The knights of the turntable

Except for a few diehard audiophiles, virtually no one bothers with vinyl records anymore. If you see anyone lugging around boxes of pressed vinyl these days, chances are, they’re serious collectors – or DJs. And we’re not referring to the radio jocks either.

You can’t miss them. In this day and age of trance and techno, they’re literally "the life of any party" – churning out beat upon beat of chest-thumping, groove-inducing music; their deft fingers coaxing squeaks, scratches and some of the most unimaginable sounds from an armada of turntables, mixers and faders.

Worshipped by their throng of loyal fans, these paragons of cool have become as influential as the pop superstars themselves – and rightly so. Nowadays, DJs have come a long way from their predecessors, who did nothing more than "spin records."

But how, you may ask, do you gauge a DJ’s "virtuosity?" Compared to a pianist or guitarist whose melodic and rhythmic acrobatics can be summarily judged within the first few minutes of a song, a DJ’s sonic palette is far too limited – or so I thought.

Apparently, some US-based DJs have been making waves not only in the club scene, but in hallowed concert halls as well. Imagine a group of "turntablists" sharing stellar billing with such avant garde performers as John Cage and Steven Reich and getting a standing ovation in the end. Boy, talk about turning the tables now!

That group, the X-ecutioners, has since elevated turntablism to an "accepted" musical art form, fusing elements of rock, pop, and even classical music with the improvisational spirit of jazz.

A short phone chat with one of the X-ecutioners’ members, Total Eclipse, turned out to be an enlightening treatise on turntablism.

Twenty-five-year old Keith Bailey (his real name) joined the group in 1996, after winning the ITF World Championship title. His other co-X-ecutioners, all champion DJs themselves, are Rob Swift, Mista Sinista and Roc Raida.

Their debut album, X-pressions, was released in 1997, and they’re now gearing up for their much-awaited follow-up, Built From Scratch (to be released locally by Sony Music Philippines this month).

An alias like Total Eclipse is always an interesting icebreaker. "It was a private joke that my friends came up with. They’d say, ‘Man, you’re so black you remind us of a total eclipse!’ And the name stuck," he recounts.

Unlike their contemporaries who have never strayed too far from the club scene, the X-ecutioners make it a point to bring their music out to a wider audience. This was the very reason they chose to perform two years ago at New York’s Lincoln Center for a week-long festival of electronic music.

"It was a great test for us," Keith admits, "to bridge that ‘cultural’ barrier. But we feel very much responsible for educating people in what we do. This isn’t just music for a hip-hop audience. We can scratch country music, classical, anything! We even had a routine using (Jimi) Hendrix’s Fire."

The jazz influence is definitely a key factor in their love for the improvisational idiom. Apparently, Rob Swift had previously worked with such jazz legends as (keyboardists) Bob James and Herbie Hancock.

"Herbie was a great influence!," Keith exclaims. "His Rockit album opened up the possibilities of fusing those funky grooves with jazz harmonies and rhythms."

"Scratching is a way of self-expression," he continues, "much like any musician would with a guitar or a piano. Any DJ can cut-up the music, but what makes it good is how he comes across as being well-rounded."

"You’ve got to have that certain ‘velocity,’ while being funky and manipulating all those sounds. Ultimately, it boils down to how all four of us blend our music to sound like a band," he explains. "One guy would play the drum parts, I’d be doing the horn parts, etc."

"Rob (Swift) even said that, ‘We’re like human samples. There’s so much going on in our songs that you gotta listen to it over and over just to catch it all," Keith adds.

One thing’s for sure. With these four gallant knights around, any joust will definitely be a battle royale – a sonic brew far more potent than Merlin could have concocted with his magic wand.