D-Sisive “Like This (Feat. Guilty Simpson and DJ Grouch)”

“Like This (feat. Guilty Simpson and DJ Grouch)” is laced with Grouch’s skillful scratching and some familiar cuts of whining Wurlitzer that hearkens back to the mid-’90s, when Derek Christoff (a.k.a. D-Sisive) was only 15 but already breaking into his hometown Toronto’s freestyle battle scene. D-Sisive and Detroit-based rapper Guilty Simpson take turns laying down witty observations of their dark scene, with laidback delivery to match the accompanying beat. Ready yourself for the Sept. 23 release of D-Sisive’s EP Like This (plus three) with this sneak preview of the album’s title track. Lulu McAllister

Like This (feat. Guilty Simpson & DJ Grouch)

Lucky 13: Opio, Treasure Fingers, PPP

In honor of my Mom’s big **th birthday (a true lady never divulges her age), this month I’ll review these releases with a bit of Carol Kerpan Evans’ unique Croatian-Catholic-Democrat flair. Not that she can be found listening to much of this stuff outside of when she’s entertaining her many surrogate sons and daughters at the RedWine Social. But I owe all my weirdness and lust for life, as well as a sizable and eclectic musical collection, to this Chicago-area expat, and I thank her daily for every moment of my upbringing. All the rough times and dirt-poor years, the bike rides and train trips, the late-night rides home from jail or the hospital–Moms was always there. So listen up and have a drink of the grape with Mom. Zivjeli and Happy Birthday!

1. Scotty Coats & Wes The Mess
“Double Fisted”
Rong/US/12

An aptly titled ode to their debaucherous weekly in L.A., this was a super-funky drum-break-and-hand-clapper that only came out in a limited pressing, but look out for remixes by Prins Thomas coming out on Rong/DFA. Mom has always loved a good party.

2.PPP
“On a Cloud”
Ubiquity/US/12

Yeah, I could see Mom getting down in a little mod Laugh-In outfit in Hollywood back in ’65. Insane backbeat soul from Waajeed and Saadiq with a hot remix by the Bay’s own Trackademicks. Heavy Detroit funk with “Angel” on the flip. Can’t wait for their full-length, Abundance, coming soon.

3. Opio
Vulture’s Wisdom, Volume One
Hiero Imperium/US/CD

Mom’s not a big rap fan, but if she can dance to it, she’ll dig it, and producer The Architect makes it funky enough throughout Opio’s second solo release. Plenty of wine references and the Hiero mastermind’s trademark wordplay (check “I Need a Money Tree”) make this a must.

4. Mophono
“The Edge”
CB Records/US/7

Our man DJ Centipede (a.k.a. Mophono) slays it once again with a “skip-on-beat” 45 of funky-ass break edits. That’s right kids, buy two copies for that rough boat-party set, ’cause wherever you drop the needle, you’re on beat!

5. The Fun Years
Baby, It’s Cold Inside
Barge/US/CD

As soon as I put this on, a thick milky fog enveloped my neighborhood and I felt an uncontrollable urge to curl up on the couch and nap. No joke: These cats wield that powerful and hypnotic vibe like a sword.

6. Heavy Petting Crew
Songs Our Pets Taught Us
Bomb/US/CD

You cannot not love this record. With songs like the punky “I Love Goats” or the electro hip-hop of “Funky Bunnies (Remix),” this hot and mysterious trio (including a real-life vet technician!) sings about the animals they love in a fun and delightful manner of styles. My mom still sends me birthday cards from pet turtles and chickens that have been dead almost 30 years, so you know we love our critters too.

7. Arabian Prince
Innovative Life: The Anthology (84-89)
Stones Throw/US/CD

Buy it for the ground-breaking and still very rockable sounds. Buy it for the 20-page booklet on West Coast hip-hop.

8. Treasure Fingers
“Cross the Dancefloor”
Fools Gold/US/2×12

Stupid-funky debut from this Atlanta producer, with remixes from Laidback Luke, Curses, and Lifelike. Mom’s no stranger to the dancefloor, either.

9. Envelope
Shark Bolt
Weightless/US/CD

Mom always taught me, don’t judge a book by its cover, and it’s a damn good thing, too, because if I did this CD might be filed under ’80s SoCal thrash metal. In reality, it’s a fine slice of Columbus, OH hip-hop, expertly produced by label honcho Blueprint. Gotta love that Midwest flavor!

10. Ain’t No Disco
“TOUCH THE GROUND”
unreleased/US

This would be the latest from veteran Bay Area heavyweights Felix the Dog and Buna, and it is burning hot. Hardcore dancefloor bass all the way–this one’s actually for Otto, RIP.

