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Hello?

The GODFATHER of Hip-hop

Ok, so does everyone remember my post about hip-hop and DJ Qbert, etc, etc? Well, if you do, or you're willing to go back and look at that old post, you may remember me mentioning DJ Kool Herc. He INVENTED hip-hop. That's right, back in the early to mid 70's he was the guy that was like, "Hey, check this out. I got two turntables." Then he was like, "This is a breakbeat. You dance to it and rap over it."
DJ Kool Herc will be performing in Honolulu on Sept. 7 at 43 Hotel St. Tickets are only like $10 - $15. If you listen to hip-hop... or if you understand the cultural significance and you want to witness this totally friggin' sweet opportunity, then you should be there. Cause I'll be there. And it will be totally friggin' sweet.

-Jay

Hella sweet...

Editor’s note: This is a 3 part series

HELLA

On the fringes of musical culture there lies genres like "noise," "math-rock" and "8-bit." Each is a spin-off of another kind of music, with one or two aspects magnified. Take for instance 8-bit: it's an adaptation of music borrowed mostly from 8-bit Nintendo games and set to rock or electronica. Noise is best described as a bunch of mental patients trying to emulate "Stomp." At the epi-center of all these fringe genres is Sacramento's Hella.

Hella, made up of Zach Hill on drums and Spencer Seim on guitar, is appropriately named after a Northern California slang, meaning “very.” “Church Gone Wild/Chirpin’ Hard” is the bands third release. Hill and Seim both met performing in a Sacramento band called Legs on Earth, which still tours.

Hella is unique because Seim and Hill both have very different styles and their music is a composed battle between the two. In each track it’s clear who conceptualized it. “Church Gone Wild/Chirpin’ Hard” is two separate albums released in a two CD set. The composition for “Church Gone Wild” was produced by Zach Hill while the composition of “Chirpin’ Hard” was produced by Spencer Seim.

Seim and Hill are both involved in side projects.


ZACH HILL

The first time I saw Led Zeppelin’s Live DVD with the full version of John Bonham’s drum solo during “Moby Dick,” I decided that he was not a man, but Apollo, the Greek God of music, descended to Earth to rock out on the drums so hard that for generations rock musicians would be inspired.

Now, with the onslaught of suck created by bands such as Evanescence, Papa Roach, Linkin Park and Staind, Apollo is angry. Apollo has descended to Earth once again and assumed the name Zach Hill.

Hill’s style is a drum-clad monstrosity, often comparable in composition to Daniel Johnston, Jandek and Lightning Bolt. Of the two, Hill’s influence is often unsettling in its effort to compose as much drumming and noise into each track.

Hill recently worked with Deftones guitarist Chino Moreno on the Team Sleep project. Hill has also formed his own band, Zach Hill and Holy Smokes with Carson McWhitter from The Advantage and Rob Crow from Pinback. Zach Hill and Holy Smokes recently produced a book titled “Destroying Yourself is too Accessible” which includes an album titled “Masculine Drugs.” Hill also performs with another Sacramento band called Nervous Cop.

On “Church Gone Wild” the restraint that Seim seemed to bring to the band is missing. Hill produced “Church Gone Wild” to be a twelve-movement opus that is meant to be listened to in one sitting, unfortunately, if you’re not a big fan of the genre “noise,” it is hard to listen to more than about 10 minutes at a time.

Some of it is listenable though. “Earth’s first evening Jimi Hendrix-less and pissed” has a melodic chorus with overlaid fast-paced drum beats that are played at sporadic intervals throughout the track.

“We was just boys, living in a dead ass German Shephard,” is probably the most widely acclaimed track on the “Church gone wild” album, but is also the most unlistenable. The song follows the randomness of the rest of the album, but sometimes delves into a more System of a Down inspired rock/metal rift. It becomes confusing and distracting.

Compared to "Hold your Horse Is," "Bitches Ain't Shit but Good People," and "The Devil Isn't Red," "Church Gone Wild" has delved much farther into noise. People who liked the song "Biblical Violence" will probably like "Church Gone Wild." It isn't very listener friendly unless you're into the experimental metal and punk genre they call "Noise." Overall, I wouldn't recommend "Church Gone Wild," although I would still pay the $17 to get "Chirpin' Hard" along with it.

