Last night on 90210, when explaining why he and his girlfriend are made for each other, the character played by Tristan Wilds (the dude from the fourth season of The Wire) says, “WE BOTH LIKE DJ /RUPTURE.” WHATTT! Either the screenwriter was consulting Wilds as to what DJs he’s into, or the screenwriter was like “OH YEAH DUH, PRIVILEGED BEVERLY HILLS TEENS ARE TOTALLY, TOTALLY INTO GUARACHERO AND CUMBIA!” Maybe they have better taste than we thought? We’re pulling for a guest appearance next. We’ve already written the plot: So the girl he’s dating finds out that he’s still in high school (she’s an older woman) and dumps him because, ew. But then they GO to a DJ /Rupture gig (one where he’s DJing all obscure dancehall maybe), they meet him and he gives them sagely advice about how age ain’t nothin but a number, and they get back together. COME ON! Watch the show after the jump… the moment comes at about 12:40 in a beach scene.
Dutty Artz will release Lamin Fofana‘s debut EP What Elijah Said on September 21. Lamin has been steadily working on beats for the past few years, and he’s about to make a public birth.
When we asked him to describe the music, Lamin sent us this sentence: “Yet, he would refer to the Mother Plane, a mysterious space ship with superior beings, giant black gods or something like that, that patrolled the universe, keeping an eye on the devil and ready to rescue Black Muslims from Armageddon.” Sounds like sci-fi, but turns out it’s from the New York Times 1975 obituary (!) for Nation of Islam founder Elijah Muhammad.
Everything is not what it seems, and this music’s mark of greatness is the way it so effortlessly calls for repeat listens.
What Elijah Said EP:
01 Happy 2010 // Dark Days Are Coming
02 “I will admonish you and give you absolution”
03 What Elijah Said // Eye on the Devil
04 Dance In Yr Blood
Artwork: Boy holding fluorescent bulb, photo by Brendan Bannon, Dandora Dumpsite, Nairobi. 8/29/2006. Hundreds of trash pickers scavenge the dump for food, plastic, glass, and metal. Areas of the dump smolder from a slow burn of plastics and detritus just under the surface. Local activist have attempted to close the site due to pollution concerns.
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Lamin Fofana was born in the West African country of Guinea. When the political situation got bumpy, he moved to Freetown, Sierra Leone, where his routine involved listening to Goodie Mob and Organized Konfusion as well as attending Quranic schools/mosques. In 1997 Lamin’s family had to flee worsening conditions in Sierra Leone – losing friends, belongings, documents, a home. They spent several days crossing roads and bridges destroyed by rebels to prevent people from escaping. At the end of the year, Fofana found a new home in Harlem, New York, where he lives today.
Yesterday’s guest mix & interview by The Sick Girl(s) was excellent thumping late-summer fun, and I’m pleased to announce that on Monday September 13th, I’ll have South African boy wonder Spoek Mathambo live in-studio on WFMU 91.1 FM! Us black internationals gonna throw an on-air Tea Party.
I first encountered Spoek as part of Sweat X, his duo project that I wrote about for Fader’s Africa issue [PDF] two years back. That piece involved a lively interview and allowed me to get the following sentence into print: “Spoek Mathambo is a slippery post-Apartheid glam-rap prince from Soweto who is descended from distant African royalty, or Jewish, or both.”
Since then Spoek has been making steady moves for world domination, rapping, singing, sending me emails about mythical dinosaurs that can stop the flow of a river (and concept band/videos based on same), generally manifesting polyglot amazingness in all sorts of places (Johannesburg, Stockholm, Mrs Internet, Paris, Twitter), and, finally, AMERIKKKA, the country with the best hamburgers & weapons. Although I do love the gun-fetish object on Mshini Wam’s cover:
So. We welcome him to our strange land with open arms. Fader is streaming his album for the rest of today, and we can watch these 2 videos to get some angles into Mr Mathambo’s complex musical visions… (HINT: the damaged Joy Division cover I’ve been playing out since Pitchfork festival last summer is 100% Spoek…. he’s lost control…)
Last I heard, the cost of living in Berlin was 1/4th that of New York City. Let’s think about that. You stop working in New York, buy a plane ticket, and can go there and stretch out your life for an entire season – spending roughly the equivalent of one NYC-month. True, the 1/4th thing was back when the euro was higher, but still…. Berlin exists as an alternate universe, where, despite the influx of cool tourists, the price of everything from coal-heated apartments to MDMA (so they tell me) remains very affordable. Plus it’s deliciously leafy and quiet and healthy, wide avenues and canals, if you want that. (Also: Turkish music! Let’s save that for another post.)
“Techno” famously rules within this alternate universe – one of my friends wakes up at 10am on Sundays to go dancing at one of those parties which hasn’t stopped since Friday night: she treats it as surreal morning exercise – so by playing crunked-up (non-techno) fantastic music and throwing a zuper party called Revolution no. 5 the Sick Girls are like rulers of an utopia moment within an alternate universe, which makes them superheros in our vaguely real world (and among its crowds of virtual doppelgängers). Which they are visiting tonight…
This is a roundabout way of saying: Jay-Oh, 1/2 of The Sick Girls, will be my special guest on today’s radio show. Berlin’s finest!
