Episode 35: Cut Chemist on Cymande’s “Cymande” (1972)

Episode 35

24th May 2018

Los Angeles DJ, producer, record wizard Cut Chemist joins us to talk about the album that changed his young life: Cymande’s self-titled debut from 1972, a masterpiece of impossible-to-classify soul/funk/jazz/spiritual goodness.

Episode notes

The Album: Cymande: Cymande (1972)

“Say go DJ, cause that’s my DJ…” – Weezy

Cut Chemist is nice with the wax, nice with the loops, nice on the decks. A central figure in West Coast hip hop (Jurassic 5, Ozomotli) and the art of turntablism, both he and his record collection are legendary. While he joined us to talk about British funk pioneer Cymande’s 1972 self-titled debut, our conversation covered a myriad of topics including Cut’s journey as a crate digger, a record he may or may not have pilfered in 1987, the influence of Chuck Chillout and DJ Red Alert on his development as a DJ, Cymande’s seamless genre-fusing and the band’s relationship to hip-hop. Needless to say, we went in.

About Cut Chemist:
https://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/hip-hop/8225523/cut-chemist-i…

About Cut’s latest album, Die Cut 
https://daily.bandcamp.com/2018/03/13/cut-chemist-die-cut-interview/

Oliver’s Rolling Stone interview with Cymande:
http://rol.st/1U3YpYS

Cymande website:
http://www.cymandeofficial.com

Show Tracklist (all songs from Cymande unless indicated otherwise):

  • “One More”
  • Cut Chemist: The Audience’s Listening “The Garden”
  • Harlem Underground Band: Harlem Underground Band “Smokin’ Cheeba Cheeba”
  • “Bra”
  • “The Message”
  • “Dove”
  • DJ Chuck Chillout: clip from 98.7 Kiss FM show from 1986
  • Clip from the 1983 film “Wild Style”
  • Red Hot Chili Peppers: Blood Sugar Sex Magik “Give It Away”
  • “Getting it Back”
  • “The Message”
  • Assagai: Assagai “Telephone Girl”
  • “Dove”
  • “Listen”
  • “Getting it Back”
  • “Zion I”
  • “Rickshaw”
  • Hielo Ardiente: El Original Ritmo Ardiente “Mensaje”
  • The Meters: The Meters “Cissy Strut”
  • “Rastafarian Folk Song”
  • The Fugees: The Score “The Score”
  • De La Soul: 3 Feet High and Rising “Change in Speak”
  • The Doors: L.A. Woman “Riders on the Storm”
  • Tune Yards: Nikki Nack “Water Fountain”
  • Alice in Chains: Facelift “Man in the Box”
  • Cymande: Second Time Round “Bird”
  • Kaidi Tathem: Feed the Cat “Armz R Deh”

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In this episode...

Guests

  • Cut Chemist

About the show

Hosted by Oliver Wang and Morgan Rhodes, every episode of Heat Rocks invites a special guest to talk about a heat rock – a hot album, a scorching record. These are in-depth conversations about the albums that shape our lives.

Our guests include musicians, writers, and scholars and though we don’t exclusively focus on any one genre, expect to hear about albums from the worlds of soul, hip-hop, funk, jazz, Latin, and more.

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