|
 CARLISLE ROGERS speaks to legendary beatmaster CUT CHEMIST about his career after Jurassic 5, and his highly anticipated Parklife appearance.
Lucas MacFadden, known as Cut Chemist to most, stands prosaically behind a pair of Technics decks, without affectation, exceptional grace or one of those perfect Eurotrash faces; which means he must be very good at his job. And sure as hell, he delivers every time. A decade working with megasaurs of hip hop, Jurassic Five, hasn’t adulterated his essence one bit – and his new long-player, The Audience’s Listening, rolls and frolics through his record collection like two very switched on bunny rabbits on a good dose of clover.
Released, quixotically, on Warner Bros Records, the album is a subtly stitched pastiche of seemingly half of Lucas’ record collection, some tricky vocal gymnastics from a few friends and plenty of original beats. Cut Chemist is, of course, headlining Parklife this year (what an insane lineup!) and bringing a thick bag of records…some of his stuff, some of his Jurassic Five stuff and a collection of records sure to confound and amuse the most adamant trainspotters. “I’m going to play some stuff from my album,” he says in a real slow west coast drawl, “intertwined with stuff from my past like remixes and Jurassic Five stuff. I’ll be cutting it up a shitload. “I always try to keep my show about 80/20: 80% rehearsed and 20% on my toes…ready for anything. It depends on what happens on stage, really. If they’re not liking it, I’m screwed…my album is my album and my sound is my sound. My set does span the gamut of deep funk to electronica. I think there is something there for everybody, and there’s something there for none of them too. At one point they are all going to go, ‘I’m not into this’. But that’s cool because there should be that part of the set where people are hearing something they are not used to.” He describes the new album as, “Folkloric…Baroque.” A long time in the making, this one has been stewing in Lucas’ head for over a decade really. “I’ve been working on this album for four years or so. ou can tell there is an evolution happening before you on the album. That’s cool, I like it. I think it gives it a timeless feeling.” “I’m a big fan of going to the miscellaneous section in any record store, and I think I’ve tried to make an album that fits into that section. It certainly hasn’t helped sales too much. Warner Brothers’ marketing approach has been like, what do we do with a record like this? We don’t know. It could mean the end of my career, but if I’m going to go down, I’m going to go down swinging. I think my next album is just going to be called Ringtones. It’s just going to be a bunch of ringtones. It will sell a billion copies.” The tracks on the new album are pretty cool coming through your computer speakers, but seeing this hip hop cut-master do it live on stage through thousand watt speakers is priceless. Well, not priceless (if you can still get a Parklife ticket!) Cut Chemist plays Parklife this Saturday September 30. The Audience’s Listening is out now through Warner Bros.
|
| Comments are submitted for possible publication on the condition that they may be edited. Poster's IP addresses are logged. |
|
Be first to comment on this article
