Pon Di Wire: Curefest, New Records from VP, Reggae Birthdays

Jah Cure’s celebratory Curefest concerts have been expanded to take place to three separate locations over three days. The event, celebrating Jah Cure’s freedom after a seven-year jail term and presented by Danger Promotions, takes place Friday, October 12 to Sunday, October 14. It includes an installment titled “Reflection,” an all-white attire dinner held the first night at Starfish Trelawny Hotel, “45 Cures” at Pier 1 in Montego Bay, and the main “Longing For” concert at Trelawny Multi Purpose Stadium. The finale is the first concert to be held at the Trelawny Multi Purpose Stadium since the opening of World Cup Cricket.

In general news, Jamaican sprinter Asafa Powell has broken his own world record in the 100 meters, running 9.74 seconds at the Rieti Grand Prix meet in Italy. Also, Jamaica’s first Labor Party Prime Minister in 18 years, Orette Bruce Golding, took office on Wednesday. 

Daseca crew

Every year, dancehall music produces a new crop of young buck producers, crews, and talents. Recent years have been dominated by The Alliance crew (Elephant Man, Wayne Marshall, Vybz Kartel, Angel Doolas, Bling Dawg, Aidonia, etc.), and producers Donovan “Don Corleon” Bennett, and Stephen McGreggor. More recently, the work of Craig “Serani” Marsh’s Daseca camp (Busy Signal, Mavado) is gaining momentum. Serani is part of the three-man Daseca production team responsible for popular dancehall riddims Anger Management, Chaka Chaka, Dreaming, Gully Creature, Build Back, and Fire Links’ Gullyside. Serani also crafted the lead phrase on Sean Paul’s Billboard smash, “We Be Burning,” and leads on Tony Matterhorn’s anthemic “Dutty Wine” and Mavado’s “Dying.”

The 2007 installment of Irie Jamboree attracted more than 30,000 reggae fans to the Roy Wilkins Park in Queens, New York, who came to see international acts like Steven Marley, Jr Gong, Morgan Heritage, Lady Saw, Beenie Man, Anthony B, Assassin, and Tony Matterhorn. Morgan Heritage smashed it with their big East Coast hit “Booklyn & Jamaica.” Lady Saw held her own, and invited crowd favorite Mavado out to sing “Weh Dem A Do.” Tony Matterhorn, Daville, and “the gangsta ras” Munga Honourable, who was making his first major appearance in New York, were the stand-out acts of the event.

Collie Buddz

Bahamian singjay Collie Buddz is circulating his new one-drop riddim single “Blind To You,” which deal with his experiences with jealousy and racism in the music industry.

VP Records announced a slew of new albums for fall including I-Wayne’s Book of Life (November 6), Elephant Man’s Lets Get Physical (November 6), Shaggy’s Intoxication (November 13), and Strictly The Best 37 & 38 compilations (November 22).

Queen Ifrica

Down Sound will drop their remake of the classic Channel One Gunman riddim. Gunman riddim has spawned hits over the years like “No Weh No Betta Dan Yard” by Sister Carol (1984), Paul Elliott’s “Bad Bwoy” (2000), Ninjaman’s “Me Nah Move” (1991), and Yellowman’s “Duppy Or Gunman,” for producer Henry ‘Junjo’ Lawes in 1982. Downsound’s new versions include sides by Anthony B, Turbulence, I Maroon, Queen Ifrica, and Tony Rebel. Other new riddims dropping this week: Silver Screen on Don Corleon (Baby Cham, Capleton, Munga), Atomic Bomb on Heart of Love (Beenie Man, Buju, Busy Signal), and Cool & Deadly on Worthington Project (Anthony B, Daville, Perfect).

Several reggae artists celebrate birthdays this month, including O’Neil Bryan (a.k.a Elephant Man), born September 11, 1975, and the outlaw Terry Ganzie, also born September 11. Richell Bonner, (a.k.a. Richie Spice) celebrated his Earth Date September 8 and recently departed Jamaican folklorist and poet Louise Bennett was celebrated on September 7. 

