Back in college, through a monthly compilation from CMJ NEW MUSIC MONTHLY, I first heard DeeJay Punk-Roc. I'm not certain which track it was that caught my attention, but I had to get my hands on the 1998 album Chicken Eye. Over ten years later, I still find the album fresh and unique. The album is somewhat of a collection of tracks rather than a complete story or single composition, but it weaves themes of tweaks, scratches, excellent sampling and some horns. In today's post, I'd like to review Chicken Eye for you, go over a few tracks from other releases and then lament his disappearance with you.
Chicken Eye. is across the board with slow rhythm numbers, to rap, to party songs. 'I hate Everybody' starts off the album. I could totally picture this song coming out of the speakers, while watching a turntablist perform during a d.j. battle. It's filled with tweaks & scratches, while sampling a girl saying "I hate everybody" presumably about to go postal on her coworkers.
A audio only clip from YOUTUBE for 'I Hate Everybody'
'Far Out' starts off with the intro "And now for our feature presentation...hardcore beatbox action with DeeJay Punk-roc:" and then picks up the pace and introduces the rap aspect to the album. The rap is well done over beats and tweaks.
Another audio only clip from YOUTUBE for 'Far Out'
'No Meaning' highlights his most excellent instrumentation trio : Horns, turntable scratching, and sick beats. The track itself is mainly an instrumental with some sampling, with no true vocals to speak of.
Another audio only clip from YOUTUBE for 'No Meaning'
'Dead Husband' is more of background music than party song. The song like most of his has good beats and sampling, his extra weaved instrumentation in this one is flute.
The party comes right back with 'All You Ladies' The lyrics are hard to understand, but the song has a stellar bass beat rhythm carrying it.
Another audio only clip from YOUTUBE for 'World is My Ashtray'
'World Is My Ashtray' is my favorite pure song on the album. This features his best horns display, although I anticipate it's a sample. The vocals are reminiscient of the 60's, similar to what Sergio Mendes would pull off. The vocals are more of instrumentation than singing, giving this album another quality instrumental track.
'My BeatBox' starts off with an extrapolation from an old school LL Cool J song. Heavy bass carries the track, along with a vocal effect, to weave a party anthem. This is one of the songs that actually has a real video.
'Busted Speaker' is an example of excellent storytelling through samples, with a Stereo store employee, concerned dad, and stoner son all taking parts. The tweaks are prominent thoughout.
Finally, 'Rockin It' brings it all back together with the whole array, tweaks, beats, horns, and rapping/sampling.
In my search for more DeeJay Punk-Roc through the years, I have stumbled across a '00 album Spoiling it For Everyone. I have never seen this album in print, only in digital form across the internets. This album features the rap aspect much more prominently, especially tracks such as 'Blow My Mind', 'Brooklyn Style', and 'Ever Get The Feeling, You've Been Cheated' are heavy vocals. Meanwhile he's still showing off his turntable skills on 'Living Sound of Reality' which has excellent samples, horns, tweaks and scratching. It turns into a sweet sounding stereophonic public service announcement. Likewise, 'Back in the Classroom' also features this same type of sampling. They're not vocals, but presumably recorded only for his tracks. The samplings go great with some upright Bass and some beats.
The best DeeJay Punk-Roc tracks are 'One More Bump' and 'Fat Gold Chain'. I feature them anytime I'm putting together a party playlist are . 'One More Bump' is his most complete composition combining soulful singing over a party beat.
Meanwhile, 'Fat Gold Chain' is his best rap impression of Jay-Z, featuring a P-Funk-style vocal effect.
Chicken Eye. is across the board with slow rhythm numbers, to rap, to party songs. 'I hate Everybody' starts off the album. I could totally picture this song coming out of the speakers, while watching a turntablist perform during a d.j. battle. It's filled with tweaks & scratches, while sampling a girl saying "I hate everybody" presumably about to go postal on her coworkers.
A audio only clip from YOUTUBE for 'I Hate Everybody'
'Far Out' starts off with the intro "And now for our feature presentation...hardcore beatbox action with DeeJay Punk-roc:" and then picks up the pace and introduces the rap aspect to the album. The rap is well done over beats and tweaks.
