DJ Shadow & Cut Chemist

As you all know, I've recently decided to let people guest-star in this blog to talk about their favorite music. This week's guest will be my friend Tadeu over from the award winning blog for randomness Lifetimes 09 which can be found on my favorites blog list. He in turn decided to copy my ingenious idea of guest-bloggers, so he forced(actually threatened) me to contribute to his blog(or else*_*, what can I say, he's a big man!lol), so heres my post for him. http://lifetimes2009.blogspot.com/2009/02/water-polo.html
Anyways, to get to the point, thanks to Tadeu for his contribution, so here's his amazing post, Enjoy:

Oh hello there! How are you? Before you answer, I'd just like to let you know that I can't hear you answering what you read on the internet, and to be completely honest, you're weird for doing that. No, seriously, stop it. Its not like I'd care if you were talking directly to me, I wouldn't.

Um... Anyways, I'm not here to make chit-chat (unless you're a fairly good looking female, then I have ALLLLLL the time in the world, really). I'm here to talk about my favorite contemporary artist, DJ Shadow, and along with him, Cut Chemist. Now, who are these people? They're DJs, you'd think this is fairly obvious... and why are you still asking questions? Do you follow me around blogs, or are you a voice in my head I make up to add voice to my writing? Moving on...

(I'd like to add these videos are copyrights of their respective artists etc etc blah blah blah... you know the

drill)

This, is DJ Shadow. Watch. Listen. Be amazed.

This, is Cut Chemist. By now I'm assuming your brains have already melted, so why are you ever READING this?

Now some background on these men:

DJ Shadow was an up and coming artist in the early 90s, widely considered to be the father of Trip-Hop, the best sampler around, and regarded as one of the strongest influences in hip-hop when hip-hop still had MCs (and therefore were not total produced crap like nowdays).

His debut album, called Endtroducing... (elipsis included) Was a remarkable piece of art criticized as one of the best albums ever made, making the list of 1001 albums you have to hear before you die. From Endtroducing we get songs such as Midnight in a Perfect World and The Number Song, which although admitedly not famous, are incredibly deep and meaningful... Ok The Number song is just plain fun, but most of the songs in the Album were eerie and intricate, with samples coming from all corners of the music world in a show of eclecticism not displayed ever before in an album.

DJ Shadow also contributed to U.N.K.L.E, which is a music outfit intended to get famous artists to contribute, and make amazing, Avant Guarde music. Thom Yorke, with whom DJ Shadow worked with while producing the debut album from UNKLE, co-wrote a song with him called Rabbit In your Headlights, which in it self is a very dark and eerie song, and coupled with the video gives you an expierience that, personally, surpasses, simply put, simple music.

Cut Chemist was the MC for the Hip-Hop group Jurassic 5. From early on, when you start listening to J5, it is obvious there is a Cut Chemist influence. His amazing scratch is one of his trademark sounds, as well as his also very eclectic taste in music, making J5 stand out from the crowd of Hip-Hop sameness going on around that time.

With his original sounds and mixes, Cut Chemist made J5 stand out of the crowd. However he decided to move on to a solo career to concentrate more on his own music, instead of being background for the rap supergroup. His first full-lenght solo album, the Audience is Listening, features a song that can be viewed in the 2g Ipod commercial released by Apple.

This album also features The Garden, one of my personal favorites, which uses the track of a Bossa Nova song by Astrud Gilberto, Berimbau (which is a capoeira instrument, look it up).

He also appears as the Chemestry Professor in the Indie movie, Juno.

In 2008, Cut Chemist got together with DJ Shadow for a world tour, which promoted their new mix, "The Hard Sell." A DVD of the live concert has been released, and to be frank, it's quite awesome.

I know, I know, you're saying this is not rock, therefore it must suck. But you know what? There's plenty of rock that sucks so bad its not worth the time. That's why I found my friend Jose's blog to be significant, it never fails to show the true meaning of rock. I invite you guys now to share my passion, relax, unplug your headphones, put on the speakers, and listen to some relaxing Trip-Hop, transcedental Six Days by DJ Shadow on his second album, the private press?

Change has come!!!(not referring to the Obama compaign slogan) and this time with a funky fresh name: Chester French!

Okay then... I know my readers usually expect me to post about the good-all classic rock bands, and to keep my standards of covering bands that contain at least some sort of a dose of hard rock or metal in them, as well as to detest the obscene horror of new modern day pop rock or anything close to that, but talking to my dearest friend Jenny actually inspired me to give the new stuff a chance. Thus, I decided to cross to the other side and experiment with another side of the rock genre which I usually don't listen to, and that I would personally not consider "True Rock". In this Post, Jenny shares her view on one of her favorites and an exciting new band dubbed "Chester French". After listening to these guys, I actually had an epiphany...NOT, but I didn't find them bad, not bad at all; In fact, I actually enjoyed them. And after that, I decided to expand this new part of my taste bud with other similar bands. Overall, one thing Jenny and this whole experience taught me is that maybe I shouldn't be that orthodox when it comes to my judgment of rock and even music as whole. Maybe there is another side where the sun shines that I just haven't found yet. Maybe I should try the new stuff more and further my horizon of other genres while still retaining the good'all stuff as well. Whatever I learned(or was supposed to learn) from this short but significant muscial journey, I'm just glad it happened.
Before you read the review, I want to thank my friend Jenny for contributing to this post in which she did an amazing job! Here's her review on "Chester French":Colorful images. Cheeky diction. An eloquent review of an up-and-coming band. No, Jose didn't have a sex change and is now inhabiting the body an indie 16-year-old from Brighton. No, Jose didn't realize that "new" rock is good rock (kidding). So, what is up with the sudden change, you may ask yourself. Well, you guessed it, I am a guest contributor to Jose's musical blog True*Rock*Never*Dies. My area of musical focus tends to range anywhere from Sheffield's own Arctic Monkeys to the always soulful Gypsy Kings. But now to my review...

I have found my new band of meek obsession. The willing victimes this time around is the Cambridge-based pop duo Chester French. With their fresh, funky sound and cheerful beats, Chester French, aka Maxwell Drummey (left) and D.A. Wallach, bring a new meaning to pop on the table. CF are a breath of fresh air in the atmosphere of radio-hits mainly pertaining to stupid dance moves and mainly sung by homosexual boy-bands. Think Beach boys with updated, quirky lyrics making references to Jimmy Choo's and shallow lovers.

Chester French is currently signed onto Star Trak/Interscope records under the promising guidance of Pharrell Williams, the innovative producer himself. Ever since Pharrell got a taste of this poppy duo, the rockstar/producer/designer, knew that these boys had something amazing to offer.

"When I first heard Chester French, I felt like I had stumbled upon two geniuses," says Pharrell Williams, who signed the duo to Star Trak/Interscope records in the Spring of 2007. "It's been a long time since I've heard a project teeming with this sort of musicality and originality," he continues. "You're going to watch history unfold with these guys. I feel it in my gut."

Chester French's long-awaited debut CD, Love The Future, will hit record stores on March 24th.

But in the meantime, to get a further whiff of this pleasant aroma of a band, go to
MySpace.com/chesterfrench

And Now enjoy this video form their latest hit, "She Loves Everybody"

Chester French "She Loves Everybody"