British punk legend Ari Up (a.k.a. Arianna Forster) takes her breakfast with XLR8R’s Inbox in this edition. The heavily dreadlocked Slits leading lady recalls one of her band’s rocky early shows, revisits living nude in the jungle, and pours a little out for Michael Jackson. The Slits’ latest album, Trapped Animal, comes out October 20 on Narnack.
XLR8R: What are you listening to right now? Ari Up: My own music.
What’s the weirdest story you have ever heard about yourself? That I was dead. People called me asking if I got shot in England.
What band did you want to be in when you were 15? I was in The Slits. That’s the band I wanted to be in.
Worst live show experience? When people stormed the stage and attacked us violently in England, and we had to run off with our instruments. They were racist. They were upset we were women, and that our bodyguard was a Rasta—1976 or 1977.
Favorite city in which to play? All of them.
How much do you think your hair weighs? My locks are very heavy, and I’ve never weighed them. They’re down to my feet.
What is your favorite thing you own? The best thing you can own is a house, and I own one. The best thing you can have is love.
Name one item of clothing you can’t live without. My collection of clothes—but I can actually live without them, naked in the jungle.
What did you eat for breakfast today? I didn’t have breakfast yet. I just woke up.
What did you always get in trouble for when you were little? For being totally myself, which brought me to being in The Slits when I was still little.
What other artist would you most like to work with? There are so many, but a lot of them have died. Michael Jackson would have been one of them.
What’s the last thing you read? Some old magazine clips about The Slits.
What do you think of Major Lazer? I don’t know them.
Complete this sentence: In the future… …The Slits must accomplish their unfinished mission.
Stupidest thing you’ve done in the last 12 months? The stupidest thing I’ve done in the last 12 months was being surrounded by stress.
If there were any justice in this world, Brother Ali would be a solid contender for the title greatest rapper alive. Working with the same producer (Atmosphere’s Ant) for most of his career has bolstered Ali’s already-consistent output, and his latest release, Us, is quality from top to bottom, as Ali vacillates between boastful jabs, message-mongering uppercuts, storytelling segments, and spiritual revelations. Meanwhile, the beats range from uptempo slams and funky, bouncy head-nodders to neo-exotica and retro-gospel. If you’re new to Ali’s flow, best believe it’s one of the most honest, lyrically engaging out there. The guy probably couldn’t make a bad album or spit a wack verse if he tried.
After jack-of-all-trades engineer/producer/multi-instrumentalist Mr. Chop delivered a host of co-written and co-produced tracks on recent album Born Like This, DOOM touted his collaborator as “the illest to grace the boards.” The praise hit the streets and landed Mr. Chop an offer to create a record of remixes and covers paying tribute to legendary NY DJ/producer/MC Pete Rock. The album, cleverly titled For Pete’s Sake, will see release Nov. 3 on Now Again/Five Day Weekend. Tracklist is below.
Tracklist: 1. For Pete’s Sake 2. Good Life 3. Intermezzo 1 4. T.R.O.Y. 5. Intermezzo 2 6. Main Ingredient 7. Intermezzo 3 8. Mecca And The Soul Brother 9. Get On The Mic 10. Intermezzo 4 11. Straighten It Out 12. Intermezzo 5 13. Shut Em Down 14. Intermezzo 6 15. I Got A Love 16. The World Is Yours 17. Intermezzo 7
In preparation for the can’t-come-soon-enough release of Hudson Mohawke‘s debut album for Warp, the wonkily soulful Butter, Scotland’s Wireblock and Lucky Me crews have put together a limited re-release of HudMo’s 2008 breakout track, the bass-heavy bootleg remix of Tweet‘s “Ooops (Oh My).” The single that took a burgeoning scene by storm a short while back still sounds as fresh as the day it was delivered from Hudson’s Glasgow studio. Their generosity isn’t exactly a surprise, as both Wireblock and Lucky Me have graced XLR8R with exceptional podcasts that can be found here and here respectively.
