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Those veterans of the Austrian Hip Hop history combined live elements with sample related production modes and added spontaneous turntablism sounds to their music.
Finally DJ Buzz hit the stores with a stunning solo record some weeks before the Waxolutionists released their new album We paint colors.
On the record Cosmic War Of The Worlds, released on Personal Records, he mixes audio and video material into a thrilling scenario.
Inspired by an old Science Fiction movie, Buzz adapted image impressions to combine them with his vision of modern edgy beat science.
The result is a mesmerizing combination of B-Movie footage and mostly instrumental Hip Hop beats, graded up with some catchy scratching in between.
We managed to have a random chat with DJ Buzz to get a closer view at his work and what’s behind it, especially concerning his new audio/ video project. Focused on Science Fiction in general, we also talked about B-Movies, his collaborations with rappers like Frank Nitty from the Detroit Hip Hop duo Frank n Dank and musicians like Dorian Concept from Austria.
How did the idea for the “Cosmic War of The World” came up?
DJ Buzz: A friend forwarded me a link to a film archive page in the Internet, where individuals are offering their own shots for free downloading. Actually I was up to try cutting my own movies to some of my beats. Partly, some of the records have been really funny, nice but also bizarre like the first official bus in London or the move-in at the Olympic games in the 60´ies, 70´ies – filmed with old 8mm cameras. Instantly I started downloading several movies, including Cosmos: war of the planets. I stopped watching it after 20 minutes as the action was pretty boring, but couldn’t get the sound out of my ears anymore. The idea to sample just from the movie and produce a remix album out of it was born.
What movies you use exactly for your work?
DJ Buzz: My plan was to work exclusively with the Cosmos: war of the planets movie and to start an audio remix. It just happened by time that this project got bigger and bigger. In the beginning I planed a somewhat beat – or battle record with beats and wordcuts, but soon the first interludes in the tracks followed, a turntable track, all becoming more and more…. .
How did you get to them? Are you a movie nerd?
DJ Buzz: I’m not a movie nerd at all, as I spend most of my time in the studio not leaving me much time for other things. Next problem: It’s pretty hard to watch a movie with me as I’m getting pretty bumpy after half of it and have to head back to the studio. Reason may be that usually I’m getting my motivation and inspiration from sounds in movies or other emotional influences.
What are your favorite B-Movies and Science Fiction movies in general?
DJ Buzz: During childhood I already loved TV shows like UFO or Starship Enterprise. And, Starwars of course. The imprinting thing of all those movies was the pretty own and new style; especially the series had always a unique sound, very spherical and jazzy!
What means Science Fiction to you?
DJ Buzz: It’s the imagination of success, the whole outa-space, the thought that somewhere out there exists something else. Spaceships, flying cars, and high-tech tools…the permanent pressure to advance oneself and invent new things. Hard to believe how much I desired back then the radio thing from Captain Kirk – well, how much may he been up to the Iphone hmmm… .
How did you produce the music?
DJ Buzz: Well, in the movie itself you could mainly hear faces and synth sounds – that says that I was looking for the perfect loops and just recorded and produced the rest around it. The whole wordcuts are exclusively from the movie – the hardest part of the project. It wasn’t that easy to invent new dialogues with wordcuts, though.
Do you see the interlude between moving pictures and music as an art form for the future?
DJ Buzz: For me its not absolutely necessary – it just came with this project. Good music is enough for me to imagine my own pictures. But, you have to mention that there arise constantly new techniques in music videos what really fascinates me! There are a lot of young and creative heads out there. Pretty important for me: a symbiosis between music and video. It can’t happen that a video turns a bad track in a nice one and otherwise.
You are rooted in the Hip Hop culture – did you ever thought to do more raps or why is only Mr Nitty taking over the microphone?
