Tag Archives: Turntablism

Free Turntablism

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The best way I can think of to describe the work of dj sniff is “free turntablism” as in “free jazz”. That said, like a good free jazz musician, he clearly knows and anticipates every move he makes with precision. His work is more often angular and arrhythmic than not, and was entirely engaging for me as a listener. Currently dj sniff is involved with STEIM (Studio for Electro-Instrumental Music, Amsterdam) as their Artistic Director, curating events while lecturing and performing regularly on behalf of the studio. I recorded this brief segment of his set at the Bedlam Theatre in Minneapolis during his performance for Spark on February 19, 2009.

dj sniff at Spark

Zhiguly

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I stumbled across this gem, that was recorded during a jam session between myself on Rhodes, Nils Westdal on bass, and Kyle Herskovitz (DJ Zenrock) on turntables. This session happened more than four years ago on March 11, 2004.

I couldn’t stop myself from messing about with it until I got this simple 0:22 second arrangement. I automated a filter on the Rhodes as well as running it through an amp modeling plugin and then topped it off with a touch of ping pong delay.

The main thing that attracted me to this archive was the skillful turntablism of Mr. Herskovitz. I have been fortunate to work with him off an on for more than a decade. Kyle is the most talented, creative and dedicated DJ and turntablist I have ever heard or worked with, so I have included a solo snippet of his track from this session so you can hear some of his magic on its own.

By the way, the photo is from a video installation we produced. It was performed during a show at the convention center in Minneapolis on a co-bill with Keston and Westdal and Zenrock last year.

Zhiguly

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