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Red
This young deck wizard from London is raising eyebrows far and wide with his turntable innovation and scratching skills. His debut album Fingerprints, was released this April on Dealmaker Records. It’s a demonstration in how the wheels of steel can be used as an instrument in their own right and the boundaries smashed wide open.
Recognition from Huw Stephens of Radio 1 “He’s a scratching, beat-boxing genius” and from one of his own peers DJ Yoda “Very inventive and very musical. An inspiration to everyone cutting away on turntables” has helped raise his profile and fan base to around Europe and beyond.
Debut single Seen, from the aforementioned album was picked as theme music for a recent PSP advert and you can see a video of Red creating Seen live on his Myspace page. The track is created completely from scratching, everything from the drum beats through to the melodies and its results are truly amazing, to say the least.
His creativity extended to forming a band, Full Fat with the initial intention of creating Seen on stage with live drums, guitar, synths and of course, his decks. They have progressed into a proper band whom now regularly perform tracks from the album and things they have written as a group.
When performing solo his sets incorporate beat-boxing and live looping, which have drawn comparisons to people like Joe Driscoll, Beardyman and the super talented Jamie Lidell with their unorthodox methods.
As one of today’s best exponents of forward thinking scratching, Red is advancing the modern Jazz sounds of people like Gangstarr, Pete Rock and ATCQ and the album is highly recommended.
It begins with WaddUp World, a funky, laidback intro with a deep down groove that continues throughout the album. Stabs of what sounds like Oboe repetitively undulate and the album is full of quirky use of wind instrument samples.
Simmer evokes St Germain at his dreamy best with a smoky Jazz feel that adds subtle electronics. My only gripe is the annoying Speak and Spell vocals in between some tracks. The hypnotic groove continues into Dynamic Force with spluttering percussion and the first bout of high quality scratching.
Staccato rhythms attack the senses on Samba Scratch underneath a soulful vibe of mellow synths and vocals. It is also created solely from scratching in the same way as Seen and is the first of five on the album using this technique. All’s Fair and Clock Watching incorporate Electro scales, wobbly soundscapes with old school vocals and feathered Jazz drums, not to mention what comes on like Herbie Hancock sampled under there somewhere.
Snow is the other, lush and soothing with waves of cymbal but also carrying a darker Portishead like side. The quality doesn’t drop throughout, Ice Cold being the weakest, it’s a testament to the rest as it still kicks, just a little flat.
Fingerprints finishes off with E.T and its aquatic feel. Layers of jungle style drum and bass roll into an intense skipping underwater hot step. Seen is included as a bonus track at the end and rounds off a cracking set of modern Jazz and Funk. Get on it people!!
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