A clip featuring DJ Shadow from the 2002 film 'Scratch', which is a documentary about the hip hop DJ. You can pick up a copy at Amazon here: www.amazon.com/Scratch-Dol-Dts...
"just being in here is a humbling experience to me because you're looking through all these records and it's sort of like a big pile of broken dreams in a way." GOD DAMN. what a statement.
I had the exact same thought when I watched this great documentary for the 1st time,It shows you how serious,emotional & humble he is about his mastered craft!
Statistically speaking, it's still possible........I mean, there are still countless moments of genius waiting to be sampled and rearranged into something new. You should check out DJ Format some time......he's put out some incredible stuff over the years, and his latest LP - Devil's Workshop is heavy on the sampling. There are still purist hiphop producers out there that are prepared to take a hit on the royalties.........but yeah, Endtroducing's in a class of its own.
I always felt like The Avalanches - Since I Left You was like the spiritual sequel to Endtroducing. Not in terms of how it sounds, but the approach / attitude. Another record made entirely from samples of obscure forgotten records
What is so interesting is that the maker of Skratch, Doug Pray, initially went into it with the idea that DJ culture was empty. That they weren't real musicians in any sense and were just stealing music essentially, and he wanted to make a documentary to that effect. However, as he began to research it more and make the film he immediately did a 180 as he found out of how rich DJ and hip-hop culture really is. And so decided to do a documentary celebrating the history of it. Pretty cool.
I always come back to this and it makes me emotional every time I hear that quote about how all the records are like a pile of broken dreams. “All these cats thought they were”.
"But downstairs, it's a claustrophobic mess, a dank room impossibly dense with vinyl. If you know the basics of record care, you know that you are not supposed to stack the vinyl vertically-- you store it on its edge, like a book. But here are what look to be hundreds of records stacked on top of each other, so that the record on the bottom of the pile is subjected to hundreds of pounds of force and the grooves are presumably being slowly crushed with each passing minute."
I'm just a fan of music no matter how it's listened to but watching him find records that I know dam well I've never heard of, it makes me feel like there is still a whole world of music I've never heard of and probably never will..
"A true writer walks all over their crumpled pieces of paper lying on the floor...their mistakes, notes..." - E Hemmingway I can't but think of how Shadow is doing the same thing. That basement is chalk-full of records, even on the floor but he still has mad respect for all of it.
As a complete vinyl junkie myself, I am in awe of that place. It would be amazing to dig through there. When they show that basement, I hear angels sing and see beams of light come down from above.
Sadly Records is no longer with us......think it closed about 5 or 6 years ago?! I made it there with a workmate (fellow digger) in around 2001......we managed a good few hours going thru the crates before we had to call it day. Took a picture of him standing in the exact same spot as Lyrics Born......sadly no cat was present that day!
i was just thinking the same about cd's earlier, granted cd's arent as classic as vinyls but there still vanishing. i can remember being the last one to get a cd player because i was poor and my mom was finally buying one with her tax check, and i picked out da brat and nwa posse cd weeks before we even got the player just waiting to play it and hear the whole cd. no one can even get that excitement anymore. digging thru the cd rack wondering who all these artists were and taking a chance
you can really tell shadow is a true artist. he seems very introverted/introspective. and he speaks some truly poetic, and insightful words when he talks about "a pile of broken dreams". and, consequently, you can really FEEL it in his music. hes an amazing artist.
Increíble, cientos de miles de discos anónimos en los que pusieron todas sus esperanzas miles de músicos totalmente desconocidos. La cantidad de maravillas que pasarían totalmente desapercibidas para siempre si no fuera por tipos como DJ Shadow, Keb Darge y otro montón de dj's y compiladores.
The LP at 3:06 is Johnny Jenkins - "Ton-Ton Macoute!" Pretty cool blues/soul/funk album. I have a copy still sealed in shrink that I found at Goodwill.
"its not gonna make a bad DJ godd, but it will make a good DJ better." Spot on. Good musicians make gold out of shit, and platinum out of gold. This place means a wider perspective, and being worthy for it is something you have to earn.
