DJ Swamp

Never Is Now (Lakeshore/Decadent)
by Lex Marburger

Yeah, yeah. It may sound like this is some suburban-slasher-hip-hop-crap like ICP or somethin’, but this is better, and not just because this guy is Beck’s DJ. It has to do with, as they say, “mad skills.” And (ahem) “crazy flow.” DJ Swamp has them. In spades. This guy could cut Jet Li. Sure, he may be a little dark, but it’s not so much Rob Zombie as White Zombie, that is, he knows it’s a joke. OK, so he cuts himself with broken vinyl onstage, and fuckin’ licks his needle during sets, but he’s got a sense of humor about it. Never is Now is quite funky, and throw in some battle-raps (“melt mics like acid/rip shows to fragments” and the like), old skool of course, and you’ve really got something there. Sure, his phony-dark persona and ego-bragging may wear thin after a bit, but he’s the only one I know who’s got a computer doin’ his raps. Imagine that tweaked-out Radiohead break on OK Computer (y’know, “Fitter Happier”) getting all bugged out and throwing down mad rhymes. OK, that’s it. I’m not watching TRL Live anymore.

But still, he’s scratch-tastic!
(www.djswamp.com)