''Brainfreeze'' is a live

DJ mix album A DJ mix or DJ mixset is a sequence of musical tracks typically mixed together by a DJ to appear as one continuous track. DJ mixes are usually performed using a DJ mixer and multiple sounds sources, such as turntables, CD players, digital audio ...

by American producers

DJ Shadow Joshua Paul Davis (born June 29, 1972 in San Jose, California, San Jose, California), better known by his stage name DJ Shadow, is an American DJ and record producer. His debut studio album, ''Endtroducing.....,'' was released in 1996. He uses l ...

and

Cut Chemist Lucas MacFadden (born October 4, 1972), better known as Cut Chemist, is an American DJ and record producer. He is a former member of Jurassic 5 and Ozomatli. He has collaborated with DJ Shadow on a number of projects. Early life Cut Chemist gr ...

, released "sometime" in 1999. The two tracks of the album are uninterrupted recordings from a live performance where they sampled hit funk, soul, rock and jazz singles from 45 rpm vinyl records. This type of recording was pioneered by the duo

Double Dee and Steinski Double Dee and Steinski is a duo of hip hop producers, composed of Doug "Double Dee" DiFranco and Steven "Steinski" Stein. They achieved notoriety in the early 1980s for a series of underground hip-hop sample-based collages known as the "Less ...

through their "Lessons" (the difference being that the "Lessons" cuts were meticulously edited together from snippets of audio tape, rather than performed live using turntables).

History

''Brainfreeze'' was recorded by DJ Shadow and Cut Chemist as a practice session for a show in February 1999 at the Future Primitive Soundsession in San Francisco, mixing funk and soul 45's. Initially 1000 copies were made and sold at the shows, and a further 1000 copies were made and distributed to local records stores in California and sold out very quickly. A cease-and-desist letter from

7-Eleven 7-Eleven, Inc. is an American convenience store chain, headquartered in Irving, Texas. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Seven-Eleven Japan, which in turn is owned by the retail holdings company Seven & I Holdings. The chain was founde ...

convenience stores—the whole artwork and styling was based on their logos and uniforms—meant that they stopped and moved on. The album was then bootlegged and it can now be found in popular record shops. DJ Shadow and Cut Chemist toured their Brainfreeze performance initially as part of Shadow's International Goodwill Tour in 1999, on January 18, 2000, they reunited to perform a farewell to the Brainfreeze shows at the El Rey Theatre in Los Angeles. This final show was later released on VHS as ''Freeze'', and includes footage of rehearsals as well. This set was reenacted at the Mayan night club in Los Angeles on May 25, 2006, as part of a benefit concert for DJ Shadow's art director, Keith Tamashiro, in order to offset costs related to a

brain aneurysm An intracranial aneurysm, also known as a cerebral aneurysm, is a cerebrovascular disorder characterized by a localized dilation or ballooning of a blood vessel in the brain due to a weakness in the vessel wall. These aneurysms can occur in an ...

he suffered early in 2006. ''Brainfreeze'' was followed up by ''

Product Placement Product placement, also known as embedded marketing, is a marketing technique where references to specific brands or products are incorporated into another work, such as a film or television program, with specific promotional intent. Much of t ...

'', an album of similar content and style.

Comments

While there was no tracklisting given except for some record shots in the inner sleeves, Michael "DOP" Lane put together listing of the tracks and this has been adapted in reviews and website listings. While this has been repeatedly bootlegged, the main difference between the original pressing and the bootlegs are the quality of the sleeves and the CD (colors look washed out and not as sharp on the bootleg). The original CD on the inner ring has ''©1999 Sixty7 Recordings'' written in red on a clear background. The bootleg does not have a clear bit. On the back of the CD is ''Disc Producers inc 2886/Brainfreeze ADC/CA''. Some bootlegs have "Slurp CD 001" and a bar code written on them. The 45s used in the ''Brainfreeze'' mix are highly sought after by vinyl collectors, and the term "Brainfreeze" in online auctions often results in increased auction prices for these records. The songs have been collected on compilations called ''Slurped'', and ''Brainfreeze Breaks'', which feature the songs in unmixed form.

