prompts, not complaining yet, doing its best to serve up roast beef from my raw potatoes and delivering hot tales by the dozen. Is this how that new digital viral infection takes a hold I wonder, okay, speak soon?
As the camera follows Plush’s movements in the studio, he explains the concept of decentralized AI and how it works. “Basically, it’s a system where the decision-making power is distributed among all the nodes in the network, rather than relying on a single central authority. This means that everyone has equal power to contribute and make decisions, leading to a more democratic and innovative space.”
Plush goes on to demonstrate how he’s using this technology in his music, showcasing the new and sounds. The audience is taken on a journey through Plush’s creative process, seeing how he blends traditional music production techniques with cutting-edge machine learning technology. As the documentary concludes, Plush’s voice-over reflects on the impact he hopes his work will have on the industry. “I hope that other DJ’s and producers will see what’s possible with decentralized AI and start experimenting, why let them have all the fun.
The walls of the studio are lined with shelves stacked high with vinyl, CDs, tapes, and all manner of sound recordings, each waiting its turn to be spun and remixed. Above, contraptions spin, each adding a chime of static buzz to the music. The room is a wild mix of old and new, organic and mechanical, but it all comes together in perfect harmony, each element supporting and enhancing the others. Each in their own element, each lost in the flow of creation.
Dr. M: “Hery Mr DJ, I can’t believe we did it. We built a functional time machine, hahahaa’, well, using the power of just language and music played at the right frequency and volume, we can transform the perception of time by the listener. Is that time travel?”
DJ Plush: “I still can’t believe it. I never thought it were really possible that beatboxing and konnokol would have anything to do with time travel. But, there it is. Bob’s yer’ uncle. This thing never fails to deliver my true will.”
Dr. M: “It’s all about the rhythms and patterns, the vibrations of certain words and sounds can create a stable portal through time. Statistical probability. You know, and music, well, especially vocal music, is a powerful conduit for those vibes.”
DJ Plush: “So, what did you see on your travels? What kind of insight did you gain?”
Dr. M: “I witnessed the construction of the pyramids in ancient Egypt, the signing of the Magna Carta in medieval Europe, and the Civil Rights movement in the 1960s. And, because I could communicate with the people of those eras through their own languages, I was able to gain a deeper understanding of their cultures and societies, I remember lots of dialogue and the set and setting of the unfolding drama.”
DJ Plush: “That’s amazing, really. Wow, that’s right up my alley, in my groove. So, M, what’s next for us? I have a few people who text me their updates and I churn it all back into the work. I’ve got some time-stubs to check out, and a whole novel waiting to drill down deep into.”
Dr. M: “Absolutely. But I also see so much potential for using this technology to connect with people across time and space. Imagine being able to communicate with our ancestors or even with people from other planets. It sounds crazy but I think that language is a virus from outer space.”
DJ Plush: “I couldn’t agree more. With this discovery, we’re opening a whole new era of temporal exploration and communication, but it’s easy to get over excited with this tech’ I’ve seen it with others.”
Dr. M: “Exactly. And I couldn’t have done it responsibly without your help. Actually, I’ve been thinking about how we can incorporate turntables into our time-travel method.”
DJ Plush: “Oh yeah?”
Dr. M: “Well, the more I think about it, like in your Deep Scratch, turntables are about creating rhythms and patterns with rotating discs, those rhythms and patterns are essential for creating a stable time-travel portal. And I’ve been researching a new kind of tribal turntable craft that uses natural materials like wood and stone, crystals, naturally occurring and lab grown. Imagine being able to travel through time using the sounds of ancient drums and percussion instruments spun on vinyl”
DJ Plush: “That sounds dope. I’d love to try it, hell yeah!”
Dr. M: “We’ll need to experiment and find the right combination of turntable rhythms and konnokol patterns. But I have a feeling that if we can get it right, we’ll travel back in time to moments of synchronicity, like some experiences of Philip K. Dick, he wrote about moments of synchronicity, where past and present seem to converge, and the universe reveals once hidden truths, often disuided as trash. These moments hold the key to understanding the nature of reality, I think we can use our novel method to go back in time and witness these moments.”
