Here's a not-so-hot take: musicians are an elitist bunch. And it's the classical Western Art musicians who are the worst. Can I say that? I hope being a classically-trained pianist gives me that sort of privilege. For the longest time too, I had the same feeling of superiority, especially towards electronic music.
'It's not hard to press some buttons...anybody can do that,' said the piano player, of all people.
And so it went: Mozart not Martin Garrix. Debussy not Diplo. Poulenc not Porter Robinson.
But as the nuances of tertiary piano technique enveloped and begun to evade my interest - "5% more arm weight on the first half this beat please" decried PRF - an algorithmic suggestion to watch the infamous studying girl of the 24/7 YouTube lofi hip-hop stream replaced the obsession with instrumental technicality with that of music for 'simply chillin'.
I was clearly late to the listening party. Here was a video enjoyed by tens of thousands of studious individuals every second of every day, with no bias towards how the music was being produced or the musical concepts behind each chord. Just there to be relaxed as heck and chilled cucumbers. Alas, my musical upbringing kept me snared within its trap; I just couldn't help delving further into the popularity of such a seemingly simple rhythms and repetitive chord progressions.
So down the YouTube rabbit hole we went.
First stop: Tom Misch. I already had and still have an unhealthy relationship with his charming smirk and chiselled jaw line. It was his Beat Tape 1 which enthralled me now, the way he set the mood with reverbs, warbles, and pans. One track in particular piqued my curiosity. Dilla Love...
Who was Dilla? Why does mah boi love him so much?
Turns out J Dilla was the original chillest and the realest. He became a cultural icon in making beats on the MPC3000, not just sampling a huge library of records, but instrumentalising the machine's capabilities. By limiting his reliance on beat quantisation, he humanised his music, letting the ebb and flow of his internal pulse shine through his drum beats. Yet his exploration and mastery of his instrument's full range of filters and compressions to give his music that unique sound has inspired and evolved into stereotypical lofi hip-hop sound of the YouTube and Soundcloud era.
Second Stop: Vox. Here's a short documentary to better summarise the genius and influence J Dilla has had on modern day beat production.
The more I think about it, the clearer it is that technology in music is not just unavoidable but such a positive addition to the human condition of music. From willingly turning a blind eye to its creative uses, to technology being the medium through which new musical purposes were introduced to me, to machines and computers being just as significant in the techno-human synthesis of musical creativity, the question begs to be asked: what else have I been missing out on?!
J Dilla in Cap
Oil on Canvas
artist unknown