11. Munk
“Live Fast! Die Old! (Remixes Part 2)”
Gomma/GER/12

Hot mutant disco from the studios of Ed Banger, WhoMadeWho, and Rio’s Amazing Clay. Smart money is on the Amazing Clay mix getting Carol’s vote.

12. Lizzie Parks
“Raise the Roof”
Tru Thoughts/UK/7
Stunning soul vocals with music by the Nostalgia 77 band from a label that can do no wrong in my book. Vintage sounds for Mom to groove to.

Lucky 13
Kranked 7
The Cackle Factor
Radical Films/US/DVD

As Mash and Pedal have done for urban bicycling, the Kranked series has documented the furthest extremes in MTB and downhill riding. From streets and terrain parks to the farthest outback, the Radical crew captures the best of the best. I gotta show this to Mom so she can see the kind of hell I could be wreaking on a bike.

Pictured: Opio.

Inbox: Rafter

Sure, we’re always curious to know about an artist’s upcoming release, most recent tour, or arsenal of analog gear, but XLR8R‘s also got a curiosity for quirk. Thus, each week, we email a different artist and find out what makes them tick, in the studio and in life. Today’s installment is all about flip-flops, living in the woods, and playing 40-song sets. Introducing San Diego’s most eclectic maker of music, Rafter Roberts.

What are you listening to right now?

An Asthmatic Kitty compilation that I’m mastering–it’s all electronic music inspired by architecture, two discs, all proceeds [going] to Habitat for Humanity. If I were in my car though, it’d be talk radio: Rush Limbaugh or Dr. Laura. Fuckers. If I was jogging, it’d be De La Soul, Buhloone Mindstate.

What’s the weirdest story you ever heard about yourself?

Oh man. I forget. Hard to beat the truth though… my real childhood often gets exaggerated and distorted when people talk about it, ‘cuz I was raised with no electricity in the woods by off-the-gridders… no TV, no neighbors…

What band did you want to be in when you were 15?

Devo, probably.

Worst live show experience?

I play in a band called the free*stars sometimes. When the lead singer, Dave, turned 40, he wanted to play a 40-song set. We are not an easy-listening band– more of an edu-tainment group–and it was a freakin’ slog thru the night. We’re lucky we didn’t get assaulted. Even 30 minutes of free*stars can be trying for your average audience. This was more like five hours.

Favorite city to play in?

Anywhere but home–it’s just more fun!

Would you ever do a song-a-day project again?

Hells yes. [I’m] about to start a new one, inspired by the original run of the Twilight Zone in the ’60s… Lizeth [Santos] and I are picking 20 episodes to take titles and possible inspiration from.

What is your favorite thing you own?

My Gibson SG, I think. It’s my guitar. I love it.

Name one item of clothing you can’t live without.

Flip-flops… so easy, so nice. Life without t-shirts would suck too. I need a t-shirt.

What’s more annoying: airport security, rush-hour traffic, or music-biz politics?

I hates the traffic.

What did you always get in trouble for when you were little?

Stealing candy, making kerosene rivers, reading too much, and leaving books around.

Which pop star would you most like to work with?

That’s hard to answer… Madonna? David Byrne? Britney? Stevie Wonder?

What’s the last thing you read?

David Sedaris’ Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim.

Complete this sentence: In the future…

I will jam it even harder, humans will put their consciousnesses into computers and live forever.

Stupidest thing you’ve done in the last 12 months?

Dropping my best habits–getting out of the song-a-day habit, stopping weekly dance dates, and stopping jogging regularly. No good for me.

What’s next?

New album, two new EPs, touring, and getting my aforementioned good habits back!

Juicy – Rafter

MP3: “Juicy”
MP3: “Splash (XLR8R Exclusive)”

Last Week: Fuck Buttons

Big Gipp “Hot (Treasure Fingers Remix)”

Parking itself in the center of the up-and-coming art scene, Scion continues to release diggable collaborative and remixed albums that you can pick up at any Scion-sponsored event. On Sept. 23, grab a copy of the Big Gipp record, which includes remixes by Klever, Rob Wonder, and Treasure Fingers. Big Gipp is an Atlanta-born rapper and member of the Goodie Mob. On this “hot” track off his Scion album, Treasure Fingers has placed the sassy crooning backup singers and Big Gipp’s grimy rhythmic vocal delivery against distant maniacal laughter, shrill synths, and a funky bassline. Lulu McAllister

Hot (Treasure Fingers Remix)

Lawrence English Kiri No Oto

With Kiri No Oto Room40 label boss Lawrence English presents his densest ambient work to date. The somewhat stately micro-sound strains of his previous work have been infused with howling distortion, organ-based melodic washes, and a thick gauzy haze. Roughly translated from Japanese, the title Kiri No Oto (“sound of fog”) fits the album perfectly. At times it’s tastefully reminiscent of Popul Vuh, while coating your brain like Tim Hecker’s ambient-metal epics. Kiri No Oto is wonderfully immersive, and as the album unfolds, English’s grip tightens, pulling you deeper into the fog. A great piece of subconscious architecture.

