DJ Shadow and Cut Chemist were at Irving Plaza this past Saturday for ‘The Hard Sell’ tour.  I wasn’t able to attend but got a full review and photos of the show from dRes.

DJ Shadow & Cut Chemist @ Irving Plaza (The Fillmore)//01.26.08 

Being a DJ Shadow fan for years I finally caught his live act last night, but instead of a solo set of his classic trip-hop catalogue or more recent poppy musings, Shadow recruited Cut Chemist to construct a 2 hour non-stop tag team barrage of cross-genre body movin’.  The diverse material the 2 DJs played not only kept the party going, but in innovative fashion.  Although I’d heard the Cali turnablists’ collaborative effort Brainfreeze years ago I never envisioned how the two pulled off the set live.  Their new effort The Hard Sell  may be different from their last, but it showcases the lost art of Deejaying in its purest form; 2 DJs on 8 turntables reconstructing beats using the original 45s they were sampled from.  The varied set spanned reconstructions of hip hop classics like ‘Potholes In My Lawn,’ ‘Dwyck’ and ‘She Keeps on Passing Me By’ to 80’s electro-pop, hokey singalongs, ‘A Stairway to Heaven’ backed rendition of ‘Gilligan’s Island,’ and even some headbanging courtesy of Metallica and the two DJs scratching on wearable turntables. The joint performance was augmented by turntable wizardy, guitar pedals that warped the sounds they were spinning and video cameras that caught every move (Cut even had one strapped to his wrist).  Even if somehow you missed the NY show, I’m sure the CD/DVD package is worth picking up just to check out this ridiculousness.

Double Dee and Steinski opened the show and despite it being odd to see fifty-somethings spin hip hop, the two old schoolers had a pretty sick hour and a half set full of layered breaks, stabs and vocal samples.  Like the headliners who paid homage to the two legends, their set was pretty diverse as well, and although they didn’t use turntables, their creation of music by mixing obscure samples shows why they their successors in the hip hop community still give mad props.  Supposedly catching a live performance of the two is pretty rare, so I’m glad I had the pleasure.

Overall, last night proved to me that the genius is in the design.  A DJ can make a Serato set hot if he picks the right sonics to keep the crowd guessing or provide a full sensory performance by adding live elements that enhance the vibe and make the experience something crazy to watch, listen and move to.  As long as DJs keep doing it like Shadow, Cut Chemist, Steinski and Double Dee, hip hop is breathing easy.