For at least a decade or two, there has existed the notion that if one starts playing Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon album at exactly the same time as the film The Wizard of Oz, a bizarre, almost too-perfect synchronicity is revealed. Whether this was the secret intention of the band or just some pattern of coincidence stumbled upon by the THC-coated synapses of teenagers with too much time on their hands, there are plenty of parallels that can be drawn between the two cultural phenomena, if only because both are so archetypal in their storytelling. At some point, someone had to take the concept one step further, and it's surprising that a) it took so long for someone to think of this, and b) it would be a bunch of punks from our neck of the woods.
The Dark Side of Oz is the new album by local hip-hopular MCs The Problemaddicts, a recording which blends both the aural and thematic imagery of the two media masterpieces using beats, original rhymes and a huge breadth of poignant samples from both the album and the movie soundtrack. Highlights include great remixes of the "Money" and "Breathe" grooves, and lyrics that fuse the two imaginary worlds, like "I'm sick of it all/ feelin' like a brick in the wall/ a brick in the road/ I'm trippin' like I'm lickin' a toad" (written by Cactus of GFE), as well as a fairly seamless stitching together of some classic George W. Bush quotes under the title "If I Only Had Brain Damage."
Thankfully, they don't feel compelled to color only inside the lines, and something like freestyling takes us out to other places as well, with rhymes like "Kennedy and Genovese like one and the same/ Jack and Bobby got dropped 'cause it come with the game/ We were sayin' 'Let It Be' until Lennon got shot/ Now the revolution's off my TV like Gil Scott" (written by Jason Vorheez of the Problemaddicts).
The Advocate put some questions to member and co-producer Tone about the posse's latest endeavor:
Valley Advocate: What possessed you guys to take on such an epic project?
Tone: About a year ago I got the idea. I had exhausted sampling all the obscure stuff in my record collection at the time and decided to throw on The Dark Side of the Moon for kicks. The first track I ripped was "Great Gig In The Sky." I had made a beat out of it but something was missing, and that's when the proverbial light bulb switched on. I immediately ran out and rented The Wizard of Oz to see if I could find anything with sonic consistency, and it ended up working!
It wasn't until about six months later that the full-length album even seemed feasible. I ran across a string version of "Over The Rainbow" with a nice two-bar break, and after three days of chopping, got "Any Colour You Like" to work as the "A" and "C" sections of the beat. That's really when Theory got on board, and we started busting out a lot of the instrumental production. The first beat I made ended up getting clipped for Theory's version, but maybe we'll put it on an expanded edition… if we don't get sued.
How long did it take to record and mix the album?
Six months of heavy production from Theory and myself, four months for Devin to draw the cover, and two months to track vocals, mix, EQ and master. This was the most stressful project ever, because our [self-imposed] deadline was to get CDs out for Bonaroo [the large outdoor Tennessee music festival].
Are you aware of anyone else who's attempted something like this before?
Not exactly. Two projects that are similar are The Grey Album, which is Jay-Z's Black Album mashed with The Beatles' White Album, and The Dub Side of the Moon, a dub rendition of the Floyd classic. Our album, The Dark Side of Oz is Dark Side of the Moon remixed with the soundtrack from The Wizard Of Oz. Yes, we know there are about 50 different DVDs you can order online with the video synched-up; that's not what this is… if anyone's still confused.
Do you guys have any visual stuff that you're doing live while performing this material?
We are hiring an army of little people for synchronized song and dance. We will also be giving out free money… all this and more at The Iron Horse, July 19th!
Do you have a tour planned?
No, but if anyone out there would like to book and sponsor it, we are down. We have been doing scattered out of town shows across the Northeast.
Have you received any "cease and desist" letters yet from the vicinity of London and/or Hollywood?
Not yet, but that would be an honor.
