DJ Yoda?
Feel the force: Long ago, in a galaxy far, far away - the sleepy London suburb of Woodside Park, actually - young Duncan Beiny was buying up cassette tapes and dreaming of becoming a Jedi master of mixtapes. His was a lonely path to wisdom, since none of the other kids in his class shared his passion for hip-hop, scratching, mixing and mashing. "It took me two years to work out how to mix two records together," he recalls. "So that's just what I ended up doing for my own amusement." Without any rules of cool to follow, Duncan began mixing together odd stuff just to see what happened. Old 78s, TV cartoon themes, movie dialogue, nursery rhymes, country, soul, reggae, drum'n'bass, '80s pop - Duncan threw everything and anything into the mix, resulting in some weird and often wonderful mash-ups. DJ Yoda is now a true mixmaster, and his How to Cut and Paste series of mix CDs show a skilled surgeon of the decks at work, fusing together such elements as George Formby's ukulele, Wu-Tang beats and Oliver! showtunes.
Star turns: Having knocked off countless mixtapes and CDs, each one crazier and more ambitious than the last, DJ Yoda invited such luminaries as Biz Markie, Cuban Brothers, Jungle Brothers, Sway and Princess Superstar to make guest appearances on his debut artist album. The Amazing Adventures of DJ Yoda showcases Beiny's eclectic, eccentric tastes in vinyl, and includes the single Wheels and a version of Duelling Banjos that substitutes turntables for banjos. Without stopping for breath, the album spins through old and nu-skool hip-hop beats, fragments of old, familiar tunes, odd sounds and straight-up raps. Keeping the rollercoaster on course is the skilful scratching of Yoda himself. The album's mix of pop culture, hip-hop beats and pure silliness has earned it comparisons with The Avalanches and Kid Koala. "I'm of the MTV generation of kids with short attention spans," says Duncan. "I love to take the funniest moments from movies, music, computer games, radio "even myself brushing my teeth."
Storm trouper: It didn't take Duncan long to conquer the hip-hop world. He was voted one of the world's top three DJs by Hip Hop Connection magazine, and listed in Q magazine's 10 DJs you have to see before you die. He has DJ'd to packed houses around the world and shared the stage with Basement Jaxx and Fatboy Slim. He even performed at a Star Wars premiere party attended by George Lucas himself.
Ferris wheels of steel: Always adventurous, Yoda has explored new frontiers of kitsch by rescoring such 1980s movies as Ferris Bueller's Day Off and The Goonies in front of a live audience. "Hip-hop has become stale over the last few years," he says. "Everyone seems to have forgotten that it was born out of a need to have fun. My album is all about taking it back to that old school philosophy of hip-hop as a carefree entertainment."
