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The Slew: “Rock Meets Hip-Hop and, for Once, it Doesn’t Suck”

The story behind The Slew is that famed Canadian turntablists Kid Koala and Dynomite D were asked to soundtrack a film with a mix of hip-hop beats and psych rock. The film died a quick death, but the music lived on in the minds of these two cut-and-scratch artists. They ended up pulling together an entire album’s worth of material that slips prime cuts of fuzzy riffs, heavy bass and the low growl and high…

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The Skinny: The story behind The Slew is that famed Canadian turntablists Kid Koala and Dynomite D were asked to soundtrack a film with a mix of hip-hop beats and psych rock. The film died a quick death, but the music lived on in the minds of these two cut-and-scratch artists. They ended up pulling together an entire album’s worth of material that slips prime cuts of fuzzy riffs, heavy bass and the low growl and high wails of the best rock ‘n’ roll singers together with the funkiest drum breaks from those same rock sides.

Late last year, a full-length album of these tracks was released, under the name 100%, on the venerable Ninja Tune label, and to support it, Koala and Dynomite toured the U.S. with six turntables in tow. Wisely, they decided to fill out the back end of these tracks with live instrumentation, calling upon one of the best – and unfortunately unemployed – rhythm sections around: Chris Ross and Myles Heskett, the two gents that were unceremoniously fired from the Australian rock group Wolfmother.

On stage, this quartet tear into the songs with the type of sweaty abandon you would hope to see from a vintage rock group. Kid Koala and Dynomite D sidled left and right, cutting snatches of guitar riffs and bits of vocals together, while in between, Ross and Heskett slammed into each break as if they too were being controlled by unseen hands. The group is gearing up for an Australian tour in the late spring, but will hopefully be inspired enough by their own efforts to take this collaboration into the studio for a rock/hip-hop hybrid that, for once, doesn’t sound forced or hackneyed.  [ END ]

Genres: Rock, Psychedelic, Blues, Hip-Hop, Turntablism, Electronic, Trip-Hop

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