"i honestly feel like the people that dig, don't stop digging cuz its a part of who we are. people that don't: you don't have to. it's not gonna make a bad dj good, but it'll make a good dj better."
Man I want to just get into that basement and 1) build some fuck off mahoosive pigeon hole cabinets, 2) Start putting all those stacks into them on their sides, 3) have some lunch 4) start playing through and sorting!
I feel the same as him... I got like 50/80 LP's in my rack here... and still ... i can go through it like 100 times... always find something else in it... where i can make another 2 beats from 1 sample... so .. incredible... I want to go to a record store here in Holland... don't have them much here...
even Dj Shadow himself plays CDJs:)) it's just evolution...i got around 800 vinyls, i will never sell even one:) now i play mp3s as well...but all the time i check my records, its much more for me:) mp3 is clearly about music, vinyl is about love:)))
Seeing this is just sad. Do NOT stack vinyl records Never stack records on top of each other whether in their jackets or not. This is one sure fire way to cause warping, possible cracking of the vinyl record because of the weight and will inevitably produce scuff marks and ring wear on the record's album cover marring the artwork. Records must always be stored upright like books on a shelf.
it's true. it's just that in the 80's and 90's, those records were considered junk. they arent even dollar bin, with a dollar you bought a dozen of them. the stands did cost more than the records then.
I was digging 1 day and found the xact record i wanted so quick. It was a record I had never heard of b4 but it felt like god handed it to me later when i spun it
Amazing artist. Endtroducing is sublime and timeless. Always been a big fan of DJ Shadow and other darker Trip Hop inspired acts like Portishead, Tricky, Massive Attack, Unkle, DJ Krush, Amon Tobin, HTDA, Allflaws
@TheSludgeMan he samples other records, and then cuts them up into pieces to be played on a drum machine. i believe he used an mpc 60 for entroducing. maybe it was an mpc 2000, i'm not sure. then he mixes them all up and emerges with beautiful music.
Great clip…AWESOME documentary. I bought it, when it was released, around 2002 & it was well mixxd with Dolby 5.1. The filmmaker? Get this-- it was they guys first commercial release, if memory serves & he killed b/c it was FILLED with so many awesome artists.
Endtroducing... is one of the greatest albums of all time. buy it. it will change your life. Also check out a documentary called Dark Days. DJ Shadow's music is in the movie and it fits the mood perfectly.
I can't help but get a little depressed seeing this clip. Having been a DJ for 14 years (albeit a techno/tech-house DJ), I remember what it felt like spending a day or two just looking for that truly awesome tune. With MP3's, it feels like we've left future generations with nothing that would be considered musically tangible, and it's a damn shame to think about.
alot of independent record shops are closing because of economic inflation and cyber convenience. its now 14 years later into a cyber shift from analog to digital. in these times it would benefit the culture of beat producing if musicians can come to a communal site on the internet and upload wav files of their own performed/recordinged breakbeats basslines strings winds horns and sound designed snares and DIY 808 kicks high hats and alot of soul and funk music socially and you really have to come from a background of digging for funk and rare funk on 12's or 45's from places and people that know their shit and have extensive references of musical theory on jazz funk soul and maybe just maybe the blues and rock and of course psychedelia. so you wouldn't have to use the sampler on your drum machine or DAW program but just to chop wav files into measurments of notes and edit and add filters and effects to wav files then resequence and compose them into your own composition. yes a website for musical talent that can be auditioned for special projects maybe for agencies or others just looking to start a band and jam with. a network social media especially focused on cultivating music and all levels of musicians. for some reason that most people shouldn't be aware of i could imagine major record labels tying to buy out the whole inventory of these independent mom and pop record shops right when they close their business because of difficult times, where else would their inventory go, there's no space to keep it once the doors are closed.
@dep1001 The store is called Records and the location in the film was in downtown Sacramento, California. Now they're located at 16 and Broadway. I used to work there for a little while on weekend in '02-'03. THAT BASEMENT WAS MASSIVE!!. That section had thousands upon thousands of records plus lots of different kinds of memorabilia. If you ever gert to Sac town look them up. I'm back in Sac for a visit next week. Cannot wait!!