SPENCER SEIM

Everyone has one of those friends who spends way too much time obsessing over old-school Nintendo. You know, that guy who still has the Super Mario Bros. theme song on his cell phone, not to mention he still has his old-school Nintendo still hooked up to his TV. Spencer Seim has taken his obsession to an all new level by actually incorporating Nintendo samples into his music.

Seim’s influence into the duo Hella is like a mixture of Autechre, Aphex Twin, and The Minibosses.

Seim has continued his work with Legs on Earth as well as playing drums for The Advantage, a professed 8-bit Nintendo rock band.

The Best Page in the Universe

This is one of my favorite sites of all times. This guy critiques things that are totally visible to all of us, we just don't realize how rediculous the situation really is. Let me give you an example: He drew a cartoon of Yoda with the following thought bubble, "I'm able to detect subtle emotional changes in someone's personality like fear, but I was somehow unable to detect a conspiracy involving 200,000 STORM TROOPERS AND EVERYONE IN THE ENTIRE FUCKING REPUBLIC."

http://maddox.xmission.com

If you check out the site, I highly recommend the following articles (My most favorite are at the top):
* I am better than your kids.
* A tribute to real men.
* If you're too much of an impressionable idiot to watch "Sideways," then don't.
* I just wanted a video game, not eternal damnation in hell.
* Star Wars Episode III: a steaming pile of Sith.
* The eleven worst songs of 2004.
* "I, Robot" in a nutshell.

Please stay in the closet

By Jay Chrisman

How did R. Kelly get stuck in the closet? An allegation of peeing on a 14-year-old is my guess. Oh wait, but there’s more. Not only did he pee on a 14-year-old, he married Aaliyah in 1994, who at the time was not only having him produce her album, she was only 15. To top it all off in 2003 he released an album titled Chocolate Factory, which is both a reference to something you could lure a young girl with, but also a reference to anal sex. R. Kelly’s newest endeavor, “Trapped in the Closet” was probably inspired by the desires of his promoters and record label. I’d stick him there too.

“Trapped in the Closet” is a five-chapter “urban operetta,” being tacked on as a bonus feature of his new album and a draw to his Web site. If you actually want to see this monstrosity without having to pay for it, visit www.R-Kelly.com.

At this point you may be asking yourself, "what the hell is an urban operetta?" In R. Kelly’s eyes it’s an attempt to do something different, no matter how pathetic. The problem is, the lyrics are equivalent to grade-school rhymes and the plot-line reminds me of Shakespeare, only contrived and lame.

The story begins with R. Kelly waking up in a strange bed and realizing that the girl kissing him is not his wife. As he begins to leave she hears her husband coming up the stairs and sticks him in the closet. After her husband finds R. Kelly in the closet the husband calls his lover, who comes to the apartment only to turn out to be a man. The story line only gets more cliché from there.

R. Kelly should be given a Grammy just for actually singing these lyrics. Here are some choice lines: “I’m in the closet, like what the fuck is goin on,” “Next thing you know a call comes through on my cell phone. I tried my best to quickly put it on vibrate, but from the way he acts I can already tell it’s too late,” and "Checks under the bed, then under the dresser. He looks at the closet, I pull out my berretta. He walks up to the closet. He’s close up to the closet. Now he’s at the closet. Now he’s opening the closet."

“Trapped in the Closet” is the worst thing to happen to concept albums since Styx’s “Kilroy was here,” a.k.a. the album that produced “(Domo Arigato) Mr. Roboto.” I bet the first time Sisqo heard "Trapped in the Closet" he turned his head to the sky and thanked the Gods for removing the shame of producing possibly the worst hip-hop song ever, “The Thong Song.”

