Sampology was in town only a month ago for the “Kids Klub Tour” with Kid Kenobi and MC Shureshock at Villa Nightclub. He performed his “Super Visual Disco Party” show, which is the new concept that Sampology has featured in his DVD of the same name.

At only 23 years of age, Sampology has already made a name for himself as one of the most versatile and talented DJ’s in Australia. He’s played at festivals such as Parklife and Big Day out as well as supporting artists such as Grandmaster Flash, Pendulum and DJ Shadow and Cut Chemist. His new project involves a concept called “Visual Turntablism”. This is the live manipulation of not only audio, but also visual images using the turntables and mixer. The result? A visual feed cut in perfect sync with the accompanying audio.

Sampology's personal introduction at the start of the DVD, Super Visual Disco Party is a good, quick opener into his set and how his visual turntablism works.  Sampology uses a variety of hardware and software to put on his visual shows. He uses Serato Video-SL, the turntables, a special Rane mixer and an MPC (Music Production Centre sound sampler). He can pre-prepare an audio/visual file and beat mash into it with the MPC, or he can drop a visual file on one turntable and mix an audio track in over the top with the other. These are just a couple of things Sampology can achieve with this amazing set up... if only we could see it in full on his DVD.

The magic and awe of Super Visual Disco Party is all about the live element. Having seen his show at Villa Nightclub, the DVD does the project a devastating injustice as it fails to capture the essence of what visual turntablism all about. The DVD was filmed at the Deedy Cinemas and features Sampology mixing with huge screens reflecting the visual behind him. The style in which it’s shot completely destroys the live element, showing the mixing and visual image separately. The image on the big screen is more of the focus rather than the mixing, and subsequently like you’re watching a just a music video clip rather appreciating Sampology’s work in full.

The tracks featured in the mix to not keep to one or two genres but you are sure to have heard them once or twice before. This is a smart move by Sampology, allowing featured tracks which would not fall into a style concurrent with your usual listening preference, to forge a connection regardless because of your familiarity or music taste. The old school video clips which feature often in the visuals are so effective live, yet when reproduced on the DVD appear like a poor quality visual feed.

He opens with Chemical Brothers, “Block Rocking Beats”, but then changes into a long stint of hip hop and 80’s style music. The accompanying 80’s rap video clips stop being funny and end up seeming tragic. It’s really hard to stay interested and remain enthused. Seeing “Tie Me Kangaroo Down” being mixed in was almost as horrid as seeing Fat Boy Slim play “Love is in the Air” in its entirety at “Good Vibes”. Soon enough he whips out Prodigy’s “Breathe” and that unforgettable Jungle track from the film Human Traffic... only to bring that frustration back with “The Jitterbug”.

Sampology does cut in some hilarious segments from movies such as Chopper. Seeing the “there’s no cash here, here there’s no cash” from Neville..fucking.. Bartos was brilliant. Also clips from Australian Idol and Jonah Takalua from Summer Heights High made for interesting viewing.

This offering sees a slight diversion from Sampology’s usual style of mixing, being more of a mash which works well with the dramatic, alternating of visuals. His skilful and effective scratching validates his recognition as one of the country’s finest. The visual effects delivered in perfect sync with his scratching, create such a dramatic effect which is rather awe inspiring.

The overall dramatic appeal is unable to be recaptured and this makes the sacrifices in audio even more obvious and the whole production looking, to be frank, like a tacky, low budget production.

A far more accurate translation of the live show to DVD would have been achieved by filming a live performance. After all, the magic of the show is all about the live element.

The DVD and the project are a smart idea as this is something that is new and fresh. The launch of the “Super Visual Disco Party” show was a sell out. Seeing Sampology play at Villa Nightclub was awe inspiring. It’s just a shame that the DVD does not capture what Sampology does as what is sure to be the finest example of visual turntablism.

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