SCRATCH: A TURNTABLISM DOCUMENTARY 1 OF 5

SCRATCH: A TURNTABLISM DOCUMENTARY PART 1 OF 5

Scratch starts with an origin story. Grand Wizard Theodore (the "Thomas Edison of the movement") recalls the day, way back in 1975, when his grandmother told him to turn down the music he was making in front of his Bronx River Houses apartment. In order to hear her, he put his hand on the turntable, holding the record in place. As he moved his hand, slightly, a new sound rose up. And so, he smiles, scratching was born.

The story of scratching involves many such moments -- accidents, discoveries, instants of creative inspiration. Then again, it's not just one story. Part collective history, part social documentary, part personal reflection, and part political rumination, Doug Pray's film tells multiple stories, intersecting, reverberating, leading in and out of one another. Less weary and ironic in tone than Pray's Hype! (which looked at grunge and its commodification fallout), Scratch treats its subject and subjects with due respect, as well as good humor and appreciation. In part, this celebratory mood is a function of the movement's politics and acute self-understanding.

Despite the increasing appearance of "decorative" DJs in occasional pop acts (who might remain nameless but they know who they are), for the most part, DJs have held onto their culture, and continue to expand and complicate their art. Thus far, in other words, there's no mall muzak or Ralph Lauren flannel shirts associated with turntabling.

by Cynthia Fuchs