Over at Cuepoint, longtime rap scribe Oliver “O-Dub” Wang speaks on DJ Shadow and Cut Chemist’s recently wrapped Renegades Of Rhythm tour. Also on deck is Stretch Armtstrong’s Cassette Culture, where he revisits a classic DJ Shadow four-track mix. Check out both articles below.

DJ Shadow & Cut Chemist Return To Planet Rock

Cassette Culture with Stretch Armstrong

DJ Nu-Mark, Cut Chemist, Ben Blackwell, Z-Trip, Egon, Pete Rock, Just Blaze, Da Beatminerz, and more talk about some of their best finds for a special Record Store Day edition of Crate Diggers.

Listen to Cut Chemists new mix/album below, and purchase it via Bandcamp for $5. Also peep the trailer, featuring Biz Markie.

Cinespia Presents: Cut Chemist at the Cemetery from cinespia on Vimeo.

DJ and producer Cut Chemist goes shopping at Amoeba Music in Hollywood.

Dun fact: Cut Chemist organizes his vinyl by record label.

A Dub Remix video by Cut Chemist of the single Outro (Revisited) featuring Blackbird.

Deantoni Parks on drums
Blackbird on the mic
Cut Chemist on the beat
Produced by Allopoietic Systems
Directed, Shot and Edited by Corey Brandenstein
Stunt Driving by Jason “Hawke” Hamilton

Deantoni Parks on drums. Blackbird on the mic. Cut Chemist on the beat. Produced by Allopoietic Systems. Directed, Shot and Edited by Corey Brandenstein. Stunt Driving by Jason “Hawke” Hamilton.

Cut Chemist presents TUNNEL VISION trailer from A Stable Sound on Vimeo.

Cut Chemist previews this single “coming out sometime in the fall”, in promotion for his Tunnel Vision tour, along with Edan, Mr. Lif, Hymnal, Blackbird, Myka9, Deantoni Parks, and visuals by Tom Fitzgerald. Tickets are available now, dates are as follows. Check out the trailer above and single below.

8/16 ANAHEIM, CA House of Blues
8/17 WEST HOLLYWOOD, CA HOUSE OF BLUES
8/18 – SAN FRANCISCO, CA Mezzanine
8/19 – SEATTLE, WA Showbox
8/20 – SAN DIEGO, CA House Of Blues

Lucas Macfadden delivers a better-late-than-never dub-step remix from his The Audience Is Listening LP.

What’s the Altitude (Dub Step Version) by Cut Chemist
]]> http://www.hiphopsite.com/2011/05/16/cut-chemist-whats-the-altitude-dubstep-remix-feat-hymnal/feed/ 3 http://www.hiphopsite.com/2010/08/06/cut-chemist-biz-markie-lake-street-creamery-ad-video/ http://www.hiphopsite.com/2010/08/06/cut-chemist-biz-markie-lake-street-creamery-ad-video/#comments Fri, 06 Aug 2010 13:33:46 +0000 http://www.hiphopsite.com/?p=20207

Chemist on the cut, Biz on the beatbox for this L.A. based Ice Cream spot ad. Also starring some kittens.

Cut Chemist serves up his Disco Is Dead (1973-1979) Saturday Night Fever set from Cinespia on July 17th.

Cut Chemist @ Live Cinespia Set (MP3) (Right Click & Save)

Lucas Macfadden delivers the first entry from his forthcoming Sound of The Police mix CD. He explains:

Different than the traditional mix CD using two turntables, this exclusive offering was created live using only one turntable, a mixer, a loop pedal and all original vinyl pressings. CUT thought when performing this mix live it would challenge the contemporary DJ as well as himself. The music chosen for this mix goes quite a bit deeper into the crate than his other contributions. Driven by his passion for Ethiopian, Colombian, Sudanese and Afro-Brazilian sounds, this mix also features a few classic tunes you might recognize. Sound Of The Police puts it all in context to help the listener remember that hip-hop culture is indeed rooted in Africa.