Kid Koala shows artistic growth in "Some of my best friends are DJ's"

By Jay Chrisman

A drunk old man stumbles out from behind a wooden shack behind a rickety outdoor stage in a quaint forgetten Louisianna town. Trumpet in hand, the old man takes his place at the microphone with the rest of his band. A handful of locals gather and a few outsiders look inquisitivally as if to ask, "Do these old drunks expect to actually play those instruments?" The slim old bassist in his enormous over-alls has already begun to pluck a slow steady beat. The first old drunk steps to the mic and says, "Ri-Right now... Right now we're gonna get together and give you a tune that we have a lot of requests for… for...,” his voice echoes. “It's our version of oh... of oh... of oh..." Then he lifts the trumpet to his mouth and begins to blow a tune, sad and slow. Soon he's joined by a piano, drums, symbols, a froggy sounding tuba and various other strange instruments; sometimes the audience even chimes in. Somewhere near the back I stand, absorbing the whole scene.
As great as it all sounds, I must confess: I've never been to Louisianna. This scene is a creation of my imagination, inspired by the subtle complexity of music created by two turntables, a mixer, a stack of records, various other sound machines and Eric San, aka Kid Koala. Much of Kid Koala's experience comes from touring with bands such as Money Mark, Beastie Boys and Deltron 3030. Famous for surpassing all expectations on his first album "Carpal Tunnel Syndrome," Kid Koala has also produced a comic book and tours with a jam band named Bullfrog.
On Kid Koala's newest album, "Some of my best friends are DJs," most of the tracks provide a jazzy musical narrative that allows the imagination to wander, as opposed to "Carpal Tunnel Syndrome" where it was necessary for him to show the world what he was made of by wowing the audience with lots of sound effects, samples and scratching.
Kid Koala stays true to the talents that he prominently displayed on "Carpal Tunnel Syndrome," but downplays them in order to develop a compelling jazz style. The first track is a 4 second sample simply stating, "Yes, I believe we are about to begin." The first song on the album, "Basin Street Blues," is the inspiration for the old drunks that I conjured. "Basin Street Blues" borrows the concept and beat from "Drunk Trumpet," a track that appeared on the first album, but leaves behind the vocal samples and focuses more on filling out the jazz band.
On "Some of my best friends are DJs" Kid Koala's infectious dance grooves and slow contemplative jazz tunes would make New Orleans' jazz legends raise their glass.
He doesn't stop there though. "Skanky Panky" takes the listener time-traveling to a hot and humid night in Jamaica. Sweat drips off the audience, including the DJ in his makeshift DJ booth, protected only by a four poles and a canvas tarp to keep rain off the turntables. Welcome to 1960's Jamaica, where bands and DJs first invented skanking, along with Rock-Steady, Ska and Sound Systems, by imitating the music they caught on radio crossing the Gulf of Mexico from New Orleans.
Then "Flu Season," introduced by an announcer saying, "Our idea of what it might sound like if two sick DJs met and talked on the street," shows Kid Koala's silly side with a minute worth of drum beats and several samples of coughs and sneezes.
“Elevator Hopper” tells the story of a brass and red velvet New York elevator operated by a comical little man with a Brooklyn accent. Enter a man and woman who have random conversation and then exit. “First Floor! Appliances, washboards, gramophones, crystal sets… AND kazoos,” exclaims the operator as the track ends.
Only two flaws are apparent in this album. One is that it has at least 30 minutes of music that will make you wish more DJs had this much style. Unfortunately, the album is only 34 minutes long. The good news is Kid Koala is appropriate for most occassions, whether you're studying, partying or being a good hi-fi aficianado and every time you listen you discover new intricacies in his sound.
The second flaw is that the tracks are poorly ordered. "Skanky Panky" is followed by "Flu Season" which disrupts the flow of the album. Another track titled "Space Cadet 2," comes after three tracks, including "Basin Street Blues," that build a steadily faster paced jazz, R&B and hip-hop inspired flow.
Poor track placement aside, "Some of my best friends are DJs" give fans of jazz, R&B, hip-hop and silliness all something to love. Quoted from one of his random samples, "From the start it had a kind of epileptic charm that fit at the times. It made jokes and it wept. It laughed out loud and dozed and sometimes spoke of regret..."

