DJ Yoda

I once DJed at a university Christmas Ball. Hunched over some disguised CD mixers, on a podium at one end of the limply attended bore-fest that this particular event was, I took a moment to break free of the tedious sequence of crowd-pleasing, throwaway chart toppers that the gruelling black-tie pack of partygoers demanded. With stealth I slotted a copy of DJ Yoda’s ‘How To Cut & Paste: Volume 2’ into one of the decks, and with a snigger of smug let his version of the A-Team theme tune, complete with break-neck turntable scratching, ring out of the speaker set. With people unable to see my tools of operation, I also chose to bend my arm at forty-five degrees, and wiggle it back and forth with my hand just out of sight below the sound desk, so that it looked like it was me doing the scratching.

I got a round of applause. It wasn’t long before we were back on the Beyonce, but for one and a half minutes at least, I was king. Yoda, I ripped you off, I’m sorry, but you saved my night.

Luckily, creative usurpation seems to be Yoda’s things – he’s made a career of taking things that are already quite good (like, say, ‘hip-hop’), then adding something extra (usually ‘cartoon theme tunes’) to make it funky fresh and down with the kids. But tonight at The Scala, he’s here to get serious, as he foregrounds a performance with The Heritage Orchestra of Gabriel Prokofiev’s ‘Concerto For Turntables & Orchestra’.

Yes, that’s an orchestra. Playing with a DJ. Who normally mixes in fart noises with his records.

It could have been the greatest show on earth, but sadly this beat dropped with the panache of a belly flop. The Scala was an ill-suited venue. Really, if they wanted to do this properly, it should have been seated. The incessant calls of ‘sssh!’, from people in the crowd struggling to hear the orchestra over the standard gig-venue chatter made it feel like a school assembly, and to those people that were chatting incredibly loudly about their weekend when a single violin was playing – purrrrrlease!

But criticism cannot just be levelled at the audience or the venue. The show simply wasn’t very good. The orchestration felt secondary to Yoda’s scratching and audio manipulation, and let’s face it – turntablism may be a brilliant, beautiful thing, but on its own it’s not going to transcend an entire orchestra. The piece was musically uninspiring. It was a difficult combination, that on this occasion avoided any kind of real synthesis. There wasn’t even a novelty element to enjoy.

So there’s not really much more to say on that, and what a shame. A supporting three piece suit by Plaid and O Duo were far more invigorating, their jazz meanders, also performed with the Heritage Orchestra at least allowing people to dance upon this forsaken dancefloor the Lord had left them with.

A great idea, sure, and good effort to all those involved. But stood there watching it, you weren’t half left wishing someone would crack out the old A-Team theme.

FUTURE GIGS