Why Nu Skool Vinyl Records Have Enjoyed A Hands On Performance
Nu skool vinyl records have a relatively small audience, being a sub-genre of a sub-genre, but this has in no way stopped their success. For one thing, the very fact that nu skool music has made it to vinyl may be a mark of its success. Perhaps that statement surprised you - after all, surely making it to vinyl is working backwards? Isn't everyone now trying to make it to CD or make it to MP3? The answer is certainly not, because in the hottest clubs, the most popular dance venues and the biggest gigs it's rarely MP3s you'll see the DJ throwing about. How many top DJs do you know who'd shuffle up to their podium and plug their iPod in?
There are several good reasons why not only do DJs not use an iPod for their music playing, and choose vinyl instead, but why nu skool or breakbeat music should be pleased to be treated to the vinyl excursion. First and foremost, if you're on vinyl, you're being played by the DJs, given airtime in the nightclubs and receiving much wider exposure. But there's more to it than that.
Let's think about nu skool, which is largely a sub genre of breakbeat music, itself a breakaway from the traditional dance and techno tracks being played in the clubs. Breakbeat is all about breaking the step, breaking the rhythm up and using the drums and percussion to create a jolting, arrhythmic pace that makes you listen, rather than letting the music slide over you. It's infectious, and extremely foot tapping. It's no wonder that fans of break music are so keen on the style - it's definitely the kind to make you want to get up and dance. Nu skool itself is very much of the breakbeat genre, but is rather darker in tone, with much heavier, darker bass lines and a heavier rhythm.
So it's understandable to see why a sub-genre of a sub genre with dark, heavy overtones moving further away from the clubs should be pleased to see the vinyl world embracing it. What is it about vinyl which adds so much to music? The answer is, perhaps, in the very essence of what breakbeat music is all about - breaking the rhythm, deliberately moving away from predictability, static rhythm, computerized, digitized perfection and immutability. It's about real life - which is never perfect and far from predictable.
Vinyl has always had a place in music fans' hearts because of the life and soul it brings to music. Without a real life performer sitting in front of you any musical performance lacks a little something - that spontaneity, the feeling that things might not always be exactly the same. With modern digitized forms of music such as MP3s and compact disks there is also a sense that the music has been sprayed with some sort of cleaning agent, wiped of anything less than perfection, all its individuality wiped clean so that it can stand bold and shining and exactly the same as every other piece of music.
Look at the binary ones and zeros of all the songs every recorded - and there's nothing to tell them apart. Now look at vinyl records. From the feel of them, the smell of them, the grooves and ridges that reveal the changes in volume and tone, you can see the music, touch it, and hear the individuality of the recording every time you play it.
Of course, for DJs nu skool vinyl records add a great deal of flexibility, and as they often include lengthier track introductions and rhythm fadeouts they can allow for better mixes, more dynamic mixes and more creative mixing by the top DJs. Vinyl can allow for individual creative performances by DJs, with scratching, mixing and compositing all adding to the show. This just isn't possible with compact disks or MP3s.
Oh, certainly the techno wizards will say that's rubbish, and that you can mix, scratch and play around with your music digitally even more than with vinyl, but there's a difference between clicking a button and having a computer create a fabricated distortion which is perfect and exact to at least twenty decimal places, and the feel of your hand on a gently grooved vinyl record as you push, pull, twist and spin the disk. You're involved with the performance, a part of the show, and it is for this reason as much as any other that nu skool vinyl records have seen a growth in popularity and a more active and dynamic role within more mainstream clubs and dance venues.
Barnaby Milne is a musician, DJ and avid collector of music from the 70s to today, particularly nu skool vinyl records and for breaks music vinyl is his top recommendation.
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