Sunday, September 14, 2014

Renegades



I'm heading over to Orlando today to see a show at the best part of the extremely touristy Universal City Walk. Some good friends and I are going to see DJ Shadow and Cut Chemist at the House of Blues.  When I heard that both Shadow and Cut Chemist were playing within an hour of my home I was immediately in. Life was good. I'd take a Monday off. Have some drinks with friends and see two hip hop DJ prodigies wreck a multi-turntable set. Then things got better. Much, much better.

Music fans are in for a once-in-a-lifetime experience when turntablists supreme DJ Shadow and Cut Chemist celebrate the legacy of Hip-Hop vanguard and Universal Zulu Nation founder, Afrika Bambaataa on their Renegades of Rhythm tour this fall.

“This has never been done before, definitely not on this scale. They’re HIS records, with his blessings. This isn’t just ANY copy of ‘X’ breakbeat, it’s THE copy, THE copy that started everything. Not just any records, the MASTER OF RECORDS’ records.” – DJ Shadow.

Using only vinyl pulled from Bambaataa’s historic collection – over 40,000 strong and permanently archived at Cornell University – DJ Shadow and Cut Chemist aim to present Bambaataa’s legacy in all its genre-busting and socially-minded complexity. DJ Shadow states, “His collection includes not just Soul and Rap, but also Soca, Calypso, Dub, Salsa…it’s obvious that this music was important to him, and it’s reflected in his own music. For example, when the Soulsonic Force is singing an African chant, it actually comes from a Manu Dibango record. That’s when being a crate-digger comes in handy – you have to be able to pick up on the references and reiterate them.”

Sorting through the collection with this holistic aim in mind was daunting. “The first sort was to make sure we didn‘t leave anything important behind. We definitely over-pulled,” adds Cut Chemist. To help them narrow their selections, DJ Shadow and Cut Chemist focused on the appearance of the records themselves, “It was pretty clear what he played a lot and what he didn’t. The sure-shots were covered with tape and the jackets were beautifully tattered; that made it easier after a while to pull records.”

“The program will be multifaceted,” DJ Shadow explains. “Bambaataa as artist, exploring the influence of his classics like ‘Planet Rock;’ Bambaataa as collector, and the genre-defining breaks he discovered; and Bambaataa as peacemaker and force for social change. He influenced an entire generation worldwide, so we feel a great obligation to get it right.”

Naturally, it was paramount to the two DJ’s that the tour have the full blessing and support of Afrika Bambaataa himself. “I call on all who love Hip-Hop to come out, see them, hear them,” says the Godfather. “My story is our history in DJing.”

The Renegades of Rhythm tour will use six turntables and a variety of real-time effects. “It adds another performance level, real-time sampling from the record that’s being played,” says Cut Chemist. Visuals for the tour will be supplied by acclaimed video director, multimedia producer and regular Shadow collaborator Ben Stokes. The tour with be produced by Jamal Chalabi and Backlash Management.

The tour may be rooted in a historic vinyl collection, but both DJs are quick to point out that people should not come to this expecting strictly an ‘old-school‘ set. As DJ Shadow sums it up. “DJ Shadow + Cut Chemist + Bambaataa’s records + his blessings: it’s going to be epic. That’s all you really need to know.” Or, as Afrika Bambaataa puts it, “DJ Shadow and Cut Chemist are going to blow your funky mind.”



I'm now not exactly sure what to expect. That's not true actually. I expect tonight to to be epic.

48 comments:

mr kq said...

Would it be embarrassing if one had never heard of anything in this post, except Orlando? Asking for a friend.

Mark said...

No. That's what G:TB is for. Expanding horizons. You've serious never heard of Afrika Bambaata though? He's old too.

Also, is Chaos in New Brunswick like Panic at the Disco?

Mark said...

I was overserved last night. Triple OT against Kentucky will do that.

mr kq said...

I will check Afrika out.

On a much more serious note, did anyone else see Hannah Storm's take on the NFL at the end of Sportscenter? Wow.

Mark said...

Ill bet you've heard Planet Rock before https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=3&ved=0CBEQtwIwAg&url=http%3A%2F%2Fm.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3Dhh1AypBaIEk&ei=46kVVJX2POWMsQSKiICIBQ&usg=AFQjCNEU_qo-7PAHJzya3ZQk8YVvFSO1YA&sig2=mJoDOV-HuR3ri-1ZdE7gTA

Check out DJ Shadow. My first rec is Organ Donor.

zman said...

Mr kq - remember rage against the machine's "renegades of funk?" That's a bambaataa cover.

rob said...

organ donor is not what i expected. it's cool, though.

Mark said...

