Abstract

Locked Grooves are loops etched into records for endless playback. Distinct from regular records, where the needle spirals inwards, this format deploys a record-cutting process that forces each loop to “bite its own tail” (Schaeffer 1952: 32). Chris Cutler likens a loop to the »walking dead«; »an artifact, rather than an action« (2018), concurring with Schaeffer’s reading of »an object that does not evolve, that congeals within time« (quoted in Nattiez 1990: 94). Brian Eno hears loops differently, arguing that »almost any arbitrary collision of events listened to enough times comes to seem very meaningful« (Carr and Challis 2020). 

The opportunities presented by relistening are congruent with views of the composer-as-audience (Lysaker 2017). We might find new life in short loops by listening not only to the recorded audio, but to the medium and methods through which they are disseminated. This paper asks: what if locked grooves are combined and summed? For Techno DJs, they can function as building blocks made “wilfully incomplete” (Sherburne 2004). Informed by my DJ practice and practice-led research, I share historical examples of locked grooves alongside my own loop-based compositions and a new installation work.