PDXLR8R!

For this year’s special City Issue, Portland’s weirdest and finest tell us about their music, their art, and their uniquely Pacific Northwestern lives. We catch up with Panther, Valet, video artist Matt McCormick, Decemberist/designer Carson Ellis, Glass Candy mastermind Johnny Jewel, and tour the town with Strategy, Reverend Shines, and a host of others. We do our best to keep it real, and the weirdness just flows.

Sonar 2009 Dates Announced

Yes, it feels as though we’ve just seen the wrap of Sonar 2008, which featured performances from the likes of Boys Noize, The Field, Flying Lotus, Neon Neon, Ricardo Villalobos… you get the idea. The annual music and multimedia festival, held in Barcelona, is a mecca for top-shelf electronic music artists and labels, so it’s worth saving up the pennies and booking an early flight for the 2009 edition. And without further ado, the dates are:

June 18, 19, and 20, 2009.

No hints yet as to the lineup, but the aforementioned names should be an indicator of this year’s roster. If you need further convincing, recall this.

Pictured: Ricardo Villalobos. Photo By Marielle Van Doseburg.

Portland Punk: A Brief History

Portland is now gaining a worldwide rep as a hub of forward-thinking indie music and culture, but all these art-rock wunderkind can trace their DIY lineage back to the city’s punk scene of the late ’70s and early ’80s.

Already 29 when the punk scene started to boom in the late ’70s, Mark Sten was front and center as a promoter, soundman, and member of numerous groups, including the pub-rock band King Bee (with Dead Moon’s Fred Cole). “I got the bright idea in early ’77 that we should just go ahead and call ourselves a punk band because I was really liking the stuff I was beginning to hear,” says Sten, explaining that the early punk scene was more about swagger than a particular sound. “That was much more of a publicity move than it was a legitimate characteristic of what we were playing.”

The early Portland punk scene was less about strict genre confines and more about creating reactionary sounds. As such, it attracted everyone from noise dabblers Smegma (who Sten calls “reeking hippies involved with tape loops”) to Sado-Nation and their sloppy energy, from the early hardcore of Ice 9 to the all-girl attack rock of the Neo-Boys.

At the top of the heap were The Wipers, who made the other bands seem “amateurish,” Sten says. Combining the raw power of garage rock with punk aggression and psychedelic innovation, the band influenced everyone from Nirvana to No Age. “The Wipers were a really powerful, efficient, technically capable band,” recalls Sten. “I haven’t heard their particular blend of a Ramones-type rhythm and psychedelia anywhere else. The marriage of Johnny Ramone and Jimi Hendrix worked out really well in [guitarist Greg Sage’s] hands. You can hear [his] chords and go, ‘That’s a Wipers chord.’”

While punks in other cities were primping their mohawks and blowing cash on bondage gear, the eternally low-income Portland had more of a gutter, anything-goes feel. “David Carboy from Sado-Nation looked across the street at a group of punks with new leather jackets and torn jeans and tennis shoes, and looked at the other side of the street at two girls wearing pajamas,” Sten remembers. “He pointed across the street and said, ‘Seattle punks,’ and pointed at the girls in pajamas and said, ‘Portland punks.’”

The city has had as much, if not more, influence on the music than the records made there. “There used to be something in the water in Portland that kept people a little bit more eccentric than they are in places like Seattle or Bakersfield,” Sten says. “There was a sense of having been freed up that was not followed immediately by being closed in by a new set of rules. Punk, for a few years, remained a liberating factor without establishing its own conventions quick enough to replace what had just been discarded.

“Since the ’60s, Portland has been a very progressive and conventionally liberal town,” he continues. “It’s a mecca for lesbians and homosexuals. It’s desperate to embrace racial diversity even though there aren’t that many blacks in town.” The result, Sten says, is a sort of meta-rebellion that isn’t found in other cities. “People in Portland aren’t rebelling against some sort of normal political establishment or city bourgeoisie. They’re rebelling against people who would be considered rebels elsewhere. It yields people who are not really amoral, but are definitely carving out their own niche. I would cite [filmmaker] Gus Van Sant and [writer] Adam Parfrey [as prime examples].”

Today, Northwest punk is still going strong, with plenty of its own newsgroups and zines, fantastic local acts like Defect Defect, Red Dons, or The Clorox Girls playing house shows throughout the city, and a bevy of local record stores (Discourage, Green Noise, Brickwall) keeping the sound alive. And unlike other cities, Portland’s punk progenitors continue to be in the mix, with Smegma’s Mike Lastra running a recording studio and Dead Moon’s Fred and Toody Cole still raging strong.