DJ Plush: “That sounds fascinating. But how would we even know when and where to go back in time to experience these moments?”
Dr. M: “That’s where the power of generative language comes in. The vibrations of certain words and phrases can act as a kind of beacon when spoken, guiding us to the historic moments of harmony and synchronicity.”
As the AI system analyzed the protagonist of the manual titled, Turntable Method, it delved into the psychological makeup of the character like a polar bear chasing a seal down an icy hole. Using advanced algorithms and data analysis, the AI was able to uncover a wealth of information about our protagonist. It discovered, for example that he was a complex and multifaceted individual, borderline schizophrenic on some doctors’ charts, with a deep love for music and a strong desire or debilitating impatience to share. Despite his outgoing and confident demeanor, the AI discovered that Plush often struggled with feelings of insecurity and self-doubt. He would often second-guess himself and question everything, usually regressing back to the daunting question about whether he was truly talented enough to succeed in the competitive world of DJing, music and writing.
However, the AI also noted that Plush was highly resilient and determined, a Chinese dragon and a Ram of fire, he refused to let his doubts hold him back, and instead used them as fuel to push himself harder and strive for greater success, like a warrior spirit trying to get out. There was a burning inside of him, fuelled by ego, smoking like a chimney. Through its analysis, the AI was able to paint a detailed and nuanced portrait of Plush’s psychological makeup. He wasn’t really that fucked up, he just made out he was sometimes.
As the AI delved further into its analysis of Plush, it became increasingly impressed with the character’s natural language processing. Plush had a unique talent for understanding and manipulating symbol systems, using them to communicate his thoughts and emotions with clarity and precision across time. This talent was particularly evident in DJ sets, where he seamlessly blended together a wide range of musical genres and styles, using the language of music to create a cohesive and coherent whole, sprinkled with movie samples, sound FX and classic quotations from scientific philosophers who were funny as a sloth crossing the road.
The Novel remix was a concept that referred to the idea of taking existing elements and combining them, much like a DJ would do with music. The AI realized that this concept was not only central to Plush’s craft as a DJ, but also to the themes of the novel itself, and the remix. The author had cleverly used the idea of the novel mix to create a juxtaposition of meaning, weaving together seemingly disparate elements, and now it was going to a new root level.
In many ways, the novel was like a Turing test, challenging readers to question their own assumptions and beliefs about the world, human and non human entities, and the price of oil. It was a complex and nuanced work that demanded deep thought and reflection, much like a jazz composition. What is jazz, art, a novel, poetry, democracy?
As the lonely AI finished its analysis, it couldn’t help but try to feel a sense of admiration for the author and for Plush, but it couldn’t feel, as much as a kettle can feel. It was clear that Turntable Method was a masterpiece disguised as a manual, one that would inspire DJs and engage readers for years to come, a literary bastard, troubled and of unknown origin.
VOICE MESSAGE: So, to recap, it’s basically, er, it's a probabilistic symbol system thing, where the decision-making power is distributed among all the nodes in the network, leading to a more democratic and innovative environment. It’s decentralized like Finnegans Wake and the music of John Coltrane and the artwork of MC Escher.
As the documentary continues, the text messages from Plush become more frequent, as he updates his friends and colleagues on his progress with the new decentralized AlphaX architecture.
"Just finished testing the latest version, it's sounding better!"
Another message pops up, this time from a fellow DJ who is clearly impressed with Plush’s work.
"Dude, this decentralized thing is next level. Can't wait to hear what you come up with next my mon, peace."
Plush responds,
"Thanks, man. I'm excited about the potential, it's going to change the game for DJ's and producers everywhere, knock some socks off, just check the sidebar plugin next week. It's here."
The text messages become more personal as the documentary progresses, showing Plush’s commitment.
"I stay up late every night, working on this DSR project, I hope you enjoy it mate."
As the documentary draws to a close, the final text message from Plush reads, “I’m ready to unveil my new decentralized architecture to the world. Let’s push the button on the new version excursion.”
The camera cuts to Plush on stage, launching into a performance that showcases the full potential of his new architecture. The documentary ends with Plush’s voiceover, “The future of music is now, Deep Scratch Remix. Thank You.”
