Bonafide issue 06 by Bonafide Magazine

FABRICLIVE COMING SOON

2 INCH PUNCH ANDY C B TRAITS BAILEY BEN UFO BLAWAN BRAIDEN BREAKAGE BRODINSKI BUSY P CASPA D BRIDGE DANIEL AVERY DISTAL DJ DIE DJ HYPE DUB PHIZIX DUSK & BLACKDOWN ED RUSH EMALKAY ENEI EWAN PEARSON FILTHY DUKES GINGY & BORDELLO GOLDIE

GROOVERIDER HAZARD IKONIKA ILLUM SPHERE B2B MOXIE JACKMASTER JOHNNY DUB JON K JUBEI JUNE MILLER KASRA KODE 9 KUTMAH LHF LIVITY SOUND (LIVE) LOGOS LTJ BUKEM & MC CONRAD LV MLR

OBJEKT PANGAEA PASCAL PEARSON SOUND PICTURE HOUSE PINCH REDINHO (LIVE) RITON SHY FX SIMIAN MOBILE DISCO SPACE DIMENSION CONTROLLER SPECTRASOUL STRAY B2B HALOGENIX SULLY TUNNINDGE UNTOLD VIBEZIN WEST NORWOOD CASSETTE LIBRARY XI YOUNGSTA DOC SCOTT XXXY

OUT NOW: FABRICLIVE 62 - KASRA FORTHCOMING IN THE SERIES: DIGITAL SOUNDBOY SOUNDSYSTEM, ONEMAN

Coming Soon

ALI SHAHEED

MUHAMMAD DJ NU MARK

KENNY DOPE

9th WONDER

JAZZIE B

THE NEXTMEN FREDDIE GIBBS

MR THING SPIN DOCTOR CHRIS P CUTS

WWW.THEDOCTORSORDERS.COM

ONLINE: WWW.SOUNDCRASHMUSIC.COM TELEPHONE: 0844 477 1000

2012

WWW.FACEBOOK.COM/SOUNDCRASHMUSIC / WWW.TWITTER.COM/SOUNDCRASHHQ / WWW.BUYTICKETS.AT/SOUNDCRASH

CLARK LP LAUNCH

DJ YODA

VILLAGE UNDERGROUND / SAT 7TH APRIL 2012 (SOLD OUT)

LONDON FORUM / SAT 19TH MAY 2012

WITH NATHAN FAKE / LETHERETTE

LIVE AV SPECTACULAR

DAEDELUS LIVE AV SET TAYLOR MCFERRIN

BELLERUCHE LIVE

ALI SHAHEED MUHAMMAD VS NU-MARK

SECRET LONDON LOCATION / FRIDAY 1ST JUNE 2012

VILLAGE UNDERGROUND / FRI 13TH APRIL 2012

KOKO / SAT 21ST APRIL 2012

VIDEOCRASH: HEXSTATIC PRESENTS HOLOTRONICA IN 3D LIVE VILLAGE UNDERGROUND / SAT 28 APRIL 2012 TH

QUANTIC & ALICE RUSSELL WITH THE COMBO BÁRBARO KOKO / WED 2ND MAY 2012

TINARIWEN LIVE & JOSE GONZALEZ LIVE SHEPHERD’S BUSH EMPIRE / THUR 3RD MAY 2012

SOUNDWAVE FESTIVAL FUNK & SOUL BOAT PARTY WITH CRAIG CHARLES & MANY MORE… THE DUTCH MASTER / SAT 5TH MAY 2012 (SOLD OUT)

HIDDEN ORCHESTRA LIVE XOYO / SUN 6TH MAY 2012

LAZY HABITS

LIVE 8 PIECE BRASS HIP HOP XOYO / SAT 12TH MAY 2012

AMON TOBIN LIVE

O2 ACADEMY BRIXTON / SAT 12TH MAY 2012

THESE LISTINGS ARE CORRECT AT THE TIME OF GOING TO PRINT

SCALA / THUR 31ST MAY 2012

BONOBO DJ SET BRETON LIVE

CARGO / TUESDAY 5TH JUNE 2012

JAZZANOVA & THE HERBALISER KOKO / SATURDAY 16TH JUNE 2012

GONJASUFI LIVE

VILLAGE UNDERGROUND / SATURDAY 16TH JUNE 2012

ANCHORSONG LIVE XOYO / FRIDAY 29TH JUNE 2012

THE CINEMATIC ORCHESTRA PRESENT INMOTION BARBICAN / SATURDAY 30TH JUNE 2012

DJ KENTARO

XOYO / SATURDAY 14TH JULY 2012

SOUNDWAVE FESTIVAL WITH DE LA SOUL / FINK / GHOSTPOET DJ YODA & MANY MORE…

CROATIA / FRI 20TH - MON 23RD JULY 2012

DJ VADIM / DJ FORMAT & THE SIMONSOUND / MR THING KOKO / SATURDAY 18TH AUGUST 2012

DOOM

THE FORUM / FRIDAY 12TH OCTOBER 2012

Early Bird tickets: SOLD OUT Express tickets: SOLD OUT

Remaining tickets from:

ÂŁ55

Blocfestival .com

No.1 for the latest in Bass & Electronic club music

Beats, Bass and Blips. Featured in 2012: Oneman Alexander Nut Scratcha DVA Kode9 Benji B Mosca Monolake Paul Woolford Shigeto and many more.

www.hyponik.com

Established in 2007

VI£AINS ISSUE What image does the word ‘villain’ conjure up to you? Shaven headed Stone Island sporting geezers, or perhaps something a little more theatrical, vaudeville rouges in the shape Bill Sikes? WORDS: DAVID KANE The literal meaning posits ‘a wicked or evil person’, but life is rarely black and white and people nor entirely good or bad (there are notable exceptions of course; Ghandi, Adolph Hitler, John Terry, etc). What caught our attention when thinking up a theme for this issue was one of the more lateral definitions given for villain: ‘A dramatic or fictional character who is typically at odds with the hero’, not necessarily the ‘bad guy’ but more a glorious anti-hero if you will. Outsider status, nonconformist ideals, little respect for the status quo and just maybe a little bit crazy: these themes are at the very heart of the modern day anti-hero, and you’re holding a magazine packed full of them. Adult Swim represents our first foray into the world of television and Michelle Olley provides an insiders view (and interview with Space Ghost Coast to Coast producer and Aqua Teen Hunger Force creator Dave Willis) of the evolution from lo-fi stop start animations to a multi million-dollar business that shows little signs of compromising on it’s early ideals, however bizarre and noncommercial they may be. While trends come and go in electronic music Juan Atkins is a producer whose unflinching vision of musical futurism – beginning as electro and going onto define what techno sounds like – is as relevant and ahead of the curve today as he was when he first started out making music more than 30 years ago.

RIP Adam ‘MCA’ Yauch

At the other end of the dance music timescale, Rusko’s brazen take on dub music went onto form the thunderous foundations of dubstep earlier this decade, both he and Atkins may be years and spaces apart musically but there is a sense of rebel mischief evident in both their interviews that makes them unlikely comrades. Charting the darker realms of villainy East of Underground came to fruition in the early 70s after the US government began pulling troops out of Vietnam and GIs based in West Germany with too much time on their hands were enlisted to form propagandising funk bands. James’ article – together with quotes from Egon, Now Again head and the man responsible for the reproduction of the record – provides a fascinating insight into sensitive subject matter. No Villains theme would be complete without an interview with the super villain himself, and DOOM doesn’t disappoint, proving to be as abstract, candid and interesting in conversation as his music is to listen to.

RO£ C£

WHAT’S UP!?

LEX RECORDS

News roundup from the UK and beyond, including festival news, DOOM live, art matters, the newest old-school fashions and more

Lex would make a rogue of a villain, pulling off outlandish stunts like releasing IDM to conceptual pop and straight out banging rap music

DAIM 16

RUSKO 22

Vorsprung durch Technik – the German graffiti artist discusses how he has used style, technique and the competition to push his own style to the limit

The dubstep pioneer divides opinion like a horse in a tank full of formaldehyde but he sure knows how to party

SICK BOY

Regilion, slogans, politics and redemption, Sick Boy holds court at his Heaven and Earth show and explains his visual slickness

PETE ROCK

The Soul Brother talks digging, and tells us what’s up, and it’s not offering him collabs on Twitter

STAFF

WORDS

VISUALS/PHOTOGRAPHY

CONTACT

Joint Editors: David Kane/ James Griffin Art Direction: Paul Allworthy Copy Editor: Kieran Hadley Social Media: Adam Hutcheson Intern: Lev Harris

Adam Hutcheson, Andy Cowan, Andrew Spragg, David Kane, James Griffin, James Ernesto Lang, Joel Harris, Kieran Hadley, Lev Harris, Michelle Olley, Paul Allworthy, Will Cauldwell

Adult Swim, Alex Holmes, Andrew Munoz, Charles Munka, Sean Preston, Klaud Thymann, Matt Sewell Cover image: Paul Allworthy

Advertising enquiries: david@bonafidezine.com General enquiries: mailbox@bonafidezine.com Anything else, head to: www.bonafidezine.com

SHOUTS: Ben@Run, Tom and everyone at Lex, Pab’s sacks, Johnny Walker Black Label, Brooklyn lager.

www.bonafidezine.com

ADULT SWIM

JUAN ATKINS 44

Subversive comic genius. Michelle Olley’s revealing insight into the home of witness protection reality TV stars and a floating meatwad

The Detroit techno legend reveals some of his influences to Joel Harris including Kraftwerk, the Vietnam war and UK dance music

DOOM 50

SKEWVI£E 56

Bonafide catches up with the supervillain to talk synesthesia, Madvillain, Benny Hill and his London-based record

Ad Deville on street-art getting skewed, creating hype and the danger of producing art that is misunderstood

ES OF UNDERGROUND 60

SELECTED LISENING 66

We speak with Now Again’s Egon about digging in the crates of US Army archives and discovering a piece of rock and roll history

New albums by EL-P, Odd Future, Jeff Barrows Quakers project, Belleruche, DJ Format, Visioneers and more are reviewed

DISTRIBUTED BY: Newsstands & bookshops Seymour Distribution, 86 Newman St, London W1T 3EX For all circulation and distribution queries contact: keironjefferies@helpwithmagazines.co.uk

Independent record shops UK, US & Europe Kudos Records Ltd, 77 Fortess Rd, Kentish Town, London, NW5 1AG For all circulation and distribution queries contact: ben@kudosrecords.co.uk

The views expressed in Bonafide are those of the respective contributors and not necessarily shared by the magazine or its staff. Bonafide assumes no responsibility for unsolicited manuscripts, photographs, illustrations or promotional items. Bonafide holds worldwide copyright and unauthorised reproduction is forbidden without written permission.

“A lot of parents like to think I’m a villain / I’m just chillin’ like Bob Dylan.”

WHAT’S UP!? Even if your interest in sport extends solely to trainers, there’s still lots to look forward to this summer

FESIVALS Parklife Weekender, Manchester (09 – 10 June)

Soundwave, Croatia (19 – 23 July)

No, not a Blur themed revue. Acts include Dizzee, Kelis. Chic ft. Nile Rogers, De La Soul, Toddla T, Dam Funk and the wonderfully louche Azealia Banks of 212 infamy – we just hope she’s nowhere near the family area.

Further afield and to the beaches of Croatia, where loads of Bonafide favourites – De La Soul, Kutmah, Fatima and Kidkanevil – washed on the shore to deliver a heavy session of beats amongst a sea of bikinis, blunts and breaking waves.

BlocWeekend, London (06 – 07 July)

Beacons Festival, Skipton (17 – 19 August)

Now located in London Pleasure Gardens, not only does Bloc boast MS Stubnitz, a 2,541 tonne former Communist fishing boat as a venue, it will also be graced by Snoop Dogg, DOOM, Hudson Mohawke, Four Tet and Flying Lotus.

Promises to make Skipton famous for something other than pork pies and its castle. Featuring Roots Manuva and Toots & the Maytals, plus art, films and talks, think a decadent, sophisticated rave in the country and you’re getting there.

www.bonafidezine.com

ART MATTERS Ben Eine at the Lowry, Manchester (02 June – 16 September) Typo-graffi monster and SamCam’s favourite vandal, Eine, will be in Manchester to writ large on the walls of the Lowry for a special installation. Like all good things, this is free to see.

