Our party with David Mancuso at the Light
[Last updated: 21.03.2007 19:22]
A thousand daffodils came to bloom last Sunday in the concrete
surroundings of "lower Shoreditch", which shares with TriBeKa the
strange experience of housing a Bohemian-oriented culture on the border
of one of global capitalism's uncompromising centres ⎯ London's
financial district, or the City. Lucky Cloud Sound System bought the
daffodils because it was time to celebrate spring by putting on a party
with David Mancuso, and Simon and Guillaume did the good turn of
picking them up from a local market. As we placed them in glasses and
positioned them in the sunlight, coaxing them to bloom in time for the
start of the party, it was impossible not to notice the huge new tower
that's being erected just a few hundred yard's to the south of the
converted power station where we put on our parties. I actually quite
like some glass and steel buildings, but this one looks like it's been
commissioned by property developers, with the curved frontage of the
first block and the large girders that straddle the adjacent tower
looking as though they'd been introduced by a firm of architects who
wanted impersonate Norman Foster but didn't know where to begin. The
building will only outlive our daffodils in the physical world.
The nearby Holiday Inn, which is situated on Old Street, is another example of unimaginative contemporary architecture that would like to pose as a cutting edge building if only it could attract the attention of a photographer. Still, it's a convenient place for David to stay during his visits and the day before the party I went to interview him in his hotel, a Berlin-based, English-language magazine called Placed having asked me (plus a photographer) to fill between fifteen and twenty pages of its second issue. Although I'm up to my eyeballs with writing and teaching, I was happy to have been asked. Like a twelve-inch single, or a properly balanced tone arm, the first issue of Placed was good to hold, and although the content was fashion-heavy, the magazine also developed a notable philosophical-political agenda ⎯ and that's becoming a rarity in the world of print journalism. Having come to our last party in London, the music editor (Christian) asked me to write a feature about the Loft and conduct and interview with David, which left me wondering: what else can I write? After a fair amount of thought, I decided to put aside the idea of trying to take David through a set of pre-planned questions, and instead run the session as an open-ended improvisation, because that would allow David to develop his thoughts as though they were a sonic trail. Having interviewed David many times, I thought I pretty much knew what there was to know about him, but the interview opened out like a daffodil in the sunshine. By the end we were both smiling.
David dropped over to my and Enrica's place later on to do some preparation for Sunday's party, and Cedric, who wanted to play some records to David, also came over. It's the first time I've sat down with David for a listening session – he normally goes over to Colleen's place to do this work, but Colleen was away on the Saturday – and I half-expected to be able to begin editing the interview while he went through his music. Not a chance. David immediately drew Cedric and me in, first by encouraging us to correct the tracking on my turntable before we got going (David is extremely thorough, especially when the effort will result in better sound), and then by asking us what we thought of certain records (old ones as well as new ones). As we picked up a rhythm, he asked how we would present certain records, i.e. what we'd play before and after a certain selection. At one point we ended up talking about the ethics of remixing, of attribution, of what songs might mean and how they might change as they passed through the musical ether. And before long we found ourselves talking about Arthur Russell, who (I've been told) was pleased with Fran
The nearby Holiday Inn, which is situated on Old Street, is another example of unimaginative contemporary architecture that would like to pose as a cutting edge building if only it could attract the attention of a photographer. Still, it's a convenient place for David to stay during his visits and the day before the party I went to interview him in his hotel, a Berlin-based, English-language magazine called Placed having asked me (plus a photographer) to fill between fifteen and twenty pages of its second issue. Although I'm up to my eyeballs with writing and teaching, I was happy to have been asked. Like a twelve-inch single, or a properly balanced tone arm, the first issue of Placed was good to hold, and although the content was fashion-heavy, the magazine also developed a notable philosophical-political agenda ⎯ and that's becoming a rarity in the world of print journalism. Having come to our last party in London, the music editor (Christian) asked me to write a feature about the Loft and conduct and interview with David, which left me wondering: what else can I write? After a fair amount of thought, I decided to put aside the idea of trying to take David through a set of pre-planned questions, and instead run the session as an open-ended improvisation, because that would allow David to develop his thoughts as though they were a sonic trail. Having interviewed David many times, I thought I pretty much knew what there was to know about him, but the interview opened out like a daffodil in the sunshine. By the end we were both smiling.
David dropped over to my and Enrica's place later on to do some preparation for Sunday's party, and Cedric, who wanted to play some records to David, also came over. It's the first time I've sat down with David for a listening session – he normally goes over to Colleen's place to do this work, but Colleen was away on the Saturday – and I half-expected to be able to begin editing the interview while he went through his music. Not a chance. David immediately drew Cedric and me in, first by encouraging us to correct the tracking on my turntable before we got going (David is extremely thorough, especially when the effort will result in better sound), and then by asking us what we thought of certain records (old ones as well as new ones). As we picked up a rhythm, he asked how we would present certain records, i.e. what we'd play before and after a certain selection. At one point we ended up talking about the ethics of remixing, of attribution, of what songs might mean and how they might change as they passed through the musical ether. And before long we found ourselves talking about Arthur Russell, who (I've been told) was pleased with Fran