Not too long ago, I popped by Eli's new club where he was DJing vinyl. He played a track from the early '80s—I think it was Kraftwerk, which sounded amazing and bassy in the middle of the dance floor. I had a feeling sweep over me as I realized how many people had heard that exact piece of music, all the places around the world Eli had taken that exact piece of vinyl and how many people had experienced it. That was a deeply spiritual moment for me.
In 2024, it's not just DJs -- most of us work digitally almost all the time, and something is lost in the instant replication of files. A meme can spread like wildfire, but it doesn't compare to the literal feeling of passing a physical book among friends, where you can feel the energy of how the book was interpreted and handled by others.
Really interesting post, thanks James! As someone who’s only dabbled with DJing in vinyl format, the possibilities of today’s kit are pretty mind-blowing. But I like your rationale for switching back to all-vinyl sets. I think as humans we are better programmed to curate and consume something finite - whether that’s a book or a bag of records - than we are at dealing with almost infinite possibilities. It’s why you can always find something to listen to in a box of records but often wonder what to pull up on Spotify... Paradox of choice I guess. Must be even harder to deal with for a DJ!
Not too long ago, I popped by Eli's new club where he was DJing vinyl. He played a track from the early '80s—I think it was Kraftwerk, which sounded amazing and bassy in the middle of the dance floor. I had a feeling sweep over me as I realized how many people had heard that exact piece of music, all the places around the world Eli had taken that exact piece of vinyl and how many people had experienced it. That was a deeply spiritual moment for me.
In 2024, it's not just DJs -- most of us work digitally almost all the time, and something is lost in the instant replication of files. A meme can spread like wildfire, but it doesn't compare to the literal feeling of passing a physical book among friends, where you can feel the energy of how the book was interpreted and handled by others.
Really interesting post, thanks James! As someone who’s only dabbled with DJing in vinyl format, the possibilities of today’s kit are pretty mind-blowing. But I like your rationale for switching back to all-vinyl sets. I think as humans we are better programmed to curate and consume something finite - whether that’s a book or a bag of records - than we are at dealing with almost infinite possibilities. It’s why you can always find something to listen to in a box of records but often wonder what to pull up on Spotify... Paradox of choice I guess. Must be even harder to deal with for a DJ!