Charles Munka’s Finest Elements rebooted Brainfeeder designer and Bonafide contributor Charles Munka revisits his Finest Elements for Oh No’s Ohnomite concept LP. Hopefully Five Day Weekend will do the decent thing and release this piece of visual slickness as a screenprint.

Penny Economy of SCALE Exhibtion, Rook and Raven, London (17 May – 21 June) Is there a more fittingly named artist out there at the moment? And, with the economy continuing to dominate the nations pysche, could he have chosen a more playful title? Penny’s first solo exhibition will feature his trademark bastarised currency, taxidermy and his intricate stencil work. Sure to be a sell out.

Metric Exhibition, Leeds (03 June – 5 July) From the team behind BestJoinedUp. Metric will gather 27 artists, designers, illustrators and printmakers for a three day event. Original graffiti, free flowing illos and paste-ups from the likes of Cageone, Drew Millward and Curse273, will be decorating Dock Street Market, Leeds for a month long exhibition. Homecut (First Word/ Tru Thoughts) provides the soulful live jams.

BOOK NOW Illustration: Matt Sewell – mattsewell.co.uk

DOOM and DELS, HMV Forum Kentish Town, London (12 October) A rare event indeed. Bonafide issue 06 cover star and man in the iron mask DOOM plays a full set. Whilst Bonafide issue 05 cover feature DELS (plus friends) does the after show party. Gonjasufi, Village Underground, Shoreditch, London (16 June) Another rarity, Warp’s Gonjasufi brings his unique sound to East London. Fresh off the back of his mini LP release MU.ZZ.LE his live set is accompanied by two DJs, live keyboards and electronics.

SRICTLY OLD-SCHOOL For those interested in the fashion side of sport 2012 promises, in the words of Tricky, to be ‘Brand new, you’re retro’. The Umbro x Palace Skateboards collaboration revisits England’s 90s gear when the likes of Des Walker not only knew how to play but had style (could rock a high top fade irony-free). Think This is England 1990 and you’re getting to the aesthetic. Puma are also looking back, raiding their archives to re-release the ZDC 82. Originally issued in 1982, the ZDC 82’s balance of style and durability made it popular with athletes and joggers alike. Perfect if you fancy doing a bit of last minute training for 2012 or just fancy a run to the chippy.

www.bonafidezine.com

LEX RECORDS It’s Complex: The London based label celebrates 10 years in the business of releasing cutting edge music WORDS: ANDY COWAN If Lex were a supervillain it would prize the element of surprise. The fevered brainchild of Warp employee and budding live promoter Tom Brown, the Bradford-raised rap enthusiast seized a small window of opportunity from his bosses to bring through underground talent with that crucial dash of panache his contemporaries lacked. As equally inspired by Def Jam and Factory as he was by low-key imprints like Skam, Underground Resistance and Schematic, Lex nailed its colours to the mast on 2001's first EP Lexoleum One; Boom Bip and Tes dissembling offbeat weirdness while Sage Francis bucked down poetry corner pretenders with customary alacrity.

www.bonafidezine.com

If Lex were a supervillain it would move with unnatural stealth. Once young Brown had achieved the first pipedream – "At first I thought if I could put out one 12” I’d be happy," he recalls – he was hungry for more, swiftly graduating from vinyl to exploratory albums by Tes, Non-Prophets and Boom Bip that excited leftfielders of all persuasions. Central to it all was a terse but triumphant A&R policy that remains the label's core strength: "Sign artists that you think are amazing and have the potential to grow artistically. Avoid scenes. Stay away from anything that’s already hot."

If Lex were a supervillain it would choose its foils wisely. All four of the label's key signings are sonic shape-shifters, unafraid to rip-up old rulebooks and break fresh boundaries. Many talk-the-talk but it takes a brave label boss to wholly support an artists' vision with cold hard cash. As Boom Bip readily acknowledges: "Lex has given me the time and freedom to grow as an artist – a dying concept in this day and age. It has an extensive vision and plan for their artists. Tom is incredibly focused on what he wants and has a good sense of how to work around the problems that labels face today. He runs it like a boutique, not a supermarket." Sentiments echoed by fellow signing Kid Acne: "Lex have been cool since day one. They've always let me do what I wanted to."

If Lex were a supervillain it would refuse to believe its own hype. By ensuring each release is unique unto itself, the label's identity has remained remarkably fluid – a difficult ask with an output averaging just three albums a year. "It would be really easy to get typecast as a leftfield rap label," notes Tom, "but I wanted to do other things too. If we hadn’t held off on branding it would have made it hard for projects like Neon Neon [Boom Bip and Gruff Rhys's extended Delorean fantasy] to work."

If Lex were a supervillain it would know instinctively when to strike. Case in point: Danger Mouse. The one-time mash-up specialist had struggled to land a deal before Lex stepped up to the plate on the strength of a demo. Pairing his maverick production style with volatile Brooklyn one hit wonder Jemini (The Gifted Wonder) was a stroke of evil genius that helped propel both parties into the mainstream.

If Lex were a supervillain it would thrive on complex schemes. Eager to sustain Danger Mouse's profile, the pair cooked up red-hot mixtape The Grey Album – a mash-up of music from The Beatles 'White' album with Jay-Z's vocals from The Black Album – catapulting both artist and label into a mass media feeding frenzy. Nonetheless, it was a legal minefield that needed careful negotiating.

"Ghetto Pop Life was the most fun album to work on," remembers Tom. "Brian [Joseph Burton, aka Danger Mouse] and I were really green. We just knew what we liked and tried to make it happen."

"We ran the campaign like a regular album, except there was no album to buy. We didn’t pay the manufacturing bill directly – otherwise The Beatles could have sued Lex and shut down Warp – so we advanced Danger Mouse the cash. After [anti-copyright protests] Grey Tuesday the mainstream media really picked up on the project and it took on a life of its own. It went bonkers."

“I’ve got more rhymes than I’ve got grey hairs / And that’s a lot because I’ve got my share.”

If Lex were a supervillain it would boast fantastic powers. Stoked by this victory Lex didn't fuck around, amicably securing independence from Warp and bringing fresh blood to the table in legendary metal-faced marauder DOOM and all-round rap wunderkind Jneiro Jarel. Although it was their man in the mouse costume's subsequent liaison with a cartoon band that scored the biggest plaudits. "Gorillaz was really important," stresses Tom, "because it showed that Danger Mouse wasn’t just cool, he could be really creative and have massive commercial success." Gnarls Barkley simply underlined it in red.

If Lex were a supervillain it would dress in bizarre costumes. Central to Lex's essential otherness is its incredible, often super-deluxe, packaging, forged by some of the country's most innovative image-makers. Not that the experience, from the first 12” on, has been an easy ride. "The only request I made was that it didn’t have a big burner or outline on the front," sighs Tom. "I didn’t want it to look too corny." Delivered at the eleventh hour, Ehquestionmark?'s opening gambit boasted exactly that but, as Tom concedes, "looked amazing". The artist himself was clearly relishing the role: "I had the urge to make it the best looking label around."

If Lex were a supervillain it wouldn't blow its own trumpet. While they recently unleashed the exclusives-packed Complex as part of their ten-year celebrations it's the label's artists that rightly take the shine. "Our last compilation Lexoleum was in 2001," says Tom. "We haven’t pushed the brand of the label. I always wanted Lex to be defined by the artists." And while that still holds true he's been busy adding some known brands to the equation. "Now we’ve started working with established artist like Alan Moore, DOOM and Gruff Rhys I plan on stealing all the greatest artists from other labels like an A&R MC Lucious!"

If Lex were a supervillain it would resist complacency at all costs. Central to future plans is the debut by The Nevermen (the sound of Tunde Adebimpe, Mike Patton and Doseone going head to head), while Tom vows: "I just want to carry on working with artists I really admire, making art." For what Lex lacks in superpowers it more than makes up for in mega-bangers – proof that quality will always out.

www.bonafidezine.com

PARTNERS IN CRIME TOM BROWN ON LEX'S FOUR ARTISIC PI£ARS...

Boom Bip: "Bryan moves slowly and makes incredibly polished music. Everything is considered. If he’s stuck, he’ll learn a new technique or sound and work on it until he’s got exactly what he wants."

Jneiro Jarel: "He works fast and keeps things raw. It’s like he switches personalities. He’ll make a heap of really old school boom bap, and then make the heaviest, grimiest space-age bangers before moving onto space jazz."

Danger Mouse: "He has a great pop sensibility and a really distinct drum sound that he’s brought from hip-hop, taking his sample based production sound into indie rock. He’s also very humble and never forgets where he came from."

DOOM: "He’s like a big brother – a bit older, wiser, funnier, always causing trouble. He rhymes about important things but never with a preachy delivery. The way he messes with identity reminds me of Aphex Twin in the late 90s."

YOU WHAT!? TE EXTRAORDINARY LEX ARTWORK OF EHQUESIONMARK?

www.bonafidezine.com

WORDS: ANDY COWAN Swirling, twisting barcodes mutating into type, DOOM rendered as a Rorschach test, micro underwater sexual organisms flashing in glow in the dark ink…not, it’s fair to say, most peoples idea of hip-hop album art. Yet as much as Lex’s arrival pushed the musical envelope, their impact was even more immediate, thanks to the stunning visuals of enigmatic in-house design team Ehquestionmark?. “I’m an artist, a material fetishist, a modernist at heart,” explains their mysterious big dada Vaseem Bhatti, whose work first caught the fledgling Lex label leader’s attention via self-published graffiti journal Hold No Hostage. “Tom recognized the effort that went into it and invited me to visually direct the label.” Often working in liaison with the label’s artists, Ehquestionmark? would conjure up funky but fresh concepts for each release. “I have to, as I have an aversion to formula and an appetite for experimentation. Working for a marketingdriven label, the job was to create something new each time.” It inevitably meant reams of concepts falling by the wayside. “An average album takes around 250 hours work, most of which is discarded,” he elaborates, while mourning some of the more

outré flights of fancy that, for one reason or another, never left the starting blocks. “I wanted to release a one-off audio tape that was packaged in a car stereo, in a car! Even the first ever Lex release was meant to be made of linoleum, with the artwork engraved into it.” After ten years at the cutting edge of sleeve design Ehquestionmark? recently decided to move on. It’s partially a result of rapidly diminishing budgets – “As much as I am for the digital age, it’s left the real format struggling in intensive care” – and partially to concentrate on other projects. These include group project Porigins Of Pommery, art directing Italian organic farm/artists’ residency Pollinaria and “a self-gratifying art installation about clandestine agrophobic fascism”. So what better time to celebrate his self-chosen greatest hits…

“Pass me the scalpel, I’ll make an incision / I’ll cut off the part of your brain that does the bitching.”

DJ Signify | Sleep No More (LEX024) LP record sleeve

Tes | Times Two (LEX012) LP record sleeve

“Horror – the woodworm embossed cover represents an exhumed coffin lid, recently buried. The inners and reverse of outer sleeves reveal that the cadaver was buried alive. The logo is an eye retractor, a device used to keep eyes open.”

“The Math – raw biro pen ink arithmetic embossed to feel individually hand-drawn with the tracklisting coded as an equation and a supplied key in order to decipher it.”

Boom Bip | From Left To Right (LEX014) EP record sleeve

DangerDOOM | The Mouse & The Mask (LEX036) LP record sleeve

“Barcoded Beverages – typography created from the actual barcode, emanating from a relaxing yet stimulating, hot, slaveproduced drink.”

“Apocalypse – The transparent outer sleeve represents the Rorschach prophetic mask of MF Doom, while the four inners, the day-glo colourblind test of the four Horse-mice of the apocalypse (Asteroid, Plague, War, Waterworld).”

www.bonafidezine.com

Bling â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Danger Mouseâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s debut album about lo-brow thievery and exorbitant output. Originally intended to be black velvet with gold foil.

Danger Mouse & Jemini | Ghetto Pop Life (LEX010) LP record sleeve (limited edition) www.ehquestionmark.com

DAIM LUENEBURG BORN GRFF ARTIS AND PIONEER OF 3D SYLES REFLECTS ON 20 YERS + IN TE GME.