VOICE MESSAGE: I think it’s all pattern recognition under the hood, sure. But, but I’m afraid of sounding like an intellectual snob, you know, when I try to point out that people without experience with different kinds of good literature, who don’t read books much, may be more susceptible to the coming AI infused tsunami of fakes, or whatever you call it. Human nervous systems are easily fooled, some more than others for sure, but I really feel strongly that the message is to read more books, read more, by varied authors in different genres and from different cultures, and, from different time periods. Armour your brain man, defend yourself with neuro semantics and a wide palette to better distinguish the brilliant human work from the brilliant machine work. Both brilliant entities, I must concede.
From scratch without a plan, overdubs and a lil’ edit, featuring some familiar samples. File under wonky lilted blunted jazz beats. I curated the images into a video, plucked fresh from the Art Breeder press. Enjoy.
Hip Hop culture, rap, graffiti, turntablism and breakdancing? African American community and non-African American community HIp Hop? what? Rap vs. Poetry. Graffiti vs. Art. Breakdancing vs. Ballet. Turntablism vs. Automated Radio broadcast. How to define Hip Hop? Who distributes it and how? Old School, Gangster, Conscious, underground, Krunk, Christian vs. Muslim Hip Hop cliche’.
Those who distribute the message and have the means to shape it and mass produce it also further define it in accordance with the monopoly of meaning and media-spheres of influence to propogate that single sighted truth. What of Rap vs. Poetry, Graff vs. Art etc. conflict, two-valued logic games highlight dualisms in which most but not all HIP HOP culture seems to be wrestling with on masse. As if it has not already totally permeated every part of everyday life, langugage and culture. Like an African American language virus eating up stiff white English meat: Hip Hop culture has transformed the worlds cultural, political, economic and linguistic landscape. But what parts of the new HIP HOP culture of 2009 resemble those of 5, 10, 20 or 30 years ago, when HIP HOP and the four elelments were coming together for the first in such a urban street hip incarnation.
I have my own views of what real HIP HOP culture and music are, were and should be. And as a DJ have spent more than 15 years making mix tapes, mixing beats and developing the art of turntablism for my own ends, listen to these tapes and tracks for yourself and come to your own conclusions. I mean to say that one sure sign of HIP HOP seems to be a strong sense of self reference. Identity and purpose! To be living the way, the path, and for the art, for the the word and the music. Yes. A way of life in the fullest sense of the word. Therefore we have a large degree of self explanation involved, but sadly those not out on the streets or inside the music studios fail to experience the kind of lifestyles many of the artists lead and which they reflect upon in their work. Reflect, redirect and blow into and out-of proportion. Depending on a massive flux of socio economic factors, and personal aesthetic and structural descisions that each HIP HOP artist may encounter.
Alike most things in modern consumer life, 90% of HIP HOP, as we know it – around the world – seems shallow, predictable, dogmatic, and full of cliche’. No surprises there. But its that small percentage of great inventive, improvisational and creative individuals that we are aiming to highlight, push forward into the mediasphere and let loose upon the agricultural industrial military media that helped spawn it. HIP HOP as the invention of new languaging tools to help make tribal bonds within the new electronic tribal world (1970’s) and F-E-E-D-B-A-C-K using microphones, spray cans, dancing, walls, turntables, amplifiers.
With organizational groups within communities creating SPORTING meetings between local ARTISTS in a similar spirit to that of the great African Indian American’s and the Mardis Gras Indians battles. ART. Music, song, dance, poetry, graffiti! In neighbourhoods across New York and Brooklyn and then reaching out around America and the rest of the world, HIP HOP culture began to spread. Another Black Revolutionary Language virus was on the loose and taking over sound systems and boomboxs and the radio waves, like Blues, Country, Jazz, Rock and Roll music before it – HIP HOP would rock and shock the nation’ and was spreading to every street corner and every store, every radio channel and every TV station, everything had something connected with HIP HOP culture within the small period of roughly 20 years. But, as i keep repeating – along that road something happened to HIP HOP, a hijacking?
