Rob Swift

Related Content

• Seven Nights: The Week Ahead
  April 25, 2012
• Bilal
  October 13, 2010
• Also Tonight: Ghostly Hip Hop Instrumentalist Dabrye at Electric Tea Garden
  November 3, 2011
• Three Albums You Should Have Purchased Yesterday: Black Milk, Bilal, Rah Digga
  September 15, 2010
• Maturity Isn't a Given, but Adventures In Hellvuastate Shows Two MCs at Their Best
  March 23, 2011

More About

• Rob Swift
• Mike Patton
• J Dilla
• Underground Hip-Hop
• Hip-Hop and Rap

Like this Story?

Sign up for the Events Newsletter: What's happening in town? From underground club nights to the biggest outdoor festivals, our top picks for the week's best events will always keep you in on the action.

Privacy Policy Cancel Continue

Whether or not you’re familiar with his time in the DJ supergroup the X-ecutioners, New York turntablist Rob Swift deserves your attention. He’s as agile as ever yet no longer confined to a hip-hop palette. Released on Mike Patton’s Ipecac label, Swift’s new album The Architect recasts his unconventional instrument for bolder purposes. There’s all the stirring swell of a great film score; orchestral samples are conjured throughout. Unfolding in two- and three-minute snippets, fat scratches and sizzling snatches of rhythm are woven into an atmospheric, post-rap whole. It’s miles ahead of 1999’s underrated The Ablist, despite the similar title, and only one track features an MC. Disciples of DJ Shadow and J. Dilla owe it to themselves to get acquainted with Swift. DOUG WALLEN
Fri., March 5, 9 p.m., 2010