I got into graffiti by listening to hip-hop. I saw graffiti in Hamburg but didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t know anybody in the scene, so I just bought some spray cans and started. I learned to apply my skills to other media and developed different techniques. This broadened my horizon, took me past just spraying in public spaces and towards experimenting with canvas and sculptures.

www.bonafidezine.com

Graffiti has a lot to do with finding yourself. By testing different techniques, searching for your limits and getting respect within a group, one can find a personal path and self-respect. Furthermore, rules within your peer group change and lead to a different context for your work. I thank my parents for understanding this and giving me the room a juvenile needs to develop. They have always been a great support â&#x20AC;&#x201C; I know plenty [of artists] have experienced quite the opposite.

Up and Around | Wall taping

After a while, I felt…stuck. I wanted to open my mind and get some new influences…so I started studying in Switzerland. It was good, but school only influenced my graffiti on the technical side… such as being able to etch…sometimes a graffiti artist will study art and lose that graffiti direction. But in my opinion, graffiti is art – my art evolved, but it’s still graffiti.

I think there is influence in everything you see. TV for example, commercials, advertising, graphic design, all of these things give you ideas. Sometimes you see something you don’t like and that influences you, you think: ‘OK, this is what I don’t want to do.’ So you do it the other way round.

“If you try to knock me you’ll get mocked / I’ll stir fry you in my wok.”

There were times when I had to ask myself if I was becoming an event agency or publisher as opposed to an artist…

All Directions | Spraypaint on wall When I started to work as an artist, I was very interested in photo-realism – I began to paint from photos and characters. If you’re doing photorealistic characters, you can make everything just with shadow and no outlines. I have absolutely no influence from comics, so I wasn’t used to painting a fat black line around everything. I always tried to make everything with light and shade and after a while I thought I could apply that to letters, but it took time. Style is the base. Technique isn’t worth anything if you don’t have your own style. I see people working in 3D today and the result can be technically competent, but if they don’t have style, it’s worth nothing.

www.bonafidezine.com

There was an intense period of time when I was making trips, taking part in exhibitions and projects, which I was also often involved in organising. I took a step back and realised I needed to concentrate on my own artistic work. This meant focusing on a few renowned projects. I wanted to get back a feeling for where I stood as an artist and an active writer in the graffiti scene. For example, with the Urban Discipline exhibition series and the published books, there were times when I had to ask myself if I was becoming an event agency or publisher as opposed to an artist…it was always clear in my mind that my artistic work has to be the focus and I have shifted my efforts in recent years. I realised I should focus on the stuff that is important to me, develop new forms and methods and take part in first-class exhibitions.

Suchende Geborgenheit | Spraypaint on canvas

The Cold Explosion on Darkgrey | Spraypaint with 5 stencils on dorĂŠe darkgrey cardboard

Die Mauersprengung | Sculpture

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Around | Spraypaint on wall

I see people working in 3D today and the result can be technically competent, but if they don’t have style, it’s worth nothing.

Cold Mountain View | Spraypaint on canvas One thing that could be responsible for the good reputation of German writers could be the fact that Germans are known to be disciplined perfectionists. We have an acceptance for good pieces in Germany that, in my experience, doesn’t exist in countries like the US. In America the word ‘graffiti’ is always saddled with negative associations. I think the good work of a graffiti artist is more respected in Germany.

I have always travelled and have visited most of the countries with a big graffiti-scene. I have always received a warm welcome, whether it was the United States, Canada, New Zealand, Brazil, Australia, Argentina, France, Italy or Greece for example. Graffiti is a global language, so it’s always great to meet people with the same interests and collaborate with them. http://daim.org

“I don’t wear crocs and I don’t wear sandals / The pump don’t work ‘cause the vandals took the handles.”

RUSKO

I think as every other dubstep artist and a lot of the electronic American artists have just got really hard and really complex, my music is about five minutes of fun, bouncy grooves and big vocals and thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s it.

WE ARE DUBSEP, NO ONE LIKES US, WE DON’T CRE Chris Mercer aka Rusko, the mohawk sporting, marijuana smoking, dubstep pioneer has his critics but the good times just keep coming. WORDS: JOEL HARRIS Rusko is a man content. Seconds into our transatlantic chat, and he’s extolling the virtues of his currently half eaten Chilli Philli Chessesteak. The biggest, greasiest sandwich he’s eaten in a long time – he informs Bonafide – from Milwaukie. Whilst not quite old friends, we do have previous. Rusko, real name Chris Mercer, once lived in a shared west London Acton house with a close Bonafide associate. We met across a smoke filled room, literally. The then unknown bedroom producer, resplendent in baggy tracksuit bottoms, was mixing his own dub plates, whilst we drank vodka from teacups. Things have changed considerably. His rise can only be described as meteoric. 27 years old, Leeds born and bred, he now resides permanently in LA, has collaborated with MIA and Cypress Hill and is one of the recent few electronic artists to have truly penetrated middle America and it’s surrounds. His early sound was characterised by hyperkinetic, off-kilter drums and ridiculously heavy half-time bass wobbles. There was a playful 8-bit cheekiness that often saw him pilfering iconic samples. Mr Chip’s hook was ripped from cult 80s game show Catchphrase, and his seminal Cockney Thug release saw him sample psychotic gangster brick top, of Snatch fame. A FabricLive.37 mix greeted him and then partner Caspa shortly after. Jackpot.

It was an important release in the genesis of dubstep and one that played a role in Chris’ successful move to the the States a few years later, as he acknowledges; “The Fabric mix was the only real dubstep CD you could get in America for two years, which really helped me out with the move. So many kids told me that was the only dubstep playing in their cars. That did me so much good.” Currently signed to Diplo’s Mad Decent label, we find Chris in animated form, as he prepares to release his second album proper, Songs. It is a brimming, musical melting pot of styles that still maintains the signature Rusko swagger. On living in America I’ve been married to an American for four years and in July I will have lived in California for three years so I’m getting quite used to it now. My life’s more homely here than it is in London, I have family dinners with grandma, and we have a back garden so I’ve had a dog for a few years. All that [family] kind of stuff, but at the end of the street is a shop I can go and buy weed. I describe it as Amsterdam, with 30-degree weather and blue skies, 12 months out of the year.

“I went to get a loan and they asked my race / I wrote down human inside the space.”

Touring is a non-stop party, I’m usually too hungover to make music.

I feel bad when people ask me this from England, but fuck yeah, the Cali weed is amazing. There’s a reason all the Jamaican singers sing about the Cali weed.

an entirely progressive thing with loads of cool chords, using all my 80’s synths. There’s different ice cream flavours on the album [laughs] and I want to make those individual flavours afterwards.

On touring

On his roots

My schedule now is just tours, I’m on tour for two months and then I’m home for two months. Being in America has allowed me to do it that way. I just took two months off and went in the studio, made the whole thing [new album, Songs] from start to finish in seven weeks. I treat it like a band.

I miss pirate radio so much. I just miss noncommercial radio. There isn’t a single radio station in the United States that doesn’t play adverts. You don’t get anything other than the top 20, it’s shit. Luckily I have an iPhone with 1xtra, Kool, and Rinse FM. I’m still keeping my ear to the UK because when I first moved over I felt a little bit lost, a little bit left out. I’m not influenced by American music really.

I can’t make music on the road anymore, I just can’t do it. I’ve actually realised that I don’t have that. Touring is a non-stop party, I’m usually too hungover to make music. On this tour we’re now playing two nights in a row at 4-5000 capacity venues, which is mental. I think as every other dubstep artist and a lot of the electronic American artists have just got really hard and really complex, my music is about five minutes of fun, bouncy grooves and big vocals and that’s it. Only happy vibes. I think people are attracted to me being the kind of remedy almost, as I don’t play mental, screw face music. On making Songs The idea with the album being broad is that it’s my last album on the contract. Now I’m totally free. I think the next thing I’m probably going to do is an entirely reggae record, dub-wise style, then

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On collaborating Did I consider working as producer for big acts? [Long pause] It was something I did think about for a while, but less so now. I’ve worked out that I can only really work in my own zone. All the tracks on my album were made completely alone. All the vocals had to be emailed to me. I’ve had a million opportunities where people have said ‘Hey, do you want to work with X pop star and X pop star.’ But you’ve always got to go and hang out in the studio and jam out ideas and I just hate that. All those studios are clean and nice, you can’t fucking smoke in them, you can’t do fuck all. It’s sterile.

I feel bad when people ask me this from England, but fuck yeah, the Cali weed is amazing. There’s a reason all the Jamaican singers sing about the Cali weed.

On his liberal working practices It’s obvious with the title tracks; I was taking drugs on the record! There’s a track called Opium, there’s a track called M357, which is the American pill code for vicadin valium, what else was there? I had a bottle of liquid codeine. Most of the album was made on a lot of serious drugs, it was quite fun. Not uppers, just stuff that makes you feels wonky. The studio was half an hour away from my house and it was a one room wooden hut in a canyon with no phone signal. So I just went there for a few days at a time and made lots and lots of music. I was completely solo for the entire thing. This allowed me to be more experimental by pushing it further away from dubstep, towards trance, towards RnB or towards reggae. Just sitting in a room, taking drugs and making a record is fine but I’m not advocating it. On his production setup My production methods are quite unusual; I’m still using Acid. I still use the PC with the same old software I haven’t updated. The only thing I’ve added is a bunch of vintage synths. Loads from the 70s, the one I like now is my little analogue, outboard synth I bought, my little geeky collector piece. They’re covered in big shiny knobs that make awesome noises. So if I stand there for an hour or so, just jamming out, get inspired by something. Because of the tour, I had eight months of influences building up inside me, and then I just went in the studio and it was like musical diarrhoea basically [laughs]. I splattered my computer with musical diarrhoea [laughs]!

Now I’m totally free. I think probably the next thing I’m going to do is an entirely reggae record, dub wise style, then an entirely progressive thing with loads of cool chords.

On his early influences

On his current listening habits

UK dub like Iration Steppas I’ve mentioned a lot as a big early influence. The spoken intro on the record is actually taken from an interview with them. So it’s my biggest influence on the record, talking on the intro, about being an influence. It’s a weird loop of [laughs] weirdness. The Bush Chemists, Vibronix, there’s a really healthy UK dub scene and it has a really unique sound.

I love listening to The Field, I’m really into very progressive stuff. There’s a load of super melodic, Swedish house out there at the moment, not the electro stuff, that I’m feeling. I downloaded the new Wiley album, Evolve or be Extinct, it’s got some wicked tracks on it.

When I was first starting out making tunes in Acton, in dubstep, really it was Skream for me. I just loved Skream in dubstep. I remember Stella Sessions on Rinse [FM], Wednesday nights was the Bible. It was a two hour show and half of that show was brand new every single week! Remember there was a real golden year of Stella sessions when Olly [Skream] was making around 10 tunes between every Wednesdays’ show, I absolutely adored it. I’ve got a lot of them on my hard drive, I listen to them before a show sometimes. I never did play with Skream on Rinse, that might be a fun thing to do actually.

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Drum and bass is properly futuristic so that’s always been a big influence for me. It’s the one right now I think. It’s just moving so fast, in terms of making leaps and bounds in sound. They’re doing it every month in drum and bass, that’s exciting. I really like Hamilton and Tantrum Desire I absolutely love, also a lot of stuff on the Technique records label. I always listen to the Hospital podcast and releases. Lonestar and Wilkinson, a lot of the Ram stuff. I’m playing with Andy C this summer. Two gigs in LA, one for my birthday, both live sets. It’s going to be crazy. The promoter said you could bring whoever you want, any budget. I said ‘Ok, I want the full Andy C live show!’ I still can’t believe they said yes, I’m a massive DnB head and Andy C fan, so this one was personal.

