The gift of music in 2007…er…2008?
I have a sneaking suspicion that my Secret Santa done found me out. Strictly speaking, the gift I received was not a “tool”–it was a record (and still is) and you need a turntable to “use” it. As luck would have it, my SL-1700 was at the ready.
Once upon a time, my Secret Santa was a DJ. He wrote in a rather lengthy accompanying letter:
“Higher State of Consciousness” is considered one of the definitive tracks in both my ’scene’ time AND as what Acid Breaks are. It is a prime example of what intelligent experimentation can rustle up.
And so it is. Josh Wink is a Philadelphia-born-and-raised Acid Breaks DJ. He broke out in 1995 with a handful of hits. Higher State of Consciousness, the 12″ single I was given, peaked at #8 on European dance charts. Last year (that’s 2007, kids), a remix by Dirty South topped UK Dance Charts, and the original maxi sits at the 80 spot on Rate Your Music’s Esoteric Singles of 1995, after Mariah Carey’s “Fantasy” (a nostalgic linchpin of mine) but blessedly before “Possum Kingdom”.The impression I get is that “Higher State” is a track that requires no introduction. Seminal. Classic. Genre-defining. A must-know anthem for any respectable wax manipulator. But a DJ I am not. How is this tool useful to me?For years I’ve avoided artists who fall under the much-bemoaned umbrella called “Techno”, opting instead for underground, down- or no-tempo and ambient IDM like Boards of Canada and Bexar Bexar and, god bless me, Squarepusher. And, to its credit, the “Intelligent” part of that genre certainly tickles the synapses. But–ahhhhh hell. I got it all backwards.This little white girl had to go to University to learn how to dance. I was obliged to tweak the muscles in my brain for years, believing myself more enlightened, even happier, a musician for it. I forgot how Meat Beat Manifesto implored me to be set free. I skipped over the Eurobeat ballads on Bjork’s Debut and struck the word “House” from my vocabulary (though I left “four on the floor” sulking quietly in the back).But man. After all those years of sitting stagnant, not picking up a guitar, not tuning past 101.1 on my radio dial, and not being old enough to hang with my boyfriend and his cadre, all much older than I and who, just as soon as I turned 21, quickly got over their infatuation with da cluhh, I forgot my roots. I forgot that I loved riffs and grooves, and that the right tempo on the kick drum could mesh like gears with my heartbeat.
So I un-tape this cardboard monstrosity. I read the letter. Dreading my Secret Santa had it in for me, and “techno” was his weapon of choice, I take about a week to put the damn thing on. I sit down at my computer, ready to work. And I’m working. And there’s a big old scrub on the A side, but the beat is moving right along. And I’m moving with it. And I’m working to it.
I’ll be damned. A hook, a drum track and a vocal sample was all I needed to start feeling good, to get my body moving; to put me in the zone; to get my work done in record time; to get this article to you; to put dance and music back together. I guess you could say it put me in a higher state of…appreciation.
Thanks, “Secret” Santa! However unorthodox the means, this was a Gift Swap success.
Tags: Special Features
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