Words & photos by Amy Heycock.
Full photo gallery here.
Crowds came out to The Hi-Fi in Sydney on Thursday night for the musical experience that is DJ Shadow & Cut Chemist’s ‘Renegades of Rhythm’ – and WHAT a night it was.
Openers Migz, Mike Who, and Frenzie all set precedents for some of the funky and soulful vinyl cuts the crowd was about to hear. Frenzie well and truly lives up to his name, starting a dance pit in the middle of his set that would run through to the end of the night.
The first thing you should know about the ‘Renegades of Rhythm’ tour is a celebration of all things Afrika Bambaataa. One of the greatest pioneers of hip hop and electronic music, the man himself recently donated a large collection of vinyl and music to Cornell University. From that collection, DJ Shadow and Cut Chemist – both legends in their own rights – were asked if they were interested in putting together a DJ set exclusively compiled from vinyl within that archive. Thus the ‘Renegades of Rhythm’ is born.
Six turntables sat laid out, and the whole show was to be done completely on vinyl – nothing digital. This was made very obvious halfway through the set, when DJ Shadow shocked himself by accidentally lifting the needle off a record, thus shrouding the room in silence. Not something you’d ever experience during a digital set! Using it to his advantage, he drew our attention to the fact. “It just proves that there is no laptop behind here- this is all done right here on vinyl.” The 90-minute set was filled with sounds and styles from throughout Afrika’s extensive, explorative collection; classic ’70s breaks, calypso and funky soul filled the room, before working through Afrika Bambaataa’s own Looking for the perfect beat, Renegades of Funk and Planet Rock.
The second part of the set kicked off with The Clash, reminding us of the huge diversity in this collection. Full of breaks and classic hip hop highlights, a really special moment came when Cut Chemist laid tribute to Grandmaster Flash, pulling out a Vox Percussion King, recreating Flash It To The Beat.
Both DJ Shadow and Cut Chemist killed it, of courne. DJ Shadow did what he does best, creating ambience and laying down solid foundations, which the real showman of the pair, Cut Chemist, showed off with his insane scratch routines. I’m not actually sure if he made a single mistake the whole show.
It’s no wonder this show was made possible by Cornell University; the entire event felt like a musical education, and as strange as it sounds, it was an important one. Showing modern audiences the foundations of hip hop and DJing – hell showing us the foundations of modern music as a whole. DJ Shadow and Cut Chemist must high five at the end of every night, because they couldn’t have nailed it better.