Check 1:40 for the real moment(s) of clarity here.

Dutty Artz is a book club. You might have thought we were a record label- given that we’re releasing tracks every month and constantly feeding the internet with audio files- but it goes a lot deeper then that. If you want to be part of the club, you should read Octavia Butler’s Parable of The Sower. If you’re not in the Northern Hemisphere- you might want to wait until Summer, caus this one is dark, and if read before bed, almost guaranteed to induce the vivid nightmares that lodge in your psyche for days before revealing themselves as dreams and not memories.

We’re scrambling just like everyone else right now- trying to figure out what it means to be a record label in an era where recorded digital media has no value- and the only people making money are slicing off pounds of flesh to get branded. You’ll see us move in that direction too. It’s inevitable. Hopefully we can do it without losing too much respect. Until then you can find me steady dreaming of new distribution paradigms as we pass each other printed relics.

BD1982 has been one of my favorite producers for a minute. I’ve been including his tracks on mixes and dropping them when I play for about two years now. His Spaceboots EP on Seclusiasis was one of the most banging EPs of the last 12 months- and he now has a full length out entitled “Lets Talk Math.” He laced DA with a lengthy interview, an exclusive mix for the podcast- as well as an Erykah Badu vocal version of  “Subtract”.

BD1982 – Soldier (Subtract) 320

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

 

 BD1982 Lets Talk Math Mix for DA: Play Now | Play in Popup

T: So- we’ve been in touch for at least two years now- I first became familiar with your production through your monstrous “Water-Faucet” riddim, which shows up here as the instrumental for the gun man tune “Shotta Pon da Corner.” Lets maybe begin there. How did you come to work with Two Seven? Were you always planning on getting a vocal on that instrumental? What about “Fresh Air Ft. Syntonics” (one of my absolute favorites on the album) and “Chased by The Rain”- where the vocals take on a more instrument like role. How do you conceptualize the role of a vocalist in mainly instrumental genres? When your djing out are you playing primarily instrumental tracks as well?

B: I had been a fan of 77klash since hearing “Brooklyn Anthem” and sent a message through Myspace to see if he’d be interested in voicing a tune and luckily he was up for it! I hadn’t really planned on trying to get an original vocal for “Water Faucet” intially, maybe just because the “Blueberry Afghani” bootleg remix was making some rounds, but I’m still incredibly happy at how dope “Shotta Pon De Corner” ended up .

More Interview Under the Hood Read the rest of this entry »

Normally I get a lot of stupid shit in the form of press releases but today I actually got one with something cool in it. Publicists, just because I’m blogging about something I got in a release doesn’t mean you should send more! I hate them! What does this say about how we should all be promoting our music? I don’t know.

Anyway, Pursuit Grooves is a female producer/singer/rapper from BK who I’ve never heard of but has a new record out on dubstep label Tectonic although it’s not dubstep. I like what I’ve heard. Also, dubstep labels take note: you need more female energy. You are all turning (have turned) your genre into a big macho dick grabbing testosterone fest and it’s turning me off. As rising dancehall artist Professor says in one of my recent favorite songs:

“Nuff Bwaaaaaay / a gwan like dem nuh wan roll wit de gyal dem… Some bwaaaaay would rather roll out wit one bagga man fren… my yout it no look good.”
– Professor, Roll With The Gal Dem

Pursuit Grooves “Fox Trot Mannerisms” Tectonic TECCD008 by Multiverse

And here’s the Professor tune I was quoting. Big tune on Don Corleon’s new Gala Riddim.

Cool Dutty Artz interview/mini-doc featuring Shadetek and Jahdan over at XLR8R – part of their Labels We Love Series. Check iTunes for XLR8R Presents Labels We Love, Vol. 1 featuring a new tune from Chief Boima titled “Techno Rumba” (an official release will be out soon) and the Jahdan Blakkamoore banger “Buss It Pon Dem” (produced by Chancha Via Circuito.)

The people from local NY PBS TV show ‘New York On The Clock‘ came and filmed a show that Jahdan  and I did a few months back at Public Assembly along with a short but informative interview with Jahdan.

Geoff Manaugh, author of the BLDGBLOG book & blog,  will join DJ Rupture on Mudd Up! w/ DJ Rupture on WFMU tonight betweeen 7-8pm. Geoff’s a consistently fascinating writer on architecture, contributing editor to Wired UK, and a former techno DJ. Expect discussion to range from architectural acoustics & unexpected sample-discovery to a selection of Geoff’s favorite techno.

