Thanks to everyone who came out to the Beatrix*Jar CD release party on Friday. I was only able to stay for a little while, but while I was there I saw a LOT of people enjoying themselves. Some Assembly Required will be sponsoring a music festival this month, and participating in a DJ series at Rosalux Gallery all summer, so stay tuned to the Some Assembly Required website for more information about things to do this summer!
This week's SAR Q&A is with dj BC, which is perfect as this week's podcast (episode 86 - uploading as we speak) has a Beatles theme. We did a Beatles theme previously, so this is the 2nd stab, but as we're working backwards through our 2nd year in syndication, at the moment, we have yet to podcast the first one. A special feature this episode is another segment by Dolores Dewberry, who presents a couple of sample-based tracks by The Beatles, right alongside 10 tracks by sound collage artists who are primarily sampling The Beatles.
So, why is it perfect that dj BC is the focus of the SAR Q&A this week? Well, because dj BC put out a record called dj BC Presents the Beastles, which is a mashup album combining The Beatles and The Beastie Boys. Looking at his website, I see he's already got a followup to this release, titled Let it Beast, which I can only assume is another Beatles/Beastie Boys Mashup concept record focusing on the Beatles album, Let it Be.
dj BC is Bob Cronin, from Boston, Massachusets. He's done some remixes as well, and together with Luke Enlow (fellow Mashup artist Lenlow) hosts a couple of different Mashup parties every month, in the Boston area. He's gotten positive attention from Newsweek, Rolling Stone and the Boston Globe and the not-so-positive kind of attention which forced him to remove the files for dj BC Presents the Beastles from his website, just like Danger Mouse's Grey album (an album which inspired dj BC to produce the Beastles record). He's also available to spin at your wedding or college party! Without further ado, here's the SAR Q&A with dj BC...
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*Name: dj BC
*Are there any additional names used to describe this project: dj BC is my DJ name. The Beastles is the name of my Beasties vs. Beatles project (2 albums) and Glassbreaks is the name of another album (Philip Glass vs. hip-hop) while Mash Ave is the name of the mash-up night I host with compadre Lenlow.
*Do you use a pseudonym? Sort of, not really. I don't try to hide my identity much.
*Members: Just me. Robert M. Cronin Esq.
*Founding Member: The Beatles, The Beastie Boys and me.
*Tape manipulations, digital deconstructions or turntable creations: Digital reworkings -
ie Mashups!
*Another genre descriptor: Mashes. Mashups. I haven’t thought much about new terminology, to be honest!
*Location: Boston, MA! Slummerville represent.
*Original Location: Mashachusetts.
*What is your creative/artistic background: High School Theatre, show choir and chorus, bass in a punk band, first electronic music studio work in college, about 1993. Started recording pieces using a 4-track about that time and made my first beats using a guitar delay pedal as a sampler/sample trigger/looping mechanism.
*History: About 10-15 years I suppose, though it was pretty horrible at first.
*Born: 7/22/72 Boston, MA.
*Motivations: I love music and I want to mess around with it. I like dancing and I like making people dance. I like collage style art. I like stealing from other artists, I don’t see it as a crime.
*Philosophy: Pop works recontextualized and rebeated can give a new persepective on old or current music, and revitalize it for pop consumption and fun good times. I get a kick out of mashing music and other people seem to like the sounds too, which is why I do it. I love hip-hop and I take some inspiration from the early DJs, trying to work out a nice blend and a fly party with some surprising twists and turns, by trying out neat new approaches to presenting familiar songs and elements of music. I do not see music as only a commodity, for sale or resale. I see it as a vital expression of our times and our personal grooves, and I think that this form of music is a perfectly valid expression of today's fragmented digital experience.
*How would you like to be remembered: As a musical tweaker who looked at music in a new way, and made some good songs for the fun of it, though it was not commercially viable and was often seen as artistic theft by society. Someone who made mixes people enjoy and are inspired by.
*Web address: www.djbc.net/mashes
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Thanks to dj BC for being the featured artist this week. Be sure to check out his website. Stay tuned for this week's podcast (episode 86) to hear Dolores Dewberry's feature on The Beatles, “Sure-Bla-Di Shot-Bla-Da” by dj BC and 10 additional tracks by sound collage artists all sampling The Beatles.
If you haven't already noticed - the Some Assembly Required website has been updated! And thanks to stAllio! I'll be able to update it every day from now on, as necessary. We've implemented the tools which will make it possible to make updates whenever I want, so check out the playlists, news and links pages as they'll be updated on a weekly basis, from now on. I'm especially looking forward to staying on top of the links page - which had gotten away from me these past couple of years, but has recently gotten a much needed update. Feel free, as always, to submit ideas for the links page. Thanks again to stAllio!
In other news: I'll be debuting a brand new video collaboration between myself (Escape Mechanism) and Canadian video artist R Room, in the June edition of mnartists.org's monthly online journal, access + ENGAGE. If you're not currently subscribed, make sure to get signed up this week for the new edition of this monthly focus on Minnesota artists, featuring a brand new video for an as-yet-unreleased track by Escape Mechanism. Go HERE for information on how to subscribe, and click the "subscribe to access + ENGAGE" link near the bottom of that page (I think all it does is send an email to subscribe@mnartists.org, with the word "subscribe" in the subject line). Don't worry, I'll remind you next week. The June issue goes out on 6/15. Stay tuned!
More news at the newly redesigned SAR site, as it happens. Stay tuned for more info about a monthly DJ Night at Rosalux Gallery (remember to reserve the third fridays of June, July and August this summer). As always, thanks for checking out the show. Episode 86 is coming up in just a few -- thanks for listening!
Jon Nelson
www.some-assembly-required.net
2 comments:
Bonjour,
je suis dj , j'aimerai vous posez une question, que pensez vous de la communauté dj ?
dj animation
I believe this translates to a question about how I feel about the DJ community, or perhaps the world of turntablism?
I like it! Some artists more than others, obviously, but I've been playing turntablists right alongside other manipulators of sound for a few years now on the show.
Sorry if I misunderstood the question, I speak only English, and just the tiniest bit of Swedish...
Thanks for listening,
Jon Nelson
www.some-assembly-required.net
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