DJ Shadow - Building Steam with a Grain of Salt

July 15th, 2012 | By

I don’t have too much info on Jeremy Storch, but I can provide some insight on to who he was. Jeremy (AKA Jay Storch) was the organist for a Long Island based blue-eyed soul group called The Vagrants. The group disbanded in the late 1960′s after a few minor hits. Storch decided to try his hand at a solo career instead of joining other bands as many of the other members did. The sound of his album was more prog-rock/singer-songwriter than his earlier work with The Vagrants. His song “I Feel a New Shadow” was used by DJ Shadow.

DJ Shadow hardly needs an introduction, as he’s regarded as one of the best crate diggers / producers of all time. For some reason, he never really caught on with the mainstream Hip-Hop crowd at the time. Just imagine collaborations with Mobb Deep or Raekwon at their peaks in the mid-90′s. DJ Shadow used the Jeremy Storch sample for “Building Steam with a Grain of Salt“, the first track off his classic debut “Entroducing“. Check it out.

Hot Dogs

January 28th, 2012 | By

I usually don’t dig for 45′s (who wants to pay $5 for 2 songs when you can pay $3 for a whole LP!?) however, I saw the record lable Sussex and decided to pick up. Sussex was home to artists like Zulema and Dennis Coffey so I figured it was worth a shot.

The A-side Some Kind of a Summer is pretty cheesy, but when I flipped to the b-side Hot Dog, I was shocked by a super funky, guitar and organ driven tune. I looked a little closer at the 45 and noticed the single was produced and arranged by Mike Theodore and Dennis Coffey so it had to be funky. There is also a crazy drum break towards the end.

Some of you may recognize from DJ Shadow and Cut Chemist Product Placement.