The everything-but-the-kitchen-sink aesthetic that DJs/producers Gair “Dev79” Marking and PJ “Starkey” Geissinger call “street bass” combines touches of Dirty South hip-hop, grime, Miami bass drops, glitched-out sex funk, dubstep, and dancehall—yet the two City of Liberty gents still have a way of making the sound a regional one. Having coined the genre is one thing, but through their own Seclusiasis and Slit Jockey imprints, Philly club night Get In, and regular sets across the globe, they’ve elevated the sound to worldwide status, bringing some much-deserved attention to their city. Here, the pair ponders Philly’s club atmosphere, what exactly happened to grime, and where to get the best watermelon ale in Philly. ? ?
XLR8R: What’s the story behind the term “street bass”? Starkey: Well, Dev79 was definitely the one that came up with the name, and we basically just thought it was a great phrase for what we did. We came up with the idea of putting it on a party flier and seeing what people thought—and people would actually show up to a party that just said “street bass” on it. ?Dev79: As far as a description of the sound, though, for the uninitiated, it’s more of a club sound mixed with urban music. Hip-hop, R&B, reggae, vocal bass… all fucked up together with forward-moving dance music. And clearly with a heavy bass element.
Were there Philly parties that were instrumental in getting you two together? Dev79: For two years we did a party called Get In, which, in America, was the first monthly to feature grime. There was dubstep, ghettotech, and hip-hop, but grime was the main push we were going for—it being kind of this new thing. That party was pretty instrumental for me and Starkey really coming together, and was the impetus behind Seclusiasis and Slit Jockey and the whole street bass movement.
Creatively, it’s seemed to work, but was it also a wise business move to become a team? Dev79: Well, we’re sittin’ here looking at each other, so if we say no, then… [laughs]. We grew together on certain levels and certain things kind of just came naturally and just developed—so I do think it was a wise thing… I’m still here working with him. But it just kind of happened and it worked and it’s gonna continue working. Starkey: When we first met each other we were talking and Dev was like, “What kind of music are you into?” and I said, “I’m really into this music called grime right now,” and he’s like, “No shit, I thought I was the only guy that knew what grime was!” And that’s really how we became friends. We didn’t know anyone else who was into that music—and we both had different ways of how we came into it. From there, the Get In party came about and everything kind of blossomed.
??Can you differentiate Seclusiasis and Slit Jockey for us? Starkey: Basically, Seclusiasis is kind of like the parent company, the big organization, and then we have our [Slit Jockey] label under Seclusiasis, which tends to be stuff that’s more all over the place. A little bit more club music-oriented and less about grime and dubstep and U.K.-influenced music.
What’s the relationship between Seclusiasis/Slit Jockey and NYC’s Trouble & Bass crew? Starkey: We’re really good friends with those guys. We’re kind of the bastard family members. We were doing stuff with Drop the Lime and AC Slater prior to all this street bass, and prior to Trouble & Bass really being Trouble & Bass. Back in the day we were all kind of dabbling in electronic music—be it like breakcore or electronica or hip-hop, we’ve just been good friends with those guys for years. And yeah, you see a little bit of incestuous behavior—they’re a different organization but we obviously feel like we’re doing similar things.
??Do you two try and remain exclusive to Philly and the U.S.? Or do have plans to go global with all these projects? Starkey: We started here and Philly’s our home, but we’ve got people everywhere. BD1982—a strong Seclusiasis member—is living in Tokyo right now, Kotchy is in Brooklyn, we released some stuff under Slit Jockey by DZ, who’s now out in San Francisco but he’s originally from Canada. So we are branching out globally, but our home base is Philly.
