Birdy Nam Nam

These days, it’s not unusual for bands to feature a DJ. But a band featuring four DJs? Okay, now you’re got our attention. Say hello to Birdy Nam Nam, a group of four French DJs who use turntables to create music that’s pretty much impossible to classify. They’ve won the DMC World Championships, hip-hop’s highest honor, but this ain’t your mama’s hip-hop.

What Crazy-B, DJ Pone, DJ Need and Little Mike do is take the sound collage approach to hip-hop pioneered by guys like DJ Shadow and turn it up a notch, making tracks that are dense, funky and downright bizarre, filled with samples that American producers would probably never think to try. And the coolest thing about them is, they can recreate most of their stuff live, on four mixers and turntables, as this semi-legendary video from the DMC championships attests.

Links:

• Birdy Nam Nam on MySpace
• Video for “The Parachute Ending (Justice Remix)” (new Birdy Nam Nam single)