Mixmaster Mike

Creating a good turntablist album is not always an easy thing. It can get difficult to keep a person interested in just a beat and cuts when most have become trained to listen to the vocal styling of an MC. While Mr. Dibbs fills the space with appropriate vocal samples and deft cuts, Q-Bert utilises innovative scratches and concepts, and on Eye Of The Cyclops, Mixmaster Mike opts to keep things short, swift and ever shifting. There is no time to get bored when the beats are up-tempo and always changing, precise cuts are faded in and out, and each of the 11 sub-songs lasts only an average of two minutes. It is the breakdown of the four songs on this EP into smaller sub-songs that is a classic trait of MMM's crew, the Invisibl Skratch Piklz, and helps to maintain the illusion of shorter songs. Important word: illusion. As much as there can be four songs or eleven songs, Eye Of The Cyclops could just as easily have been one full song that twists and turns, transforming as it goes. A very successful, if rather short, turntablist release. With Mixmaster Mike integrating himself into the Beastie Boys fold, perhaps a whole different cross-section of fans will discover the beauty of the needle manipulated on wax. There are few turntablists better equipped to lead this flock into the light than Mixmaster Mike.