Digesting DJ Food's druggy, thuggy, spacey, racy turntablism

A A A Comments (0) By Tamara Palmer and Tony Ware Wednesday, Jun 20 2007

DJ Food& DK are kings of the breakbeat and the freak beat, using a quick mix style to bustle along hip hop's backbone and graft it to recontextualized snippets. The result falls in the cut 'n' paste, sampledelic lineage of the '90s when Food and contemporaries on the Ninja Tune label bridged turntablism and acid house into something druggy, thuggy, spacey, and racy. On discs such as Solid Steel Presents Now, Listen Again! Food and DK drop Eric B & Rakim with Human League, DJ Shadow, and Giorgio Moroder, a little drum 'n' bass, etc., to make plunderphonics into plunderfunics — genre blending without being overcooked. This dish is best served hot, so check out DJ Food's succulent science live on Friday, June 22, at Mighty at 9 p.m. Admission is $13.50; call 762-0151 or visit www.mighty199.com for more info. — Tony Ware

Oak Taylor-Smith

DJ Food.

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J-Boogie's Dubtronic Science is the brainchild of S.F.'s Justin Boland, co-host of KUSF's long-running hip-hop radio show "Beatsauce." The group is a harmonic outgrowth of Boland's roots as a DJ, and it explores the laid-back musical side of the African diaspora through soul, dub, and other rhythmic surprises. JBDS is presently at work on its sophomore album, which is due out in 2008 on Om Records, but perhaps there will be a sneak peek of new material when it performs live on Saturday, June 23, at Slim's at 9 p.m. Admission is $13; call 255-0333 or visit www.slims-sf.com for more info. — Tamara Palmer