[Jay-Oh and someone's sneaker]
Jay-Oh will do a live mix and talk about Berlin’s musical climate, the upcoming Sick Girls compilation album, testosterone’s impact on club microgenres, promoting events versus producing beats, and, if we’re nice, we’ll get to hear some unreleased tunes from them…
Note: the Sick Girl’s compilation will be released this fall on BBE Records, which is the same label putting out Fader coverboy Spoek Mathambo’s debut album. ‘Post-Apartheid post-hiphop posterboy’ Spoek will be my next WFMU guest, joining us live in-studio on September 13th.
So. Mark yr calendars, subscribe to the podcast (regular XML | iTunes), and tune in tonight, live 7-8pm, on WFMU 91.1FM. Nouveau Yorque, the city with the biggest rats.
“creativity was the ability to bring to life an image or idea regardless of resources”
- Chief Boima, Interviewed by Eddie Stats
Eddie Stats has a great interview with Dutty Artz familia Chief Boima and Vamanos from Ghetto Bassquake over at his blog Ghetto Palms for the Fader (linked below). In it came the above quote which Boima mentions in the context of film theory.
I love this idea and it brings me back to a concept that I try to bash my friends and students over the head with all the time.
Creativity is what happens IN SPITE of things like equipment, time and resources. A lot of people I know cling to the idea that as soon as they get this next plug-in, keyboard, piece of software, money, time or whatever it is that they don’t currently have that they’ll be able to accomplish their creative goals.
I am sorry to report that this is absolutely not the case.
Mi bredren, DJ Still Life blesses us with his Tropicaaliyah EP of Aaliyah remixes for your anniversary party needs. In case your not tuned in, he’s got a global bass show on East Village Radio called Worldwide Smash that you should check out
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CIAfrica is a heavy crew. They have their own thing going on in Babi, Cote d’ivoire and run the sort of international basss weight productions that we live for- along with spitfire lyrics that jump between local concerns and international awareness. Basically they are dope as fuck. It is a huge honor and pleasure to finally see their DA debut up at all the usual spots and getting love from some serious heavyweight DJs, producers and friends.
Various tracks are being loaded to blogs of varying readership- but if you want a little somethin’ somethin’ straight from the elephants mouth….
Head over to bandcamp to DL a copy of the perfectly titled “Epikstar Riddim” from Babylon Residence. This is our first shot with bandcamp- and once we have your email address we’ll hit you with more free music and the occasional update.
Next Friday, August 27th, come catch myself and Tanlines in a pay-what-you-want party at The Whitney Museum.
[some guitar band at the Whitney]
James Franco was trying to get on the bill with a new indie garage cumbia electro project he’s working on, but the Whitney people had to tell him no. Which is just as good, because with Tanlines, myself, and you, together we are well-equipped to build a DANCE PARTY, possibly the Last Fun Party of the Summer, and let me repeat: it’s FREE. 6-9pm = pay-what-you-wish for museum admission. Grapes will not be served, despite internet rumors stating otherwise.
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Some guy on Soundcloud called Shamantis took Justin Bieber and slowed him down %800. And it sounds great! Apparently taking strange pubescent elvis-ian boy pop divas and slowing them down produces glacially beautiful digital sludge. Who needs drugs?
Now as great as this may be it cannot compete, in my mind with the original slowed down codeinated epics of people like DJ Screw, Michael Watts and the whole Houston screwed and chopped movement. Stuff like this:
Learn more about DJ Screw in this short YouTube documentary:
Yes, today is my birthday! I survived last year (barely). Hugs, large bills, mp3s, and gift certificates to the crematorium all accepted…
big birthday post over at MuddUp! includes an old Rupture mix excerpt, chopped & screwed Nicki Minaj, free software for turning Biebz into Hopelandic ambience, 16 minutes of Algerian chaabi, GIFT OPTIONS, and, as always more.
Eat, drink and consume media, for tomorrow we get deleted.
My daytime employer Dubspot is sponsoring this event at Love with a who’s who of bearded NY dub guys (including your’s truly) at Love. It’s on 9/11, a date easy to remember if not for pleasant reasons. Jahdan will be in the building and we’ll do some songs together and I’ll be throwing some wamp at the Love sound system. It should be a lot of fun.
Lineup:
Dub Gabriel
Matt Shadetek
Liondub
Emch
DJ Kiva
MCs: Jahdan Blakkamoore & Infinity
Where: Love 40 W. 8th St. New York, NY 10012
Sept. 11th, 2010 $5 before 11PM, $10 after
Sponsored by Dubspot, Halcyon, Konkrete Jungle and Brooklynradio.net
I have to say this is one of my favorite jams at the moment. Hard Mix is 19 year-old Noah Smith, a producer from Greenville, South Carolina. Look out for his album Weirdly Different, coming out later this year.
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To get in touch, send us tunes, hate mail etc. write: family AT duttyartz.com
