Scratch Bandits Crew

The Scratch Bandits Crew is a new approach to scratching; Supa-Jay, Geoffresh and Syr are three hip-hop pirates who love to sail strange seas. No samples from dusty old vinyls; these three scratch explorers really do write their own tracks. They play or get played the sounds they want to use, and from that they dive into the construction of their original compositions. They also play with voices, soul, hip-hop or funk, making surrealist collages outlining tall tales.
The Scratch Bandits marry analogue and digital, acoustic and electronic in their own unique musical signature. And at the other end of the anchor chain, they also develop their own personal scratch tools: extraordinary inventions like the scratch guitar and the darbuka-lamp, or even the lunar scratch, a prototype "scratch c..
In 1972, scratch cut its first sounds on the deck and in 2012, the Scratch Bandits Crew releases 31 Novembre proving that forty years later, the genre remains a huge hothouse of musical innovation for people obsessed with exploring it.
This first full album from the Lyon-based Crew, 31 Novembre – an imaginary date for this disc full of daydreams and diversions – is the fruit of the collaboration of Supa-Jay, Goeffresh and Syr. Three hip-hop pirates who love to sail strange seas. Three scratch explorers united under the same flag since 2009, seven years after the official creation of the group by Supa- Jay and his mates from that era. 31 Novembre is the image of these three. A rich powerful collection of tracks stuffed with hip hop references – like the excellent track “Check It Out” - but also nourished by electronic music, jazz and soul.
The twelve clever and moreish tracks are totally gripping and there's no down time, just like watching the Scratch Bandits Crew live on stage. For more than three years they've been setting stages alight from the Nuits Sonores and the Marsatac Festival to the Ninja Tune Festival. The Scratch Bandits Crew is a different approach to scratch. A desire to master it. No samples from dusty old vinyls, Supa-Jay, Goeffresh and Syr really do write their own tracks. They play or get played the sounds they want to use, and from that they dive into the construction of their original compositions.
The airy piano and brass lines in “Heart Beat”, the first track on 31 Novembre, prove it: the Scratch Bandits Crew marry analogue and digital, acoustic and electronic in their own unique musical signature. Urban sirens, noise effects, crackles; everything can be used to intensify sound and create an atmosphere: torrid – the title "Upside Down (featuring Marine Pellegrini), futurist – "Do your Thang" (featuring Dj Fly and Mart-One), or cinematic – the "Light Graffiti I and II".
Like their mates Chinese Man, on whose last disc they guested, the Scratch Bandits Crew can also play with voices. Soul, hip-hop or funk, they use them to make surrealist collages outlining tall tales. It’s left to the listener to fill in the gaps.