Remember when turntablism--the virtuosic display of scratching, beat-juggling, cross-fading, etc. --was about to blow up? I thought not. But trust me, for a minute in the mid/late '90s, ball-capped DJs with super-human reflexes were all the rage in slick national mags and underground zines alike. Wheels-of-steel whizzes like X-Ecutioners and DJ Z-Trip played South by Southwest, got signed by major labels, collaborated with radio-friendly rockers like Linkin Park, and appeared in clothing ads. The Beastie Boys even had a turntablist--a cat by the name of Michael Schwartz (AKA Mix Master Mike)--open for them on their 1998 tour of arenas and produce cuts on their Hello Nasty and To the 5 Boroughs albums. Doug Pray shot a documentary, cleverly titled Scratch, that capitalized on and catalyzed the sport... er, art form, and prominently featured our protagonist, the Californian some people call the Serial Wax Killer.

Part of legendary turntablist crew Invisibl Skratch Piklz (which flourished from 1995 to 2000) with Disk and Q-Bert--to whom he passed on his knowledge so well that Q surpassed him--Mike has won three annual DMC scratching championships and received a lifetime-achievement award from the International Turntablist Federation (who knew such an organization even existed?).

Mike's first widely available album, Anti-Theft Device (1998, Asphodel), abstracted funk and jazz into disorienting, ADD-afflicted symphonies of tweaked-to-hell noise. Yet despite the fondness for weird tones and chaotic scratching, flaring, and pitch-shifting Mike displays throughout the 31-track disc, he typically keeps the funk quotient high with rhythms that won't alienate traditional hiphop heads.

On Spin Psycle (2001, Moonshine), Mike showed he could bust out a more conventional hiphop set with panache and a keen ear for old-school gems (by Gang Starr, KRS-One, Large Professor, Freddie Foxx, Davy DMX, JVC Force, etc.) and underground bangers (by Deltron 3030, Encore, Binary Star, K-otik, Cali Agents, El the Sensei, etc.), and he adds some of his own blazing cuts as well as that hot track he did with Beastie Boys, "Three MCs and One DJ."

Mike's new album, Bangzilla (Scratch/ Immortal), broadens his palette to include strings, horns, and strangely tuned synths, along with the familiar retinue of comic-bookish film dialogue, neck-snapping funk beats, and an ear-baffling repertoire of scratches. Clearly, Mike's been putting in serious hours at his studio, honing and expanding his bag of tricks and sharpening his already world-class reflexes. (This guy's hands are so fast, he could jack you off before you'd even realize your fly was undone. Not that Mike would ever do such a base thing, understand.) If his post-Beasties Boy show is as eventful as Bangzilla, prepare for a Technics clinic that'll raise the turntablist game and Chop Suey's roof. DAVE SEGAL

With Tone, Sabzi, DJ Scene, Marc Sense, Geologic, E-Real. Sun Sept 19 at Chop Suey, 1325 E Madison St, 324-8000, 10 pm-2 am, $15 adv, 21+.