Subtle Readies Tour, Remix Album

Doseone and his band, Subtle, will head out on the road soon, supporting the release of this year’s ExitingARM, which XLR8R scribe Chris Martins described recently as “music like you’ve never heard: a cold/hot combination of prog, rap, pop, rock, and electronic sound that swirls together as shapely solid and many-layered as a tornado.”

The avant-hop collective will translated said statement into live performances this November, with support from Zach Hill & Peer Pressure and Pattern is Movement.

Additionally, Doseone and Co will release their SmallFear/Souvenir remix record, which sees the likes of Trans Am, Alias, Black Moth Super Rainbow, and Thee More Shallows reworking tracks off ExitingARM.

Dates
11/07 Portland, OR: Doug Fir Lounge*
11/08 Seattle, WA: Nectar*
11/10 Salt Lake City, UT: Urban Lounge*
11/11 Denver, CO: Larimer Lounge*
11/13 Madison, WI: High Noon Saloon*
11/14 Chicago, IL: Empty Bottle*#
11/15 Toronto, Ontario: The Kathedral*#
11/16 Montreal, Quebec: Le Divan Orange*#
11/17 Boston, MA: The Middle East (Upstairs)*#
11/18 New York, NY: Knitting Factory*#

* = w/ Zach Hill & Peer Pressure
# = w/ Pattern is Movement

MP3: “Unlikely Rock Shock”

Photo by Mathew Scott.

Bitter Bastard: Worst Style Trends

To deaf ears, BJ sounds off on the most atrocious things to wear (or attend) this fall.

1. Weight-loss sneakers
Why run, now that there are shoes that make you lose weight just by walking in them? There are so many: Fit Flops, Kangoo Jumps, and the clown-like MBTs–whose name, ironically, stands for Masai Barefoot Technology–but you really haven’t lived until you’ve seen a very overweight person teetering on Z-Coil’s spring-loaded high-heels.

2. Native American everything
Feathered earrings and hair clips make me think of an impoverished Thai laborer chasing peacocks and quails around a tiny pen. Or maybe they just pick up the bird and pluck that shit? Grody. On that note, these Native American fashions are going too far. Feathers, moccasins, beaded bracelets, and a tribal print top? Take a chill, Pocahontas.

3. Bluetooth headsets
We realize that Bluetooth headsets are a necessary evil, but that doesn’t mean you have to start coordinating them to your outfit (although the temptation might be great if you’re one of those people who never takes yours out of your ear). The Swarovski crystal-encrusted model was a no-brainer, but we saw a lady the other day with a wicker headset. Oh no you diiiiint, girrrrl.

4. Mask hysteria
Something’s in the water in blogtown, since all the electro-house dudes think it’s kooky to wear masks when they DJ. Toxic Avenger looks like a scary mime, and Bloody Beetroots wear barely breathable Spiderman-inspired face socks. “MASKTRKRFT” are a late entry to the game with gold Jason-like hockey masks, except the mystique doesn’t work because everyone already knows what they look like.

5. Anja Hindmarch totes and their knockoffs
Newsflash: You are not “eco” if you paid $200 on eBay for an Anja Hindmarch “This is Not a Plastic Bag” tote that originally cost £5. Second newsflash: Any reusable bag will do. You are just going to the fucking grocery store.

6. Hosted parties
This phenomenon is getting out of control, especially when there are more people “hosting” a party than actually DJing. If there are more than five hosts or 10 logos on a flyer, you’re pretty much guaranteed that no one is going to dance and everyone is going to think they’re cooler than you. If you need to see a list of who is going to be in the VIP area before you decide whether to go to the club, then you are a loser.

7. Koffe Cake “Straight
Outta Compton” tee
Clearly someone is trying to start another riot in L.A.

8. Return of grunge
Remember when everyone looked like a dirty bum, to the chagrin of parents nationwide? Yeah, it was fun, and flannel never goes out of style. But all that wool and combat boots was sweaty, and only models and junkies ever pulled off that baby-doll-dress-and-Docs thing without looking like a used Kleenex.

9. Dressing like cereal
Logo tees usually mean you have something to say, like “I like this band” or “this is my political ethos,” or even “I got this free from my auto body shop.” I guess wearing a Honey Smacks tee or Fruit Loops jeans says, “my primary interest in life is getting stoned and eating cereal.”

10. Dressing like a toddler
Guys, we already know you are big babies who are looking for your mommies. You don’t have to advertise it by wearing multiple primary colors at once and clothes with baby-toy graphics.

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