Left of the Dial	Scott Down & DJ Cutler: Blue Collar Funk: Crate Diggin' in Buffalo 1969-1989 by Donny Kutzbach

(Lo Do Records)

Call it local pride to the power of 33 1/3…or maybe 45. Whatever the RPM, I have found the best, most addictive hometown jam since we were demanding America hear us loud, because we were a winner—“Talking Proud.” The hook is that it could predate that early 1980s sloganeering anthem. It’s the title track of the 2008 mixtape Blue Collar Funk, a slab of blue-eyed funk that smirkingly namechecks neighborhoods and nods at area specifics with a keenness that only a Buffalonian could deliver.

Who made this record? What year is it from? What’s the story behind it? The only ones who know for sure are those who made it originally…and maybe those who found it. The latter are the clever duo of turntablists/black vinyl troopers Scott Down and DJ Cutler. I had no idea who these cats were but the minute I looked at the cover of this record—complete with subtitle Crate Diggin’ in Buffalo 1969-1989—I knew it would be good. This is Buffalo, after all, and though I didn’t actually know local fellas Down or Cutler, I recognized them from their picture on the cover. I had seen them in the places where only vinyl obsessives go and had flipped through stacks of records next to them while on the same sort of hunt they were on, this art of crate digging.

Crate digging has become the lifeblood of hip-hop—particularly for those who aim to keep the music “real” and celebrate its roots and underground nature—and is as crucial and central a part as creative rhymes, fly delivery and unbreakable confidence. The digging involves the search for off-the-beaten-path records with the hope of finding lost and unheard breakbeats to turn around and reuse and recreate in a hip-hop context. Guys like Down and Cutler get feverish for funk on strange, obscure labels and limited, self-released “private press” soul recording. Blue Collar Funk speaks not only to this duo’s years of dedication to the art of unearthing rare records but also represents a loving homage to lost, forgotten and unheralded moments in the Queen City’s music past. Down and Cutler produced, cut and mixed Blue Collar Funk as a thematic collection drawn from LPs, 12-inches and 45s, with virtually every note recorded in Buffalo by local acts over a 30-year period. The mix has nuggets like the aforementioned song that is the meat of the title track, along with locally brewed versions of funk essentials like “Hollywood Swinging” and “Pick up the Pieces” and rare local rap records, found here as “Cuts Like These” and “We Are Cold City.” Even Scott Down—whose lineage in the local hip-hop dates back 20 years when he started emceeing, DJing and producing, and even opened a gig for legendary New York City act Stetsasonic—pulls out a vintage record of his own. Presumably from the 1989 end of this mix’s scope, Down flexes his verbal skills and flow, including the should-be-immortal line “I’m dope/And I don’t eat cantaloupe/Better yet, I don’t eat antelope.”

Cutler and Down may not be reinventing the wheel—or the wheels of steel—but it’s almost impossible not to love what they’ve done with Blue Collar Funk. Even as you get beyond the time, research and work that went into finding and selecting the material, and beyond the obvious hometown pride factor, you will want to listen again simply because it’ll get your head bobbing. This is a hot mix. You wanna talk about great local music? This is it on several levels. Appropriately enough, a white label 45 version of “Blue Collar Funk” (split with Cutler’s other crew, Pseudo Intellect, on the A-side) is available.

More info online at myspace.com/scottdownanddjcutler.