Mophono: The Shuffle
From 7″ (“Tighten Up”) (CB, 2007)
Mophono: The Edge Remix
From 7″ (CB, 2008)
Mophono, aka DJ Centipede, is a Bay Area DJ and producer whose put out three very cool 7″ projects on CB Records so far. His first was more of a downtempo experiment from 2005, the I Cry EP but his last two have both been remix projects. My favorite has been his reworking of Bob and Earl’s 1963 hit, “Harlem Shuffle” which strips down the song’s basic parts and reassembles them with a funk (and psych) edge that gives the song a completely new feel – far more raucous and dark than its original inspiration. I liked it even more than the A-side, a remix of Archie Bell’s classic “Tighten Up.”
On his latest 7″, Mophono tackles two hip-hop classic sample sources – including “Groovin” by Allen ToussaintWillie Mitchell which should be familiar to Wu Tang fans the world over. On the A-side, he plays with “The Edge,” by David McCallum (but produced by David Axelrod) but first begins with an impressive chop job of Sly Stone’s pre-Family Stone single “Rock Dirge” and its glorious drums.
chatter