DJ Scratch is a 58 year old producer & DJ from Brooklyn, New York City who most remember for being the former DJ of both EPMD & Flipmode Squad. He also filled in for Ali Shaheed Muhammad when A Tribe Called Quest was working on their final album We got it from Here…Thank You 4 Your service a decade ago, coming off producing Saturday Afternoon Kung Fu Theater & King’s Dominion for RZA & Planet Asia respectively to make a bold pivot for the Albany Park Records founder’s full-length solo debut.
“The Interview” opens up with this 4 & a half minute spoken word intro accompanied by a funky instrumental whereas “Electric Stew (We Can Get Down)” flips “Mystic Brew” by Ronnie Foster for a respectable house track. “Go” continues from there sampling “Inside My Love” by Minnie Riperton with some 4-on-the-floor kicks layered with claps or snares on beats 2 & 4 but after “What We Do is House” shows more love towards the titular EDM subgenre, “Baby Powder on the Floor” ends the 1st half on some electro house vibes.
As for “Wall to Wall”, we have Scratch kicking off the 2nd leg with a more soulful spin to the house sound while “Dance with Me” by Bobby Brown & Ramona Keller puts a bigger emphasis on what he was trying to do with the previous cut. “I Like More House” by Grand Puba & Jane Dough finds the pair linking up to talk about wanting to love each other more but after “The House is Yours” samples “I Love Music” by Ahmad Jamal for the longest composition here, “Gimme Some More House” ends with a house remix of the opening theme to the Alfred Hitchcock horror film Psycho.
Being a fan of house music since its early days, DJ Scratch began conceiving The Pivot when he noticed other DJs were playing their own records when performing at electronic dance music festivals & respect what he was trying to do here although it feels equally average as Daft Punk’s 3rd album Human After All except a huge difference being that Scratch puts more of a house spin on the samples that’re ingrained in classic hip hop singles than the previously mentioned LP’s predominant electroclash/post-industrial style.
Score: 6/10