DJ Spooky that Subliminal Kid @ Black Cat
By DCist contributor Paul Ghosh-Roy
Artist? Junglist? Selector? Hip-Hop DJ extraordinaire? DCist cannot answer this question. Maybe the best title, should DJ Spooky choose to pass out a DC style business card, would simply read, “Paul D. Miller, Turntablist.”
Because, if a turntablist uses the tables to create new music and improvise, and not just play records, then Washington, D.C.’s native son Paul D.Miller (nom de disc, "DJ Spooky that Subliminal Kid") claims the title without a doubt. Over his prolific and genre-bending career he has mixed all styles, from jazz to jungle, most recently putting together reggae compilations for Trojan records, Riddim Come Forward, and In Fine Style. And how much more can one man rock the decks than to record 2005’s "Drums of Death," with the drummer from Slayer, Vernon Reid (Vernon Reid?!), and Chuck D? We will hazard a guess — not much.
But DJ Spooky is not just a turntablist, as Paul D. Miller is a bona fide intellectual. He has written a book, Rhythm Science, described as "a manifesto for rhythm science — the creation of art from the flow of patterns in sound and culture," and is a Professor of Music Mediated Art at the European Graduate School in New York City. But you skeptics ask, "Ok, ok – so the guy’s an egghead and knows his way around a Technics 1200 – but can he turn the party out for the booty shakers, or does this experimental pioneer of illbient appeal just to the headnodders?" DCist went to the Black Cat on Friday night to find out.
Turns out it was a bit of both, though despite the non-stop beat dropping, the scales were probably tipped for the headnodders. Upfront, DCist will have to state that we were a litle disappointed that DJ Spooky stuck only to the cd mixers all night, and did not rock the decks on vinyl. We were not privy to any broken needles or warped wax. It’s not as if the turntables weren’t there, or that DJ Spooky doesn’t know how to use them, but sadly they served solely as stands for the cd mixers.
However, do not think that a show was not put on, or that there was, in fact, not a good reason for the exclusive use of cd mixers (and, of course, laptops). You see, Spooky did not merely mix and mash the songs, he also mixed and mashed the videos, which was, frankly, awesome. Spooky layered songs, samples and videos, all over each other and in real time, during his performance. When he “scratched” the cd, the video would also scratch, moving backwards and forwards as to mimic the digital needle. That was impressive. Seeing and hearing Mick Jagger singing "Satisfaction" backwards and forwards, mixed over a hip hop beat and, incredibly, Huun Huur Tu, was a solid kick off to a night of frantic mixing.
DJ Spooky moved swiftly through myriad styles, all mixed and mashed together: "Singin’in the Rain" into Iggy Pop and The Streets; weird Japanese robot animation (or something like that?), into Gorillaz on the audio and video mixed over drum and bass; dancehall scrambled into "Jungle Boogie"; bhangra mounted on a raggamuffin style vocal, heralding the introduction of a lengthy section of WWII propaganda films featuring such stars as Chairman Mao and Stalin. And on and on- we asked ourselves, how is this all happening? Other highlights included pieces of Iron Butterfly’s "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida," and the Clash classic “Guns of Brixton,” mixed over hip hop beats.
When Spooky took the stage, he asked us if we were here to party, and we can assume he wanted us to dance. But it was hard to keep up with his furious pace of disparate styles while mesmerized by the churning video screens, though we will note that the track that got DJ Spooky himself dancing was "Hip Hop Hooray." And Spooky was also a bit uneven — while he came on super strong with weird but complementary music styles and awe inspiring video scratching, the WWII propaganda videos, while cool, went on for a long while, as if someone had fallen asleep at the switch. Or maybe it just seemed long after setting the bar so high with the intense initial mix and match. Perhaps he lingered too long over a period of housey dance music, although, again, in a set of such frenetic speed, it is all relative.
Don’t get us wrong, though — despite a little unevenness and perhaps a relatively short set (under an hour and a half), DJ Spooky was definitely worth seeing. No other DJ can stick such a wide array of ingredients into the blender and deliver you as delicious an aural and visual smoothie. Spooky’s set provided a challenging game of "Name That Sample" for the headnodders, and just enough bounce for the booty shakers, too.
Photo from DJ Spooky's Website