Monthly Archives: October 2006

dB Magazine, Interview, Music, Writing

DJ Craze

Leave a comment

DJ Craze aka Arith Delgado is one of those rare performers who can bridge the gap between various styles of music, and somehow please and impress everybody. He started out playing Miami Bass, a type of hiphop that’s bass heavy and sexually explicit, but received notoriety by spinning hiphop, winning the DMC World Championships three consecutive years, being the only solo artist to do so. He was also part of the Allies with Canadian DJ A-Trak, but lately has been focussing his attention on mixing and producing drum and bass.

He’s also one of the busiest DJs, and I had a very early morning (our time) chat with Delgado as he was driving to the airport to DJ in France. This was just after being in China, Japan, and the UK. “Word! You’re from Adelaide man? I love spinning in Adelaide,” he says when I blearily announce myself. “I really like Australia. I’ve been going since 1999 or 2000, and make sure I go out there every year. The parties are always popping out there!”

I ask him about his recent trip to China, interested to hear how he was received and what he thought of the scene there. “That was my first time to China, and it was dope,” he enthuses. “I was spinning at a jiggy (RnB) club and there were all kinds of people there, and it was hard trying to please everybody at once. I had drum and bass kids in there, I had hiphop kids, and the underground crew, and every time I’d spin one style the other would get mad. So that was kind of difficult, but it was dope because it was my first time in China. But I wasn’t even there for a day, I was there for a couple of hours and had to get on another plane and leave.”

With his departure to France imminent, I had to ask if the star liked travelling. “I like the meeting new people and spinning at different spots but I hate the travelling – the security, the immigration, the waking up early, the hours flying… all that I’m not a big fan of, but really I can’t complain, I’ve got the best job in the world!” he cries. “I’m used to getting on a plane and falling to sleep right away, but if I can stay awake I will always use that time to plan out a set, catch up on stuff, you know?”

As Miami Bass isn’t a music that’s heard too much in Australia, and is often unfairly lumped in the RnB basket, I wondered if he still played it. “I grew up in Miami and of course there’s a big Miami Bass and Freestyle scene. My Brother listened to it, and it was on the radio all the time. Lately, I have been getting bored of everything, but I’ve been listening to [Miami Bass] again, and thinking “man, this is some good shit!”

One of the biggest hiphop and drum and bass DJs getting bored of hiphop and drum and bass? “I’m not bored, I just want to do something else, you know? Mix it up a bit.” Delgado begins to explain. “I get bored of stuff real quick, and with drum and bass it’s not like I’m bored with it, just that lately I’ll hear stuff and think “Meh,” you know? I want to do something else; I can’t stick in the same scene for ever, it’s bad for me” he laughs.

I suspect it’s something to do with his perfectionist nature, and perhaps he feels, and listening to a Craze dnb set will convince anyone, he’s perfected the art of mixing dnb and needs to find a new outlet. This perfectionism stretches to his production, too. He’s only had a few releases of his own out on his own label Cartel, and also on A-Trak’s Audio Research imprint.

“I’m starting to feel a little more comfortable with the music that I make,” he says. “I’m a perfectionist though, so I never feel it’s really ready. I’ll let some people listen to my beats and they’re like “what the fuck you waiting for! You should put this out NOW!” but I always think I could make it better. I kind of hurt myself in that way, I have like a 100 or so beats in my computer and I’m only really feeling four or five, and others are telling me I should get my shit out there because I’m sleeping on a lot of good stuff,” he chuckles.

You can check out Craze’s new album and order his Cartel dnb releases through https://www.beatport.com/

dB Magazine, Music, Review, Writing

DJ Shadow – The Outsider

Leave a comment

Many people are going to listen to ‘The Outsider’ and simply think Shadow has sold out. The ‘hiffy’ (Bay Area’s latest hiphop fad) rapping about bitches and bling isn’t exactly what Shadow fans have come to expect of him. However, I think it’s more that Shadow wanted to do something different. If he wanted to go commercial, why chose relatively unknown rappers? Sure, Shadow and Eminem might be a ridiculous notion, but so is the notion that he has sold out for fame, profit and glory, especially in context of the album as a whole.

