by Cosmo Lee

DJ Spooky and Dave Lombardo??? At first, it’s absurd that the NYC illbient DJ known for artsy dissertations on musicology would collaborate with the drummer for Slayer. But a closer look at their resumes reveals this pairing to be natural, even logical. Spooky has collaborated with musicians of all types, from Kool Keith to Sonic Youth to jazz pianist Matthew Shipp. Lombardo plays in Mike Patton’s anything-goes Fantomas project and has worked with composer John Zorn, who has likely rubbed shoulders with Spooky in NYC’s avant-garde circles. Together, Spooky and Lombardo have a new album, “Drums of Death,” which boasts one of the most “holy crap” lineups of all-time: Chuck D (Public Enemy) on vocals, Vernon Reid (Living Colour) on guitar, and Jack Dangers (Meat Beat Manifesto) on bass and additional production. The album finds Lombardo largely abandoning thrash in favor of tough, uptempo breakbeats – think JB and His Famous Flames, but on major league steroids. Accordingly, Chuck D channels James Brown on “Brothers Gonna Work It Out,” and, suddenly, it all makes sense when one remembers that Public Enemy sampled Slayer’s “Angel of Death” back in 1988. Modern Fix asked DJ Spooky how this all came together.

How did you get Dave Lombardo, Chuck D, Vernon Reid, Jack Dangers, and Dalek to all play on the same album?
I just thought that the whole late '80's sound of hip-hop was such a cool period. The music was so alive, and the lyrics were so important. I wanted to make an album to go back to that vibe. Pulling together some of your favorite artists is hard when everyone is travelling, so the basic vibe of the album was all about file sharing and exchange. The rest was editing.

You’ve said that much of this album was made through phone calls and file exchanges. Walk us through the work process for a typical track on this album.
Lots and lots of computer crashes and exchanges. Some of the people involved with the project used PC's. Some used Mac's. I had to make them all talk with one another. It's always a lot of details, and computer crashes and reboots... you know how it goes. But yeah, it was worth the "file-render" times.

Were any of Dave’s drums looped?
Everything was edited to the point that it was flexible enough to work with Dave's precision drumming. He can hang with any beat - he IS a drum machine!!!! Frankenstein would be proud.

So Dave’s on drums, Chuck’s on the mic, and Vernon’s playing guitar. What do you bring to the table?
I was the glue and the concept engineer. I also reconstructed Dave's drums into different beats to make the tracks more like hip-hop material. Setting up microphones to make the drums sound old etc etc concept concept concept... plus, a lot of additional sound effects and scratches, and basic overall direction. The idea, as I like to always say, is about "band as samples" - I sampled all of the sessions, and Chuck D sent in vocals. Voila... sample soufflee...

In the past, you’ve talked extensively about the implications and possibilities of digital sampling. Is it ironic that you’ve produced an album around live instruments?
Nah, the basic vibe of the album is to show that they are now equivalent and almost interchangeable - Lego blocks made of code and human movement. Flipmode!!

Neither Hot 97 nor Headbangers Ball is going to touch this album – do you worry about who’s going to hear it?
That old school flava is always all about nostalgia for a different era, bro... the scenario is the sound of science. My new book "Rhythm Science" deals with a lot of these issues too: I got rare records of authors like James Joyce, Gertrude Stein, Antonin Artaud, Kurt Schwitter's Dada Manifestoes... you know... we flip things wildstyle... headbangers, arthouse double espresso drinking artsy fartsy types, Punjabi South Asian hip-hop crew, NYC hip-hop headz, West Coast hip-hop headz, backpackers, dancehall reggae massive crew... it's all in the mix.

Certain sounds have become so familiar that they now merely signify attitude instead of convey it. Few bat an eye at DJ’s with turntables now. What’s next?
I'm kind of dealing with how to get people to think about remixes being applied to everything - DNA, architecture, memory etc etc. Check it - with issues of memory - my first film is a remix of D.W. Griffith's infamous "Birth of a Nation" and my next couple of projects are all about what it's like to be an independent producer in this era of mega-media. That's all I say now. The rest is in the remix!

www.djspooky.com

2005 “Drums of Death” (Thirsty Ear)
2002 “Optometry” (Thirsty Ear)
2002 “Modern Mantra” (Shadow/Instinct)
2001 “Under the Influence” (Six Degrees)
1998 “Riddim Warfare” (Outpost/Geffen)
1998 “Haunted Breaks” (Liquid Sky)
1998 “Synthetic Fury EP” (Asphodel)
1996 “Songs of a Dead Dreamer” (Asphodel)
1996 “Necropolis” (Knitting Factory)