SICKBOY The man who used to break into traveller sites and “paint caravans like trains”, replaces gypsy run-ins with contemporary gallery space. Certainly a safer way to get your art up. WORDS: WILL COLDWELL Anyone who knows Sickboy will think of two things – temple tags and caravans. But in recent years the mischievous Bristolian street artist has been gaining credibility in the fine art world. “I’ve done a lot of bad things in my life…” Sickboy tells me, his crackly voice explaining the reasoning behind his latest body of work, aptly titled Heaven and Earth. “Now that I’m getting older you just try and find a new route.” And this new route is clearly visible in his work, which has become increasingly detailed, increasingly sought after, and ever more respected in fine art circles. It’s a far cry from when he kicked off his career tagging the name ‘Phet’ (after amphetamine) in the mid-90s. He changed to Sickboy in 2000, as part of a personal re-invention for the new millennia, and ruffled a few feathers by going around tagging over his old work. Rather than take on other graffers, he had decided to battle himself. Not long after, inspired by Guadi’s Spanish architecture, he replaced his name with the logo he has become known for; a red and yellow temple.

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With a fine art background (he studied Visual Communications), it was perhaps inevitable that over time Sickboy would make a name for himself off the streets. With several high profile shows under his belt – one involving a 3D Willy Wonka style installation including live oompah loompahs – it seems he’s doing just that. His Heaven and Earth collection not only demonstrates his skill as a painter, but also his expanding influences. He describes the work as a “big psychedelic cosmic abstract expression neo-religious extravaganza.” As well as retaining his technicolor cartoon aesthetic, the pictures show evidence of the renaissance art described as a crucial influence; images of snakes, coffins and apples are contained within paintings with titles such as Forgiven, Forget and Jonah. Spiritual slogans such as ‘It’s just a dream’ and ‘Heaven only knows’, are scribbled carelessly like tags within the work, hinting at the personal narratives they contain. They are a sneaky reminder that he is a graffer at heart – even when he paints a masterpiece he can’t resist defacing it.

You create your own religion and you create your own vision of the world. We are all our own gods. RIP Adam ‘MCA’ Yauch

“I was playing with the styles and symbolism of the old paintings and reappropriating them as my own…I’m not trying to hammer a load of Catholicism down people’s throats!”

As well as distancing himself from mainstream religion (though he has vague interest in Buddhism…) Sickboy is adamant his work has never had a political motivation.

Despite the quasi-profound imagery, his tongue-incheek sense of humour is still prominent. As well as a caravan with a temple tag, the installation included a full size confession booth complete with priest – or at least a man in priest’s clothing. At the opening, I couldn’t resist asking if he was real: ”Course I am”, the priest growled back.

“It’s always from a humanist angle” he explains, although it sometimes seems like when it comes topolitics he doesn’t give his work enough credit. The ‘Save the Youth’ tags he put up in 2000 may, as he says, just have been the name of a Northern Soul tune, but they came at a time when young people were getting strongly demonised in the media. It’s hard to understand his aversion to a wider interpretation: “I’ve never really gone down the road of having a proper politics or social commentary…it’s something that doesn’t particularly interest me.”

Drawing the curtain to fully reveal the cantankerous clergyman, I asked if he would be taking confessions. “Depends if I feel like it”, was his tired response and, yawning, he looked away. As if the answer wasn’t obvious, I asked Sickboy for his view on religion. After respectfully checking whether I was religious myself (fortunately I’m not), he bluntly explained: “Personally, I think religion is a bit passé.” “You create your own religion and you create your own vision of the world. We are all our own gods. I don’t feel we should be looking to one big person for an answer…You just search within yourself.”

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Perhaps his graffiti background is holding him back from producing deeper work – there seems to be a concern that political art has to be a slogan. But despite claiming he is not politically motivated, Sickboy fosters strong views about the significance of keeping art in the public domain. Understandable for somebody who has grown up drawing on other people’s walls.

I’ve never really gone down the road of having a proper politics or social commentary…it’s something that doesn’t particularly interest me.

“I try to go through this route of making art accessible for people in the same way as with graffiti. The ethos is that it’s painted outside and you don’t have to go in a gallery and pay an admission price.” He is also certain that art can survive the government cuts. “Someone like Tracy Emin has to adhere to these gallery systems and go through the motions to let her art speak. The place we come from as graffiti artists is a DIY thing – nothing is ever going to stop the art that we’re creating. “When artists are put in a bit of an obscure place, the creativity levels go up. You can make art with a bit of sand on the floor, you can paint with your blood, you can do what you want to do. It just gives people an opportunity to delve a bit deeper within their creativity. Art always flourishes through difficult times.“

His maturing attitude couldn’t be more apparent than from his idea for an eighth deadly sin. Chuckling, his slight Bristolian twang coming through, he mutters that it would have to be something to do with vandalism and people’s property. Finally, he confesses: “Thou shalt not write on someone’s wall”. Amen.

“Cause I’m a specialiser, rhyme reviser / Ain’t selling out to advertisers.”

PETE ROCK

I'm a very critical person when it comes to who I wanna work with, how I think a person sounds, how I think they should sound with my music.

Pete Rock, Producer, Dj, Rapper and a true originator who helped sculpture the golden era sound. Bonafide meets the sould survivor still working to cement his place in music history WORDS: JAMES ERNESTO LANG // GROOVEMENT.CO.UK Pete Rock is the hip-hop producer's hip-hop producer, defining the sound of hip-hop in the nineties. Over ten years later he still has an insatiable appetite for making music. We speak during his tour with Roy Ayers, where he assisted the Vibraphone master with beats via the Technics 1210s and an Akai MPC. Everybody Loves The Sunshine never sounded so boom bap. "I am the band for the Roy Ayers tour. I've also performed with Roy's band, but on this trip we figured we'd do something new where I'm the band. I'm playing the records, he's playing the vibes over 'em, and I brought my drum machine along and he sings over my beats. "The UK are very into the artists that made funky music, or good jazz music, or those that contributed to other artists making great music” Breaking bread in a Manchester hotel reception, prior to a digging session at Beatin' Rhythm, the Chocolate Boy Wunda considers what makes his sound unique and enthuses about upcoming work.

"To dig worldwide is what makes my sound different. I'm all over the world buying records. I don't stick to one genre, like soul for instance. I'm done with soul! I'll still pick some up but I'm into reggae, jazz, psych, rock, even punk. I like Madlib, he goes to a place where nobody else goes. I like it when producers do stuff like that, it just makes me wanna fly too. "I have stuff coming out with Elzhi, Camp Lo, I'm working with Nas again, Petestrumentals 2… me and Roy are doing an album, maybe with Q-Tip, Mos Def, Common, to make it historical. I wanna do whole albums with people, not just one or two-offs.”

One time this guy, he got mad at me, and I was like, ‘Hip-hop is not built for everyone’. But jerks get mad when you give them an honest opinion. Don’t get mad, this will help you fix it. You need to be able to handle constructive criticism. I have to!

Working on it The recent Monumental LP was a full-on collab’ with Smif n Wessun, also known as Cocoa Brovaz “I'm doing a whole album with just SP-1200 beats. I don' t think anybody believes me that I have the most beats in the industry. Period. I don't even have to make them, but what drives me is diggin' and when I hear shit I have to make it. I could just sit on my ass, man, and make albums! “That's how I made Monumental. Smif-N-Wessun are good friends. They came to the station (New York’s WBLS, where Rock first came to recognition) years ago when I was there with Marley Marl. I picked 15 beats and they picked 14 of them. Damn near all of them! That's pretty amazing, and those guys just said, ‘Let's do it!’ and people love the album. I didn't know the response would be like that. But as long as people are talking about it…” It’s good to talk. Sometimes Days before we talk, Pete has discovered a Rakim Twitter account he’s been bigging up that turns out to be fake. Being a prolific tweeter himself, sharing thoughts on music and comic books, it’s safe to say he feels cheated by the experience. “You know, I can't stand Twitter for shit like that. It's gonna make me probably jump off there and not fucking come back. With the Rakim thing, I was maybe a bit quick to assume it was him but… someone hit me up saying a lot of these dudes

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fakin'. So I called Rakim and he was like ‘Nah, I'm not on Twitter, maybe my manager?’ I felt like an asshole 'cause I'm up there gunning for him, y'know? That's my man, Rakim is my homeboy!” Pete Rock tweets what he thinks, but doesn’t feel that this makes him vulnerable, and in a culture that often appears insecure in the way it presents itself, his outward attitude makes for a refreshing admission. “I don't feel exposed. I'm never afraid to let anyone see who I am. People are such microscopes and everyone wants to judge you. Twitter's a place where you're supposed to let people get to know you, y'know what I mean? So when I open up and certain people have something to say I'm like ‘Fuck you. This is me, you don't like me, unfollow me’. “People don't believe it's me 'cause I'm not 'Certified'. Whatever. But I'm not anyone that you wouldn't want to know. I love music and what intrigues me is people who feel the same way I do in music. Whether it's an MC or producer, if you feel like I feel, then

I don’ t think anybody believes me that I have the most beats in the industry. Period. I don’t even have to make them, but what drives me is diggin’ and when I hear shit I have to make it. I could just sit on my ass, man, and make albums!

you can be my friend. I reach out to the real people who I have great conversations with, who are adults. “The only thing I don't reply to is people askin', ‘What's the sample of this? What's the sample of that?’ I'm not going to tell you. You throw names at me and want me to respond – you could be the sample police! I'm too smart for that.” Given that he’s easily reachable via social media, how does he feel about people sending him their own vocals over his beats? “I'm not a fan of that shit. Not everybody can handle Pete Rock's music. I used to lend an ear to some of it and I wasn’t impressed. But I don't wanna be disrespectful and say ‘Yo, this shit is garbage.’ One time this guy, he got mad at me, and I was like, ‘Hip-hop is not built for everyone’. But jerks get mad when you give them an honest opinion. Don't get mad, this will help you fix it. You need to be able to handle constructive criticism. I have to! Pete Rock defined a sound that continues to be discovered and loved worldwide. Does he feel obligated to keep to that particular angle? “I just do what I do, I do who I am. Whatever's going on on the inside comes through the music. I don't go for a special sound, I do that Pete Rock shit, which is: anything you hear that is good, challenge yourself and make it. Do it to a point where you hear no one else doing it. Do it to the extreme and try to make something historical.”

RIP Adam ‘MCA’ Yauch

ADULT SWIM HOW HIGH’S TE WATER,MOMMA? HIGHER TAN YOU TINK.

Michelle Olley on Atlanta’s Evil Empire of funny, Adult Swim

WORDS: MICHELLE OLLEY VISUALS: ALEX HOLMES You know what’s villainous? That Adult Swim isn’t a household name across the known world yet. That, outside of the USA, it’s seen as some kind of word-of-mouth, internet geek thing, when it’s freakin’ huge in its mother country and rightfully so. Adult Swim, for y’all that don’t know, is America’s go-to late-night TV channel for comedy – animated, stop-motion, live action, whip-smart, dumbass, however-they-choose-to-dish-it-up, take-no-prisoners comedy. It’s the home of Robot Chicken, Aqua Teen Hunger Force, The Venture Bros, Tim and Eric, Awesome Show, Great Job!, and Odd Future’s new Jackass-style prank show Loiter Squad (which was announced on the channel as going under the working title Blackass). They were the channel that picked up Family Guy and Futurama when they got

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cancelled by their network (Fox), and helped champion them back to life. Yeah, that’s right – these people saved Family Guy. It’s been the number one late-night pay TV channel for 18-34-year-olds since 2007. And they’re as famous for their ‘ black and whites’ as they

It’s always been the go-to place for uncompromising, risk-taking, bleeding-edge satirical comedy, and it still is. If you’ve got this far without stumbling across something oh-nothey-didn’t from these guys on the interwebz, well fucking done. Now put the clockwork monkey down and pay attention. are for the now well-over 30 shows in their arsenal. If you’ve never seen their sardonic little message boards/images they flash between the shows, which are constantly changing and feature the kind of music you usually have to be a rabid Wire or Bonafide reader to know – stuff like Flying Lotus (who got a big break by producing the music for Adult Swim bumps prior to his first release, the Reset EP) , DOOM, Zomby and Sonny Rollins – seriously – their bumps are legend. They got movies too (Freaknik – a Sun Ra/George Clinton‘Space Ark’-channelling musical based on the notorious Atlanta Spring Breaks of the

RIP Adam ‘MCA’ Yauch

early 90s, starring T-Pain and Lil’ Wayne and a host of Atlanta crunk, rap and RnB names, plus Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film For Theaters, their own record label (Williams St Music) and a USA Billboard charting band (top twenty album, bitches) – the mighty Dethklok – a kinda live band/animation blended scenario, death metal Gorillaz. It’s always been the go-to place for uncompromising, risk-taking, bleedingedge satirical comedy, and it still is.

Thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a solvent-based whiff of the Xeroxed punk fanzine about the origins of Adult Swim, mixed in with a generous dose of Nietzsche/ Crowleyean will-to-power.

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If you’ve got this far without stumbling across something oh-no-they-didn’t from these guys on the interwebz, well fucking done. Now put the clockwork monkey down and pay attention. There’s a solvent-based whiff of the Xeroxed punk fanzine about the origins of Adult Swim, mixed in with a generous dose of Nietzsche/Crowleyean will-to-power. Whilst still a humble Cartoon Network producer (having worked his way up from – yes – the post room), a young Atlantaborn Mike Lazzo decided he wanted to make something a bit more grown up than Scooby Doo Christmas promos, so he went to see the head of his TV company – media mogul philanthropist, Ted Turner (think Donald Trump with more emotional intelligence). He told Mr Turner that he wanted to “talk to America”. Ted said “Fine, do it – but I’m not giving you any money.” (guess that’s how these people get rich, huh?). So Mike, along with his wolf gang of like-minded producers kicked things off by turning an old episode of 1960s Hanna-Barbera cartoon, Space Ghost, into a Letterman/Leno-style animated chat show featuring real-life, usually confused, guests (including Timothy Leary, Flavor Flav,

The Ramones, a young Ben Stiller and a foetus-like Thom Yorke), a super-hero on the desk and a hubristic praying mantis on drums. Early efforts were shonky: voiceovers were recorded in broom cupboards; there were on-going fights between the editors and the Cartoon Network Latin American team using the adjacent photocopier, but when the show aired in the early hours of the weekend, it worked.

Space Ghost Coast to Coast with its anti-slick, deceptively clever slacker aesthetic, became the template for more reconstituted shows, including Sealab 2021 (underwater adventure series-turned into dysfunctional workplace sitcom), the Brak Show (Space Ghost alien cat character spin-off high school/teen show spoof), and Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law which recycled another ‘failed super-hero’ into a lawyer representing, amongst many other clients, Shaggy and Scooby on a suspected drug bust, and Fred Flintstone on a Tony Sopranos-esque mafia charge. Throw in a big-ass dose of early-hours anime (including Full Metal Alchemist and Bleach) and by 2001, you got yourself a channel block, son… There’s been a LOT of water under the bridge since then. As Adult Swim grew, the pressures of working within the traditional

“And this is me y’all, I M.C. y’all / My name is M.C.A. and I still do what I please.”

corporate/Freakanomic ‘blue shirt and cargo pants’ hierarchy started to show. It can’t have been easy for the Cartoon Network marketeers et al, integrating the path-less-travelled, it’s rightwhen-it’s-right, vision of Lazzo and his original cabal of show creators into the business, and soon the creators parted company from Turner’s behemoth HQ – relocating to higher ground – an old carpet warehouse across the freeway in Williams St in 1994 – where they remain to this day, using the old factory and ‘Williams St’ to create a handy psychic and six-lane highway barrier between them and their parent company. It’s not just freaky little cartoons about teenage cat aliens in 2012. Hey-ull, no. There’s a whole heap of live action comedy – from the Public Access pastiche-ery of Tim and Eric, Awesome Show, Great Job!, to the Curb Your Enthusiasm-style Delocated – a dark and gnarly cringefest about a guy in the Witness Protection programme with

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his own reality show that’s on its third season and slowly crept up to become a top-rating show. Then there’s NTSF:SD:SUV:: – the acronym-spoofing cop show spoof, (National Terrorism Strike Force: San Diego: Sport Utility Vehicle::), getting its second season this year. And shall we mention Odd Future’s Loiter Squad around about here? Exec produced by Spike Jonze (yeah, the one that did all the Beasties vids) and filmed by Dickhouse productions – the guys behind Jackass – it’s as nasty and laugh-out-loud funny as you’d hope it would be, starring the guys who Adult Swim’s head of programming, Kim Manning, described as “just like regular teenagers, except more awesome.” Teenage skate-punk rascals might look like an easy win for such an iconoclastic channel, but then Adult Swim is also mainstream celebrity cat-nip. They score fat cameos from the likes of Will Ferrell, Zach Galafianakis (a regular on Adult Swim long before his big break in The Hangover),

Sarah Silverman, John C Reilly, Simon Pegg, Jack Black and Scarlett Johansson. They got Emmys© n’ shit (Robot Chicken Star Wars, take a bow). They even had Bonafide cover star DOOM, back when he was caps lock-light(er) MF Doom, drinking eggnog in a fetching Christmas jumper, doing the links for their Christmas season bumps. It’s weird though, that it’s not getting picked up more on TV over here. Talking to Father Ted and IT Crowd creator, Graham Linehan, he reckons there’s a problem sometimes catching on to what the characters are saying, particularly the ones with the Atlantean twang, like Meatwad, for instance – the child-like talking meatball in longrunning, much-loved dysfunctional-bachelor pad cartoon Aqua Teen Hunger Force. I’m not so sure. We can tune in to South Park’s Cartman, and some of us (okay, me) think they can understand Kenny just fine. There’s an English sensibility at work beneath those American accents.

Lazzo cites Monty Python as a major influence – except where Terry Gilliam’s giant foot comes down and squashes y’all, Adult Swim shows are more likely to rip your head off and piss in the stump – providing it’s funny. Obviously. Without a 10-hour channel block of its own in this country, ironically, Adult Swim newbies approaching it for the first time from the shallow waters of the short-attention-span online sphere, may be suffering from information overload. Trust us, it’s better if you let it soak in some. Bathe in the crazy. Bonafide recommends you go digging in the search tab on adultswim.co.uk for the ‘Gritty Guides to’ – there you’ll find some witty little ‘water wings’ – overviews and interviews with key creators written by Gritty Chimp – Adult Swim’s rabid (literally) number one British fan – on a lot of the key shows. Oh yeah – one more thing. Don’t eat for AT LEAST twenty minutes beforehand… and stay away from the unicorn butter…

What with this being the ‘Villains Issue’ n’ all, Bonafide wasn’t going to pass up a chance to ask longtime Williams St veteran, Space Ghost Coast to Coast producer, Squidbillies and Aqua Teen Hunger Force creator and Dangerdoom album collaborator Dave Willis a few questions. What can we say? The gentleman never disappoints. How did your collaboration with Dangerdoom/ DOOM come about?

Are there any other musical collaborations in the pipeline?

Good question. And I don’t know the full answer. I believe DOOM lived in the same lofts as Mike Lazzo. I think Mike brought a couple of his paintings into the office, and we booked him to play a couple Adult Swim events like SXSW. And I think I remember that Danger Mouse lived in Athens for a brief period. At the time, both The Grey Album and Madvillainy were fairly new, so it seemed like a natural collaboration.

A few. On the Aqua Teen front, Krokus is in the pipeline – the toilet pipeline, because they keep rejecting our generous overtures. We had Queensryche score a fully-animated fantasy episode called “Shirt Herpes”. It will be our Heavy Metal. Oh, I almost forgot: Odd Future were supposed to do something for us, but apparently they forgot about it. Kids nowadays!

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We had Queensryche score a fully-animated fantasy episode called “Shirt Herpes”.

There have been many stand-out 'villains' down the years on Aqua Teen – Handbanana, MC Pee Pants/Little Brittle and of course – the Mooninites. I have to say, 'Danny' in the 'Allen' episode is also up there for me. Are you working on any new troublemakers you can tell us about? Rocket Horse & Jet Chicken, Zucotti Manicotti, Shirt Herpes. The Mooninites are coming back to battle The Plutoninans again, in Spacecataz II: Spacecadeuce! Also, Carl’s (the Aqua Teen crew’s hairy douche of a next door neighbour) favorite East German metal band, “Totem Pole”, finally tours stateside. Every one of their songs are about shoving people’s heads up other people’s asses and building a tower. As someone once said, good artists copy, but great artists steal. And we stole from the best: The Human Centipede 2. Are Carl and Kenny Powers related? Carl would secretly admire Kenny Powers’ perm and his cut physique. But since Kenny Powers doesn’t play for the Yankees, Carl would make no apologies for pelting him with a claw hammer or a tennis ball soaked in urine. Baseball is about loyalty.

Is the new theme tune officially a Queens of the Stone Age track or a Josh Homme composition – and will you be keeping the new name/ theme tune for the new season? We love that Josh Homme theme, but we decided to re-record it yet again – a collaboration between Schoolly D and Mariachi El Bronx. It’s a new theme with new lyrics and a new open for new episodes of a new show with a completely new title which we haven’t yet revealed (Spoiler alert: It will still contain the word “aqua” for the sake of continuity). It’s incredible. And we plan to do this every season from now on – until we get nominated for the Emmy© for Best Title, or we’re cancelled because people can no longer figure out how to find our show with their DV-R. Any plans for a new Aqua Teen live show this year? I would love to do another tour! My wife and children are not as wild about the idea. But we may do a few isolated dates if it makes sense. I think the crowd enjoyed it. Especially that one guy in Buffalo who was so clearly on hallucinogens. He enjoyed everything that night, until I called him out in front of everyone, and told him I was Jesus. In the Meatwad voice. By then his brain had already leaked out of his ears and onto his tie-dye shirt.

“Now I’m not sure what it takes to be hip / A lot of people making music that to me ain’t shit.”

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DETROIT’S OTER FVOURITE SON Detroit, the Midwest American city famed for giving the world the Ford motor car, Motown Records, J Dilla and a certain white rapper whose name sounds like a popular peanut sweet. It is also the birthplace of modern techno music. WORDS: JOEL HARRIS VISUALS: ALEX HOLMES It came from the Motor City, and more specifically, from the experiments in sound of a young African-American, Juan Atkins. One of electronic music’s few true innovators and originators, Juan laid the blueprint for techno as we now know it, through his work with synths and drum machines in the early 80s as Cybotron and later under his Model 500 guise. After schooling other early founders (high school friends Derrick May and Kevin Saunderson) on how to master the art of production and mixing, the rest is electronic music history. Juan’s work has a truly timeless, otherworldly quality. Machine futurism inspired by Kraftwerk’s robotics, Parliament’s funk, science fiction writing and urban decay. There is a bitter sweet balance between melancholy and joy rarely found in music made with machines. Having just released a new Model 500 double sided single on R&S Records, Bonafide got on the phone to Detroit to find a softly spoken, humble man whose life has been spent interpreting the future. The cult Detroit radio DJ Electrifying Mojo has been mentioned by both you and Derrick May a fair bit in the past, how influential was he for you when you were growing up? Oh, he was the authority, basically. A lot of the new music was exposed by him; he played a lot of different things. It was the first place I heard Kraftwerk and he mixed that back to back with a lot of P-funk, a lot of Prince, he played Peter Frampton, America, The Who, rock stuff,

white bands, we listened and tuned in to him religiously, we caught the show every night. I read an interview with Derrick where he said nobody knew what this guy looked like, he was an enigma. Is this true? Yeah, he definitely had this sort of anonymity to himself so that was the mystique to the show, you just heard this big voice and you thought there must be this huge muscle bound 6 foot guy and when I finally meet him he’s like my height [laughs]. And there was a story that Derrick waited for days outside a coffee shop Mojo went to to hand him some tracks, one of them was yours. Yeah, he did. I think the only tracks Derrick had were Cybotron tracks. He more or less was responsible for me meeting Mojo actually.

Detroit was always known for being really fast in tempo. When we first deejayd in places like New York and Chicago, it would always be “Why y’all playing so fast?!”

So what did you think when you first heard things like Kraftwerk? I had already been making music when I first heard Kraftwerk. The stunning thing to me was how similar the sound was to what I was doing. What struck me about it was the pristineness of it; it was very clean and precise. It had an influence; it brought my sound a more mechanical feel because the stuff that I was making then was leaning more towards the funk of that time. The basslines were loose and there was not so much syncopation. At high school, the big thing was funk music, bands like P-funk, Cameo, Con Funk Shun, The Ohio Players. You listen to Cybotron tracks like Cosmic Cars and it’s more representative of the style before I heard the Kraftwerk stuff. You’ve said you could go Downtown in Detroit and it’s one of the only cities in the US where the Downtown was near enough deserted and most of the shops are empty. This happened during the Reagan era, right? Yeah, Reagan depressed Detroit. I think him and the Mayor were at odds with each other! Our Mayor went on TV and called Reagan something like a poon face! I think that ever since, Reagan made it a point to deplete Detroit.

