The Audience's Listening

This article is about the 2006 debut album by Cut Chemist. For the THX stinger sound, see Deep Note. For the theatrical sound standard, see THX.

The Audience's Listening
Studio album by Cut Chemist
Released	July 11, 2006 (2006-07-11) [1]
Genre	Hip hop
Length	43:25
Label	Warner Bros. Records
Producer	Cut Chemist
Cut Chemist chronology
The Audience's Listening (2006) Die Cut (2018)
Singles from The Audience's Listening
"The Audience Is Listening Theme Song" Released: 2006 "The Garden / Storm" Released: 2006 "What's the Altitude" Released: 2006

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	79/100 [2]
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[3]
Alternative Press	[4]
The A.V. Club	A– [5]
Entertainment Weekly	B [6]
The Guardian	[7]
Mojo	[8]
PopMatters	7/10 [9]
Stylus Magazine	B [10]
URB	[11]
Uncut	[12]

The Audience's Listening is the debut studio album by Cut Chemist, released on Warner Bros. Records on July 11, 2006. ^[13] It features guest appearances from Hymnal, Edan, Mr. Lif, and Thes One. ^[3]

Production

After leaving Jurassic 5 in 2004, Cut Chemist spent 18 months working exclusively on the album, which he had already been working on for 2 years. ^[14] He spent almost a year clearing samples. ^[13]

Critical reception

At Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average score out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 79% based on 15 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews". ^[2]

David Jeffries of AllMusic gave the album 3.5 stars out of 5 and described it as "a well-crafted, highly enjoyable effort that overcomes the 'all samples cleared' challenge all big-label turntablist albums must face." ^[3] Jeff Vrabel of PopMatters gave the album 7 stars out of 10, saying, "It's DJ music for the casual fan, something you don't need to be a knob-twiddler or connoisseur of the break beat to appreciate or enjoy." ^[9]

In 2015, Vice named it the 49th greatest dance album of all time. ^[15]

Track listing

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Motivational Speaker"	1:48
2.	"(My 1st) Big Break"	4:30
3.	"The Lift"	1:25
4.	"The Garden"	6:16
5.	"Spat"	2:21
6.	"What's the Altitude" (featuring Hymnal)	4:23
7.	"Metrorail Thru Space"	3:56
8.	"Storm" (featuring Edan and Mr. Lif)	3:28
9.	"2266 Cambridge" (featuring Thes One)	2:34
10.	"Spoon"	5:31
11.	"A Peak in Time"	4:52
12.	"The Audience Is Listening Theme Song"	2:20

Japanese edition bonus track

No.	Title	Length
13.	"Beats Thru Space"	3:18

Charts

Chart	Peak position
UK Dance Albums (OCC) [16]	20
US Top Dance/Electronic Albums ( Billboard ) [17]	7
US Heatseekers Albums ( Billboard ) [18]	16

References

1. "Record Shopping with Cut Chemist!". Spin . July 7, 2006. Retrieved May 22, 2017.
2. "The Audience's Listening - Cut Chemist". Metacritic . CBS Interactive . Retrieved August 20, 2014.
3. Jeffries, David. "The Audience's Listening - Cut Chemist". AllMusic . Retrieved August 20, 2014.
4. Each of the dozen tracks on his debut is a fully realized vignette that makes a particular locale startlingly vivid. [Sep 2006, p.230]
5. Rabin, Nathan (August 2, 2006). "Music in Brief". The A.V. Club . Retrieved March 3, 2025.
6. Cut Chemist makes frisky, gleeful funk that touches on Brazilian samba, surf rock, and even polka, without losing the beat. [21 Jul 2006, p.70]
7. Sullivan, Caroline (June 30, 2006). "Cut Chemist, The Audience's Listening". The Guardian . Retrieved August 20, 2014.
8. Chemist eschews masturbatory scratch showcases in favour of artfully constructed, utterly oddball 'songs'. [Aug 2006, p.103]
9. Vrabel, Jeff (July 11, 2006). "Cut Chemist: The Audience's Listening". PopMatters . Retrieved August 20, 2014.
10. Rosenberg, Tal (July 17, 2006). "Cut Chemist - The Audience's Listening". Stylus Magazine . Archived from the original on June 29, 2013. Retrieved August 20, 2014.
11. Apparently channeling Stereolab, Dilated Peoples and the ghost of Esquivel, Cut Chemist finds that everything is fair game if you are witty and skilled enough to connect the dots. [Jun 2006, p.108]
12. This is more than mere virtuoso performance. [Aug 2006, p.90]
13. "Cut Chemist Finds New 'Audience' On Solo Debut". BIllboard . May 10, 2006. Retrieved August 20, 2014.
14. Patch, Nick (July 2006). "Cut Chemist Works Backwards". Exclaim! . Retrieved August 20, 2014.
15. "The 99 Greatest Dance Albums of All Time". Vice . July 14, 2015. Retrieved May 22, 2017.
16. "Official Dance Albums Chart Top 40: 16 July 2006 - 22 July 2006". Official Charts Company . Retrieved March 11, 2018.
17. "Cut Chemist - Chart history - Top Dance/Electronic Albums". Billboard . Retrieved March 11, 2018.
18. "Cut Chemist - Chart history - Heatseekers Albums". Billboard . Retrieved March 11, 2018.

External links

• The Audience's Listening at Discogs (list of releases)