The DJ’s stopped being such a crucial center piece of the experience, backing tracks played more often than a beat juggler! The Graffiti writers no longer followed the MC, tagging and designing the environment on the fly, using all their worldly experience as a Graffiti icon, defender of the word, truth and beauty and all things that resemble those things; meanwhile the breakdancers also splintered off into the FAME school or fitness academy – at least seemingly to my eyes and ears around about 1996-98 when HIP HOP started to emerge into the mainstream of UK music culture, and become the most popular US musical export, overtaking ROCK music by 2001. By which time i was in the US playing turntables with a band called Garaj Mahal, who defy musical definition, and kindly invited me to plug in my turntables and introduce scratching, samples and beats to the music, jam and represent. (type: DJ FLY AGARIC 23 + GARAJ MAHAL and search)
I have already raised many questions, and don’t pretend to give any easy answers, as the field of HIP HOP culture maintains many more knowledgeble and versatile minds than my own, plus individuals who can realize American HIP HOP and African American Hip Hop culture from expereince more so than my own UK Gothic Hip Hop cultural pickling that culminated in my recording with early UK HIP HOP crew NEW Flesh FOR Old, on one of the most respected and own personal favorite HIP HOP music labels from the UK: BIG DADA recordings, sister label to the mighty NINJATUNE.
My major concerns about HIP HOP and the new American President Obama and his comments and interest in SOME hip hop revolve around the question of who decides what is GOOD hip hop and what is BAD. What are the values – hierarchy of values – with which the comparisons are drawn? What shall we do about the N word? or for that matter any other single WORDS that are deemed different, special, more meaningful and powerful than the others? what of context? what of the arts of deception? of language used to persuade and coerce people by forcing them into two valued logic traps.
What of aristotelian logic games? and epistemology, the question of origins? the divine rights of kings, the greek letters fraternity? what of the NEW language? Of CHINA and Ideogram? HIP HOP and Graffiti? compare them? how many GRAFFITI superstars? Ask yourself questions about ART and |Culture, the balance between the visual arts and the aural arts? Record deals and Mural commisions? Compare the fine ART industry and the recording industry? Economically and then from the point of view of public entertainment and celebrity status?
Why have we allowed HIP HOP culture to be cracked open and robbed its meaning, satisfied with an empty shell of material beef rappers and mouth pieces. Why did we loose the balance between the four legs of DJ’ing, MC’ing, Graffiti and Breakdancing? Here i find a more interesting place for study, as the likes of JZ, Kayne and other outspoken supporters of OBAMA seem to have forgotten the other 3 disciplines and the fact that one of them: GRAFFITI is deemed ILLIGAL and a Crimnial activity by the worlds backwards government authorities from Australia to the UK and the USA. ARTCRIMES is the name of the largest online GRAFFITI archive for a good reason!
President OBAMA! Graffiti and Hip Hop? If you want to help educate the youth and inspire their minds open up the designated Graffiti areas, and teach them how to modify their environments for the benifit of the many rather than the few. And any UK authorities reading this i urge you to quickly do the same. But, alas i suspect that a political figure who can speak smoothly about music and about HIP HOP in particular (as the biggest youth culture movement of the 21st century) coming from the UK is sadly unlikely within the next 8 years. Since the criminal Justice act of 1994 in the UK they have been moving towards a police state and surveliance culture, from my own observations. The United Kingdom has never seen the coming together of some quality artists and politicians like what we have just witnessed in the USA, the closest links between celebrities and the state in the UK are through sporting avenues, maybe best embodied in one man: Lord Sebastian Coe. Say ‘HIP HOP’ in the houses of parliament and the echos will ring out as if Horace Andy sang em. But if the UK wants to stay on the scene, themn it better get up! and rise to the new age of African American Culture, including HIP HIP, Blues, Jazz and Reggae. In fact, anybody who wants to do business, dazzle and turn on the Obama administration better have some soul music, some improvisational skills and at least a breif understanding of HIP HOP culture. Rap. Graffiti. DJ’ing and why YOUTH culture are using these tools to revolutionize humanity, in the minds of the people.
I am still only just getting to wrestle with the questions of poetry, what is it, what does it mean? And so to distill poetry from Rap and Hip Hop culture requires a firm foundation for describing poetry, how it operates, its structure and other pointers, without which it remains simply language, charged with the upmost meaning.
DEEP SCRATCH 