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And do you think, as you were from Detroit, a depressed, post-industrial city, your grittier new sound was a reflection of your surroundings? I definitely feel that the surroundings played a subliminal role over what was happening. I’m sure that if we [Derrick/Kevin] lived in Los Angles or New York, we probably wouldn’t have had the time to be so inventive. By Detroit being such a depressed, cold, bleak city at that time, it kind of gave way to people really doing nothing but keeping warm in the basement and experiment making tracks. I know there is definitely something special about Detroit and people do pick up on it. Detroit was always known for being really fast in tempo. When we first deejayed in places like New York and Chicago, it would always be ‘Why y’all playing so fast?!’ When the Cybotron partnership with Rick Davis ended and you took the project solo, I’d heard it was due to musical differences? He was more rock orientated. Because he was an ex Vietnam vet, he was heavily influenced by Hendrix. A lot of the soldiers, especially the black soldiers, they were listening to a lot of his stuff. Apocalypse Now was one of Rick’s favorite films. He always told me that film best represented how the feeling was in Vietnam, and there was a lot of Hendrix on the soundtrack. To me, Rick was Jimi Hendrix on a synthesiser. Listen to tracks like

If you keep your finger on the pulse of what’s happening in the UK, then you will always know what the next development in music is going to be. Cosmic Raindance and you’ll really hear an example of his work. My thing was I was always on a new tip, I was always electronic. How did you find the UK when the acid house and rave era kicked off and you were getting gigs over here? The one thing that I noticed when I first started to travel, especially in the UK, is they have something we don’t have in the US; there was a lot of racial integration. Everywhere I went, you would see white and black people together. Here in the US it’s so big and so spread out that there are segments of the population that never have to know what that [other] segment of the population is doing. Detroit had no mass public transport system, not even a subway. Even on the radio, there was a divide, you had the rock stations, they were totally all white and the urban stations only played black music. The first time I played for 5000 kids, it would be unimaginable in the US, or anywhere else, the only place it could have happened was in the UK. As a black youth to play my music for 5000 white kids was amazing. The UK was an influence because the US and the UK was always ping ponging ideas back and forth.

There was definitely a link between Detroit‘s and Berlin’s music, I don’t know if I can quite put my finger on what it was, it was different, but good. Berlin allowed you to express that darker side or that harder edge through the sound.

And what did you think about jungle music when it was emerging from London? Yeah, I was into some of it. Chicago created hip-house, hip-hop samples with house beats, people like Fast Eddie, Tyree Cooper. Then in London, Shut Up and Dter tempo and then jungle came after. They were just taking the house element out of it and you were just left with the beat. And that was jungle music. The thing I have always liked about the UK underground and club scene is that every six months, it goes though a musical metamorphosis, they are always re-developing and recycling things. If you keep your finger on the pulse of what’s happening in the UK, then you will always know what the next development in music is going to be.

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You’ve had a big affinity with the Tresor club in Berlin, do you think the social repression in Germany and in Detroit have similarities in being the catalyst for new musical scenes? It’s real similar. At the time when I first went to Berlin, it was almost a mirror of Detroit. The difference now is that all of a sudden, a lot of developers came to Berlin. I first went around 91-92, then around 95-96, suddenly the skyline was just all cranes, everywhere you looked you saw them, 10 or 15 right by each other. Tresor were offered big money from Sony to buy the club and build a plaza store in its place. The city just metamorphosed overnight. There was definitely a link between Detroit‘s and Berlin’s music, I don’t know if I can quite put my finger on what it was, it was different, but good. Berlin allowed you to express that darker side or that harder edge through the sound.

And what do you make music with now? I’ve always been an advocate of new technology. I’m heavily into the new music software, but I don’t want to give away trade secrets (laughs). A lot of producers, especially the new guys, are saying, ‘We want to go back to analogue, I want the old gear’ and you say the name Juan Atkins and people always associate me with analogue [laughs]!..and that’s not the truth at all man. And when I DJ, I can play Traktor, CDs, or vinyl. It almost sounds like I’m being a chameleon in a way but because I’ve been around through all of the phases, I just feel like it’s better to know a little bit about everything. I definitely wouldn’t be true to my platform if I was stuck using the same stuff I had in 1981.

You talked about working on an autobiography in an interview a year or so ago, how’s that coming along? I’m working on it as we speak, I sat down with my writer yesterday, going over a lot of funny stories from the early days with Kevin and Derrick and I’m working really hard to get the movie done. Who would play you in the movie? One time, when I was a little heavier, a lot of people thought that I resembled Ice Cube, so I thought that might have been good choice then [laughs]. And finally, how would you describe your music? A lot of the time, I refer to my music as future music. You have all of these different variations of techno music now, it went through the hardcore phase, the trance phase and all of this but there’s still nothing like a good original techno party or house party, it’s always going to be there.

“Well I’m on ‘til the crack of dawn / Mowing down M.C.’s like I’m mowing a lawn.”

DOOM

WORDS: PHOTOS: ‘Hmmm, I’m not sure about that shit.’ Cue slightly uncomfortable silence. This wasn’t the start I was hoping for as one of rap and indeed modern music’s most intriguing voices gives my opening gambit short shrift (for the record I asked him about the reported beef between his old friend and collaborator MC Serch and the Beastie Boys). I interviewed DOOM as a precursor to his first UK tour late last year, including the much-anticipated London date with Ghostface Killah, as well as the not so small detail of the DOOMSTARKS collaborative album, Swift & Changeable. A release that still seems no closer to a reality several months on and is perhaps better left in a fragmented cyber space of memory, mystery and the imagination of rap raconteurs. The only real nugget of insight so far has been the DOOM produced Victory Laps single (although the superior Madvillainz remix saw the first public airing) – steeped in DOOM’s signature lo-fi keyboard loop and dusty drum sound, both he and Ghost spit fire but it feels a little like a warm up, an apéritif – what of the main course? DOOM, evasive for perhaps the only time we speak, hints at the reason: “That’s my brother from another mother. Well, Victory Laps is out, it’s taken a while but it’s coming out. He’s [Ghostface] not easy but he makes it fun, trust me, there’s going to be a lot of story-type shit.”

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Despite almost twenty years of recorded output, DOOM’s music seems to inspire and influence more artists in hip-hop and beyond now than it ever has. Why is this? Perhaps the answer is in the question, DOOM, or Daniel Dumille as is written on his British passport, is a man of some experience and over the past decade has gone about cultivating a musical alter-ego like no other. This isn’t in a controlling ‘I’ve spent a million dollars on this video’ Kanye West-type way, an individual we come to, but rather from making mainly only the right decisions. From his collaborative efforts, which are often as surprising as they are interesting, to knowing when to introduce a new rap guise (possibly only Kool Keith can claim to have more aliases) and holding back enough to perpetuate the enigma, ‘DOOM is not on Twitter’ states the verified account for those who bother looking.

Good old London town, it’s a romantic city. I love it; the feeling and the people, the people really bring the texture to a city, people make a city and the people here are really friendly. To me even in its most volatile state it’s a really peaceful place. I can work here incognito. RIP Adam ‘MCA’ Yauch

Madvillain’s cool, we still a movement, it’s not a past tense thing; we’re still working together

While press appointments aren’t quite the commodity they once were it’s fair to say this interview was still something of a coup, and we’re also seeing more of DOOM live (yes, it’s him). Perhaps DOOM is finally enjoying the fruits of his labour. I watched the video for 3rd Bass’ The Gasface for the first time recently. That looked like a lot of fun. EPMD, Flavour Flav, Salt N Pepa as well as KMD featured in the video. Was there a strong sense of comradery between the over-ground and underground of rap in general at the time? [Pause] Between the over-ground and the underground, yeah, at that time there was really no definition like that. Even now, I think the distinction is kind of blurry but there was no such term as ‘underground’ back then. We never used that term. Everyone was just doing their thing. People in the industry might have used it, but in that case everybody was underground.

I guess the new stuff has been of a different quality from back then, even from the 90s and early 2000. It comes and it goes though, you know what I’m saying? I would say the music is still there that we do; it’s pasturing the timeline, so anybody can go back to that so-called time to get to whatever sound they need to

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Illustration: Charles Munka

You come from what’s widely seen as the Golden Era of hip-hop. A lot of MCs, producers and even the fans from that period seem to have given up on current music. What’s your take on that perspective?

get to. Nobody is making that [Golden Era sound] now but there are people making stuff with a newer style that’s just as popular, so if you’ve got some old-school heads that know about that and get that then that’s good. I thought you might say that. What was the last period where you were still a fan of the music? Well, there are other forms of music that I’m a fan of like RnB, jazz and folk but I’m always gonna’ look at hip-hop differently. I’m not a fan; I’d rather use the word ‘fam’ as in family. I’m just the older uncle looking at the young kids having fun and it looks good. Every time we get a new member of the fam it’s a blessing. You can’t necessarily choose your family but you have to love them? Indeed, that’s the hammer on the nail, that’s excellent. There have been a few notable eras of hip-hop, do you feel that alongside the likes of Dilla and Madlib you were part of the most recent, significant, movement? And one that has gone to influence a lot of the LA beat scene stuff? Madvillain’s cool, we still a movement, it’s not like it’s a past tense kind of thing; we’re still working together. I don’t really keep up too much with what’s going on but I’m getting a lot of feedback saying ‘these cats sound like you’ but I don’t really hear it. Your rap style is known for a lot of different attributes, I enjoy the humour in your music; the Danger Doom and KMD albums come to mind. Have there been any particular comedians that have influenced you in this respect? Oh man definitely, comedy is something that influenced KMD. We were really into the performance, entertaining a crowd. Steve Martin, Dan Aykroyd, Eddie Murphy and the

whole Saturday Night Live crew from back then. Benny Hill was retarded, he used to come on and we’d be glued to the set. Before that there was Richard Prior, rest in peace, and Gene Wilder… his shit was wild. You’ve been making music for so long now, I guess you’ve still got to have the passion for it but do you find your motives change? Well, you get older; you have children so of course your motives change. Back then it was still just for fun…[tails off]. But I can’t force myself to do this shit; I have to be in the right mood, everything has to be right. Something that motivates you would be the thing that ignites that initial feeling, like ‘oh I gotta’ write that down’. Your most recent album was Born Like This, which felt a lot darker than its predecessors, was that intentional? Not really. [Mm…] Food? was before that, to me it had purple in there and some light blues and what not, it was kind of charcoal. A lot of them to me have the same colours…I kind of try and make this shit light-hearted. I caught some of it but for me it felt kind of reflective of the period. It’s interesting how you describe it from your point of view, what colour did you see primarily? In terms of darkness and light When I heard it [in 2009] this country, and the States, was going through a recession and uncertain times. I understand at least half of the album was made a few years previous, but for me it seemed reflective of the time. There was still the playfulness but it had a darker edge… Yeah, I can see that. That’s interesting that all the way out here you got that because that’s exactly what it is – a reflection of the time – it’s almost like being a reporter. You do the investigation, gather information on a topic, double-check everything and you go do some entertainment. It’s a collection of writing, points of views…

“I might stick around or I might be a fad / But I won’t sell my song for no TV ad.”

