One look at the pages of this book and it is immediately known that it is unlike any other sources to be used for this essay.  The pages are printed with a hole in the center and the outline of a CD on each one – clearly a modern work by a modern author.  This is the argument for all of the merits of sampling and Dj-ing music for a crowd as told from the perspective of an established DJ, Paul Miller (DJ Spooky).  Despite its casual tone and appearance, however, this book is filled with intellectual commentary on the state of music and the art of remixing today. 

            Quoting anyone from Woodrow Wilson to George Clinton, Miller offers a wide range of examples to support his stance on the art of Dj-ing.  He believes that sampling music is a form of creation, putting a musical piece of work together in a different way in order to achieve what DJs refer to as “flow.”  He asserts that sampling is both the result and catalyst for new music.  “You can never play a record the same way for the same crowd,” he writes, calling the digital sample a “recycling” of sorts, a “repurposing” of an old melody or riff. 

Miller’s unique stance as a DJ himself, combined with the casual tone of this narrative offer the reader a conversation with a man deeply involved in the digital music industry.  As mentioned above, he does indeed advocate the benefits of the art, but he also recognizes the dangers of “taking sampling too far.”  Seeing the digital music industry from his eyes in this way is a welcome insight into yet another point of view on this topic.  This will only add to the complex standpoint that I will be able to take in writing this essay.