Steinski

Steinski

Steinski (Steve Stein) is well known for his work with Double Dee (Douglas DiFranco). The duo produced the well known Lessons series, in the early 1980's. Since then, Steinski has produced many more sound collage tracks, both in partnership with Double Dee, and on his own. Most of the work is quite listener-friendly, yet officially unreleased, due to fears concerning copyright issues. I first heard about Steinski through the DOVentertainment release, Death of Vinyl, which features the legendary track, The Motorcade Sped On.

I interviewed Steve Stein on Some Assembly Required, about six years ago, when SAR first went into syndication. The episode originally aired in Minneapolis, at KUOM, on June 23, 2001. DJ Food heard it and used a portion of the interview in his Raiding the 20th Century composition. You can download the original episode (#02), at the SAR Blog, HERE.

Steinski's work ranges from mastermixes to sound collage you can dance to. One of my personal favorites samples commercials from radio and TV, to create a very fun, musical collage about advertising. We'll be right back was released in 1986, on Fourth And Broadway, and earned a spot on the UK charts the following year.

Double Dee and Steinski reunited in 2002 and 2006 to perform opening for DJ Shadow and Coldcut, respectively. Their work has been greatly influential, especially in the hip hop community. De La Soul, DJ Shadow, Cut Chemist, DJ Format and DJ Bombjack have all contributed to the Lessons series, or referenced them in some major way. Although there is still no official Lesson 5, the series has been continued through Lesson 7, as of this writing.

Without further ado, here's the SAR Q&A with Steve Stein of Steinski and Mass Media...


*Name: Steinski

*Are there any additional names used to describe this project: Steinski and Mass Media, or Double Dee & Steinski

*Do you use a pseudonym? Yes

*Members: Steve Stein/Doug DiFranco

*Tape manipulations, digital deconstructions or turntable creations: Digital deconstruction and nitroglycerine.

*Location: Noo Yawk, yo.

*Original Location: Money Earnin' Mt. Vernon

*What is your creative/artistic background: Ex-hipppie. Dropped out of 2 colleges, wrote advertising on staff for several years at a huge agency, functioned as a producer/creative consultant to many of the NY-based cable networks in the late 80's and 90's. Bought a lot of records and gradually learned (with the help of several long-suffering friends) how to use digital audio equipment.

*History: Since 1983.

*Motivations: I can't help it.

*Philosophy: Making trouble and having fun.

*How would you like to be remembered: With a knowing smile.

*Web address: www.steinski.com


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