Illustration: Kevin Munoz – kevinmunoz.us

I can see how people compare Mos and me because we’re New York rappers, but we all have a certain skill, a niceness, unique to what we do. I might write something earlier but I do the vocals all together. I think some of those songs were right for that album and I keep some stuff aside for different projects. That’s what I was aiming at with that poem [Charles Bukowski’s Dinosaur We]. Staying with that particular album’s loose theme, Chinaski always seems like a mirror image of Bukowski. How much crossover is there between Daniel and DOOM? I’d say it’s like a percentage, a bit like the exchange rate between the pound and dollar; it varies a little bit each day. Sometimes it’s 0 and it’s like ‘oh no, the dollar is collapsing!’ but I’d say it’s pretty stable. Something like 1.8% of Daniel goes to DOOM and vice versa, I think. In recent years some pretty big mainstream stars like Mos Def and even Kanye West have shown an interest in your work, if not actually working with you, does that surprise you? It’s like I’m the older uncle, they’re like my naughty cousins who have grown up and are now big time. Now there’s a mutual thing, a special feeling in the music, more so when we meet up. I can see how people compare Mos and me because we’re New York rappers, but we all have a certain skill, a niceness, unique to what we do. Kanye, he’s down, I call him Khan. as in The Wrath of Khan [Star Trek II]. At the same time, that nigga is nice; I’d like to work with him.

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Beyond that you’ve worked with Thom Yorke and been remixed by Four Tet and Dave Sitek. Do you listen to much modern electronic music? Well, I listen to jazz, anything that sounds good that I stumble across on YouTube. Often I meet the person and then I find their music. I might not know them before I meet them but we have a mutual respect of music and things just happen, personalities have to be right. Similar to what I was saying with Mos and Khan. It’s like anyone I’m working with I meet them and I already know them, there’s an understanding. It’s like a family reunion; you meet someone for the first time and you find out you have some connection in Chicago. Until you meet them you don’t know [about their music]. Aside from the record with Ghostface what else are you working on? I’m also working on a record with Jneiro Jarel, that’s my people; he’s got some funky beats. We’re scoping together a project, almost albumlike weight. We’ll see how it grows, we did some crazy shit so far I can tell you that much. Usually when I write to another producer’s work it brings out other elements, and with this dude, the way his production is, these songs are on a different level.

I’m working on a record with Jneiro Jarel, that’s my people, we did some crazy shit so far I can tell you that much.

Finally, I understand you’re living in London at the moment, what do you like about it here? Good old London town, it’s a romantic city. I love it; the feeling and the people, the people really bring the texture to a city. People make a city and the people here are really friendly. And you were born here, right? I left at two months, but I think Cockney is naturally in me and I can just bring it back, it’s pretty sloppy though. You might hear it in another record… One main difference [between London and New York] is people speaking to each other,

strangers speak to each other, nobody’s nervous. There’s no fear, that’s what I’ve seen anyway. The riot thing, I saw it in the news, but I didn’t see it, I was here but I didn’t see it though. To the party people: stop the stabbings, there’s no need to be stabbing. Back home people be shooting, but people don’t use guns here, they go to the next weapon? A knife? That’s corny. Keep it peaceful, non-violent, just smack a motherfucker. [That] Shit won’t kill anyone…I’m only playing. To me even in its most volatile state it’s a really peaceful place. I can work here incognito.

SKEWVI£E Jokes, money (or lack thereof) and the long game: introducing skewville WORDS: JAMES GRIFFIN Sitting underneath the Factory Fresh Gallery, 1053 Flushing Avenue, NYC, amongst detritus acquired from the local streets, silkscreen equipment and art, sits Ad Deville. Like a General encased in his bunker, this is where Ad holds court genially dispensing popphilosophy and plotting the next mission in his war on the art world. “My tombstone is going to say ‘It sucks either way’.” Ad, and twin Droo, are art tag-team Skewville and we’re talking about what drives commitment to making art as a career choice and how he’s playing the long game. Despite critically praised shows such as Slow Your Roll, Not My Type and Anti-Social Networking, and their lauded ‘sneaker art mission’, being an artist is still a precarious occupation. His attitude is a mixture of pragmatism, hope and self-deprecating humour. “When shit happens and goes positive I get excited. Not being too serious about anything, is kind of knowing that it could be really good or it could it suck.” Delivered in an amiable way, he’s easy to warm to and, as the name Skewville suggests, has an idiosyncratic view on the world. Skewville was born during an unhappy stint in advertising that ended by asking “to get fired to collect un-employment”. “Skewville,” he deadpans, “was first funded by government money.”

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“It was a place we lived in when we were 24-25. Most of the kids in Queens didn’t leave their parents house ‘til they were like 30. We had the first honeycomb hideout for people to smoke and hangout. All the stuff about it was reverting to our childhood. Our mom sold-off our childhood at yardsales and we were buying it back. Droo collected toys…I was into Soda paraphernalia and signage. You see that old-school advertising influence in the artwork. “Everything that came out of there was called Skewville. Skewville Headquarters was the corporation. We had Skewville Smokables Division, Skewville Wears Division with clothing, housewares and we also did our sneaker street-art mission project. From there we evolved into gallery artwork. So I guess most of the stuff we made was for a specific cause. It’s weird when people label us as street-artists when basically that’s just art that you do in the street.”

Only built 4 the street The art they put out at street-level is washed in New York culture and built from found objects. Playful and ambiguous insurrections, they are an erudite mix of a desire to be ‘all city’ and advertising theories that are rooted in semiotics and the art of generating associations. “I went to school to do illustration and switched to advertising because there was this area where you used all of your brain. Once I worked in [advertising] I realised how cut-throat it is – that’s when I asked to get fired. “A lot of the stuff we put out on the street is basic and made for a location…the beauty of a lot of the better stuff is its simplicity. There were nine tyres left in my alleyway last month, I just painted on them ‘Not A Goodyear’, ‘Had A Goodyear’… just playing off the Goodyear name with negative and positive outlooks. So to me that took no money, no time, but made a strong point because of the media that was used. To me the least amount of value has the most amount of impact. And it is probably because there is no value to it and so no one really fucks with it. All those tyres are still out on the street floating around.” “While you’re at the job working nine to five / The Beastie Boys are at the garden, cold kickin’ it live.”

A lot of the stuff we put out on the street is basic and made for a location…the beauty of a lot of the better stuff is its simplicity.

There are also whole buildings done up as huge boomboxes – like a speaker turned up to ten they are unavoidable visual noise – and pieces that shout words, such as Beef, Yo, Hype and Fresh. Produced in bold, graphic styles the single word pieces demonstrate an appreciation of type and embrace the language of where they are from. “Hip-hop is a huge influence in New York culture, whether you are into or not. We both grew up in Queens and I now live in Brooklyn. The irony of being popular because I live in a different Borough was pretty much the Brooklyn Beef concept. The Yo pieces also play the whole ‘Yo’ attitude. If you repeat something a million times you kind of own it. I don’t own ‘Yo’ but I feel it’s something I can grab on to, like the aim of an advertising campaign would be to just to own something via repetition.” Writ large on walls Yo is created in a block font that he’s been using since the early 90s. “A lot of old-school writers did block font. It became the Skewville logo, people were like get a new font – I just kept using it for everything. When people say that’s a Skewville font it’s ironic and goes back to us owning something that’s not really ours.”

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An artists guide to playing the long game In 2012 Skewville are still exhibiting the competitive edge, effectively a street-art hustle. They’ve reworked Shepard Fairey pieces and mocked him for using these pieces for the title of one of his own exhibitions. “We may just be old and bored but I don’t feel that there is that same energy in New York. The whole point of putting stuff out on the street was to counteract commercialism. Now it’s become the opposite, everything put out on the street becomes advertising and for sale in the gallery. The whole revolution shot itself in the foot. We were always against this.

“You can’t hate people who sell out. I just don’t really understand it, mostly because it never happens to us. People appreciate it [our work] but it is not consumed right away. It’s funny I’m the biggest collector of my own artwork. The truth is I have a closet of 50 Hype boxes. They were sort of expensive and now to me they are priceless. That’s my pension.” Befitting that there are two faces to Skewville, there are many sides to their work. Their latest painted pieces are urban in the iconography they use, but are also raw, complex, impenetrable street hieroglyphics. “Being able to make whatever you want regardless of whether people like it or not has always influenced me and my brother to make things. “Some might get it but most people do not. This past year we’ve had four solo shows and every show I tried to change-up the aspect of what I’m working on. The best comment from the gallery was that I’ve subconsciously dumbed down. For the show in Denver I focused on faces and figures. This show is more primitive, it is about being overpowered by the city and that whole urban experience.

“It’s funny too. I asked the kid who bought one of the few hand pieces why he picked that and not one of the faces? And he was like ‘Because Skewville are known for feet and hands.’ The whole point of me doing the show with all faces was so that I would be known for faces. It’s ironic that someone took something I did a couple of shows back and equated it to what we were known for. I hate to be corny, and say I’m ahead of the time, but it’s kind of bad. I said in an interview at the time ‘Fuck y’all, because you’re going to have to pay more for it next year.’ “I have to keep that attitude and not care or I’d just be crying because no one wants our shit now. It gets frustrating trying to appease people when they don’t really get it. I’m kinda grateful in a way that we haven’t seen too much success. The people I know who have been successful become pigeonholed into a specific style and that is all they are going to make for the rest of their lives. I feel either privileged – or to put it better cursed – that I know it is going to take my whole life. There is no making it rich or big by next year anymore. My whole thing is that I know it’s going to take a lifetime and I think that is the beauty of wanting to do things your whole life until you are old.”

ES OF TE UNDERGROUND: HE£ BELOW With the assistance of Now Again’s musical pathfinder and Madlib’s manager Eothen ‘Egon’ Alapatt, we delve into a fug of war music WORDS: JAMES GRIFFIN “Prior to knowing a re-issue was possible I secured a copy from a collector friend of mine. It was a personal journey I felt I had to take before getting the record out. It’s a special record. I know David [Hollander], who broke the code with the US Army, and Dante [Carfagna, AKA Express Rising AKA a serious funk enthusiast] who first discovered the record, really feel this is one of the special ones, deserving the attention afforded to it.” Egon, December 2011 Through the looking glass “Shit…charging a man with murder in this place was like handing out speeding tickets in the Indy 500.” Captain Willard, Apocalypse Now Cultural commentators often refer to Vietnam as the first psychedelic war. A beautiful land burnt orange by gasoline. Its natural sounds punctured by bullets, human cries, Huey helicopters, and rock and roll, funk and soul explosions. The inhalation of weed during GI R&R sessions mimicking the morning mist of the Highlands. Unlike previous conflicts this was not documented in nostaligic black and white but in heart-stopping colour by photographers such as Errol Flynn’s son Sean Flynn, Horrst Faas and Tim Page. A war set against a background of tension at home between paranoid politicians and counterculture

revolutionaries and a period in American history that is vast and ambigious. Ideas reinforced by accounts like Michael Herr’s unrelenting Dispatches, a front-line diary that describes the brutality and excitement of war with a Hendrixesque swagger, Apocalypse Now, that effectively communicates that war is chaotic, futile and dehumanising whilst managing to be both arthouse and a big budget cinematic spectacular, and of course music by The Doors, Jimi Hendrix and Bob Dylan. Adding to the canon of culture created by those connected to the conflict is the East of the Underground: Hell Below, an anthology of music plugged into GI life circa 1967. As Egon explains, he and a group of passionate record hunters, have ‘rediscovered’ a valuable piece of American musical history.

As Egon explains, he and a group of passionate record hunters, have ‘rediscovered’ a valuable piece of American musical history.

RIP Adam ‘MCA’ Yauch

I am looking inside the gatefold and I’m seeing pictures of US Army Servicemen performing on stage and it seemed very visceral and immediate. “I’m a part of network of people that go out, scour used record stores, drive to different parts of America and track down label or studio owners, producers or artists to find out what kind of music they might have the been involved in. I work to tell musicians stories. I search for a continuum between music that was made 40 years ago and today. I do a lot of work with musicians and I like to think they’re just as attuned to the finer points of late 60s psychedelic rock as they might be to old-school hip-hop as to what producers nowadays are making.” “Madlib is always schooling me on different high points of the last 40 years. His breadth of knowledge is amazing. The guy who rediscovered East of Underground, Dante Carfagna is probably the single, most educated American funk and soul researcher…as we are all record collectors we have these conversations ourselves about the high points. Which is how something like the East of Underground came out.” “Back in the late 90s he [Carfagna] rediscovered East of Underground [in a thrift store]. He put together compilations for friends and put on a variety of songs from that album on a series of cassettes and I remember trips down to New Oreleans listening to these compilations full of great funk and soul and the East of the Underground records stood out. And this was early days for the rediscovery of obscure American funk and soul music.”

