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At the core of New York City's Illbient movement, DJ Spooky, that Subliminal Kid, is largely responsible for both dance music's shift towards intellectualism and the "legitimization" of electronica among critics. Spooky's music is deeply urban -- his hard survivalist beats cut above the street's din as he chops, scratches and scribbles across vintage grooves in battle. But he is also the overeducated urban loft academic who seeks out arcane knowledge, sounds and sources. Spooky's legacy is in the narrative of hip-hop teachers like KRS-One and sample-philiacs like the Bomb Squad. But he also creates drifting aural narratives akin to writers like William S. Burroughs. Like his name, his music is eerie and haunted. He erects towering beat structures that move body and soul across the dance floor, only to tear them down into complex matrixes of tones, drones and atmospheres. |
