Music
DJ Sprinkles Explains The Contradictions Of Being A Paid DJ
“We’re sold out the minute we are born in a hospital.”
Few people possess the eloquence, experience and abundance of talent to deconstruct and puncture the myths of electronic music like DJ Spinkles. When we spoke with Terre Thaemlitz last year, it was the topic of “Risk Spaces” that provoked some enlightening insights and considerations from the producer and theorist.
Now, in a recent interview given to Sleek Magazine surrounding the deep house musician’s performance in Berlin, Sprinkles has turned her attention to the contradictions of employment and the tensions in individual expression under capitalism. “In the West we’re so preoccupied with the idea that we visually represent ourselves based on what our identities are”, Thaemlitz opines. “In Japan it’s very much more that you have a façade, and that façade sort of facilitates a social performance that doesn’t necessarily correlate to what your personal affectations are.”
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Thaemlitz also targets the capitalist myth that art and labor are separate forms of activity. Creativity—its manifestations and the conditions under which it develops—is directly linked to the economic form. It leaves musicians like Thaemlitz in positions where performance becomes an economic necessity, destroying the notion that somehow artists have “creative control” over their product. “People mistakenly believe that artists and musicians are free to choose where we perform, when and for whom, but this isn’t how the world works. Especially for a producer on my level—by which I mean a low level. You really don’t have choices in that weird, lofty sense and that seems like a real fantasy modeling of capitalism; it’s really unproductive to someone who is anti-capitalist.”
Needless to say, each interview with DJ Sprinkles is a provocative and enlightening experience. To read the article in full, head to the Sleek website here.
Read more: Terre Thaemlitz explains why Akihiro Miwa is a style icon