You already know the drill, tune in, throw in comments, questions, get involved, & heat up. Again, tonight @ 7PM.

Subscribe to the Mudd Up! podcast if you want downloadable versions: , Mudd Up! RSS.

For those outside our FM broadcast range, WFMU offers live streaming and even has its own free iPhone app!

Lucky Dragons’ performances overturn conventions of electronic music with generosity and grace. On Monday October 12, they will join DJ Rupture to share sounds and discuss the relationship between social and sonic experimentation, Los Angeles, erasing the barriers between performer and audience, and more.

(Also, something I’m aware of but completely forgot to mention:) Lucky Dragons opened for Thom Yorke’s new band debut (both nights) in L.A. last week!! You know, that new band that also features Flea of Red Hot Chilli Peppers. Thanks to Big Brother Rupture for the reminder!

…and on Tuesday LUCKY DRAGONS will perform @ Industry City out in Sunset Park, BROOKLYN.

Subscribe to the Mudd Up! podcast if you want downloadable versions: , Mudd Up! RSS. Listen, get involved, throw in comments, questions. Again, Mondays @ 7PM.

For those outside our FM broadcast range, WFMU offers live streaming and even has its own free iPhone app!

Pill speaks about coming up in West ATL’s Pink City, the hard, un-glossed reality he deliberately portrayed in his video for “Trap Goin’ Ham” -which ruffled a few feathers, trapping and rapping, other generalities like blunt communication/honest expression thru rap.

Read the rest of this entry »

Tune in Mudd Up! with DJ Rupture on WFMU tonight at 7PM, as Roberto Ernesto Gyemant aka DJ Beto, the man responsible for putting together those wonderful volumes of 1960s and ’70s “cumbia tropical & calypso funk” from Panama, joins Rupture to talk and share some incredible music (most likely some exclusives that are not included on the comps.) The compilations are released on Soundway Records.  I am especially looking forward to the talk and the music Beto is going to play for us. I have been fascinated with the music of Panama ever since our visit from Wayne Marshall and Raquel Z Revera. They highlighted the unique position of the Central American country and its lasting contribution and shaping of Reggaeton and our current urban soundscape.  (Missed it? It’s streaming here. Subscribe to the Mudd Up! podcast if you want downloadable versions of my weekly show: , Mudd Up! RSS. Listen, get involved, throw in comments, questions. Again, tonight @ 7PM.

Of course, for those outside our FM broadcast range, WFMU offers live streaming and even has its own free iPhone app!

Poirier [PWA-RI-AY] explains his style and his roots.
Shot in Austin, TX
at Emo’s

I got put up on Octa Push by the hospitable folks of Bristol’s finest BassMusic/Karnival crew Ruffnek Diskotek. After a massive fry up we were listening to some tunes and Octa Push stood out as some serious heat… A few internet mediated communications later- and we have a brief and incredibly straight forward interview direct for DA from the Iberian peninsula.

Who is Octa Push?
We’re two brothers, Dizzycutter and Mushug and we both have been making beats for a while but only started making them together in the beginning of 2008. Started a bit like a joke when our friends at Conspira (one of the first crews pushing bass music in Portugal) booked us for a show. We had to find a name and make loads of beats, it went well and then we decided to take it a bit more seriously. Since then things been moving really fast and we’ve been lucky to play in wicked places!
We did official remixes for people like Buraka Som Sistema, Débruit, Mochipet, Monkey Steak and more..
Our sound has it’s main influences UK garage, bashment, techno, afrobeat and loads of diferent things..

BROOKLYN ANTHEMS

Dutty Artz Represents the World Town

Story Julianne Shepherd
Photography Jason Nocito

Encyclopedic, scholarly and wielding deep faith in riddim and vibes—the alchemy of the Brooklyn-based Dutty Artz crew is completely mystical and slightly awe-inspiring. Its main proprietors, the power trio of DJ/producers Jace Clayton aka DJ/Rupture, Matt Schell aka Matt Shadetek, and Roberto Fernandez aka Geko Jones, are dudes preeminently known for soliciting and disseminating the globe’s bangingest dancehall, dubstep, and cumbia beats. They have explored metropolises, townships and favelas to seek out music in its indigenous state and found likeminded friends in Brazil’s Maga Bo, Montreal’s Ghislain Poirier, and Cape Town’s African Dope Records crew, and when they can’t get to the most outward of dance music’s niches themselves, they have a gang of colleagues to carry the load. When a friend recently traveled to Distrito Federal in Mexico City, Jones begged him to bring back whatever wild music he could find. Thus, when you Google “tribal guarachero,” duttyartz.com is the only non-Spanish blog that results. They are archaeologists scouring the globe’s nooks and crannies with the curiosity of scientists, not conquistadors. They are so passionate about the beat, and generous with their knowledge of it, you almost don’t know where to begin the discussion.