Reception

Stanton Swihart of

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

stated that "''Brainfreeze'' transforms the mix tape into a genuine piece of musical art, a sampladelic, turntablist

collage Collage (, from the , "to glue" or "to stick together") is a technique of art creation, primarily used in the visual arts, but in music too, by which art results from an assembly of different forms, thus creating a new whole. (Compare with pasti ...

that may be the apotheosis of – or at least a turning point for – the genre." Describing the record as "an amazing display of spontaneous music-making", he concluded that "it is a dizzyingly brilliant, virtuoso work of two exceedingly fecund imaginations." In ''

Spin Spin or spinning most often refers to: * Spin (physics) or particle spin, a fundamental property of elementary particles * Spin quantum number, a number which defines the value of a particle's spin * Spinning (textiles), the creation of yarn or thr ...

'' Will Hermes called ''Brainfreeze'' "inspired garage mechanics" and that the pair "get extra-busy just to showcase their micromanagement skills". Reviewing the duo's 2001 follow-up album ''Product Placement'', Rob Mitchum of ''

Pitchfork A pitchfork or hay fork is an agricultural tool used to pitch loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves. It has a long handle and usually two to five thin tines designed to efficiently move such materials. The term is also applie ...

'' described ''Brainfreeze'' as "much admired" and said that DJ Shadow and Cut Chemist had "sculpted a

mixtape In the modern music industry, a mixtape is a musical project, typically with looser constraints than that of an album or extended play. Unlike the traditional album or extended play, mixtapes are labeled as laid-back projects that allow artists mo ...

symphony that withstood repeated listens".

Songs used

Mix one

* Lamont Johnson Quartet - "Thunder Kick" (trailer to unreleased film) * The Jules Blattner Group - "2001 - A Soul Odyssey" * Fried Chicken - "Funky DJ" *

The Mohawks William Alan Hawkshaw (27 March 1937 – 16 October 2021) was a British composer and performer, particularly of library music used as themes for films and television programs. Hawkshaw worked extensively for the KPM production music company i ...

- "The Champ" *

Reuben Bell Reuben Bell (c. 1945 – 2004) was an American soul singer who recorded from the late 1960s to the early 1980s, and is best known for his emotional tenor vocals on the songs "It's Not That Easy" and "I Hear You Knocking (It's Too Late)". Born in ...

- "Superjock" *

Albert King Albert King ( Nelson; April 25, 1923 – December 21, 1992), was an American guitarist and singer who is often regarded as one of the greatest and most influential blues guitarists of all time. He is perhaps best known for his popular and ...

- "Cold Feet" * Ultimate Force - "I'm Not Playing" *

Eddie Bo Edwin Joseph Bocage (September 20, 1930 – March 18, 2009), known as Eddie Bo, was an American singer and pianist from New Orleans. Schooled in jazz, he was known for his blues, soul and funk recordings, compositions, productions and arrang ...

and Inez Cheatham - "Lover and a Friend" *

Mack Rice Bonny "Mack" Rice (November 10, 1933 – June 27, 2016), sometimes credited as Sir Mack Rice, was an American songwriter and singer. His best-known composition and biggest hit as a solo performer was " Mustang Sally". He also wrote " Respect Yo ...

- "Three People In Love" * The Nu People - "I'd Be Nowhere Today" * Nu-Sound Express Ltd - "Ain't It Good Enough" * Mystic Moods - "Cosmic Sea" * American Gypsy - "Inside Out" *

Odetta Odetta Holmes (December 31, 1930 – December 2, 2008), known as Odetta, was an American singer, often referred to as "The Voice of the Civil Rights Movement". Her musical repertoire consisted largely of American folk music, blues, jazz, and s ...

- "Hit or Miss" *

The Mar-Keys The Mar-Keys, formed in 1958, were an American studio session band for Stax Records, in Memphis, Tennessee, in the 1960s. As the first house band for the label, their backing music formed the foundation for the early 1960s Stax sound. Career ...

- "Grab This Thing (Part 2)" *

Rusty Bryant Royal Gordon "Rusty" Bryant (November 25, 1929 – March 25, 1991) was an American jazz tenor and alto saxophonist. Biography Bryant was born in Huntington, West Virginia, and grew up in Columbus, Ohio, becoming a fixture of the local jazz scene ...

- "FireEater" * Simtec and Wylie - "Bootleggin' (Part 2)" *

Wilbur Bascomb Wilbur D. Bascomb Jr. is an American bass guitarist. He is the son of jazz trumpeter Wilbur "Dud" Bascomb, who played with Erskine Hawkins and Duke Ellington. Career In the 1970s, Bascomb worked with James Brown (1974), then recorded on the al ...

and the Zodiac - "Just a Groove In 'G'" * Eddie Bo and The Soul Finders - "We're Doin' It (Thang) (Part 2)" *

Rufus Thomas Rufus C. Thomas, Jr. (March 26, 1917 – December 15, 2001) was an American rhythm-and-blues, funk, soul and blues singer, songwriter, dancer, DJ and comic entertainer from Memphis, Tennessee. He recorded for several labels, including Chess Re ...