Do you feel like there’s a “Philly sound” happening right now in the underground? Dev79: Well, I think if you go up to New York, there’s a real similar vibe going on right now—and there’s always a symbiotic relationship between Philly and New York. But certainly over the last six months, I have noticed a steady incline of interest in dubstep. Starkey: One thing that goes along with our whole street bass idea is that we’ve always been pushing vocals and a lot of dance music, especially right now—a lot of it’s not vocal-driven. Our music with the Seclusiasis stuff and the Street Bass Anthems series—it’s really heavily vocal-based. ?Dev79: Partially, we feel that the vocalist aesthetic that we’ve always been akin to comes from the fact that Philly is such a heavy vocal city, from soul music to hip-hop. It contributes to our love and interest in using vocals to such a heavy extent. Starkey: Also, we don’t really keep the street bass sound to a specific bpm. Yeah, we all dabble in different bpms, but we kind of let everyone do their own thing. So there’s more of an attitude that defines the sound.
??Ever since Burial became this kind of dubstep deity, there seems to be a lean towards more headphone-oriented production—Floating Points, Joy Orbison, etc. Even [Starkey’s] Ephemeral Exhibits has a moodiness to it. Is this a direction either of you are interested in really delving into? Starkey: We’re both different producers than we are DJs, but I don’t shun anything. It’s whatever you’re feeling in the studio, but in the club, our shit is way energetic. I’m a sweaty bastard when I play live. It’s intense. Dubstep, for me, is not club music. It’s not what I want to hear in a club. Anything where someone says to me, “this is deep,” I probably won’t play it in a club. That’s just not my thing and I don’t think it’s our thing in general.
So, not likely that we’ll be standing still with our hands in our pockets at your shows, watching you on your laptops anytime soon, eh? Starkey: [laughs] Nah, it’s not about meditation.
As far as grime goes, it had this surge a few years back but it’s since cooled off pretty significantly… would you argue against that? Dev79: It definitely had a peak and a valley… and then a fall-off. It’s still going on and there’s still good stuff out there to pay attention to, but there isn’t nearly the scene there once was. Some of the promise has fizzled. I think it imploded on itself due to being too “in-scene.” Just not enough growth and acceptance of people outside this small region.
With a project like Major Lazer—and really, Diplo’s entire Mad Decent crew—elements of dancehall and reggae are appropriated and the sound’s now gained a whole new audience. Do you think this could go the same way grime did? Dev79: Well, it’s all about crossover. Taking elements of grime, dubstep, house, reggae, and kind of bringing it all together—that’s been going on for years. And right now we’re seeing a real peak in the crossover of electronic and traditional dancehall. Starkey: Dancehall in its infancy had the chance of going the way of grime, but it stuck there, and the same with hip-hop. I mean, people thought hip-hop was gonna be a fad and was just gonna die. Dev79: I think what’s going on now is you’re seeing somewhat of a beautiful harmony in the bastardization. There’s so much crossover, so much cross-pollination. It’s like, “What genre is it that we’re talking about?” That’s part of the reason we came up with “street bass.” Because, what is it? It’s all of these things—and we’re seeing the lines blurred.
As far as Philly parties go, what should we be hittin’ up? Starkey: We’ve been throwing some parties at this club called 941 Theater. It’s relatively new on the Philly scene. That seems to be kind of a new hub for Seclusiasis’ activity in the city right now. We’re doing a party in September called Who Run It—it’s all over the place. Though in Philly in general, the club scene is constantly changing. Clubs are closing, clubs are coming up. I think it’s a rough DJ town in general, that’s my raw feeling.
?If you two were to play Philly travel agents for a second, where would you tell us we have to go? Starkey: My favorite thing to do is go to brunch at The Abbaye in North Liberties. I’m not sponsored by them, but I do wish they’d give me free food every time I went there. It’s really, really good. Like good pub breakfast food and all these Belgian ales, pumpkin ales, watermelon ale—it’s all over the place. Dev79: Well, I’m definitely a food nerd—and if you want a different cheesesteak-type thing go to Gourmet To Go—it’s this vegan spot. They got this wheat-chicken cheesesteak that’s bangin’—and I eat chicken, but this thing tastes better than chicken.
