cut chemist
Ghosts in the Collection
BY Nate LeBlanc
Cut Chemist is a collector. From a young age, he was drawn to the pop songs that he heard on the radio. It wasn’t enough to have them waft through a room—he needed to possess them, to share them, and eventually, to manipulate them.
Cut Chemist is an artist. He draws, he paints, he has an art degree from UCLA. He is a gifted performer, but also a thoughtful, conscientious solo artist who painstakingly assembles music and mixes and doesn’t release them until they are perfect.
Cut Chemist is a storyteller. He speaks with his hands as one of the premier DJs in LA, a city full of record collectors and selectors. He also has stories, as you will read in this interview, about the records that he has acquired—tales from his extensive travels, souvenirs, and curios—and loves nothing more than a record with provenance from an artist he admires, its own kind of story.
This interview is based on a photoshoot that Eilon conducted at Cut’s studio over a decade ago while collecting material for what would become the seminal photo book Dust & Grooves Vol. 1.
All of the traits that make Cut Chemist one of the premier DJs and collectors in the game will be on full display at Expert of None, a new series that Dust & Grooves is launching. Think of it as one man’s life story, told through music and recollection.
“There are ghosts in my collection. There are pieces of Rob One’s collection, pieces of Biz Markie’s collection, pieces of Red Alert, Bambaataa.”
Before we dive into talking about records, can you tell us a little bit about yourself?
I am Cut Chemist, an artist/DJ/producer from LA and a founding member of Jurassic 5 and Ozomatli.
Every DJ starts out as a fan first. Star Wars seems like a huge influence on you. Your home studio, The Stable, has a life-size R2-D2 in a corner. What influence did that film and its soundtrack have on your musical life?
I was four years old when I saw Star Wars in the theater, first run in 1977, and I remember it vividly, like it was yesterday. Seeing the never-ending ship in the first scene after the opening crawl, I was wowed by that spectacle. But then there was something that I found interesting about that movie, which was that there were long sequences of no dialog. It was just music and image, particularly on Tatooine, the desert planet. It would just be this minimal, beautiful landscape of sand and sky with orchestral music and very little to no dialog, and that was very captivating to me. I would call that avant-garde by today’s movie-making standards. There was something very unique that I really responded to as a four-year-old. Growing up around music, having a baby grand piano in the living room, and my mom playing piano, I was already drawn to music, so it only made sense that I would respond to that musically.
John WIlliams & The London Symphony Orchestra – Star Wars
“There were long sequences of no dialog. It was just music and image, particularly on Tatooine the desert planet, it would just be this minimal, beautiful landscape of sand and sky with orchestral music and very little to no dialog, and that was very captivating to me.”
Have you ever publicly played with the music of John Williams? Have you remixed anything or used it in sets?
