DJ Shadow and Cut Chemist: The Hard Sell Tour (Review by Bucho for Demencha Magazine’s summer 2008 issue, published July 2008)

By Chris Mills | September 12, 2008 at 12:19 am | No comments | Uncategorized

I found myself at a small place called YJ’s Coffeeshop just off Broadway and 17th during the summer of 2000. My friend Katie’s older brother, Josh Powers, was dj-ing old school funk, hip hop, and a smattering of trip hop. We frequented the spot most Wednesday nights and the time I remember most vividly was when Josh blended the vocals of “Fu-Gee-La” over Dj Shadow’s
“Influx.” I fell in love with the mix, but it was the underlying track that stuck with me for months after. Over the next year, Josh introduced me to producers and deejays alike in the trip hop genre via old wax and compact discs, but Shadow’s production was like nothing else I was hearing.

“Endtroducing” was the first full album I’d actually heard anything off of, and subsequently, I picked up the others as quickly as possible. I was fortunate enough to find two copies of his single “Dark Days” from the movie of the same name on 45′s and the track ended up on my first downtempo dj mix. When “The Private Press” was released, I read an interview with Shadow in URB magazine about some of the samples, culled from ancient pieces of audio called recordios and searched a few out at the mecca of Kansas City crate digging, The Music Exchange. I found a few and was surprised at how odd they were with their thin layer of recordable material on top with an underside of tin or metal. These were fragile and definitely worth the nearly $100 I spent on them, purely to hear the voice of a businessman in Chicago sending an audio diary of sorts back to his wife at home. Mundane stuff to be sure, but it was from the early half of the century and gave me a glimpse into the American past a history book couldn’t produce on any level.

For seven years I’ve been playing all forms of trip hop, downtempo, afrobeat, acid jazz…anything I can get my hands on that’s sometimes danceable, but more often than not, relaxing background music. For those seven years, Shadow has come nowhere near the Kansas City area and finally, in February of 2008, he brought Cut Chemist and Kid Koala to bring some much needed serious turntablism to Harrah’s Voodoo Lounge. It was Shadow’s first event here, it was Chemist’s first event here and nothing was going to stop me from seeing this show, even the possibility of six inches of snow later that night.

The venue was spacious and easy to navigate, but the seating in the upper balcony was lackluster at best. Two bars line either side of the dance floor and tables along the barrier between floor and bar area provide for more seating with decent views over the crowd. Televisions around the entire venue played live video feed from several angles, concentrating mostly on the handiwork of Kid Koala.

My friends and I had walked in just shortly after Kid Koala started playing. We got some drinks and stayed near the bar close to the stage to watch him. On what looked to be three decks and a CDJ, he layered track after track with incredibly deft cutting skills and recreated his song “Drunk Trumpet” live, which was nothing short of amazing to watch. Throughout the entire performance, Koala had pre-written messages on a large flip-pad in a humorous way of getting crowd reaction and participation which added to the vibe of the show. Even during small issues, Koala’s smile never left his face and showed that he’s a true performer, taking his lumps when he has to. After a lengthy, beautiful homage to his mother’s favorite song, Koala left the stage and a fifteen minute pause was given before the headliners came out to show Kansas City what the Hard Sell was about.

The lights dimmed and an instructional video appeared on the two large screens behind the decks. The overly peppy voice of a mid-1950′s narrator explained the history of the 45 “or, 7 inch” and why it eclipsed the idea of the old 78′s from previous years. The video went on to explain that both men would be playing only 45′s on 8 turntables through 4 mixers, and 2 guitar effects processors controlled via foot pedals. Shadow introduced himself and Chemist and gave a shout out to the now defunct Music Exchange and applause erupted from the crowd in honor of one of Kansas City’s greatest crate digging spots. “Tonight we’re gonna play nothing but 45′s,” he said. “Some of it’s really great stuff, and some of it is just horrible, but it’s all music and we hope you’ll let us do some experimentation for you.” For the next hour and forty-five minutes, the two men threw vinyl after
vinyl after vinyl down while using feet and hands to manipulate every record into loops or epic distortion meant to create atmosphere. When one would be three or four records deep, the other would step back for a moment, but only to find more records to add to the sonic layers thumping through the Voodoo Lounge speakers.

Midway through the first half of their set, stagehands came out and set up a table with milk and cookies in front of the decks. After a quick call and response scratch session with some lovely breaks records, the two men set a record on loop, letting the choicest part of the break play over and over while they came around, sat at the table and enjoyed their dessert while the crowd, yet again, filled the venue with raucous applause.

Having marked the end of their first “act,” Shadow and Chemist started out the last half of the show in an opium-den, mellow kind of way and consistently built up the bpm and intensity of the tracks until finally ending with a track each off of their Brainfreeze and Product Placement mixes. With humble thank you’s and bows, the two exited the stage and didn’t return for an encore, but no one seemed too disappointed as the crowd realized they had seen aural magic at it’s best.

We left the venue and spilled out into the casino floor, bright lights blinding and other show-goers congregating around, not wanting to really leave. I found out later that Kansas City was indeed blessed as this was one of only a handful of shows being
performed between February and March. Hiphoppers, Triphoppers, Backpackers, and music lovers alike milled about, grinning ear to ear as if they had just been on the best amusement park ride ever. Several inches of snow had fallen while we were inside and made for slow driving home, but we were too awe-struck to really care about weather conditions. We were all slack-jawed and content, driving home in silence.

I’m not the most educated dj in town and I certainly don’t know my breaks records the way most others do, but the beauty of The Hard Sell is that it doesn’t require a previous knowledge of the tracks. Sure, it’s nice to be able to know what they’re playing, but the collective head bobbing from the entire crowd all night long showed that The Hard Sell was one of the easiest things to buy into. Four hands, two feet, countless 45′s, 8 turntables, two foot pedal processors and two dj’s who make their craft look so easy, even when pushing the boundaries…it made me reminisce about the days I’d spend down at the Music Exchange just listening to records I’d never heard of in the hopes I’d find that one perfect vinyl gem.