vox populi!: cut chemist presents funk off

Vox Populi!, a 1980s French post-punk/industrial/minimal collective known for circulating cassette-only releases, gets the reissue treatment lovingly curated by turntablist/producer DJ Cut Chemist. In 2004, while on tour/record-digging in Milan, Italy, Jurassic 5 founder and DJ Cut Chemist picked up a compilation featuring a group named Vox Populi!, whose track "Megamix" caught his attention. As familiar as he was with early hip-hop releases that pioneered the megamix (The Adventures of Grandmaster Flash, Double Dee & Steinski's Lessons series), this was clearly coming from a different set of cultural reference points. Originally released in the '80s, the track was not rooted in disco, hip-hop, or in DJ history, but rather in the sounds of post-punk and industrial music. The rudimentary "scratching" present on the song was abrasive, and probably executed with a reel-to-reel tape machine rather than a turntable. Its intended effect was not to bridge two songs or breaks, but to jar the listener out of what was otherwise a seamless club track experience. "Musique concrète" is what the collective (Vox, Pacific 231, H.N.A.S., X Ray Pop, and others) might have called their approach at the time. "Wild Style on dust," was how Cut's collaborator Tom Fitzgerald described it. Finding this record ultimately led to Cut Chemist tracking down the group, bonding over shared aesthetics and getting their blessing for this collection, which includes unreleased tracks, photographs and little-seen flyers and art from the group. Their original output was primarily on cassette with the occasional vinyl LP/EP released on their own Vox Man Records imprint, or on other like-minded independent labels. Limited run on CD and LP, including extensive insert liner notes.