The release starts strong, with a poetic introduction talking about an Outsider who comes to save the population from evil forces. It could be something to begin a Manga film. The first track, This Time (I’m Gonna Try It My Way) is basically Shadow telling everyone to get fucked because he’s doing what he’s doing, and doesn’t care what people think. The singer is not mentioned, but it’s a great soulful track, harking back to the late 70s for inspiration.

He then proceeds to bombard us with rap that is pretty damn average. Keak and Turf on 3freaks, Droop-E on the creatively titled Droop-E Drop, and Banner’s Seein Thangs could all be rapping about third world poverty, but it’s so typical in style and structure of the popular (and in my opinion) dull RnB style, it lost me the moment they opened their mouths. On subsequent listening, it is all about bitches and bling anyway. It is all so generic and boring that it’s almost as if it’s a cynical satirical homage to the music.

In reality, it probably demonstrates Shadow should stick to making solid beats for good MCs like Gift of Gab or singers like Thom Yorke. Because the album does get better. Broken Levee Blues is a nice little slide guitar blues number. Artifact sounds like someone let a speed addict lose on a drum machine and guitar in the 1980s – very alternative for a ‘commercial’ album. It reminds me a little of The Dead Kennedy’s. Backstage Girl is a cautionary tale of Myspace fans, featuring Phonte Coleman on vocals, and is comparable to ‘The Private Press’s Mashin’ On The Motorway. That is, it’s damn good.

Triplicate/Something Happened That Day is also an odd number for a someone who’s supposedly sold out – there’s no beat; just guitar, piano and wind instrument creating a haunting piece of music that’s typical of Shadow. The Tiger, Erase You and You Made It (the latter two featuring the Thom Yorke sound-a-like Chris James) are very much Shadow in his UNKLE mode. Q-Tip and Lateef bust a party jam with Enuff, but the album closing with a couple more crap raps by E40 on Dats My Part and a “remix” of 3freaks which sounds so like the original I just had to use quotation marks.

I have to admit I am disappointed by The Outsider. There’s enough crap rappers about going on how much of a bitchin’ n-word they are that I feel Shadow’s talent is wasted here. Shadow has always been an outsider though, and this album just goes to show how willing he is at trying something completely different and unexpected, even if the end result will potentially alienate fans.

inthemix.com.au, Music, Review, Writing

Coldcut – Sound Mirrors

Leave a comment

Seven years between drinks Coldcut return showing that they haven’t been resting on their laurels, but prove again that the duo of Matt Black and Jonathan Moore have been perfecting their art to the Nth degree.

It begins with the amazing single Everything Is Under Control featuring Mike Ladd and Jon “Blues Explosion” Spencer, a slammingly beautiful beat fest with screaming guitars and potent vocals. True Skool is a standout hiphop, bouncy dancehall number that is a joy to listen to. Man In a Garage brings the tempo down, with a bluesy, broken beat journey through beautiful lyrics.

A fabulously powerful soulful ballad voiced by Robert Owens Walk a Mile follows, and Mr Nichols is a wonderful, wistful number featuring Saul Williams’ brilliant poetry about the condition of modern urban man. The title track, Sound Mirrors, shows Coldcut still likes to experiment with sound and space, creating a haunting, cinematic and somewhat psychotic instrumental piece.

Boogieman returns us to the Jamaican riddim influenced beat although far darker in tone. This Island Earth similarly features the Jamaican influenced beat, but breaks down into a fabulous house inspired chorus, reminding us that Coldcut were indeed responsible for classic ‘girly house’. Just For the Kick is a storming club classic with a phat beat covered by an uncanny vocal by Annette Peacock.

Aid Dealer shows Coldcut are just as political as they’ve always been. Ninja labelmate Fog contributes a nasally melancholic vocal over some wonderfully odd theremin and whistling on Whistle and a Prayer, and Colours the Soul ends the album on a gently psychedelic note, breezy and dreamy.

It’s a big call to say this is Coldcut’s finest work to date when they’ve achieved so much, but when the world’s best producers outdo themselves with purely outstanding production on memorable, lingering tunes, it becomes simply a given.