DJ Q-Bert - Demolition Pumpkin Squeeze Musik ORIGINAL CASSETTE

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boomp3.com

256 VBR LAME mp3
Cassette rip & scan from original Dirt Style cassette

What else needs to be said? The shot heard 'round the world. Obviously an integral piece of hip hop history and a set that everyone with any level of interest in DJ culture must own. The real bonus in this post is the hi-res scans above. Don't let the fact it's a tape rip shy you away... unlike the Shigger Fragger this is a well-dubbed chrome cassette and the sound is clean plus the analogue tape gives it a bit more warmth than the CD version, which you can find over at Ideal Hip Hop or Blogcabyn. When I opened this up for the first time in years, there was a scrap of paper inside with two of Q-Bert's phone numbers written on it from when I called him for the interview mentioned in the ISP post. I doubt it's still good after 12 years but pretty cool to see nonetheless!


From the AMG review by Nathan Bush:

"While they may seem like relics these days, cassette tapes continued to thrive in the underground rap world long after the advent of the CD. Along with Invisibl Skratch Piklz The Shiggar Fraggar Show releases, the Demolition Pumpkin Squeeze Music performances and tape established Q-Bert's reputation on the wheels of steel. A continuous mix of cobwebbed breakbeats, highly inventive scratches, and an endless array of hilarious samples, it begins on page one of a fantastical Buck Rogers/Spiderman serial, followed by extended use of Rush's "Tom Sawyer." Before you can check to make sure you put the right tape in your deck, however, the mayhem begins. A chattering beat starts up which Q-Bert repeats (looping manually on turntables) and rearranges. Just when you begin to settle in, he drops a sweet slice of funk and you can feel the party vibe... It's a valuable look into an often ignored and maligned subculture. Included are lessons on graffiti art, a seminar on the tonal possibilities of the turntable, and a veritable breakbeat primer. All of this is merely a byproduct of a highly entertaining non-stop mix."

If you don't have it already, don't think twice - grab it HERE and you can also get the hi-res Cover.


For more Q-Bert and I.S.P. stuff, check out the massive archives at Essential Elements.

Invisibl Skratch Piklz - The Shigger Fragger Show Volume #4 ORIGINAL C-90

256 LAME VBR
Cassette rip & scan from original Hip Hop Slam cassette

Lest you think this blog is more of all that jazz, Soundological presents a couple of significant rarities in the realm of hip hop. This is the second of two tapes given to me personally by DJ Q-Bert at a gig in Calgary back in '96. I was writing a music column for the weekly rag, FFWD, and interviewed him over the phone for a promo piece in the paper. I recall him as tight-lipped on the phone, but warmer when I spoke to him for a minute or two after the show. He pulled out the two tapes I posted today, put them in my hand and thanked me for "gettin' the word out." Then he was immediately swamped by every local DJ and head who bum rushed the stage after he finished twistin' the cap off the crowd's top with his routine. I coulda sworn they were gonna carry him off on their shoulders!

Although The Shigger Fragger Shows were released on CD back in '99, I haven't heard those. The turntablism scene had ceased to appeal to me well before then since I wasn't a participant. What I can say is that it's a 90 min cassette, so this version of Vol 4 in the series clocks in at a full hour-and-a-half of wacky double-deck dementia and some sick beats among the pyrotechnics. Even if you already have the version on CD, this set is guaranteed to be at least 10 minutes longer. Luckily, I kept my pro tape deck all these years so the rips came out clean. I only played this once before I ripped it tonight, so it sounds pristine for a decade-old underground cassette that was recorded live and dubbed onto lo-fi magnetic tape. Get this rarely-heard hip hop artefact thanks to a special grant from the Soundological Foundation.

Side A or HERE
Side B or HERE
Cover

As much as I like and appreciate technique, I don't go to drum competitions or guitar contests either. By my 4th DMC, 5th ISP gig and umpteenth local turntablism show I had an epiphany: if you put Charlie Parker, John Coltrane, Ornette Coleman and Albert Ayler in a sax-only band, it would sound like a wall of turd and would get tired PDQ too. I could finally agree to disagree with the DMC even though I continue to hold it, and turntablists, in high esteem. Thankfully it seems younger crews are trying to reach out more to the crowds, like C2C from France:

C2C DMC 2003


C2C DMC 2004


C2C DMC 2005