Watch out, everybody, Malcolm McLaren thinks he's discovered a new music scene (and, typical of McLaren, doesn't realise that it's been going for at least ten or so years). Maybe it's just me, but it reads like a rant complaining about all these new-fangled microprocessors — aren't valves all anybody needs?

I don't see the problem with Pro-Tools; it's a tool for music production, just like an an analogue mixing desk, a tape machine, and all the other parts of the studio it replaces. Any artificiality is a result of the person using it, rather than a problem with the software itself. If McLaren really thinks that it's the software's fault, then I don't understand where he's coming from, as the LittleSoundDJ cartridge he enthuses about is little more than a collection of old Roland samples; surely if the scene is really pure, then they'd wouldn't be satisfied with anything less than a properly restored TR-808? Why does the use of old Gameboy sound chips make this music any more real than the latest Neptunes production?

I've no doubt that there's good music coming from this scene (I'll be going on a hunt after I finish writing this entry), but I hate the retro argument that McLaren espouses. As if all we can do is remain trapped in the past, with music trapped in a vinyl cage. As if we shouldn't look to the future. As if music shouldn't be easier to create. Who cares if you use a Gameboy, a half-broken C64, a Powerbook G4, or a four-track tape machine to make it?