DJ Negative Skillz

I had a go at the art of reviewing a long time ago and decided though I had an interest in music and writings about music I decided I wasn’t really much cop. So while I will try my best to give this review a good shot, apologies in advance for the shit prose – I’ve also compensated for this with some photos capturing my actual reactions to all of the songs on the tape.

First of all some of the circumstances of this tape. The paperwork states the tape was

‘mixed on 1 turntable with nuff pause button edits and rewinds by the one they call DJ Negative Skills'.

It was hand delivered to my place in East London on a Tuesday early evening (20th March). We get a lot of door-to-door sellers so I don’t always answer the door (figuring friends will bell me), so I’m glad I did this time. We had a brief but pleasant conversation, where I immediately broke the tape-swapping code by giving my dissensus name and asking for (and getting) his.

The tape is carefully crafted, with as much interest going on ‘in the mix’ as there is in the official tracks. For the whole of the tape it feels like DJ Negative Skills has his hands next to the record lining up another signature sabotage. This has the effect of making it feel like he’s sat there listening to the music with you, which feels kind of creepy but also gives you the discipline to listening properly and not being able to dismiss anything without giving it a proper listen.

I’ve listened to the tape around 10 times in the three or so weeks I've had it. Sometimes I've spun it in my spare music/work room (where all the pictures are taken) but it has also soundtracked my cycle ride to work ( though I got some funny looks pulling out my clunky walkman at work).



Onto the sounds, Side A starts with ‘For your love’ by the Yardbirds where we get a turntabalists re-reading of the song – the song dipping out of right and left channels, slowing down, stopping, the needle thudding against the record, before the tampering ends and we hear the whole if slightly slowed version of the record. This seems to work, a good start.



A change of tack up next with Salt N Pepa’s ‘shake your thang’ (featuring E.U) a slice of late 80s pop rap…which doesn't particularly move (Push It still cuts it but this is just meh) – lot of needle feedback creep in at the end, but I think this is all part of the compiler letting me know their on the controls



Then we have Rammelzee versus K. Rob, leftfield hip-hop from about the same time I think or just later. Rammelzee’s the strange looking dude adored by the Wire isn’t he. This is okay but nothing special. My ill-advised attendance at Shoreditch bars between 1999-2003 killed the vibe of anything 'old school' like this for me. Some more random turntabalism sneaking in at the end at the track cuts between channels, the turntable is unearthed, it cuts and fades, fades some more, cuts back in (I’m hoping this is all very deliberate).



Then we get a couple of slices of The Bordeoms ‘jungle taitei’ track, the second being labelled as DJ Let’s Try & DIY Drum Machine Mix, which sounds like an in-house job rather than any formal mix. Again we get some channel hopping – the first one spends a while just coming out of the right channel. The remix starts with a throbbing Aphex-like pulse going through it while the singer appears to be drowned. The drumbeat becomes more complex and rhythmic. I'm enjoying this, despite having to chase the sounds around the room.



Next is Nobukazu Takemura’s ‘a lost treasure’ a lovely solemn track with vocordered vocal. This is the first artist I’ve not heard of before but sounds worth looking into though I wouldn’t be surprised if I’d discover something in Schneider TM territory.



Next some plinky plonky business with The Remote Viewer – here it was difficult to tell if the glitches, speeding up and down was the author’s or curators italics. Quite a pleasant tune though, if nothing particularly different



Finally Dry Hustle ‘do it sloppily’ is a turntablists or VVM-style version of Missy Elliot’s ‘get ur freak on’…not really doing an awful lot for me.



Side B starts with Pram’s ‘eltopo’. I heard a lot about Pram during the post rock era, but never really bothered checking them out. This has an obvious Morricone influence, with a central (almost Casio sounding) whistling melody backed by occasionally epic strings. Then we get come radio fm searching (again not sure if this is part of the pram track or our compiler’s doing)



Then we get Dexy’s Midnight Runners ‘burn it down’ with some intro volume tampering and cutting out and slowing down by out turntablism champion…. I suppose this is kind of wearing for me now – particularly the switching from left to right channels. Great song though.



Then it’s Quickspace with ‘rise’, whimsical indie stuff – pleasant enough, but not particularly rousing in any way. I’m starting to think the flitting between left and right channels might be a cassette fault – only also the other turntablism antics is making me think otherwise.



Next it’s the more rocky sounding The Yummy Fur with ‘supermarket sounding a bit like Wire, which is quickly followed Neotropic ‘ultra freaky orange’ – filmic mid-90s sounding electronica/lounge/trip-hop…. though it is quite a dense sensory overload, these ears aren’t quite ready for a return of these type of Mo Wax/Vadim/Luke Vivert style soundings.



Then we get a blast of Merzbrow/Gore Beyond Necropsy with ‘a horse named rectal anarchy’…and blast is the right word, sounding like a high-speed train hurtling past. Again some confusion whether the tomfoolery in the mix is from our compiler or the track artists. Somewhere in there we also had Hijokaidan (another artists unknown to me) with ‘ferocity of practical life part 2’ though I didn’t spot exactly where!



Dave Brubeck Quartet’s ‘blue shadows in the street’ is an aptly named mournful swinger of a tune.




Next have Georgia Moroder’s fantastic thumping ‘call me’ instrumental. The tape closes with some distant radio signal beeping away for 15 minutes or so interspersed with some more gadgetry play from the compiler, including a 5 or so minute false ending.