 | When Chemistry Cuts
Current mood:  shocked
Category: Music Boy, let me tell you something....you do NOT want to mess with Cut Chemist. He will chew you up and spit you out. He'll burn the vinyl on the turn tables and then leave you dripping with the wax. Saw Lyrics Born and Cut at the Independent last night...Lyrics Born is alright...lots of energy, but just a little too much poppy sounding, up beat stuff. He had a live band, which was cool and all, but really, in the range of hip hop shows I've seen, save your money and go see Del on Nov. 16th.
Then up comes Cut. Cut, for those that don't know, is a slightly overweight scruffy white guy with crazy hair that sweats profusely. His set up includes two CD turntables with a mixer and two regular turn tables with a mixer. His friend sits on the side of the stage with a lap top and controls the visuals which range from old stock tv/movie footage, post apocalyptic images, music video clips to a close up camera angle looking down on his turn tables as he works.
I've seen quite a few DJs spin in my life. Technique, speed, as well as an ability to put a set together are all important. I have never been more impressed with a mixer than I was with this guy. His set was impeccable, and for as much scratching and mixing as he did, he was still able to keep the audience dancing throughout. His technique was unrivaled...the scratches all fit, the drum machine he worked kept punching in and his ability to incorporate the cds and the wax at once was, to be honest, a bit frightening. You have to wonder if the guy's mind is as fragmented as his musical ADD would suggest.
And then comes the speed. I thought I had seen fast fingers watching the Baraka scene where the sweatshop workers roll cigarettes. I thought I had seen fast fingers using Mavis Beacon. I wasn't prepared for this guy. He uses all ten of his fingers on the mix levers and volume controls, and the speed in which he uses them makes you wish the camera on him had slow mo so you could figure out what the hell he's actually doing. There were times during the show when I was a bit breathless from trying to keep up with his hands.
Finally, as the show's winding down, he stops the music and tells the audience that he's gonna try something, and it might not work out, but if it does, he warns, it'll be sick. He pulls out a video camera, plugs the mic into the stereo and starts recording. He records himself saying hello to San Francisco, hyping the show, and then records three people from the audience saying their names and where they're from.
He then puts the camera down and starts mixing another song...kinda slow, but you can tell his visual tech is working on something. Finally, the visual gives Cut the thumbs up, and the video monitors behind the tables start showing the video he just made. At the same time, he drops the Chemical Calisthenics beat off Blackalicious' Blazing Arrow album. As the instrumental of that plays, his set up has allowed him, through his turn tables, to control the video on the screen and the sound accompanying it. At this point, he literally starts mixing and scratching the video on the screen, doing so in a way that the sounds and people talking on the video go with the beat of the song (and if you've heard the song, you know that's not the easiest of tasks)...but he scratches the video through the entire song, and the last clip he recorded has him saying, "Good night San Francisco, much love," which he throws on scratchless after the last beat of Calisthenics fades out, walking off the stage.
Good night San Francisco indeed. |
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