Read "Alan Licht On The Emergence Of Experimental DJ Culture" (2009)

Previously unpublished essay by Alan Licht for The Wire Issue #300 (Feb 09):

Ah, 1982: the year that Christian Marclay, who would soon be known for bringing turntables to the world of free improvisation, using fast cuts, layering and loops for a live translation of tape music, first performed with his decks at the Kitchen; the year that Brian Eno released On Land, his second ambient album - largely ignored back then, its deep bass sound and glacial movement would become a major influence on the Ambient club movement a decade later; and lastly, as Steve Barrow says in Simon Reynolds’s Generation Ecstasy, “By 1982, dub had run its course in Jamaica, it had become a formula.” Reynolds himself then notes, “But this was just the moment at which dub techniques were being used by New York electro-funk and disco producers in remixes, and vocal-free B-side instrumental versions.”

These unrelated occurrences in The Wire’s year zero all helped set in motion the idea of DJ culture, which reached its pinnacle in the mid- to late 90s. The DJ, not the guitarist, was the instrumental pop hero of the decade. In the disco era, DJs like Larry Levan and Nicky Siano attracted a cult following for their weekly all-night flights, crafting an endless groove from different extended-mix 12” singles, but never took center stage. Only the late Arthur Russell seems to have made the connection at the time between these marathon disco DJ sets and the rhythmic trance element of the minimalist Riley/Reich/Glass axis. Russell was a cellist, not a DJ, but a consideration of his output of disco singles, classical compositions, and pop songs and instrumentals invites comparison to the connect-the-dots aesthetic of a good DJ, and his activities are in some ways a harbinger of the rapport between the avant and electronica worlds to come not long after his death in 1992.

Read the rest here. DJ Olive played the old Soundlab as part of a DJ trio organized by Christian Marclay (who could not make it), that also included Marina Rosenfeld and Toshio Kajiwara. DJ Spooky played Soundlab twice, on 04/05/02 with DJ Marcos/DJ Del Mar and Christ Sinister/God Morgen; and on 04/20/05 as part of a benefit for the Critical Art Ensemble which also included Polmo Popo (DJ set), Mark Kloud and Cort Lippe/Jonathan Golove. On 04/14/05, Animal Collective visited Soundlab with Ariel Pink.