Click HERE to read the rest of Julianne Shepherd’s intelligent and sincere article from The FADER #61.

Steele just sent this over to me, and I’m pleased to share it with you all.  When he heard Jahdan’s new single “The General”, from JD’s forthcoming Buzzrock Warrior album, it seemed tailor made for him, Tony “General” Steele as he’s called and so he asked to jump on a remix.  JD and Steele go way back to the days of Smif N Wessun’s “Sound Bwoy Bureill” and JD has been involved with the Boot Camp Clique for years.  To have Steele spitting on my beat is a special honor for me having been such a fan of Smif N Wessun back in the day, listening to classics like “Wreckonize” and “Sound Bwoy Bureill” on The Box, back when NYC had a real, user controlled video channel and all anyone would request was hardcore hiphop.

Watch for The General Remix feat. General Steele coming soon.

 
Large Hangars and Fuel Storage/Tonopah Test Range, NV/Distance ~18 miles/10:44 am by Trevor Paglen

Mark Danner is one of the good journalists. His work navigates nearly impenetrable messes of deceit and deception like the 2000 Florida vote recount, the nefarious path to the American war in Afghanistan and Iraq, U.S. Military intervention in Reagen era El Salvador… the list goes on- but I think when you have Susan Sontag call you “one of our best, most ambitious narrative journalists” you’ve pretty much fulfilled your journalistic duty to the world.

One of my biggest fears during the election was that once/if Obama was elected there would be a psychic closure on the Bush years. In a more utilitarian sense, I am afraid that people are so excited about entering a “new era” that they  forget that there is a lot of unfinished business from the last 8 years that needs to be sorted out. Danner’s latest piece, “US Torture: Voices From the Black Sites,” which appeared in the new issue of the New York Review of Books on Monday, is doing some of the heavy lifting. It contains detailed accounts of interrogations of “highvalue detainees” at secret “black site” prisons. An excerpt from the piece – about a tenth of it – appeared on the OpEd page of Sunday’s New York Times. It’s a potent reminder that the clean up process has just begun.

Wayne says PDFs are the new MP3s- so here is a PDF of the whole article as it appeared in the New York Review of Books. This is painful to read, and while for some it might be confirming what they thought they already knew- there’s something deeply moving about reading first hand accounts of the abuse against “our enemies.”

Mark Danner “US Torture: Voices from the Black Sites” PDF (9 pages)

Through my travels in the internet I read this article on the NYtimes site. It’s an article about a budding sub-culture of American Islamic punk bands, criticizing both American imperialism and Islamic fundamentalism which arose in response to a novel. The novel is Michael Muhammad Knight’s ‘The Taqwacores’. From the blurb for Knight’s forthcoming memoir, via his Wikipedia page:

“Impossible Man follows a boy’s struggle in coming to terms with his father—a paranoid schizophrenic and white supremacist who had threatened to decapitate Michael when he was a baby—and his father’s place in his own identity. It is also the story of a teenager’s troubled path to maturity and the influences that steady him along the way. Knight’s encounter with Malcolm X’s autobiography transforms him from a disturbed teenager engaged in correspondence with Charles Manson to a zealous Muslim convert who travels to Pakistan and studies in a madrassa. Later disillusioned by radical religion, he again faces the crisis of self-definition. For all its extremes, Impossible Man describes a universal journey: a wounded boy in search of a working model of manhood, going to outrageous lengths to find it.”

Here’s an interview with him where he talks about progressive islam, wrestling and the Five Percenters.

Not quite sure what to say about this more than I think it’s interesting to see that there are people out there rebelling against, wrestling with and writing sincerely about the big questions. That kind of passionate engagement seemed like something my generation had lost in the haze of cynicism, non-position taking coolness and infinite consumer choice. As someone else as well who felt that reading Malcolm X’s autobiography was an important event but felt unsure how to respond to it I thought this guy’s response was interesting if a little extreme (move to Pakistan and attend a Madrassa). As a lover of books in general I also love the idea that a novel could generate this kind of response and create this kind of cultural space.