Craze & Klever: Scratch Nerds 2 [Free Download]

Craze - one of the worlds greatest turntablists, avid drum & bass DJ and the only person to win three consecutive DMC World Championships. Klever - 2000 and 2001 US DMC Champion and world renown DJ. Both are multi-championship holders and members of turntablist supergroup The Allies (which also includes A-Trak as a member.) In 2001 the duo released a scratch tape that was appropriately titled "Scratch Nerds." The popularity of turntablism rose to a climax in the late 90s/early 'oughts, with demand so high for the technical artform that it spawned dozens of tapes and CDs of famous DJs - mostly from the infamous Invisibl Skratch Piklz. In these releases you would hear nothing but scratching for nearly an hour or more on beats ranging from slow as molasses drum & bass to frenzied electro. These were the turntable equivalent of prog rock extended guitar solos and the late night saxophone battles that took place in Jazz clubs back in the day. They were an acquired taste but luckily with the greater exposure of turntablism and rise in popularity of EDM these scratch albums can now have a wider appeal than ever. This is probably why the duo has decided to release a sequel to their scratch tape more than a decade later. Scratch Nerds II is out on Slow Roast Records and features guest cuts from DJ Q-bert, Ruckazoid, D-Styles, A-Trak, Teekoand Chris Karnes (fka DJ Vajra.) That is an INSANE lineup and you would be hard-pressed to find a better representation of scratching anywhere else. You can download it for free from the Soundcloud link below after the video trailer for the mixtape.