{"id":761,"date":"2014-11-25T01:57:00","date_gmt":"2014-11-25T01:57:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/?p=761"},"modified":"2026-06-25T01:59:05","modified_gmt":"2026-06-25T01:59:05","slug":"dj-shadow-cut-chemist-renegades-of-rhythm-tour","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/?p=761","title":{"rendered":"DJ Shadow, Cut Chemist, Renegades of Rhythm tour"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

November 2014, Georgia Theatre, Athens, Ga.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cThis record,\u201d Cut Chemist said, raising up a hallowed selection of 12-inch vinyl, \u201cis the one that sits next to the Gettysburg Address.\u201d He then gently set the disc on the turntable, where it became a preeminent part of his score, to the delight of the dancing crowd.<\/p>\n

Make no mistake, there is deep history in vinyl grooves.<\/p>\n

The record, the acid demo vinyl of Afrika Bambaataa\u2019s \u201cLooking for the Perfect Beat,\u201d anchored Monday night\u2019s show at the Georgia Theatre, where Cut Chemist (Lucas MacFadden) and DJ Shadow (Josh Davis) spun two hours of records from the collection of the hip-hop godfather. Bambaataa\u2019s collection (which sits at Cornell University \u201cin the same vault as papyrus scrolls \u2014 no seriously we were there \u2014 and the Gettysburg Address,\u201d said Shadow) was the night\u2019s star with the two DJs ensuring it got the proper treatment.<\/p>\n

Shadow and Cut Chemist, master DJs in their own right with decades of experience, have embarked on a Renegades of Rhythm tour to share the sounds which influenced them to become turntablists. Taking the audience on an audio and visual tour of hip-hop culture, the pair spun through songs of endless variation \u2014 from Sugar Hill Gang\u2019s \u201cRapper\u2019s Delight,\u201d Kraftwerk\u2019s \u201cTrans Europe Express,\u201d \u201cThe Message\u201d by Grandmaster Flash and The Furious Five, and Yes\u2019 \u201cOwner of a Lonely Heart.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yes, I said Yes.<\/p>\n

It was Shadow\u2019s second time in Athens (Cut Chemist\u2019s first) but he told the crowd they\u2019d see something they\u2019ve never seen before. And with that, he dropped a James Brown record and the night was off. Flanked by a large video screen showing images of Bambaataa\u2019s vinyl collection, gritty and graffiti New York streets and spray-paint collages, the two took turns deftly moving through a timeline of musical genres.<\/p>\n

There was the funk and soul of James Brown and Sly and the Family Stone, moving to the salsa of Willie Colon and on to disco \u201cbut not the disco you\u2019re used to hearing,\u201d Cut Chemist added. \u201cGood Times,\u201d the monster hit from Chic (which is also known as the backing music for \u201cRapper\u2019s Delight\u201d) opened the rap portion of the show. There was not a still person in the place.<\/p>\n

Throughout the two displayed their stellar skills with the wax, using their six turntables to play off one another, finishing each other\u2019s musical sentences, flipping from reggae to go-go to disco in an instant, or at one point, synchronizing scratches without missing a beat. Cut Chemist brought out a 1967 drum machine, the one Grandmaster Flash used in 1980, to create his own beats while Shadow bashed on another vintage drum machine across the way. And despite playing instruments and music more than 35 years old, it all felt modern and timeless.<\/p>\n

The night found some reggae and dub, moved to go-go (Bambaataa insisted on it, Shadow noted), and included a full series of songs from Bambaataa and his band the Soulsonic Force. The highlight, the weird and infectious \u201cPlanet Rock\u201d with its B-side \u201cLooking for the Perfect Beat,\u201d infused all elements of the night to this point. Bambaataa\u2019s record collection would become his music, which in turn would shine a light on back on the collection itself.<\/p>\n

There were no better ambassadors than DJ Shadow and Cut Chemist. When superstars of a craft share what made them that way, it\u2019s best to listen. And on this night, dance along.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

November 2014, Georgia Theatre, Athens, Ga. \u201cThis record,\u201d Cut Chemist said, raising up a hallowed selection of 12-inch vinyl, \u201cis the one that sits next to the Gettysburg Address.\u201d He then gently set the disc on the turntable, where it became a preeminent part of his score, to the delight of the dancing crowd. Make […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":522,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[69,68],"class_list":["post-761","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-concerts","tag-cut-chemist","tag-dj-shadow"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/761","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=761"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/761\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":762,"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/761\/revisions\/762"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/522"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=761"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=761"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=761"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}