The Beat Surrender

I must confess that I did view this release with a great deal of sceptiscism at first, four French guys with a turntable each and a box that makes bleeping and squelching sounds, doesn’t sound like the best listen in the world and I couldn’t imagine it made for the best viewing either.

Don’t get me wrong I have nothing against people experimenting, trying out different things in the live arena and certainly nothing against turntabilism generally. As it turns out I was half right in my pre judgement, but luckily for Birdy Nam Nam the collective in question here, it more than makes up for it.

The CD is a fairly dull listen, you get interspersed crowd noises from the gig, the music could be one man or four men on the turntables for all you know, it really doesn’t come across here, musically it mixes up techno, house, jazz and funk so at least its varied.

The best though is saved for the DVD, as someone who does a bit of deejaying now and again but isn’t exactly blessed with skills, it’s quite amazing to watch these four guys on stage doing there stuff, especially the close ups which just blow your mind when you see how damn good they are!

The CD/DVD deluxe pack is out now through Uncivilized World.