Notes on the Run - Mindnumbed
o...@uclink4.berkeley.edu
*To get the hell off, email o...@uclink4.berkeley.edu.
*Otherwise, share this with someone you love
*O-Dub Needs To Get Slain!
*Lushed on Slush
*Random Shots
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O-DUB NEEDS TO GET SLAIN!
Weird request I know but I need to get a copy of this week's *Buffy:
The Vampire Slayer* and I'm reaching out to the Ozone massive to see
if one of ya'll can hook me up. I'll cover mailing costs both ways
(you'll get the tape back of course) plus two free copies of the new
O's Dub mixtape Vol 9 (once I actually - you know - finish it). If
you can help out, email me at: o...@uclink4.berkeley.edu. Thanks...
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LUSHED ON SLUSH
Crazy shouts out to Cut Chemsit, DJ Shadow and everyone involved in
last night's Brainfreeze: The Last Dance concert at LA's El Rey
Theater. I was very blessed to have the opportunity to come down for
the show (almost derailed at the airport when my credit card company
decided to put a hold on my sh*t, 20 minutes before my flight). Like
the original Future Primitive Sound Session where Brainfreeze was
first publically played for folks, this was an all 45 evening with
DJs Marvski, Dante, Numark, Z-Trip, Cut Chemist and Shadow breaking
out their 7"s and breaking down the crowd with the ridiculous songs
they pulled out of the woodwork.
I got there too late to catch Marvski's set but Chi-town's Dante kept
it strictly funky, flipping out 45s full of raging breakbeats and
slick vamps. Jurassic 5's Numark pulled out crazy hip-hop 45s,
including MANY a song that you probably never knew was on 7". He was
killing it with some Run DMC sets, then bringing in the Beasties, LL,
and a whole range of '80s old(er) school legends.
Arizona's Z-Trip was his usual eclectic self - what I think is
brilliant about Z (and you can hear this on the Future Primitive
Sound Session album with him and Radar) is how he manages to take
songs that aren't necessarily ultra-rare, dusty finger dug, etc. etc.
and make the sh*t sound GOOD in the mix. For example, he brought the
house crashing down with a set of 80s t.v.show themes, including *The
Dukes of Hazard*, *Miami Vice* and the monster jam from *The A-Team*.
As for the main acts: Shadow and Cut, what is there to be said? It
was a mindblowing, amazing performance, one that not only cements the
two as skilled DJ/performers (who says Shadow can't cut it up?) but
just deep musical minds who have a real ear for the feel of funk.
Most of their set was based of the *Brainfreeze* mix-album, but they
took creative license to branch out with some new mixes and extended
sessions such as both Cut and Shadow's beat-juggling sets - *pause*
think about that. Beat juggling with 45s that have to use the 7"
adapter. Talk about hand control...damn!.
As an added treat, Quannum's Lateef came on down from the Bay to rip
"The Wreckoning" 45 mix that he and Shadow originally put together on
his first Solesides 12". True to form, Shadow supplied the
background beats, crashing down beats on the funky chrome axe of the
turntables. Not to be outdone, Dialated People's Iriscience jumped
on-stage and got funky to the bone, sparking off the "Triple Optics"
remix last heard on *The Funky Precedent* with Cut Chemist taking
over DJ duties for Babu.
One of the best indicators of how dope the show was could be seen in
how many talented peers of the two DJs became part of the stunned
fans. Z-Trip was literally bugging out and some of their new
material and in the front stage crowd I could spot the Beat Junkies'
Rhettmatic, Future Primitive Sound Sessions' Mark Herlihy,
Stonesthrow's Peanut Butter Wolf, Breakestra's That Kid Named Miles,
and Blackalicious' Chief Xcel was hiding in the back, intently
focused on the musical mayhem around him.
For those who still haven't gotten their *Brainfreeze* CD...oops -
last night was supposed to be the last chance, BUT fear not...there
will be a *Brainfreeze 2* in the works for sometime this year or
early next.
For those who haven't heard of *Brainfreeze* to begin with...damn,
where the hell you been? Not to self-promote too egregiously but
check this story out on the *Brainfreeze* phenom, penned by yours
truly: http://www.laweekly.com/ink/00/08/music-wang.shtml
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RANDOM SHOTS
*Everytime I'm in LA, I'm reminded instantly and around the clock of
how seriously dope their rap radio scence is down here and how
bankrupt cities like S.F. have become. Where the f*ck else can you
wake up at 8:30am and listen to E-Man mixing up early 90's Def Jef
and Slick Rick? Or tune in at 7pm to hear Melo-D in the mix with
some ridiculous sh*t like putting Dr. Dre's *F You* next to that new
Common/Primo joint and Biggie's "Unbelievable". Or tune in at noon
and hear Babu (see a Beat Junkies trend here?) in the mix? I
challenge ANY city to put up their hip-hop radio against LA. You'll
lose.
It's ironic of course b/c in the late 80s when I was wasting my teen
years in LA, rap radio SUCKED and the Bay was flowing the f*ck up
with KMEL and KSOL (now KYLD) battling each other for hip-hop
supremacy. Nowadays, KMEL plays the bulk of their hip-hop in the
evening hours only, drowning suckers in sappy R*B for the bulk of the
day. And don't get me started on KYLD.
*Saw the video for Eve's new "Love is Blind" today and I have to
admit...I think the song is powerful (the video too). It's not often
that pop artists really deal seriously with domestic violence. Two
thoughts: 1) The point at which Eve pulls out a jammy and smokes the
abusing boyfriend of her dead friend, in the video she can't really
display a gun so its special-effected as some sparkling magic sh*t.
Doesn't quite work. I understand the prohibition on weapons and
zero-tolerance but for real, it's not like Eve is rolling in a
six-tre, pulling a drive-by on a schoolyard. 2) More seriously
though, the flaw in the song is that it's fundamentally a
revenge-fantasy, emphasis on *fantasy*. The truth of the matter is
that most batterers - even those who kill their mates - are not
punished within a patriarchal criminal justice system that has long
protected abusive men by saying that the home is sacred. And while
it's nice to imagine Eve taking revenge for her fallen friend, in
real life, that sh*t just doesn't happen. The song is a release of
sort, allowing people to imagine justice but not in any way that is
attainable unless we turn into a society of vigilantes.
Just to jump off on a tangent, I don't know if they have any of these
PSAs in other cities besides the Bay, but there have been a series of
ads targetting victims of domestic violence and their support
network. The PSAs are interesting b/c they are clearly targetting
the African American community and their approach to domestic
violence is to make an entire community responsible for protecting
women from abusive men. The ads almsot assume that the legal system
doens't afford any protection (which, of course, it doesn't for many
women, especially poor women and let's not get started on racial
disparities) and that it's up to the local community to hold men
responsible and protect the women. Would be curious to hear people's
thoughts on these ads if you've heard them.
...and we out...
--Oliver
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Oliver Wang aka DJ O-Dub
Email: o...@uclink4.berkeley.edu
Radio: 90.7 KALX Berkeley, Monday Nights 9:30-Midnight
http://kalx.berkeley.edu
Music Writing: Music Writing: The S.F Bay Guardian, LA Weekly, URB,
Blaze, Raygun, SonicNet, Wall of Sound, All Star
WWW Site: http://www2.jps.net/~owang