November might be cold in Wisconsin, but just before Talib Kweli’s set at the Alliant Energy Center in Madison, I had the chance to speak to one of the hottest DJs in the game. He’s the DJ for the headlining Beastie Boys and one of the founding members of the Invisibl Skratch Piklz, but this 34 year-old California native waxes about music, life on the road and the like.
Funky, melodic, and heartfelt, DOWN LO from The Twin Cities is combining traditional (and not so traditional) jam band music with hip-hop and traveling all around the country with their latest record, In Our World. Guitarist and vocalist, Mark Grundhoefer, describes it as “a blend of a number of different genres. Passion’s the name of the game. Bluegrass to reggae, jazz, funk, we try to throw a little bit of everything that influences us in there. Plus, we do a lot of improvisation with jams where each musician steps up to take his role, so we try to keep it interesting that way.”
Vocal organists are a hard lot to find. Humans may all be born with mouths, but what emanates from that orifice varies greatly. Babies tend to be the most creative but also unrefined when it comes to their vocal expressions. Some folks however take the time to refine their vocal tool and the results can be spectacular. Case in point HEATBOX, the one man beatboxing sensation from Minneapolis, MN who describes his music as sounding like a “funky a’ capella group from outer space.”
His new release is called “System” and drops on May 5, 2009, necessitating a tour and therefore a fantastic opportunity to see him live and in top form. I’ve seen HEATBOX several times over the past several years and he is always extremely interesting and entertaining as a performer. I was pleased when he recently had a moment to answer a few questions. Since the amount of solo beatboxing performers is a slim one at best, I was curious as to how he chose his musical path. “I have always had a nerdy spot in my heart for a’ capella music… and funk!” Heatobox begins. “But really I think it chose me.”
When performing, Heatbox is far more than just a simple a’ capella performer. Hums, whirls, squeaks, scratches, thumps and bumps are but a paltry attempt to semantically replicate the types of sounds in his arsenal of vocal slurries. I questioned if certain sounds are harder to generate than others?
Know Boundaries, speaking simply, is indefinable. Calling them rap-rock is misleading because they’re, you know, good. Allowing for a more complicated definition, they describe their intention “[to] mix hip hop and rock and not make them two separate styles of music but just one music using the power in both.”
The six-piece, six-year Madison veterans have opened for groups as disparate as Cypress Hill and the Gin Blossoms. They’ve been sponsored by Budweiser’s True Music program, won multiple Madison Area Music Awards and have been showcased at numerous industry conferences.
The band is exceptional in that it follows through on its intention. The music of Know Boundaries has the energy and power of all exciting and powerful music, tastefully brought together in one sound. The rhythm is heavy - a deceivingly simple drum beat paired with an ambitious and audible, but not overpowering bass. This leaves the guitar to flit around on the high end mostly, ducking back into the general groove for the lush hooks and choruses. Out front the band flaunts a cooperative rap-rock ying yang. An easy symbol of the band’s musical ambition, the rapper and singer twist around with each other, always in support - never detracting from one another’s parts. Through all this the keys (a decked out and supplemented-with-gizmos Rhodes) steer this would-be chaotic ship through melodies that don’t get old when they repeat-they get stronger.
Madison hip-hop/reggaeton group, LUCHA LIBRE gives a nod to their home turf in their song, “Midwest Bang” on their new album, The Takeover. With a nod to Coolio’s “Sumpin’ New” (quickly followed by a Buffalo Springfield quote), they chant “There ain’t no party like a Midwest party ‘cuz a Midwest party don’t stop.” It’s an interesting statement. After all, this is Madison, where hip-hop is supposed to be controversial and problematic. Amid that, LUCHA LIBRE is creating their own success in a city where hip-hop and rap fans have complained for years that they haven’t gotten the same respect or opportunities. And with their new record, they’re confident and stepping up.
With a laidback attitude and stoner swagger, SLIGHTLY STOOPID, is set to release their seventh album of party music July 22nd with Slightly Not Stoned Enough To Eat Breakfast Yet Stoopid. Hailing from Ocean Beach (a gorgeous surfer enclave near San Diego that perfectly fits their music) and formed in the early Nineties, the band’s two front men, Miles Doughty and Kyle McDonald, have been playing together since their early teens. Discovered by Sublime’s Brad Nowell and signed to his Skunk Records label, the band released their first record in 1996 (a highly sought after collector’s item by Sublime fans because of Nowell’s appearance on a hidden track) and while the duo at the core hasn’t changed, their lineup has shifted in and out over the years. This latest incarnation is the most solid according to drummer, Ryan Moran (affectionately known as RyMo to fans), adding horns and congas to the mix. With diverse instrumentation like that, they fit their music to whatever suits their mood, according to Moran, “We play a lot of different styles and throw them into the pot. We might play 3 or 4 punk tunes, 5 or 6 reggae tunes, blues-rock, 1 or 2 hip-hop feel or ska feel. We just kind of wing it; don’t write a set list or anything, we just go with the moment and the energy of the crowd.
The world of one man bands is an eclectic and beguiling one indeed. In the past, they have been a whirlwind of instruments strapped to a person’s body with arms and legs quivering and flailing to produce rhythms and sounds that forged into music. That 1 Guy (aka Mike Silverman) is a one man band for the cyber age. His hands, arms and feet are strumming, plucking, smacking and caressing his unique instrument dubbed, “The Magic Pipe” while inserting in clever sound snippets and samples. It is a sight to behold!
I caught That 1 Guy’s last tour through Madison at the Annex and had a blast. It is a unique, absurd and elegant performance.
Recently I managed to squeeze in an e-mail interview with the man behind the GUY. He’s a busy guy. In fact due to an unexplained delay with the e-mail interview, I thought I had lost my interview possibility. He begins by recanting, “So sorry to be M.I.A. I jumped out of my last tour into a very intense recording project that finished yesterday.”
Since his music is created via his own concocted instruments, I decided to start off by having him describe the focal point of his stage show and musical production, The Magic Pipe.
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