Infamous Hair Wars Event Documented in New Book

Laptop DJ battles are about as lame as the cruddy DJs and producers who took part in them to begin with. A more riveting branch of competitive events can be found in Hair Wars, David “Hump Grinder” Humphries’ 20-year-old, multi-city competition that pits one outrageous hairstyle against another, now documented in a photography book of the same name by David Yellen.

Complete with images of an eight-foot-wide mohawk, some dude with a dreaded beard that hangs lower than his knees, a pimp-esque brother with what appears to be an ostrich-feather coat holding a blow-dryer like a pistol, and many more bizarre styles, Yellen’s photographs capture the Hair Wars events in all of their freakish grandeur. An introduction and interviews from fashion writer Johanna Lenander (i-D, New York Magazine) makes Hair Wars as a legitimate historical look at one of the most profound battles around–at least when compared to laptop DJs.

is available in November 2007 from powerHouse Books.

Dandyism: Oscar Wilde’s Revenge

Luxury streetwear is evolving like hip-hop in the ’90s, and we’re about to hit the coffee-table illbient part. Not that DJ Spooky is rolling out a line of well-researched tall tees, but there’s a revived term floating around that I’m sure he’d love to give a lecture on: dandyism. Or rather new dandyism, as Chris Torres, Reebok sneaker designer and creator of the blog NewDandyism, puts it. According to Torres, “Street couture [is] a false label geared towards getting money out of kids’ pockets–true luxury is about quality, not exclusivity.” Fair enough. But since when can you pay to become a dandy?

The definition of a dandy usually begins with Oscar Wilde and Beau Brummell–rebel figures from the 1800s who revolutionized men’s clothing by being complete fucking dicks. Brummell is most famous for saying, “Who’s your fat friend?” to King George IV (then just a lowly prince, tee hee!); Wilde was a jack-of-all-trades author, style maven, and sexual crusader. Since their deaths, both men have been endlessly imitated; their most famous quotes tattooed on art students’ knuckles, their likenesses portrayed in Lifetime movie specials where people say shit like “incorrigible.”

Whatever a dandy is today is far less straightforward, although the definition I prefer comes from GQ Style Guy and NYC punk icon Glenn O’Brien. In his words, “A dandy in the truest sense… is a philosopher who uses style to express himself, to bring about political and social change. A dandy is not a fop, but an artist of living.”

I wonder if O’Brien ever expected “artists of living” to become a viable marketing demographic? Considering it doesn’t take much to be an artist these days, becoming a dandy has become kind of easy. Momus, a musician, writer, and real-life dandy who wears stuff most “new” dandies wouldn’t be caught dead in, once said, “In the future, everyone will be famous for 15 people,” and as it turns out, he was right: Technically speaking, practically anyone with a MySpace blog is an artist of living–they get more kudos than I’ve gotten in three years of writing.

“NewDandyism is a brand,” says Torres. “It’s a lifestyle and a point of view. Dandyism resonates with young men today because there has been a reemergence of this attitude… The term was picked to market to men that are looking for alternatives, not just the stuff you see on the blogs and streetwear sites.”

However, not all of Torres’ contemporaries agree with all the coffee-table intellectualism. “This whole dandyism/streetwear thing… that’s some goofy shit right there,” says Bob Kronbauer, designer of the infamous Crownfarmer clothing line. “With most clothing concepts there’s something that the designers draw on, be it ‘Dandyism’ or whatever. Consumers don’t need to be so close to it, though; that’s what I think is so weird about this.”

Kronbauer is right–this new-dandyism thing is some goofy shit. Lifting the proverbial curtain on street couture isn’t too different from DJ Spooky’s table-of-contents musical theoreticisms: The content feels more like a better-dressed hustle than real enlightenment. But if mock intellectuals are what we need to rid the world of pajama-top hoodies and 10-block lines outside of Supreme, then so be it. I just hope we don’t confuse new dandies with the real thing–I’ve already had all the illbient I can take.

