CUT CHEMIST CHANGED MY LIFE :: Cut Chemist - Sound Of The Police

Cut Chemist changed my life! He really did. In 2006, I've was travelling quite a bit and happened out to L.A. or rather Palmdale for work. I finished a bit early and was spending my last night in L.A. before flying back to Chicago. I was eating dinner at a sushi joint on Venice Beach and asked the server which club I should check out on a Thursday night. She told me Zanzibar in Santa Monica had good DJ's so I headed back to the hotel to get ready, mapped it out and headed to Santa Monica.

I get there around 8 and the crowd was quite thin so I took the opportunity to introduce myself and meet some new people. I met Rocky Dawani who was sponsoring the night along with Jeremy Sole who together put on this regular night called Afro Funke. I was informed that Cut Chemist would be deejaying that night. Now, I'd never seen Cut Chemist aka Lucas MacFadden live ... but he was one of my favorite turntablists and is truly a connoisseur of rare grooves and hard to find vinyl. He has also just released The Audience's Listening his first full length solo album.

Now Cut Chemist followed Jeremy Sole in the lineup and was imbibing pretty heavily on a nice size bottle of red wine. Despite the fact that he was a bit tipsy ... his set was superb. He started of playing tunes like Afrodisiac SoundSystem's - C.K. Mann vs. Sugarhill Gang



... then moved onto some really rare Ghana 45's ... one of which despite having a generic Philips 45 label on it

the vocals on the track were angelic and incredible. I have been trying to ID this track ever since and even recently sent a message describing it to Cut in hopes that he might share this tune. He finally ended the night with one of his best tracks - The Garden



I ended the night hanging backstage with everyone and Rocky Dawani even gave me his LP which I still have to this day. When I did finally leave Zanzibar, I wasn't ready to turn in just yet. Feeling so good and knowing no one in L.A. still up that late. I ended up talking to a homeless guy at 7-11 and took him out for pancakes.

Although that night will be forever etched into my mind, I really wish someone had recorded that set. The closest I've heard to that experience has to be "Sound of the Police", a four track set released by Cut in 2010 on which he flirts with Nigerian Afrobeat, Cuban percussion, Brazilian Tropicália, and that deathless old-school b-boy break, the Incredible Bongo Band's "Apache".



http://cutchemist.com/