Homework this weekend

For those not in class today, the assignment is to write a review of a movie, album, or concert and post your review by Sunday evening. Please remember that attendance and participation make up the majority of the grade for this course. Examples of music reviews can be found at Popmatters.com. Here are some guidelines:

ALBUM REVIEWS

∑ Lead: Who. What. When. Name of group/artist, name of album, release month, record label, producer if important, how long since last album, your overall impression and summary description

∑ You can also use an alternative lead that offers a funny or engaging story or description of the music, but then you must follow up with the who, what, when (the “nut graph”)

Secondary graphs

∑ Bio graph on band, focus on highlights and recent history, include names of main band members

∑ Graph on most recent album (before this one), how successful, how received by critics, summary description of sound

∑ More detailed graph giving description of this album. Reviewers often give a couple sentences each to the best songs including a sampling of lyrics and description of music.

∑ Graph comparing how the album compares overall with earlier efforts by same artist

∑ Graph comparing how the album compares with recent releases from other artists is same sub-genre

∑ Wrap-up. Recommendation, ratings, rate how the album compares with other’s in sub-genre released this year. Is it one of the best so far of 2005?


CONCERT/PLAY REVIEWS

∑ Lead: Name of event/show. Who (artist name). Where (venue). When. Brief description of scene, brief summary of what happened including your overall feeling of it.

∑ Bio graph. This would be a short bio of the band or play.

∑ Description of event, describe the venue and audience as a way to ease into talking about the actual performance.

∑ How did the performance begin? Describe first song, scene.

∑ Describe highlights. Best songs, best scenes, best individual performers.

∑ Especially for concert reviews allow yourself to be creative in describing the sound of the music and the feel of the experience. Use lots of colorful, imaginative, metaphors, adjectives, adverbs, and active verbs. Take notes of all the things you see, hear, and smell, and your different emotional reactions to the performance.

∑ Wrap-up. This could be a rating, but it is better to find a witty or honest way of summing up the experience. If this performance is ongoing, then end with a recommendation.

25 years of drop, cut, mix, scratch fun

By Jay Chrisman

Turntablism has been around for over 25 years, whe-wa-whe-where have you been? Since the beginning of turntablism the status of musician for turntablists has been heavily argued, but with artists such as Qbert, Kid Koala, Yoga Frog and Mixmaster Mike it is hard to deny that they are musicians and that two turntables and a mixer are musical instruments.
During the 1970s Kool Herc, a Jamaican DJ, moved to New York City. In New York reggae was not as popular as funk so Kool Herc was forced to adapt. Soon Kool Herc realized that the breakbeat, which is the faster cut of a song, was more popular and that if he mixed only the breakbeats of songs he could keep a dance party bumping all night long. Soon the style was widespread throughout the underground hip-hop scene.
Grandmaster Flash invented cutting and mixing which allowed for extended play of especially popular cuts by putting the same record on both turntables. Grand Wizard Theodore, who's mentor was Grandmaster Flash, took the final progression that would result in the culture called turntablism by inventing needle-dropping and scratching.
Scratching is the manual back-and-forth rotation of a record which creates the wika-wika effect. Needle dropping allows DJs to sample a specific point on a record with minimal or no cueing.
Kool Herc, Grandmaster Flash and Grand Wizard Theodore may have been the pioneers of turntablism, but today's turntablists have perfected the art. DJ Qbert is arguably the best turntablist in the world. Qbert has been known to manipulate a vocal sample until it has been distorted to imitate a breakbeat, rendering the original vocal track unrecognizable.
Beginning his career in the late 80's Qbert joined the world-famous break-dancing squad, the Rock Steady Crew. In the 90's, along with DJ Shortkut and DJ Disc he founded the Invisibl Skratch Piklz. Later DJs such as Mix Master Mike, Yoga Frog, A-Trak and D-Styles would join. The Invisibl Skratch Piklz were the most famous DJ crew during the 90's, arguably keeping turntablism alive into the new millenium where it would finally be celebrated as a musical artform.

We ARE going to have class today. Yeah!

I'm feeling better, so let's do this thing. Be prepared to discuss the business aspects of the music industry.

Thanks to Jay for posting the cancellation yesterday.

My internet is out at home, and he is easy to contact; just call Ka Leo.