DJ Woody – The Point Of Contact

Cuts and comforts from one of the UK’s finest cross-fader generals...

Turntablism translated to the album format is always a tricky bugger in its attempts to bridge musicianship and showmanship. For years, Lancashire world-beater Lee Woodvine has dismantled decks the world over, so if anyone can make the transition sound like a crab-and-juggle-heavy doddle, it’s gonna be Woody. After all, it’s only a matter of “the transient nature of our own perception and what that brings to our experience”, according to the man himself.

Bookending his production chops with a pair of RJD2-style gallops along a wild frontier (‘Ready for War’ & ‘No End’), ‘The Point of Contact’ is effective, without there being too many flights of fancy. Through melodic, short sharp bursts, uncluttered so there’s room for a kitchen sink to be thrown in at any time, BPMs go up and down, chord changes are patterned logically, and cuts are laid down at all the right, opportunist moments, acting on ‘Pop Culture’ as a foreshock of electricity. There’s a dose of doodlesome humour on ‘Feel Alright’, which also speaks up for Woody’s archiving IQ.

The vision, whether you agree or not, is that the turntablism LP doesn’t have to be an action-packed shattering of styluses; the temptation must be to throw even more deckery into the mix, and ‘The Point of Contact’ is as much about the room for manoeuvre. Pure skills in the best tradition of the Bomb Hip-Hop/’Return of the DJ’ series (‘Get Down’) roll out the lino while slipmats brace themselves for the cutting of a cast of dozens. Once the ones and twos are allowed to cool off, the likes of ‘Nature Of Battle’ strike the balance struck that Fingathing used to flex their digits for.

Concurring, ‘Wonderdub’ hazily traipses across the prairie and de-stings all around it, and the organ-drenched ‘How to Respond’ has decks skilfully skipping in time. Come for the entertainment, stay in for Woody’s all round vibes.

7/10

Words: Matt Oliver

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