DJ Swamp

The Collective Works

BY Thomas QuinlanPublished Jul 1, 2003

He may look like a death metal dude, but DJ Swamp proves with The Collective Works that winning the U.S. DMC Championship was no fluke. Through two collage tours ("Phonographic Memory" and "The Japan Tour") and four videos, Swamp demonstrates his punk rock DJ-technique over a variety of styles, including techno, nu-metal, rock and hip-hop. That he's been Beck's DJ for the last few years should come as no surprise. And on his own songs, Swamp not only DJs but produces and raps, albeit awkwardly. Still, it's in the live segments that we see Swamp truly excel at what he does best: scratching. Not only is Swamp a scratch fiend, but he's showy as hell, doing body tricks, scratching the record when it's not even on the turntable, smashing records and turntables, and a number of other indescribable things. The brilliant routines Swamp performs, which combine the best of the X-Ecutioners and the Invisibl Skratch Picklz, are enough to tolerate the occasional cheesy video. Hopefully, the next DVD will be better filmed, though. Extras: photo gallery. (Decadent, www.djswamp.com)

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