"Am I alone in thinking that for all the cutting-edge technology, software and hardware that Hawtin peddles nowadays (he’s a ‘brand ambassador’ for Native Instruments), his sets sound just the same as ever? I’m certainly not an expert in this field, but I’m not convinced that technology has improved his sound. Hawtin rattles on about technology that opens up the possibilities, game-changers... I don’t know what “tools” Richie uses each night, but the tracks he plays are now so totally deconstructed by looping and multiple effects that it’s back to square one – the tracks sound different, but not any better or more interesting. Despite all of these technological “advances”, the sound is the same as it ever was."
That's what I felt about DE9 Closer To The Edit - it was like a stereo test record, music designed to showcase the capacities of Final Scratch, rather than the other way around.
Does Hawtin really travel between gigs in a private jet? With an entourage of "similarly-dressed fixers, photographers, helpers and yes-men"?
Also from this Jody O'Dea / Sabotage Times piece, an enjoyable swipe at Coxy and other superstar deejs:
"Ibiza and Las Vegas are converging. The Balearic island of love and music is where DJs go to die – when you’re as rich and famous as you can possibly get as an entertainer, when you’ve done it all but you don’t want shift into pipe-and-slippers mode, what do you do? You get a season-long show in Vegas of course, just like Celine Dion and Santana. Likewise in Ibiza – glancing up at the billboards which line the highway between the airport and the centre of town, you will see the giant faces of the DJ elderly smiling back at you – the likes of Eric Morillo, Paul Van Dyk and the king of them all, Carl Cox, whose enduring popularity is completely inexplicable. These are DJ slebs who haven’t produced anything remotely interesting for years."
Did Cox ever do anything of note? Well there was this?
