Monostereosis

The three-man turntablist rhythm section Live Human debuted with Monostereosis, an LP originally recorded for Britains Fatcat Records but later reissued on the American Hip Hop Slam label. With drummer Albert Mathias and Andrew Kushin laying down bedrock rhythms, DJ Quest gets plenty of space to stretch out on his turntables. As youd expect from a live crew, the emphasis here isnt so much an old-school rap redux as it is an attempt to exploit the infinitely expressive turntable as a true instrument. Even while hes scratching and sampling to his hearts delight, Quest ranges quite far for his samples, from the squawking horn-section blasts on the opener Onetwothree to a sitar and jaw harp Grasshopper. The intense old-school funk of Orangebushmonkeyflower leads right into reverb territory with Percodan, while The E Pod is an excellent skate-anthem-in-waiting. A record posed somewhere between Booker T. & the MGs and Invisibl Skratch Piklz, Monostereosis is one of the freshest turntablist items down the pipe in several years. ~ John Bush