Wednesday 11 April 2012

Scratch and Swing


These guys have completely blown me away. I came across the above video on one of my internet trawling sessions about a month ago, and their vids have been on repeat chez Jack ever since. Not only do I love the tunes that these guys are making, but I love the way the video is made: before I had watched this I did not really understand how scratching works - now I do (I think).

The video is of the routine that won C2C their third world team DMC Championship (out of four). As you will see, the performance has three parts, all of which I adore. The middle section, with a Brazilian feel, is wonderful - each of the four DJs has a different sample (watch for when they show you which it is) and they are blended and scratched to create that wonderful track. The other obvious thing to point out is how slick these guys are: scratching each other's decks (no sniggering at the back), swapping positions... very very cool.

Although they clearly owe plenty to hip hop and breakbeat, the work they do with the blues plonks them firmly in the electro-swing camp. Who would have known that scratching a harmonica would work so well?

Oh, and if you were concerned that while they can make a good studio track, they may not be able to reproduce the effect live, think again. And their lighting man deserves a medal:

They have just released their first EP, entitled "Down the road", on On and On Records.