DJ Buzz: Honestly, I never thought about someone rapping to a beat in this project – I merely was up to giving the actors a new, exciting story to tell. Frank was recording the Waxolutionists album these days in my studio. Some day he asked me about the background pic of my computer. (It’s been parts of the cosmic war cover aquarelle) So I told him about the project, played some records for him. The track Stardust caught him, after thinking for a while I came up with the idea that he could communicate some word samples from the movie and to arrange it by turns. A simple rap with 2 lines and 3 hooks was just impossible. He was immediately fine with. As the synths from the Dorian Concept have already been recorded and the whole track already exited in the instrumental version we had a quite easy game. Nevertheless, I was really aware of being the raps not in the front. I wanted them to be a part of a complex number; melting and merging with the voice samples.
So the collaborations came up because they are your friends anyway?
DJ Buzz: I’ve been working with Frank Nitty on some tracks for the Waxolutionists album. Dorian and me knew each other for a longer time. At the beginning I played the project to him in a listening station, well – actually the ruff layouts, and he fancied them at once. A few days later we met up in my studio, started recording beats to some synthi lines and mixing them up.
How did you cut the movie material and did you want to built a story ark or is the picture side of “Cosmic War of The World” more an aesthetic expression?
DJ Buzz: Responsible for the movie project is the creative agency ICHIBAN from Vienna. They builded up a team of four persons, designed aquarelles and the entire cover artwork. All this made the CD pretty diversified and therefore special in my opinion. You must also know that it’s not easy to make videos to 17 songs from a movie. We recognized pretty soon that we’re running out of image material by splashing the best scenes already in the first 4 videos what forced us to approach a new concept. Every video to the single beats tells its own story, sometimes related to the next song. Funny thing, as many scenes appear several times in other videos – but with a completely different meaning. Can tell you, it was pretty exciting!
Do you see you project rooted in the Hip Hop culture?
DJ Buzz: Sure! Just think about DJ Q-bert, d-styles or Mr. Dibbs, all of them had also quite wicked projects. It has always been Hip Hop for me! Personally, the sound has 100% Hip Hop origin also due to the way of approaching the songs. Ok, the entire project may be a bit more… .
The vinyl edition is a very find designed piece of art – how important was the design of the hole project for you?
DJ Buzz: The artwork was really important for me! It’s always been –I see the whole thing as an artwork. Whatever record I’ve released until now, I was always thinking really hard about it. Cosmic War of The Planets should become a real collectors and lovers tool. The story on the back cover is handwritten by Alex Lisetz, was translated by Mark Kessler, aquarelles have been drawn, numbered by hands, just to tell some points…it was worth it in the end. It happens quite often that I spent time sitting at home, watching new or old record covers from other musicians. It’s kind of my own art – a cool, sophisticated cover! I also ever decorated my walls with covers instead of pictures!
You did also already an art installation with the hole project within an exhibition in Vienna – how did the visitors react?
DJ Buzz: The whole thing was presented within the Sound: Frame Festival in Vienna, this year’s topic on “Evolution remixed”! Despite some technical problems the presentation got an amazing feedback. Subsequently I had an own space from the related Artist’s Residence in Vienna. As I never had an own exhibition before it was very new and enthralling for me.
Is it true that you bring the whole project also on stage? If yes: how?
DJ Buzz: Especially for the live show I got all the suits from the video re-designed. Within a group of five we put it all one-to-one together. The crew is Dorian Concept on keys, DJ Chrisfader on turntables, The Twintowas on drums and bass and my good self in the captain’s function. The full movie was synchronically streamed in the background, all ending pretty freaky. Anyway, people loved it!
Are you planning in the future more projects like that?
DJ Buzz: Well, yes – I think so. This project was really fun but u´re never able to plan such things – they just have to happen. Not to forget the huge efforts we had, recruiting and coordinating all the people – all this on a low budget. Thanks to all those who made this project possible. Thanks also for being happy with just a CD instead of coins… .
How does a normal day in the life of DJ Buzz look like?
DJ Buzz: Mmmm, guess I would be sitting in the studio all day and have a drink in the evening! All day… Everday!