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Paul D. Miller aka DJ Spooky's blog

Arts

Kino-Glaz/Kino-Pravda: Remix

Paul D. Miller aka DJ Spooky

Dziga Vertov wanted to use cinematic realism to find freedom in a world where anything was possible. To me, DJ culture has inherited that same impulse -- "keeping it real" is a mantra one hears in Hip-Hop at every level. [Video] (more)

7-15-09

Commons

North Koreans in Exile

Paul D. Miller aka DJ Spooky

On July 13, check out a screening of Kimjongilia, a documenatry about the brutal repression and harrowing escapes experienced by those defecting from Kim Jong II's dictatorship. NYC. (more)

7-7-09

Arts

A Spooky Earth Day

Paul D. Miller aka DJ Spooky

If any of you are around Washington, DC this weekend, we're having a large concert on the DC Mall with me and The Flaming Lips for Earth Day. (more)

4-17-09

Arts

The Sound of Ice: Discussing "Terra Nova"

Paul D. Miller aka DJ Spooky

In this interview with Elena Glasberg, I discusses my new multimedia performance work Terra Nova: Sinfonia Antarctica, open-source media, music history, new relativism, the need for more paradox, and the sound of no government. (more)

12-8-08

Commons

Rebirthing a Nation

Paul D. Miller aka DJ Spooky

I'd like to invite you to participate in a unique experiment: Would you host a screening of my new film, Rebirth of a Nation, in your hometown and invite friends over to check out the new project? (more)

12-5-08

Commons

Local Voices for Obama

Paul D. Miller aka DJ Spooky

Sundance winning director Lee Hirsch is creating local videos of real people in battleground states talking about why they support Obama, and then buying ad time to air them in local markets. (more)

10-17-08

Arts

In Through the Out Door: Sampling and the Creative Act

Paul D. Miller aka DJ Spooky

I get asked what I think about sampling a lot. Think of this essay as a soundbite for the sonically perplexed. (more)

3-27-08

Arts

The Prolonged Present

Paul D. Miller aka DJ Spooky

[Burning Briefs] • In this video, Paul D. Miler aka DJ Spooky that Subliminal Kid brings us all the way back to when Burning Man was young and feral with only 4,000 attendees -- "the ancient mid-nineties." After a romantic break up, Paul leaves New York to relax and "deprogram." But his attempts are thwarted by Pippi Longstocking's playa-wide hunt to prevent him from playing "commercial music" at the festival. With the help of laser-frisbee wisemen, steaming mud baths, crystal-structured art cars, and an otherwordly sonic landscape, Paul is not only able to relax, but to hit "the reset button on the entire imagination of what [he] even can vaguely think of as America." [Video](more)

10-5-07

Arts

Harry Smith: American Media Artist

Paul D. Miller aka DJ Spooky

Harry Smith was a walking remixologist. His idea was to apply DJ technique to film – he wanted to show that film collage could be edited in a way that speaks about myths and the way people can understand the rapidly changing world around themselves from the information they record. (more)

8-7-07

Arts

Ghost World Mix: A Story in Sound

Paul D. Miller aka DJ Spooky

Digital Africa is here, and has been here for a while. The "Ghost World" mix is all about the multiple rhythms and languages of Africa, but it makes no attempt to give you everything – it's from my record collection. That's why the "story" of the mix is about: polyrhythm, multiplex reality. There's current material, like the Kuduru sounds of Luanda (who says Techno doesn't exist in Africa!?) and old school hip hop like Zimbabwe Legit from the early 90's of classic "conscious" school hip hop. Yes there's material from Akon, but he gets mixed with Nelson Mandela, or MC Solaar. Listen to it here! (more)

6-25-07

Arts

Kehinde Wiley's New World Portraiture

Paul D. Miller aka DJ Spooky

When I think of Kehinde Wiley's paintings, a couple of affiliated effects come to mind. In his work we look at history juxtaposed with a really unstable relationship to realism. But I don't want to start an essay with quotations from history – after all, that's what Kehinde Wiley's paintings are already doing. The essential issue at hand is to give some context to portraiture, hip hop visuality, sampling, collage, and quotation. I want to unpack some of the issues that Wiley engages in his work. (more)

5-11-07