Originally, Sound Of The Police was only intended to be a one-time performance for Mochilla’s “Timeless” concert series opening up for Ethiopia’s own Mulatu Astatke in 2009. He recorded the practice session and after the success of that performance he thought it deserved to be heard and seen by as many people as possible. The live performance attempts to be a reenactment of the CD, but with cameras on the turntable and loop pedal so the audience understands exactly how the records are being manipulated. “You don’t have to be into DJs to enjoy this show. It’s like walking a sonic tight rope and the audience gets to see me fall if something goes wrong,” CUT says. “The interesting parts are when I mess up and fix it. The audience goes crazy and appreciates what a difficult balancing act this actually is.”

LISTEN: Cut Chemist – “Adidas To Addis” (MP3)

Cut Chemist – “Adidas To Addis” (MP3)

The Hard Sell’s CD release is a rehearsal recording of the live show, which comes packaged in a three panel gatefold sleeve, cut in the shape of a jukebox. The cheeky artwork features giant rampaging robot jukeboxes, shooting lasers and destroying puny, impudent Ipods. While completely pretentious, the statement that the duo makes with this artwork alone raises the bar considerably in regards to what they hoped to accomplish with The Hard Sell.

The mix begins with a Daft Punk-esque (but obviously dated), robotic rendition of “Rock Around The Clock”, that immediately sets things off right. This leads into a funky, doo-wop version of “Eye Of The Tiger”, sounding like something you might actually hear on a street corner in Rocky Balboa’s neighborhood. Unfortunately, this is where the mix takes an odd turn. While the first ten minutes set it off, seemingly getting the crowd hype, they kill the momentum with a series of slow doo-wop ballads, much more suitable for the closing of the show, not the opening. It’s a questionable move in which you can almost see the audience standing around in complete boredom, despite the creativity involved (of which the crowd are probably missing the point of anyway).

From there, it begins to pick up steam a bit, with a series of classic hip-hop beats, recreated live from their original samples. While this sounds a bit blasé on paper, it’s actually quite innovative, as the are found layering each original sample on top of one another, cutting in different breaks to remake the beat on the fly. Among these are Pharcyde’s “Passin’ Me By”, Nas’s “Made U Look”, and a number of classic De La Soul beats. From there, the mix sort of takes on a life of it’s own, going in several different directions, with rock and funk tracks mixed in, most notably uncovering the sample will.i.am used for Justin Timberlake’s “Damn Girl” and a garage band cover of The Doors’ “Break On Through”

While their love for digging, not to mention spinning clunky, big-hole 7inches is appreciated, (especially in today’s age of Serato Scratch Live software), unfortunately, The Hard Sell is just that. It doesn’t hold up quite as well as Brainfreeze or Product Placement, due to it’s strange arrangement and odd pacing. That being said, The Hard Sell is a creative piece of work, but ultimately does little to support the duo’s lofty ideals in the analog vs. digital argument. – D.T. Swinga

   If you’ve heard any of Cut Chemist’s mix CD projects, or even any of his spotlight cuts from Jurassic 5 albums, you kind of already know what to expect from his solo LP. Mostly instrumental based, Cut assembles various compositions using bits and pieces from his deep crates of legend, sampling records from just about every genre possible. The album begins with a typical pair of cut-and-paste style tracks, first with “Motivational Speaker”, followed by “My 1 st Big Break”, both of which utilize samples from various instructional records while flying through a series of ever-changing breakbeats. Things get a bit more interesting when Cut inserts vocals over his heavy layers of samples, whether just letting them play in tune and on time (“The Garden”), or manipulating them into their own musical arrangements (“A Peak In Time”). While most everything is sampled, live-action emcees join the party on the 80′s throwback joint “Storm” (feat. Mr. Lif and Edan) and the somewhat blase “What’s The Altitude” (feat. Hymnal).

    Still, among these solid selections, there are moments on The Audience Is Listening that just seem to ramble on with little direction, such as “Spat”, a nerdy turntablist telephone conversation sketch that requires only one listen, and the aimless “Spoon”, which is just sort of a random road to nowhere. There’s nothing terribly awful on “The Audience Is Listening” - this is all pretty dope material - but considering the wide range of styles covered by his contemporaries (DJ Shadow, Coldcut, RJD2), Cut’s debut seems a bit dated when measured up to the other stuff in his genre.

HHS: Let’s start with the new album, The Audience’s Listening. When did you get the idea that you wanted to devote your time to putting out a solo album?

Cut Chemist: Umm lets see… well i guess as long as i’ve been doing this, going back to the “Lesson 4″ days.