Organ Donor is from his Preemptive Strike EP. He made it before Endtroducing but it wasn't released until about a year after Endtroducing. He was 20 and a junior in college when he made Preemptive Strike. Absurd.

zman said...

When I was 20 I made ... a mess? Bad decisions? A hash of my transcript? Nothing worth mentioning really.

TR said...

For those of you who care, Man U's new sponsor this year is Chevrolet. GM signed this agreement two years ago. One year ago, GM decided to pull Chevy out of Europe, and fired the exec that signed the deal.

Sadly, the team is playing with a similar level of dysfunction.

mr kq said...

Rob, is it possible some NFL brass are reading the blog?

http://m.washingtonpost.com/blogs/football-insider/wp/2014/09/13/jacksonville-coach-gus-bradley-borrows-page-from-rugby-manual/

zman said...

Those are our tax dollars at work!

rob said...

ken, i assume decision-makers in nearly every major field of endeavor read this blog.

Shlara said...

Hannah's comments were powerful--Everyine should watch them

And while you're looking for that clip, you should also look for Cris Carter's comments on child abuse

Sad thing is that they both, as ESPN personalities, are feeding this massive beast, glorifying the sport & making millions off it---a game that requires the athletes to be monsters on the field to succeed....you just can turn that off once you step off the field.

Frankly, we're all contributing to this---the fans, front offices, gear companies, etc. We all have to change our expectations for this sport for things to really change,...

rob said...

they're gladiators, essentially. are we not entertained?

Danimal said...

Rg III. Done. For today. For the season too? Watch Cousins have a career day.

mr kq said...

Shara is bang on imho. Also found it ironic that ESPN had Ray Lewis on the panel today.

RG on the meat wagon. Cousins on and throws a TD. Full on "I like Sonny / I like Billy" drama to ensue.

mayhugh said...

I predict Cousins stinks it up. I have just started watching the game on DVR but call it a gut feeling.

Shlara said...

Exactly Rob---We haven't evolved since Il Colosseo in Ancient Rome...

mayhugh said...

I'm not very prescient so far. And is Buffalo going to win 2 in a row, Z?

zman said...

Speaking of gladiators, anyone ever watch MMA? Fastest growing sport in America TV-wise.

zman said...

The Giants must buy their bags of dicks at Costco. Only Kirkland brand would make such huge bags of dicks.

rob said...

gus bradley may need to read those rugby tackling books a little more carefully.

Danimal said...

Kickboxing. Sport of the future.

Danimal said...

The Jags offense isn't built for overcoming 21 point deficits. Or for keeping a 21 point lead. It's not built, period.
Laid the bike down today. First time in 20+years. Would post the pic of strawberry but ftc might shut us down.

zman said...

OTB or sideways?

zman said...

FCC maybe.

Danimal said...

Sideways. Nothing serious....but a nice one to show for it.

Danimal said...

FCC FTC Sec all that shit.

Danimal said...

There should be more penalties

Whitney said...

As you reap, so shall you sow. When you have two crap teams playing against each other, you have earned the crap officials that don't seem to have the foggiest notion of how to make an appropriate call.

Donna said...

Hannah S comments--good stuff! Y'all might be interested in reading Marcia Mount Shoop's "open letter to Goodell"...she's married to guy who coached in NFL 12 years, presby minister, phd...excellent work!! Since when has Wash led 21-0 in first half?!

Donna said...

Spoke too soon!!

mr kq said...

Rambo should stick to Action Movies.

Clarence said...

Donna, please stop jinxing the team. Not necessary. They will f this up on their own.

Danimal said...

Not even they can f this up.

mayhugh said...

JAX's offense is one of the worst things I've ever seen. Kerrigan might lead the league in sacks for a couple weeks after this week.

Mark said...

I watch MMA, Z. I used to do a little MMA training before I hurt my neck.

zman said...

I used to watch MMA until I moved in with zwoman. I'm not judging. But it's pretty gladiatorial.

zman said...

LOL giants.

Mark said...

Very gladiatorial. And they're not nearly as well compensated.

Clarence said...

I was listening to Renegades of Funk earlier today. Rage version. Great cover.

mayhugh said...

Never got into MMA. From my outsider's perspective, it seems like the rock-paper-scissors of fighting. A puncher will almost always be the underdog against a ground guy, etc.

zman said...

It's actually pretty interesting to watch how guys use leverage to get unto and out of different MMA situations but it's really brutal at times. Anytime Anderson Silva uses his knees or elbows, for example. Those guys must suffer a ton of concussions.

Mark said...

To Mayhugh's point re: punching v. wrestling, I have no wrestling background. Most of the guys I trained with did. I got housed on a semi-regular basis.

Mark said...

The song that's sample lead to Brass Monkey has been played. Get to this show if you can, G:TB.

rob said...

this football game sucks.

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