What’s on the horizon for Dev79 & Starkey? Dev79: We’ve got BD1982, who’s been down with our crew. He’s got a single out in September and probably a full-length around November. He takes dubstep in a more organic, tribal direction. Starkey: We’ll have remixes for it coming from Slugabed and Hobotron. We’re always trying to branch out and pick up some different people. And we’re both working on records. And we have Street Bass Anthems Vol. 4 that’s gonna be dropping mid-October.
??You’ve released 12-inches where one of you does a side-A track and the other does a side-B, but will there ever be a full-length collaboration? Like the Hall & Oates of street bass records? Dev79: You might have just had an epiphany for us! We never thought of that parallel Starkey: We might actually open for them on their next tour!? Dev79: We can dress up like Hall & Oates… Starkey: I can take my shirt off and show my chest hair… Dev79: And I can grow the mustache.
Somewhere between the tenacity of Ratatat, the cinema-scope of Mogwai, and the experiments of Tortoise you’ll find Milwaukee’s Cougar. XLR8R recently took a closer look on the quintet, and now we’re happy to bring you a cut from their latest album Patriot, the choir-led “Rhinelander.” The track builds slow, eventually coalescing vocal melodies and dueling guitars with heavy beats and distorted basslines into a transcendent post-rock sound.
With its latest kuduro jam, “Restless,” in hand, Portugal’s Buraka Som Sistema is taking to the states to perform its fiery live show in select cities across the country. The new single will be available for all this November through download, and you can check out the tour dates below.
OCTOBER SAT 31 – HARD Haunted Mansion – Los Angeles, CA
NOVEMBER WED 4 – Le Poisson Rouge – New York, NY SUN 8 – Fun Fun Fun Fest – Austin, TX THU 5 – Velvet – Mexico City, MEXICO FRI 6 – La Burbula – Guadalajara, MEXICO SAT 7 – Noise – Monterrey, MEXICO THU 12 – The Mayan – Los Angeles, CA FRI 13 – Casbah – San Diego, CA SAT 14 – Mezzanine – San Francisco, CA
Originally from Richmond, VA, and now based in Minneapolis, the duo of Jehna Wilhelm and Mark McGee makes no bones about its debt to Kranky’s flagship band, the now-defunct Labradford. To Kill a Petty Bourgeoisie‘s scope is cinematic, but their second LP suggests grainy, industrial cinéma vérité instead of the doomy, spaghetti-western feel of an album like Labradford’s Mi Media Naranja. Though it takes a bit for the listener to warm up to the band’s production style—just when the music gets too close to warm drone, an icy sample pierces the drift—the band attains an excellent middle ground of electronic space-folk on tracks like “Along the Line.” The patient, scraping beauty of “Bridgework” seals the deal—this is an album that rewards sidereal and deep listening alike.
The former East Bay resident and now Berlin-based Kid606 is returning to the west coast to party down with friends and fans alike. The Kid will be rocking five dates in a three-week span including a massive Tigerbeat6 night at San Francisco’s Elbo Room. There’s even a free Kid606 mix to download and get you pumped up for the upcoming shows. Cop the mix here and check out the dates below.
Oct 14 – Portland, OR @ Branx Oct 16 – Seattle, WA @ Chop Suey Oct 17 – Los Angeles, CA @ Droid Behaviour Oct 23 – San Francisco, CA @ Elbo Room Oct 30 – San Francisco, CA @ Rickshaw Stop
For the duration of her first proper US tour, BBC Radio One’s Mary Anne Hobbs has been doing her best to keep herself hydrated and healthily fed, and keeping us abreast of her progress throughout this fine nation. Here’s the last of her exclusive tour vids for XLR8R, before she hopped a plane back to London earlier in the week.
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