Monday, June 23, 2008

Steinski - What Does It All Mean?: 1983-2006 Retrospective

We all love dance music... We all love our DJs... Yes, we can all become sound editing geniuses with our new fancy softwares and various plug-ins. But how many of us truly appreciate how far this whole scene has actually come? Before the days of drag-n-drop and plug-n-play, people who wished to create a new genre of music had to find more creative ways of doing so, bringing us to today's post subject - Steinski.

In 1983, a then 32 year-old Steinski with his partner in music, 27 year-old Double D, sat within a studio for two days straight, cutting together their classic endeavor, Lesson 1 - The Payoff Mix. By editing together short samples using a turntable, an 8-track deck and a stereo deck they had began to create the "mash-up" genre as we see it today. They then took this piece and entered into a Tommy Boy Records promotional contest, in which entrants were asked to remix the single "Play That Beat, Mr. D.J." by G.L.O.B.E. and Whiz Kid (members of Afrika Bambaataa's Soulsonic Force). The jury who judged this monumental contest, included Afrika Bambaataa, Shep Pettibone, and "Jellybean" Benitez; who all awarded Steinski and DD's first Lesson the first prize.

The duo then went to produce other mini-mix-mash-ups for a number of years, a collection dubbed Lessons. These mixes began to influence beginning days of the art of Turntablism and Turntablists artist such as; DJ Shadow and Cut Chemist. And the precedent of insane sampling and layering has spawned artists such as fellow Illegal Art brethren Girl Talk and odds are you! Released in May, Steinski's album, "What Does It All Mean?" a 1983-2006 Retrospective gathers some of the innovators earlier material which has largely not mean available on CD.

So here they are, Lessons 1 through3 from Steinski...
Get Learned!

Steinski - Lesson 1 The Payoff Mix (zshare)

Steinski - Lesson 2 (James Brown Mix) (zshare)

Steinski - Lesson 3 (History of Hip-Hop) (zshare)


-Manley, Himself

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