Posted on 06/14/2005

 

Scratch: All The Way Live is the perfect companion piece to the Doug Pray documentary Scratch, which looked at the hip-hop perspective of being a vinyl junkie through collecting, producing, buying, and eventually taking those skills to the stage. As the title suggests, this takes a bigger look at the live aspect. In truth, it is a concert video recorded on the tour in support of the film. Pray is the director of this DVD as well. As someone who has previously spent time with some of the DJs while filming Scratch, Pray is familiar with capturing the right moments.

The artists featured include Jazzy Jay, Z-Trip, The X-Ecutioners and Mixmaster Mike. My only gripe is that Jazzy Jay's set is not seen in full; the footage cuts between his interview and his DJ set. I would have preferred to see the entire set (or at least good portions of it) without interruption, which is the treatment received by the other DJs. (Perhaps a Jazzy Jay DVD should be in the making.)

Z-Trip's performance combines the best of hip hop both old and new, along with some hard rock and heavy metal thrown in, and a bit of that thrift store finesse. No flash, just good music and quality turntablism.

The X-Ecutioners take things to a much higher level with onstage antics accompanying the turntable band’s sounds. The purpose of a record player/phonograph was never about juggling records and doing tricks, but these guys do it with the utmost skill.

The DVD ends with a great performance from Invisibl Skratch Piklz alumni Mixmaster Mike, who briefly talks about his musical mission and goals before his set. He has always challenged the existing limits of DJ-ing, making not only music that is funky, but also coming off as an aural communicator to ears unknown. The best segment comes when Mike gets into a moment, and the lighting grows too chaotic to see the turntables. He stops his set and tells the lighting man off, adding a human element between him and the audience that is often absent during a DJ set.

While I would've preferred a more informative approach to Scratch: All The Way Live (i.e. how a DJ set is programmed, pre-show practices), the small amount of interviews makes way for the performances, which are the bulk of the DVD.

The DVD is beautifully recorded, so visually it doesn't look like a homemade camcorder job. You can listen to in standard stereo, but if you have a 5.1 surround sound system, you can enjoy some hip-hop ambience right in your living room. The director's commentary is also worthy of a listen, so the viewer is able to know a bit more about the taping and the creation of the video presentation.