Cut Chemist - Die Cut '2018

Tracks list

This album started out as a long and hard ordeal for Cut Chemist, DJ and
producer of LA hip-hop band Jurassic 5, and one of the most talented
turntablists of his generation (the golden years of the 90s). In 2010, while he
was working on the album’s first sequences, he was sentenced to 30 days
in prison for drunk driving, before hearing about the sudden death of his father
and uncle. Plunged into depression, he got back on his feet with the help of
Carlos Niño. The mentor of Flying Lotus and producer/arranger for the entire
Californian indie scene surrounded him with studio musicians, whom Cut Chemist
confronted with his modus operandi as a hip-hop beatmaker. Not an easy situation
to manage. Unlike his fellow DJ Shadow, who always had his name featured on the
cover, Cut Chemist made his career behind the stages on which Jurassic 5 were
performing. Even if his talent is unanimously recognized, he had to wait until
2006 to release his first studio album, the acclaimed The Audience’s
Listening, showcasing his songwriting talents, already visible on 1998 Cut
Chemist Suite, a track by Latino rock band Ozomatli, giving a nostalgic twinge
to all fans of the video game Tony Hawks Pro Skater 3.

Cut Chemist could have adopted a more efficient approach to give himself a
marketing image that could have served him for the rest of his career, but under
such dramatic circumstances, his goal was quite simply to play music again. And
that’s what he did, with great desire, locking himself in the studio with
virtuoso drummer Deantoni Parks (who played electronic music beats by hand in
the band KUDU), going back and forth with Cut Chemist’s scratches and
samples. A collaboration that sounds particularly great on Rhythm Method, with
Myka 9’s mechanical rapping. A Mad Man is most likely the most powerful
track of the album with Joy Division whiffs of grunge violence. And guest stars
are up for the occasion from Queensbridge rap legend Biz Markie on the super
laid-back Moonlightin with Biz to the unavoidable MC from Jurassic 5, Chali 2Na,
coupled with an infectious synthetic bass loop on Work My Mind. Finally Cut
Chemist closes the album with a bonus track Die Cut (wrap), a great jam with a
slam by Myka 9 and Parks going wild on the drums that feels like a new found
pleasure. 

Tracklist:
 01. Cut Chemist - Metalstorm (02:28)
 02. Cut Chemist - Die Cut Intro (Interlude 1) (00:14)
 03. Cut Chemist - Die Cut (Theme) (02:47)
 04. Cut Chemist - Home Away from Home (03:22)
 05. Cut Chemist - Rhythm Method (04:23)
 06. Cut Chemist - Moonlightin with Biz (02:07)
 07. Cut Chemist - Work My Mind (03:38)
 08. Cut Chemist - Prelude for a Madman (01:13)
 09. Cut Chemist - Madman (03:24)
 10. Cut Chemist - Energy (Interlude 2) (00:35)
 11. Cut Chemist - You Want It, I Got It (04:13)
 12. Cut Chemist - I Gotta Weapon (02:17)
 13. Cut Chemist - Plains (00:51)
 14. Cut Chemist - Plane Jane (04:12)
 15. Cut Chemist - The Lift Part 2 (The Dream Sequence) (01:15)
 16. Cut Chemist - Home (02:44)
 17. Cut Chemist - Die Cut (Wrap) (05:37)

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