Biosphere, Blixa Bargeld Explore Language, Sound, Cinema

San Francisco’s Recombinant Media Labs, run by Ashodel boss Naut Humon, is unleashing its newest (and possibly rarest) set of live engagements to date. The Language, Sound, and Cinema Series will draw international talent to demonstrate real-time sound and art installations in Recombinant’s state-of-the-art facility.

The first installment of the series will see Norway-based artist Biosphere (a.k.a. Geir Jenssen) making his first West Coast appearance. While the Norseman is also taking this ambient showcase to Seattle’s Decibel Festival, show attendees at the Bay Area performance will have a rare chance to see him exhibit the work he does with acclaimed visual artist Egbert Mittelstädt (known for his psychedelic patterned “Slit-Scan” method). Taking place Saturday, September 15, this all-encompassing program is not to be missed.

Following Biosphere’s performance, Einstürzende Neubauten contributor Blixa Bargeld is making a highly anticipated S.F. appearance. Performing alongside artist Alva Noto, Bargeld will give experimental fans a taste of his new solo work, which should also hint at Neubauten’s forthcoming Alles Wieder Offen (Potomak) release.

For advance tickets go to Asphodel. 

The Language, Sound, and Cinema Series
Saturday, September 15, 2007
Performances By Biosphere and Egbert Mittelstädt
8 p.m. and 11 p.m.
Suggested Donation $16

Friday, September 28, 2007
Performances By Blixa Bargeld and Alva Noto
8 p.m. and 11 p.m.
Suggested Donation $20 

Biosphere and Blixa Bargeld are the highlight performances of the series.

Various Artists Box of Dub: Dub Step and Future Dub

Soul Jazz follows up its ’06 entry into dubstep with a compilation that grabs half a dozen of the scene’s most successful producers and throws in some great tracks from a few sideline observers. Both of Scuba’s tunes chug along darkly, tapping the dark ’80s side of dub, while Kode9 and Digital Mystikz bring a more introspective vibe, and Burial pulls off brilliant-sounding liquid D&B at dubstep tempo. The best surprises come from the outsiders like Tuning Spork’s Jay Haze and Michael Ho, who flip the script with choppy rhythms for Paul St. Hilaire to lilt over, and Kevin Martin, who comes with Wordsound-style darkness under his King Midas Sound moniker.

Liars “Plaster Casts of Everything”

Though they’re known for making lots of noise and conceptual songs, for their fourth album under the Liars moniker, Angus Andrew, Aaron Hemphill, and Julian Gross embrace a more traditional way of writing tracks. It seems that this move surprised even the band: “If you told me last year Liars would release a record like this, I would have laughed,” says Andrew. “I’d have called you a liar.” Photo by Steve Gullick.

Liars – Plaster Casts Of Everything

Various Artists Normoton Gold

Celebrating their 25th release, Normoton’s label head Klaus Burkard pulled together a pretty solid representation of his sound, a disparate offering of house, ambient, techno, and electro. The problem here lies not necessarily in stylistic variation (plenty of great labels dabble in all of these genres), but in the varied musical success of each track. That is to say, some of this is fantastic, and some is garbage. The varied forms of techno (minimal, tech-house) work best here: Strassmann and Landesvatter each make gorgeous tracks that recall late-night train rides and smoky, underground dance hideouts. Unfortunately, the rest of this compilation is spotty at best.

XLR8R TV Episode 25: Dubstep 101 with Youngsta

London-based DJ Youngsta schools us on one of our favorite emerging music scenes, dubstep. Youngsta explains the evolution of the genre, who the key players are, and which records should be on your turntable.

Watch This Episode

Previous Episodes
Episode 20: My Sing-A-Ling
Episode 21: Devin the Dude
Episode 22: Matmos
Episode 23: How to Make a Hip-Hop Mix Tape
Episode 24: Fall Fashion Roundup

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