Another audio only clip from YOUTUBE for 'Far Out'
'No Meaning' highlights his most excellent instrumentation trio : Horns, turntable scratching, and sick beats. The track itself is mainly an instrumental with some sampling, with no true vocals to speak of.
Another audio only clip from YOUTUBE for 'No Meaning'
'Dead Husband' is more of background music than party song. The song like most of his has good beats and sampling, his extra weaved instrumentation in this one is flute.
The party comes right back with 'All You Ladies' The lyrics are hard to understand, but the song has a stellar bass beat rhythm carrying it.
Another audio only clip from YOUTUBE for 'World is My Ashtray'
'World Is My Ashtray' is my favorite pure song on the album. This features his best horns display, although I anticipate it's a sample. The vocals are reminiscient of the 60's, similar to what Sergio Mendes would pull off. The vocals are more of instrumentation than singing, giving this album another quality instrumental track.
'My BeatBox' starts off with an extrapolation from an old school LL Cool J song. Heavy bass carries the track, along with a vocal effect, to weave a party anthem. This is one of the songs that actually has a real video.
'Busted Speaker' is an example of excellent storytelling through samples, with a Stereo store employee, concerned dad, and stoner son all taking parts. The tweaks are prominent thoughout.
Finally, 'Rockin It' brings it all back together with the whole array, tweaks, beats, horns, and rapping/sampling.
THAT ALBUM KICKS BUTT, WHAT ELSE HAS HE DONE?
In my search for more DeeJay Punk-Roc through the years, I have stumbled across a '00 album Spoiling it For Everyone. I have never seen this album in print, only in digital form across the internets. This album features the rap aspect much more prominently, especially tracks such as 'Blow My Mind', 'Brooklyn Style', and 'Ever Get The Feeling, You've Been Cheated' are heavy vocals. Meanwhile he's still showing off his turntable skills on 'Living Sound of Reality' which has excellent samples, horns, tweaks and scratching. It turns into a sweet sounding stereophonic public service announcement. Likewise, 'Back in the Classroom' also features this same type of sampling. They're not vocals, but presumably recorded only for his tracks. The samplings go great with some upright Bass and some beats.
The best DeeJay Punk-Roc tracks are 'One More Bump' and 'Fat Gold Chain'. I feature them anytime I'm putting together a party playlist are . 'One More Bump' is his most complete composition combining soulful singing over a party beat.
Meanwhile, 'Fat Gold Chain' is his best rap impression of Jay-Z, featuring a P-Funk-style vocal effect.
NOW WHAT?
Sad to say, I haven't found anything new from or about DeeJay Punk-Roc in ten years. Fortunately, his style and tracks were unique enough to last the decade sounding new. Whether it's your first time, or a trip down memory lane. Enjoy the tracks!
Ok, I have a similar interest in DeeJay Punk-Roc. Missed him at Glastonbury Festival in 1998, when the dance tent got flooded with sewage, ha ha. But saw him at Reading festival the same year, then saw him play his monthly residency at an electro / breaks night in Birmingham (UK) in 1999. Had a chat with him after his set, really friendly guy talked about the t-shirt I was wearing. Anyway, I never picked up Chickeneye until 2008, then got hooked on it, and then also picked up the Mixmag/Mixer album from 1999.... "Spoiling it for everyone" I also got on cd cheaply from amazon.co.uk and picked up Thrift Store Classics 2CD sometime in 2010.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, from what I could tell his last piece of released work was a remix for someone in 2003. In the UK there is a night that happens every so often called Big Beat Reunion, organised by Cut La Roc who was big on the scene in the mid to late 90s, being on Skint Records. I always used to comment that he needed to book Punk-Roc on his Facebook posts.
One such time I had some bad news... Cut La Roc had tried to get hold of Punk-Roc only to find out that the big man had passed away in the last few years. That's all I know, but you can imagine it was a nasty shock. Seriously, DJPR was one of the best I have ever seen play out, and his studio work was immense!
Hope that clears things up a little for you!
Punks not dead,
ReplyDeleteJust very ill
ReplyDeleteI want to interview him for a music history class.... how do we ping him or his agent?
ReplyDelete