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.