- "Sophisticated Sissy" * The Showmen Inc. - "The Tramp (from Funky Broadway) (Part 1)" * The Original Soul Senders - "Soul Brother Testify (Part 2)" * Rufus Thomas - "Itch and Scratch (Part I and II)" *

Alvin Cash Alvin Cash (born Alvin Welch; February 15, 1939 – November 21, 1999) was an American pop singer and actor. Biography Born in St. Louis, Missouri, Cash was a graduate of St. Louis's Sumner High School (also attended by Luther Ingram, Billy Davi ...

- "Keep On Dancing (Instrumental)" * Lou Courtney - "Hey Joyce" * Bummer radio spot

Mix two

* The Singing Principal - "Women's Lib" * Salt - "Hung Up" * The Soul Lifters - "Hot, Funky, and Sweaty" * Frankie Seay and The Soul Riders - "Soul Food" * The Interpretations - "Jason Pew Mosso (Part 1)" * Thunder and Lightning - "Bumpin' Bus Stop" * Billy Garner - "I Got Some" * Pleasure Web - "Music Man (Part I and II)" * Gary Byrd - "Soul Travelin' (The G.B.E.)" (Part I) *

Clifton Chenier Clifton Chenier (June 25, 1925 – December 12, 1987), was an American musician known as a pioneer of zydeco, a style of music that arose from Creole music, with R&B, blues, and Cajun influences. He sang and played the accordion. Chenier won ...

and Grandma Gee Gee - "Just Keep On Scratching" * "W" radio spot *

Marlena Shaw Marlina Burgess (September 22, 1939 – January 19, 2024), professionally known by her stage name Marlena Shaw, was an American singer. Shaw began her singing career in the 1960s and continued to perform until her death. Her music has often been ...

- "California Soul" * The Vibrettes- "Humpty Dump (Part 1)" * Eddie Bo - "From This Day On" *

- "Dance the Slurp" *

Kraftwerk Kraftwerk (, ) is a Germany, German Electronic music, electronic band formed in Düsseldorf in 1970 by Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider. Widely considered innovators and pioneers of electronic music, Kraftwerk was among the first successful a ...

- "Numbers" * Flash and The Five - "Flash It to the Beat" * Pearly Queen - "Quit Jivin'" * Tony Alvon and The Belairs - "Sexy Coffee Pot" *

Chuck Mangione Charles Frank Mangione ( ; born November 29, 1940) is an American flugelhorn player, trumpeter and composer. He came to prominence as a member of Art Blakey's band in the 1960s, and later co-led the Jazz Brothers with his brother, Gap Mangione, ...

- "Hill Where the Lord Hides" * Funka Fize - "No Words" *

Schooly D Jesse Bonds Weaver Jr. (born June 22, 1962), better known by the stage name Schoolly D, is an American rapper from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Biography Schoolly D was born Jesse Bonds Weaver Jr. in West Philadelphia and raised in Philadelphi ...

- "Gucci Time" * Jurassic 5 - "Unified Rebelution" (a cappella) * Third Guitar - "Baby Don't Cry" * Don Pierce - "This Funky Thing" * Funka Fize - "Because You're Funky" * The Troubleneck Brothers - "Back to the Hip Hop" * Stu Gardner - "Devil in a Man" * Samson and Delilah - "There's a DJ in Your Town" *

Giorgio Moroder Giovanni Giorgio Moroder (, ; born 26 April 1940) is an Italian composer and music producer. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Father of Disco", Moroder is credited with pioneering Euro disco and electronic dance music. His work ...

- "Tears" * Tim and Bill - "Someone"

References

External links

Brainfreeze on DiscogsArticle on creators
- mentions Brainfreeze as "ultra-cred" (Archived Version) {{DEFAULTSORT:Brainfreeze (Album) DJ mix albums DJ Shadow albums Cut Chemist albums 1999 live albums 1999 compilation albums Soul albums by American artists Funk albums by American artists Live soul albums Live funk albums Turntablism albums Sound collage albums Sampledelia albums