Speaking of “Lesson 4″, Steinski was a big influence on you. Do you plan to do any more cut and paste style songs?

I think all my stuff is cut and paste, even though it’s from live music. Like we will bring people in and record them and ill go through it and sample that and make it sound like a sample. I think i will always do that.

Have you grown as a producer with this record?

I think i have gone backwards. Because with Jurassic 5 you have to organize all these groups of people and with this stuff it’s just simple and personal. I don’t know if I can produce a record for someone right now. I’m more of an artist then a producer. One thing I have grown is at executing producing with this album. I have been working hard on going over the budgets and overseeing stuff like artwork and all that in that.

Was any song on the album hard to make and you spent a lot of time trying to get it just right?

Every one, really. I’m still tweaking them now, even the two that are out I’m still mastering. I’m like maybe we should raise this section by .1db and stuff. I’m always tweaking and messing with them, I can’t stop.

Did your record label want to push you in any certain direction or did they just say give us an album in a few months and left you alone?

Well, they said give us an album in a few months and it took me a few years, but yeah, they were pretty cool about everything. You have to be more careful with samples when your at this level.

Has not being able to clear samples hurt you ?

Yeah a little, it sucks sometimes. I have a guy who is really good and finding people and working things out. Sometimes you can’t afford it and have to swap it out with something else but that’s how it is.

Will people familiar with your work with J5 and your funk mixes enjoy your solo album?

I think so. I’ve played the album for a lot of people – some rap heads and some people that aren’t into rap – and they both seem to dig it. Like i have two songs out now off the upcoming album “The Garden” and “Storm” (with Edan and Mr Lif). They are both different but have been received well. I think when you listen to my stuff you come in with open ears so that might help.

Did you want to do anything or work with anyone on The Audience’s Listening, but didn’t get to?

Yeah I wanted to have Charli 2na and Marc7 on a track, but they are working on the upcoming Jurassic 5 album and we couldn’t get our schedules worked out.  I didn’t want this album to be saturated with guests but I’m happy with the people I got to work with on this album.

So even though you didn’t do anything for the new J5 album and they aren’t on your album everything is cool between you and the other members of J5?

Yeah, everything is fine.

Do you and Shadow plan to do another funk mix?

We have been entertaining the idea. You know talk about it informally. We are going to dust off the set and play it at a benefit (for graphic designer Keith Tamashiro who suffered a brain aneurysm in March and is currently in the hospital with mounting hospital bills) so maybe doing that will help or maybe we will tweak and update the set a little. Shadow is three albums deep I haven’t dropped one yet. I feel I gotta put out at least one album before we do another mix. Also if we do another one it has to be really good, it has to annihilate the other two.

I know you and others went to Brazil for Brazilintime. Did going there influence you any musically?

Well, I have been a fan of Brazilian artists, even before I went down there. I started studying that stuff when I was in college, but going down there I got a greater appreciation for it. I like a lot of artists down there, but I tend to favor the way far out and psychedelic stuff.

You contributed a song to The Sound of LA release, how did that come about?

I had originally made the track for the last Jurassic 5 album but it didn’t make it. It didn’t really fit on my solo so i played for Carlos Nino and he wanted it.

Are there any current artists you dig right now?

Umm…lets see…not really.

What do you think about the hyphy movement in northern California?

It’s funny that northern and sourthern California aren’t that far apart, but there sounds have always been different. I think it’s cool. I want to know what the LA sound is. I want to be apart of a team, too.

You have been diggin records for a long time what’s your most prized record?

I don’t know that’s a hard question to answer. Plus, anything I mention people will hit up ebay and shops and raise the prices on, so I can’t really say.

What was the first record you found while diggin that you were really happy you got?

The Invaders “Spacing Out”, it’s such a great record, I would say my favorite of all time.

Do you get to DJ much anymore?

Yeah I DJ, because I love it.  Sometimes I DJ in Hollywood on Saturday nights, which is funny because those people want to hear 50 Cent and these “I want to get laid” songs.  I can understand that because when I go out on saturday night, I will turn my brain off. But its cool because say around 12:30 after they have a few beers in them i can throw on some Turkish shit and they will dance to it. Then when they come back next week they will be like “throw that Turkish joint on”.