Further proof that the hip-hop world moves too goddamned fast for us rockists: just when we'd gotten the whole "is DJing a legitimate art form" debate through our thick-as-Led skulls, along came Kanye, Danger Mouse, and the Neptunes, and they went and turned it into a producer's medium.
Now, aspiring Timbalands can even create reputable music on their own home computer - aren't those the things Jack White hates? - with just a vast MP3 collection, a decent sampling program and a good feel for rhythm as the necessary prerequisites. Those still unconvinced that it takes talent to spin, listen well: the age of the armless DJ is finally upon us. Get with it or get out of the way.
Unless, of course, your name is Lucas Macfadden, in which case my advice is to guard your arms like the precious endangered species that they are. Macfadden, better known as Cut Chemist, is perhaps most renowned as one of the two DJs (the live kind, with turntables) behind Jurassic 5, a band whose fading critical prestige nevertheless can't obscure the fact that their defiantly analogue samplescapes are among the most progressive in recent memory. But now, freed of his association with that group (he won't be appearing on their forthcoming third release), Cut Chemist is putting out a solo album, his first "proper" one after more than 10 years of live performances, guest spots, remixes, and limited releases. And part of me - the part that really, really hates ProTools - wanted it to be a tour de force, a definitive statement that would fly in the face of every act of digitalized nob-tweaking 21st-century bloggers and philistines have had the nerve to dub "progress."
Needless to say, The Audience's Listening isn't quite that album; it's humbler than that, and in a way, that's a good thing. Manual and digital turntablism aren't really diametrically opposed, after all, and my love for Kanye and Danger Mouse is well-known, despite those two artists' tendencies toward "production" rather than classic sampling. As for the idea of the live DJ as a dying art, one need only look around at one's local clubs to see that the form is alive and well; you just won't find it scale the masterful heights of a Terminator X, a DJ Shadow or, yes, a Cut Chemist on the Top 40 anytime soon. So without the sense of melodramatic urgency, without the "Us vs. Them" approach I so naively invoked, what is The Audience's Listening after all?
Article comments
1 - Stephen V Funk
Being a fan of CC since hearing the legendary "Brainfreeze" collaboration with DJ Shadow, I was pleasantly surprised by this album too, if not blown away by it.
And Cut Chemist certainly made the transition to the potentially stifling world of major label "copyright clearance" requirements far more effectively than Z-Trip did on the lame rapper-laden "Shifting Gears" album, that's for sure.
The Audience's Listening is a class act... and fun too.
2 - Thin Line's Revenge
Most people read reviews to understand if, within it's genre, a record is good or bad. This reviewer seems to confuse the issue with personal musings about 'relevancy'as if he does not realize that the subjectivity of his argument will not provide any definitive answers. He almost dissappears into his own navel.
Well let me straighten you all out. Chemist's record wil probably be among the LAST records to use a primarily sampled pallatte. This being said, this album will probably go among the ranks of 'Pauls Boutique' or '3 feet high and rising as an album that can NEVER be duplicated. This is worth celebrating alone, but the compositions use this method to imply not only where hip hop has been, but where it could go. Intricate, diverse, mysterious, and fun. Do yourself a big favor and pick this up.This is essential Hip Hop music.
3 - Mark Saleski
This reviewer seems to confuse the issue with personal musings about 'relevancy'as if he does not realize that the subjectivity of his argument will not provide any definitive answers.
please then, never read any of my reviews.
sometimes the personal viewpoint provides all sorts of answers, if you're open to them.
4 - Zach
Thin Line - first of all, I don't write buyer's guides: it's "Blog Critics," not "Blog Reviewers," and if you want objective, genre-specific, impersonal commentary, why the hell are you reading webzines in the first place?
Secondly, "almost disappears into his own navel?" Fuck you, sir. I'm so far into my own navel I'm back out again, and don't you forget it.
I won't even comment on your quest to find "definitive answers" in rock writing. Read the Bible or something.