Audio Poverty

An E-Mail chat between Olaf Karnik (Cologne) and John Eden (London)

Karnik: Since the decline of the 7-Inch in Jamaica and elsewhere, how’s the 7-Inch doing amongst the british reggae youth? Apart from the revival scenes, is it still vital?

Eden: Like everywhere else the majority of people who consume modern JA releases are entirely pragmatic. They will get their tunes from wherever is easiest and cheapest, whether that be CD compilations, bootleg mix CDs or downloads. The only exception to this in the UK would be scenes like UK Dub which is semi-revivalist I think - new productions are being pressed up but there is a very established tradition of what they should sound like which is quite backward looking. Similarly there are some purist producers like Mad Professor or Curtis Lynch who are pushing the music forwards but recognise that vinyl still has a big attraction for hardcore fans of all ages. It seems to me that there is a similar situation in Germany with people like Germaica…

Karnik: Yes, I haven’t seen a Germaica disc for almost two years. In Germany there’s still some soundsystems playing records. But in general it has switched to playing burned CDs, which can be loaded with lots of tunes instead of carrying all those heavy vinyl bags around. Funny enough, that started in Jamaica and the USA, as they’ve always been embracing new technologies, getting rid of the old ones. At least a guy in Jamaica is now trying to buy back King Tubby’s mixing desk which was sold to someone overseas. To me downloaded data means nothing. I need an object, something that has to be taken care of, that wears out if not treated properly. And it occupies space, a force to decide about buying or not. The feeling of potential loss or damage makes it precious. So, buying material objects is not about being “old-fashioned”, it’s about constructing worth (value?) and making things come alive.

Eden: Everyone has mp3s on their hard drive which they have never heard and maybe never will. It seems to me that younger people treat music like water: you turn on a tap and it comes out. I find this very difficult having grown up in a situation where you would save up to buy an album and then play it hundreds of times. Plus of course the actual act of putting on a record has a lot more ritualistic associations than hearing something on a computer, ipod or telephone. I often think this shouldn’t matter, that music is music and that’s the most important thing. But actually the process you go through to acquire music, and then how and where you hear it, is extremely important. I can still remember times when I was in record shops and talked to people or found random things I wasn’t looking for which turned out to be great. But are we fearful of the future now the old models seem to be dying out?

Karnik: In the future music may become so unimportant for education or (micro-) politics, that it’s no use to listen to it anymore, because it MEANS nothing. But one should not be too pessimistic, there’s still discourse on musical values, as in dubstep or grime. I will always remember one artist claiming in his info sheet, that dubstep is made for physical, collective experience on big soundsystems, against private, individualized consumption. The same goes for soundsystem culture in general, as long as people are actually operating a soundsystem. Because a built up sound in a given open space changes the social situation around. It disseminates musical information to people who want to keep safe and not know about it.

Eden: Yes, but I do worry about the economics – people I know who produce music are finding it very hard to recoup the cost of making and releasing it. Blogging can certainly keep discourse about music flowing and help scenes to spread internationally. I think it can also manifest itself as a competition to plant flags in the ground like the European settlers in America, though. The hysteria around having something to say about the new forms of funky house have been especially amusing to watch, in my opinion. I think the interplay between the global and local is really interesting - is it possible to build proper internationalist communities around music(s)? Or is it just a bunch of us nerds talking to each other on the internet?