Matt Biddulph turned me on to this excellent 14 Tracks MP3 compilation titled "Screw The Pitch," a very trippy batch of hip hop, dub, and electronica music that's been cut up, pitch-shifted, and tempo-tweaked to create a weirdly hypnotic opiated sound. As Matt pointed out, this drunky, slurry, sizzurpy mix is something of a toast to the "chopped and screwed" (or "slowed and throwed") remixing style that emerged from Houston's Purple Drank-drenched underground hip hop scene of the 1990s. (For those not aware of the alluring potion, Purple Drank is cough syrup that contains codeine and Promethazine mixed with Sprite or Mountain Dew and sometimes Jolly Rancher hard candies.) From 14 Tracks:
Rollin' from DJ Screw's doped tones to Markus Schmickler's queered pitches, this 14tracks selection explores the relationship between displaced pitch and space in screwed HipHop, dub and experimental electronics. From the very first experiments with variable tape speeds, through the widespread use of turntable pitch controls, right up to the application of autotune and time-stretching, the evolution of electronic and mechanised music is continually displacing our perception of the "norm", and in turn creating heightened (or equally drowsy) psychedelic effects. Our selection focuses on a bunch of cuts which toy with our perceptions of time and space…
