spinning drum blog

Well, I’m back after days immersed in my new site nexialist online: getting the basic format done, learning css and upgrading photoshop skilz. Practice has gone down to about two and a half hours, but remains a solid excursion into my musical mind. As my life is busy with numerous demands, I remember the old adage for the temporal challenged, quality not quantity is what counts.

As usual, I am spending most of time juggling and scratching, and a daily routine consists of composing some drum tracks via an hour of juggling then finding interesting scratch routines to go along with them. These basic rhythms I arrange are rewarding in that practice now consists of working with mainly original beats, rudimentary of course, but as a student of turntablism, it is an exciting stage to be at.

Still a happy selectah though, I have a gig coming up called Luminance, which will be a marriage of music, dance and film, and I’m excited to be part of the project. I have an opportunity to mix in with the film as well as create a dj set appropriate to the clip which plays just before my set. The rest of the line-up, which consists of Kytami, Tarun and Shen amongst others, is stellar, and it will no doubt be a night to remember.

So as I pick my records my thoughts are on afro-centric rhythms. Still beholden to the four four, I am exploring the layers of congas and djembes over the drum machine. I have a cd of Doudou Ndiaye Rose called Djabote . The rhythmic genius goes without stating. It is nothing but drum and voice – choruses of drums and choruses of voices. In general the melodic components are few and far between, but the drums are enough to engage the listener for over an hour. I am a little byass of course as I spend hours listening to the simplest beats, but what i’ve noticed is the way a fluid drum loop begets a melody, almost creating it in the audio space surrounding the beat. I suppose it’s harmonics of some sort, but it is clearly evident in turntable drumming, and I am interested to know if drum kit and hand drum devotees find the same thing?