NYC: DJ Shadow and Cut Chemist - The Hard Sell
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NYC: DJ Shadow and Cut Chemist - The Hard Sell
28 January, 2008 | 6.00PM- Section: Music News Topics: Beatport Blog
While waiting to check our coats in the lobby of the Fillmore NY at Irving Plaza, a club staffer announced that it was advisable to leave the concert a little early to retrieve our belongings. He warned that the line for the coat check would extend out the building and for several blocks down the street, and that we would all freeze our asses off.
Then he noticed my compadre and I, and remarked, “You two won’t have that problem”.
We’re still puzzling over whether he was referring to our bounteous natural insulation, or to the probability that we would leave early anyway, presumably because we are old and need our rest. Whatever.
No fault of the opening act, which I will come back to momentarily, but it seemed to take forever for Josh ”DJ Shadow” Davis and Lucas ”Cut Chemist” McFadden to take the stage.
And who would have thought that two scratch DJs would take up so much of the stage.
Arrayed for their expert attention were eight turntables, four mixers, four foot pedals and at least two miniature superspy cameras on robotic swivels. I’ll get to that, ‘cause I know you’re wondering.
On the screen behind the artists, an adorable animated video explained that The Hard Sell would be all about vinyl, 100% original 45s.
And then the master turntablists started spinning, popping eight records at a time onto the turntables, and scratching out fantastic hip-hop beats overlaid with funky instrumental samples and old voice recordings.
My favorite montage: the lyrics to the theme from ‘Gilligan’s Island’ sung over Led Zeppelin’s anthem ‘Stairway to Heaven’.
You were wondering about the cameras. The little gizmos were twirling madly throughout, recording images of DJ Shadow and Cut Chemist from lots of interesting angles for projection on the screen behind the stage.
One unsolved mystery: how did a camera manage to record the view of fingers-on-turntable from underneath Cut Chemist’s amazingly coordinated wrist?
And a concern: what with all the shuffling of 45s in and out of their protective sleeves, don’t these guys have a terrible problem with hangnails?
Amazing. And yet, the opening act stole the show for me.
Double Dee and Steinski (Doug DiFranco and Steve Stein) rang the opening bell with an incredible sonnet of sample-based sound.
These guys were producing hip-hop classics in the early 1980’s. I confess to not having heard their work before this performance, so I didn’t know to expect such excellence.
Their set opened and closed with a narrative on the meaning of culture. In between, they wove one genre into another, from jazz to funk, latin to breaks to hip-hop, from disco to rock.
It was head-bobbing foot-stomping hip-swaying goodness with a few political statements thrown in for good measure.
So a Sunday night very well spent. As it turned out, we were among the first to fetch our coats. Ok, so it was past my bedtime.
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