The Soul Controllers

 

I checked out the Scratch Tour last weekend at the 9:30 Club, featuring The Spooks, Rahzel, Jazzy Jay, Z-Trip, and the X-Ecutioners.



The Spooks and Rahzel played most of their sets off of an Instant Replay (if ya don't know, it's basically an overgrown MP3 player with a couple of bells and whistles)... This is definitely the equivalent of playing your whole set off of a DAT player, a practice that was so vilified just a few years ago. I'm really not mad, just curious... Who determined that the Instant Replay, and its cousin, the Short/Cut, are okay for performing the same function?



So then, Jazzy Jay comes out and does his whole set with FinalScratch, the jont that lets you control the playback of audio files on your computer with regular old turntables. Then, just to buck the system some more, his turntable of choice was some straight-arm blicka (Vestax or Stanton, couldn't tell) instead of the venerable SL-1200. Who says this cat is old school? But, uh, since he played all but one song off the computer, why'd he have three crates of records on stage with him? Just as stage props? Sounds like criminal neglect of your vinyl to me...



Z-Trip did his thing. Honestly never heard of him before seeing his name on the bill, but I left as a fan. Respect here, boss.



Besides his tables, Z-Trip had a CDJ-1000 with him. Between the rampant Instant Replay, FinalScratch, and CD turntable use at this DJ-focused concert, the vinyl purists in the crowd were probably having fits. But the X-Ecutioners' set brought them back down, keeping them from any extreme kirk-out behavior. It goes without saying that the X-Men (eff Marvel and their lawsuit... I've always been DC Universe kid anyways...) tore it up... Their minds work differently than the rest of us. Sick.



Good concert, but looking around the audience, I definitely felt like I was representing the high-end of the age demographic there, and I'm not sure how cool I am with that. And speaking of grown folks and hip-hop... last week's show (Book did the 1st hour; shout-out to RBI and friends for trooping up for Hour 2):



11/22/03--Hour 1

Doug E Fresh & The Get Fresh Crew- Keep Risin' to The Top (Remix)

Mos Def- Mos Definite

Pharoahe Monch & Ras Kass- Do U See What I See

Jay-Z- Public Service Announcement

Kevin Brown- Nitefall

Little Brother- On The Way

Asheru- BMIG

KRS-ONE- Outta Here

Common- Funky For You

Break/ Mystery Beat

De La Soul- Much More

Slum Village- Fall In Love (Remix)

G-Unit- Smile

Kevin Brown- Allways (Remix)

Fakts One f/ Little Brother- Grown Folks

Break/ Gripe Of The Week



11/22/03--Hour 2

Heron Gibran- Midnight Forum Freestyle

Prochi- Midnight Forum Freestyle

Heron Gibran, Prochi, RNL, Mr. Mojo, Decompose, & RBI Freestyle/ Interview

Fugees f/ A Tribe Called Quest & Busta Rhymes- Rumble In The Jungle

Gangstarr- Deep Concentration

Jungle Brothers- I'm Gonna Do You

Mobb Deep- Peer Pressure

Just-Ice- Going Way Back

Public Enemy- Black Steel In The Hour Of Chaos

House Of Pain- Word Is Bond

A Tribe Called Quest f/ Large Professor- Keep It Rollin'

Heather B- No Doubt

Break/ Outro



RBI, Heron, and Prochi were just a few of the many talented artists who contibuted to, and helped produce, "The Midnight Forum Mix CD, Volume One," in stores now. Get the jont.



No work today, so sleep in, but make sure you catch Book's lunch mix at noon on WPGC, you DC/MD/VA people...



Stylus' is at Sanctuary on Saturday for "Synergy," so be there, sucka. Kat's Korner starts at 8:30, and leads right into his set around 10.



Nas did say that, "sleep is the cousin of death," but don't fight the effects of the tryptophan... Let it do its work, and enjoy the rest.

- ed
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