Day one of SXSW 2012 came with the rain this year. While the rain was much-need for locals who had experienced a drought in 2011, it was still a pain and the slow-down traffic on I-35 caused me to miss a screening, but like the great theologians REO Speedwagon, you learn to “roll with the changes.” I did see a most wonderful movie, though. It is called Re:Generation. This is one that I circled long before the fest began. I’ve been hearing the rumblings from the electronic world for a few years now and this movement is still growing and just exploding. In fact, one of the things the movie’s producer and creative director, Nick Davidge, said resonates with me as truth: “If there is a global musical language in youth culture right now, it’s electronica.” It’s true. It spans all nations and is happening.
It’s funny. I’m an old guy that loves metal and rock and I can certainly feel some resistance inside from those musical aesthetics, screaming at me, “Don’t forget about us! This stuff isn’t real music! It’s artificial! It’s kids playing with toys – not real musicians making music.” I hear those voices inside me, but I tell them to stuff it, because I appreciate what’s going on and feel the power and groove of this stuff. I imagine many readers of HM (and especially our Heaven’s Metal Fanzine side-publication) will have similar resentments. I think the healthy thing to do is realize that getting old blinds you to new developments. If you can become like a child and embrace the musical change and check this out with an open mind, joy will come. I think that’s a way better choice than staying mad and further and further isolated from a youth culture that’s found their language. It helps that it’s cool.
Anyway, without deviating on a soapbox anymore, let me tell you why this movie was so cool. First of all, a benefactor came along and funded the thing. Why? Because they wanted to connect with the young creative. So they commissioned five giants of the electronic scene – DJ Premier, The Crystal Method, Pretty Lights, Mark Ronson and shooting star of the year, Skrillex – and had them each “re-imagine” a specific genre of music and create an original track. It wasn’t just a remix. This would be a much bigger challenge than that.
Skrillex was given the genre of rock, which, of course, makes a lot of sense (especially considering his recent collaboration with Korn). He was to get together with the surviving members of the Doors (by the way, Elvis and Jim Morrison are both really dead), compose some music on his notebook and then teach it to the Doors and have them play it. Now, stop for a minute and realize that this dude just asked these legendary old school rock guys to play dub-step using organic instruments (only). Not a small feat. This was an even greater challenge due to the fact of a longtime rift between Doors keyboardist and guitarist (Ray Manzarek and Robby Krieger, respectively) and their drummer, John Densmore – so much so, in fact, that Manzarek, Kreiger and Skrillex laid down their tracks one day (or two) and then Densmore came in the next day and had to be convinced to participate and lay down the drums. Of course, with dub-step the drums handle much of the beat, which is the backbone of the genre in many ways.
Sure enough, Densmore comes in with an attitude. He had a son, though, who told him that he had to record with Skrillex, cuz he’s awesome. He told Skrillex that his son asked for his autograph and Skrillex responded with, “That’s funny, because it would be my dad that would ask me to get your autograph.” Even though it was meant to be a compliment, it went over like a lead balloon.
It was fascinating to watch music get constructed and then de-constructed and then re-constructed. It happened with five separate genres and each of them was a thrill to watch. The Crystal Method guys had their hands full with Detroit great Martha Reeves. While the funk style wasn’t too big of a challenge for the players they brought in, it was taking a walking tour through dying Detroit that made the lyrics personal for Reeves and she didn’t like some of the words TCM were giving her to sing. Fortunately, they found out she was committed to the project and they worked through the difficulties and produced another great track.
Mark Ronson was given the genre of Jazz, so he went down to New Orleans and got it going on with The Dap Kings, Trombone Shorty, Mos Def, Erykah Badu and Zibagoo Modeliste. Ronson and Badu had their moments of tension, but it was a little smoother. Their tune was pretty hot, too.
DJ Premier probably had the biggest challenge. He’s a giant DJ in the hip-hop scene and he was given classical to re-interpret. He got schooled by an expert, researched a ton of pieces and came away with 11 samples. He spliced it together and then the Berklee Symphony Orchestra came in with the help of a fun director and put it onto paper and then made it come alive with an orchestra. It was impressive.
Pretty Lights was hilarious, because he was given the genre of country. He went down to Nashville, figured out that he wanted to tackle the song “Wayfaring Stranger” and he brought in some of the finest session talent Nashville has to offer and then he ran into a stiff-necked brick wall. Props to Dr. Ralph Stanley for being set in his ways. He earned his stripes, but he certainly didn’t listen or receive about any instruction from his new collaborator. “I’d rather just do it my way.” It was a gas to watch the young Pretty Lights maintain his composure and roll with it. He salvaged the tune by bringing in another vocalist to help out – LeAnn Rimes. Her voice did wonders and he was able to meld the two together.
At the end of the movie we see all five artists performing their creation in front of a live audience. It goes over great. These tunes are all available for free. I’ve posted a widget below that allows you to watch the trailer and download all five songs. The benefactor is Hyundai and they’ve made it available for free and no one is profiting from this thing. That’s pretty awesome. It hearkens back to the historic days of Bach, Beethoven and those talented composers, doesn’t it?
The Q&A afterwards with Davidge was insightful. I wanted to ask a question, but this brave reporter was too afraid to appear dumb. The movie opened with a record plant pressing albums and they were placed into sleeves and then boxed and shipped via Fed Ex (nice product placement). Then each of the five DJs were shown receiving the package. Then the movie flashed back to three weeks’ previous (and the making of the tracks). My question was this: the term “record” was thrown around a lot and it was apparent that there was more than one track on each side of the 12″ vinyl. I don’t think each album was a sampler of all five that they distributed. Each record was labeled individually for each artist and you saw some people place the needle down at the outer edge of the album and DJ Premier in the middle. So my question is: Did they produce just one track or did they make a whole “record?” I believe the answer is one track per artist. Perhaps the other tracks are other mixes of the same tune.
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