Even the tracks which smack more of interludes than of actual songs - "The Lift," for instance, which sets a spacey mood and then proceeds to go nowhere - are over soon enough for their textures to be appreciated without looking like blemishes on the canvas. So maybe you won't find yourself humming a Cut Chemist hook the way you hum the Beatles or Sufjan Stevens or even Three 6 Mafia; most of us don't go around humming Coltrane tunes, either, and it's not like his place in musical history isn't assured.
So to go back to that moral dilemma: no, digging Cut Chemist isn't the same as digging Joe Satriani or Steve Vai, simply because DJing will never be as self-important as guitar-wanking, no matter how empty it may seem. Nobody goes to DJ school, or studies classical turntable. It doesn't take six years' worth of music theory to muddle your way through the ins and outs of a good scratch; you just listen and enjoy. In that sense, the turntable is the ultimate populist art form - it's simple and complex at the same time, like a Jackson Pollock painting.
Pretty much every kid with a modicum of artistic talent I've known has DJ'ed in their own primitive way at some point, taping cool sounds off the TV or their favorite records and arranging them in their own image. Even I made some particularly nerdy, pop culturally backwards stabs at the medium in my day, juxtaposing a Badfinger CD with an audio book of The Lord of the Rings so it sounded like Gandalf was singing "Without You." It's that natural, postmodern urge of rearrangement, of pastiche, which makes artists like Cut Chemist stay relevant, no matter how much of a niche their market may be, no matter how many flashy producers, bedsit DJs or misunderstanding rockists might try to cramp their style. So relax, folks, and let the magic fingers take the wheel for a while.
You might be able to make hip-hop in your bedroom these days, but I'm almost positive you aren't making it like this - and maybe, just maybe, that's the point.
Reviewed by Zach Hoskins
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.