REVIEW: Prodigy, Prodigy Present The Dirtchamber Sessions
Volume 1
- Simon West
Ah, the DJ mix album. There's a lot of these about at the moment, running the gamut from blatant label self-promotion to ego trips of dubious merit. And then there are a few that are actually worth picking up. Dirtchamber falls into the last category -- a brief trip through dance, old-school hip-hop, punk and funk, that showcases the mixing talents and musical influences of Prodigy mastermind Liam Howlett.
Howlett's always had more of the b-boy about him than most of his commercial peers, and it shows clearly here. Dirtchamber is a rough and ragged mix that sounds like it was recorded live at a DJ face-off. Assembled in just a few days, it packs more than 50 songs inside 50 minutes. With this much going on, the tracks don't really get much chance to breathe; it's a whistle-stop tour through someone's record collection, but it's thrown together with great style and a master's touch, and the atypical brevity certainly avoids any chance of boredom creeping in.
In the mix are a diverse array of artists, from Jane's Addiction to Grandmaster Flash, The KLF and The Charlatans, usually clocking in at less than a minute each. Howlett's peers The Chemical Brothers, Fatboy Slim and Propellerheads make an appearance. The Prodigy themselves swing by briefly here and there, and hip hop is well represented by Tim Dog, Public Enemy and Digital Underground along with Ultramagnetic MC's (who contribute an extended snippet of "Give The Drummer Some," complete with the "smack my bitch up" line that so offended the Beastie Boys last year, looped a couple of times here for full effect). Perhaps not entirely accidentally, Liam finds space for a touch of old-school politically incorrect Beasties just a little later on.
The high point is probably the least expected moment, when, about halfway through, a brief snatch of the Beasties' "It's The New Style" drops suddenly and without warning straight into the Sex Pistols' "New York." The whole bloody thing - three minutes of three chords which then mixes aptly into Fatboy Slim's "Punk To Funk" and kicks the beats back up. It shouldn't work, but it does, and it's entirely apropos coming from Howlett, whose punk sensibility has always been evident in his work with the Prodigy.
In short, Dirtchamber is brilliant -- a 50 minute journey into breakbeats, crossfades and cuts that serves as an object lesson in what to do if someone puts you in front of a couple of turntables and a box of vinyl. Highly recommended. In fact, I'm already looking forward to Volume 2.
