Mixmaster Mike Leads Beastie Boys Back To Future
b...@sonicnet.com
Mixmaster Mike Leads Beastie Boys Back To Future
"They treated me to the baddest beats I've ever heard in my
life," said 28-year-old Mixmaster Mike (a.k.a. Mike Schwartz),
who recently laid down all the scratching on the Boys'
still-untitled upcoming album (July 14). "I tried to go old school, scratching
horns and shit into the mix, like [Run-DMC DJ] Jam Master Jay used to do..."
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: Mixmaster Mike Leads Beastie Boys Back To Future
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Mixmaster Mike Leads Beastie Boys Back To Future
Invisibl Skratch Piklz turntablist helps punk-rap trio to relearn
old-school lesson for forthcoming album.
Senior Writer Gil Kaufman reports:
As the DJ guesting on the Beastie Boys' forthcoming, long-awaited album,
Mixmaster Mike said he drew on old-school lessons in an effort to help push
the Boys back to the future.
"They treated me to the baddest beats I've ever heard in my life," said
28-year-old Mixmaster Mike (a.k.a. Mike Schwartz), who recently laid down
all the scratching on the Boys' still-untitled upcoming album (July 14). "I
tried to go old school, scratching horns and shit into the mix, like
[Run-DMC DJ] Jam Master Jay used to do."
"They treated me to the baddest beats I've ever heard in my life." --
Mixmaster Mike <Picture>
The turntablist, who took a break from his day job as part of the
pioneering turntable collective the Invisibl Skratch Piklz to work with the
Boys, said the innovative punk-rap trio has taken an "old school" approach
to their lyrics as well as their beats on the album, the B-Boys' first
since 1994's Ill Communication.
From the sounds of snippets played over the phone from Mixmaster Mike's
secret West Coast location, it's clear that the B-Boys are updating their
sound for the type of turntablist future funk championed by such formerly
underground crews as the Skratch Piklz and DJ Shadow, while still keeping
the busy musical vibe of their 1989 classic, Paul's Boutique.
For instance, one song, "The Move," is clearly an old-school-sounding jam
laced with spacey sounds and fat beats. Meanwhile, a second tune, "Another
Dimension," features robotic electro shock vocorder vocals courtesy of
B-Boy Ad-Rock (a.k.a. Adam Horowitz) over a fuzzed-out buzz of keyboards.
One way that the Bay Area DJ said he improvised on the forthcoming album,
which he added should have 28 or so tracks on it (out of the 40 that the
B-Boys brought into the studio), was by "throwing in some space shit and
old-school scratching," for which he looked to classic Run-DMC recordings
as inspiration.
Mixmaster Mike said he has been trading hip-hop-infused answering machine
messages with Beastie Boy MCA (a.k.a. Adam Yauch) for years. But he never
really thought those jokey bits of musical catch-up would transform into a
full-time gig, he added. "I've known Adam for a while," Mixmaster Mike
said. "And we planned on hooking up a long time ago and it never happened.
But then they wanted to take their shit to another level and they called me
and, basically, let me do whatever I wanted."
"Mike has the ability to improvise, a skill that many DJs are lacking,"
said John Carluccio, director of the turntablist documentary "Battle
Sounds," about Mixmaster Mike's skills on the wheels of steel. "He's real
open-minded, open to different sounds and sources. He cranks stuff out and
doesn't look back."
Mixmaster Mike flew out to New York for a week in early February to begin
helping out with the album, which then had a working title of Hello Nasty,
he said. "They basically played me all the tracks and I knew immediately
what they needed and laid all the scratches down," Mixmaster Mike said. "I
think I'm their DJ now," he added when asked about longtime B-Boys
beatkeeper DJ Hurricane, who has thus far not been named as a contributor.
As if all that experimentation weren't enough, Mixmaster Mike said he also
scratched in some "roosters and shit" onto some country songs laid down by
the B-Boys. "They're furious, man," Mixmaster Mike said of the songs that
the rap trio committed to wax for a full-on country release. "They made
this whole country album and Mike D's the singer on it and, I swear, those
guys are off the hook. It sounds really good, they're good at all that
shit."
Steve Martin, the Beastie Boys' publicist, said it was currently unclear
where or in what form the country songs would appear.
Mixmaster Mike who will tour with the B-Boys when they hit the road for a
U.S. tour in August, has his own full-length solo debut coming out around
the same time as the Beasties album, an effort entitled Anti-Theft Device,
which he described as "all instrumental space music."
The DJ even offered a preview of a song bearing his name that is slated for
the upcoming Beastie Boys album, the cut-crazy sound collage "Mixmaster
Mike." The tune features the three B-Boy MCs [Ad-Rock, MCA and Mike D
(a.k.a. Mike Diamond)] shouting out to their new DJ over a fat, funky beat.
"They really kicked that shit to the root of the [1983 hip-hop film] 'Wild
Style' days," said Mixmaster Mike, who added that infamous dub
innovator/producer Lee "Scratch" Perry is also slated to be featured on one
of the album's songs.
Also expected for inclusion is a track that Mixmaster Mike described as a
"really dope" drum and bass song.
Mixmaster Mike re-cut some scratches laid down by Ad-Rock, he said,
praising Ad-Rock more than once for his ability to come up with an
infectious rhythm track. "Ad-Rock is sick," Mixmaster Mike said of the
Beastie Boy's drum-machine concoctions. "We were up constantly working on
the shit."