Quotes from Hiphopdx
Since he left the influential scratch group X-ecutioners to concentrate on solo efforts, DJ Rob Swift has been swimming in some choppy experimental waters. His February 2010 release, The Architect, is designed to communicate with those “that grew up on Beethoven and Mozart… [who] grew up on Park Avenue and [go] to the opera and all that.”
Crateing from sources featuring violins, trumpets, and anything else found in an orchestra pit, Swift fuses two culturally distinct genres that aren’t typically meshed (at least to this extent) to “expose the deejaying/scratching culture as an art form.”
Sketches of the Architect revisits some of the uncompleted tracks from The Architect. Since they derive from the same sessions, Sketches is drawn with the same color and concept, testing the shifty lines between technology, scratching, and of course classical music, which has–until Hi-Fi busted on the scene in the 50s–almost entirely resisted both (hear “This Recording”).
The album is dark and at times scary as hell (see “Principio Remix” feat Breez Evahflowin for example) thanks to the antsy string samples that loom over brooding beats. A storm’s a brewin’.
Get it here for free as of September 2. Available for purchase in stores everywhere October 12, 2010.