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“The only way to hear the album was to go to his apartment in Chicago. Friends and I made what amounts to pilgrimages to hear the album and to see the package. By that point [the late 90s] it had developed a mythical stature. The music was top notch and transcended the cover material the bands were using. It was an Army band and it was it was an amazing story. We thought holding it would give us a closeness to the music and the people who created it.” “I hear this record for the first time and am looking inside the gatefold and I’m seeing pictures of US Army Servicemen performing on stage and it seemed very visceral and immediate. I thought this is the kind of album I should try and find out a way to put out. It took 12 years to get it together and here we are telling a story, showing the imagery and giving people a chance to get that visceral thrill of the music in it’s original format.” Digging history This feeling of an unknown story from an uncertain time comes across powerfully on the record. The music flits from optimism to electrically charged rhythms through to dark thoughts about the fragility of life. All the music is made by US servicemen based in Western Germany during the Vietnam War, the recordings stemming from two talent competitions run by the Special Services Agency, part of the Entertainment Division of the US Army responsible for entertainment to raise the moral

of soliders and reflect the “ideas and attitudes of this (sic.) nation.” Today, the striking thing is that the sounds and musical attitudes of the time were at odds with the disciplined and ordered nature of the Armies leadership. But then this was the late 1960s and nothing was black and white. The competitons were Battle of the Bands, featuring the East of Underground and SOAP, and Showband Contest that involved The Black Seeds and The Sound Trek. Copies of these recordings were used as promotional tools with vinyl copies given to new conscripts. It was the original Army copies that allowed the record to see the light of day. As Egon explains, the journey to find a copy to rediscover the record was about patience, luck and graft. The time spent searching speaks volumes for the genuine love for music that he and his friends have. “In the case of East of Underground there were six or seven of us who were truly taken with the story and wanted to go the the extra mile and attempt to find the musicians. There was a song on the album called California Dreamin where

different guys in the band explain where they are from and of course the vocalists names are listed on the records. One of the guys was from Detroit and we just cold-called everyone in Detroit with the same name. And of course I wasn’t the only person to fire off a letter to the US Army to get more information on those that had served in this band. It was a friend of mine [David Hollander who co-produced the album], a friend of the original guy who discovered it [Dante Carfagna], struck paydirt. He found what had become of the Entertainment Services and found the person in charge of Intellectual Property and he was the one to get the rights to re-issue and follow the trail to find the remaining bits of empherea for the Entertainment Services Divison 60s-70s activities.” “We got in touch with the guy who represents the Entertainment Services Division. He didn’t ask what our agenda was but there was an implied objective to treat it fairly. They didn’t say ‘Don’t make the US Army look this way or that’. [Instead the attitude was] just do what you need to do to preserve this. Credit us for our part of it

“Like a lemon to a lime, a lime to a lemon / I sip the def ale with all the fly women.”

and send us copies and we’ll file them away with the copy of the original album. I thought that was very cool.” The conditions the music was created in and who it was made by allows East of the Underground: Hell Below to amplify the tapestry of this psychedelic war and provide an insight into a moment of time that for thousands of young people should have been the best years of their life but for many would be their worst or their final years. “You’re listening to cover songs and normally you wouldn’t afford an album of covers such credibility. But when they are singing ‘There’s a hell below/ We are all going to go’, you have to imagine what choices they were facing. These were rank and file servicemen and had no idea when the war was going to end, whether they were going to win the Battle of Bands or whether they would be shipped to active duty. And you have to imagine many of these people were shipped to active duty. And that is frightening power of this record. It’s almost the anonymity of all the musicians, with the exceptions of Lewis Hitt [lead guitarist with the East of Underground who surfaced during the project] – gives another weight to this because we

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don’t know what happened to them we just know the era in which this music was created and how desperate these guys were. That is very difficult to find in a record document. This might as well be original music, the way they are performing and created something new for themselves. With a sense of purpose we don’t find in modern music or hear it. In East of Underground we hear something frightening but also beautiful.” US Army music 2012 style Everyone is familiar with idea of ‘forces sounds’. From marching bands to Glenn Miller’s big band orchestra of WW II to the dirty riffs of Hendrix and co during the 60s and 70s. Surveying the scene today, although the US Army spends an estimated two hundred million dollars a year on music, there doesn’t seem to a be a distinct sound. If, after the work he has done on the East of Underground, the US Army approached Egon to put a band together and fill the vaccum who would he chose? “I’d probably ask for an international line-up. For instance my favourite drummer at the moment with funk and rock is an English guy called Malcolm Catto who records with the Heliocentrics. I actually

With a sense of purpose we don’t find in modern music or hear it. In East of Underground we hear something frightening but also beautiful. really like his bass player Jake Ferguson too. Then I’d have someone like Seu Jorge on vocals. That’d be pretty marvelous. I doubt the Army would want a Brazilian guy singing in Portuguse and funky rythmns played by two English guys… [trails off laughing at the very idea].” With Now Again reaching it’s tenth anniversary what does the real future hold? “I’ve been delving into what happened in Zambia in the early 70s when the country gained its independence from Great Britain and there was

flourishing of rock music made by Zambians who were taken with the music brought over by British and European companies who had been working in Zambia. After independence young Zambians ended up creating rock and roll. You have these young black Zambians creating monsterous rock music! Over the last few years I’ve been delving into that scene and have a series of anthologies of that ilk coming out. It doesn’t have everything concentrated into one form this is a dispered movement and is still a marvelous story and it’s marvelous music.”

SELECTED LISENING

WORDS: ANDREW SPRAGG, JAMES LANG, LEV HARRIS, DAVID KANE, ADAM HUTCHESON, KEIRAN HADLEY AND JAMES GRIFFIN Minimal Wave Tapes Volume Two | Various Artists | Stones Throw East Village Radio co-founder Veronica Vasicka’s Minimal Wave label has been re-releasing eighties electronic music since 2005, bringing to light a number of DIY recordings and releases that signaled an underground space that managed to combine the taunt mechanism of post-punk with the cold gloss of home-made electronics. While it may never have been a mainstream concern, there is something irreducibly pop about the selection of songs on this, the second compilation of material from the imprint in conjunction with Stones Throw. The tracks all focus on an interplay between pulse arpeggio synth lines and fiercely regular drum machines, the cumulative effect is a form of speculative best-of for an era of pop music that failed to materialize. The sparseness of the vocal contributions, such as that on Geneva Jacuzzi’s The Sleep Room, suggest a form of post-traumatic stress: if the Cold War’s legacy were to be measured in terms of its effect on the youth, one could do a lot worse than look here. Machines seem to hover over the music with malice and intent that recalls Philip K. Dick (always a favourite of early electronic musicians) or JG Ballard’s consumer psychosis. Despite its relative obscurity beyond the concern of enthusiasts, The Minimal Wave Tapes Vol. 2 offers up some extraordinary moments, particularly Annie by In Aeternam, which manages to channel a sort of eerie proto-Stereolab. It may be unlikely that a casual listener will get much further than the two compilations, but but Minimal Wave Records have have managed to illuminate a period of incredible music at risk of vanishing into the shadows. AS

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awE naturalE | THEESatisfaction | Sub Pop Shabazz Palaces stormed into the limelight of alternative hip-hop last year with the seminal Black Up, an LP of sensual hypnotism coupled with dark grit, thanks to Palaceer Lazaro’s beguiling lyrics and cerebral delivery. The oft overlooked secret weapon on that LP, however, was the the sultry mutterings of Stasia Irons and Catherine Harris-White, presented here at front and centre on awE naturalE under the name THEESatisfaction. Full of blunted beats and Afrocentric jazz motifs, tracks like Needs and Earthseed fly by in a delirious haze of hippy RnB and mystic disco glitz. The list of genres from which these two cherry pick doesn’t end there, with a taste of future funk present on QueenS and a melange of the tribal and the tropical on finisher naturalE. Without intending to sound like a criticism, it’s best to think of awE naturalE as a continuum of Shabazz Palaces’ Black Up but for the easy lounge listening Starbucks generation (a more subversive Corinne Bailey Ray with bits of Nina Simone and classic Daisy Age hip-hop thrown in for good measure). Yet such is the breezy nature on show, the collection of artfully arranged tracks merely feel like a brief taster (the album’s running time is under half an hour). But when what’s on offer tastes this good, I’ll certainly be first in line for a second cup. LH

Cancer 4 Cure | El-P |Possum Five years after I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead, El-P’s last proper album, comes the third long player from the former Def Jux head honcho. Dissolving the label to focus solely on making music, there’s a clear direction in his new work. With some co-production from multiinstrumentalist Little Shalamar, dark sounds and typically venomous spitting exemplify the record’s clear narrative and identity. “In my head, the record is about dealing with the idea that you are the problem and everything else isn’t,” reflects El-P. A self-destructive essay on death and the life lived before it, the record is like a hip-hop robot with an emotion chip. El’s always impressive flow is broken up with different flavors from guests including Danny Brown and Mr Muthafuckin’ eXquire plus bezzie mate Killer Mike, all adding their own dimension. Syllables are fired fast in the album opener but second track The Full Retard is probably the highlight, a microcosm of the rest of the LP with its chunky, dark synth riffs and future boom bap. As the album unfolds it begins to wander into instrumental segues to add a few more emotional layers (see the epilogue of Drones Over BKLYN and album closer $4 Vic). El’s claim that this is a ‘fight record’ is fully justified; the man’s back with a vengeance. JL

“What came first, the chicken or the egg? / I egged the chicken, then I ate his leg.”

Quakers | Quakers | Stones Throw A first encounter with Quakers is daunting. A début from a group boasting 35 members, three producers and a name that simultaneously suggests religious temperance and earth-shaking excess; it could be formulated that Quakers signify an apocalyptic drawing together of resources in the face of an imminent – unknown – catastrophe. There is a sense of revivalist rhetoric around both press release and the lyrical content of the album, right down to the choice of MCs, a mixture of veteran voices (Prince Po, stic.man from Dead Prez) and recent but defiantly traditional rappers (Guilty Simpson, M.E.D.). Production is handled by Geoff Barrow (as Fuzzface), 7-Stu-7, and Katalyst. That two of these individuals have produced work as Portishead is significant – Portishead’s ability to create music that simultaneously looks backwards and forwards is apparent here. The samples are brassy and raw in a way that seems pleasingly nostalgic for midnineties hip-hop, and yet there is enough novelty and energy to keep things fresh. Tracks such as Sidewinder and Rock My Soul could have come out any time in the last fifteen years, though they still manage to retain an incredible power. The large vocal roster makes the album feel like a compilation of forgotten favorites, with some excellent performances from all involved, and there is such a diversity of voice and tone that the whole thing is compellingly well-conceived and put together. With 41 tracks of rough funk and lean rap, the Quakers album is a definite highlight of 2012. AS

The OF Tapes Vol. 2 | Odd Future | Odd Future What’s left to say? For all of the flagrant criticism or gushing praise, one thing is often forgotten; they are mostly still in their teens. They have been victims of over-intellectualising; whilst others have passed them off as a bunch of angst ridden teen skaters. Both may be true. Nevertheless, it’s important to remember their youth. At the risk of sounding condescending, they are at an impressionable age while their every move is scrutinised by a legion of obsessive followers. When this is taken into account, the OF Tape Vol. 2 is impressive. There are flaws but you wouldn’t expect anything less. Some verses and songs come across as cloying filler, lacking inspiration, and the format means it comes off as disjointed, lacking the quality control that comes with an album. Yet, throughout, there is a growing sense of maturity, which comes across on tracks such as Analog 2 and the jazzed up Ya Know (granted, it’s courtesy of The Internet). Tyler’s production is, for the most part, on point with stomping beats on 50 and Rella, and proceedings are rounded-off by the selfcongratulatory Oldie, an all-smiles moment where each member of the clan, including Earl, come forth and deliver a verse whilst the others look on in glee. LH

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Obsession ‘77 | Atomic Forest | Now Again Indian in origin, but bearing a heavy influence of American psychedelic and funk music, Atomic Forest are the latest group under the spotlight of Now Again’s reissue program. The anthology, collecting the original Obsession album and adding five bonus tracks, offers up a muscular interpretation of psychedelic rock, far from the English whimsy of 60’s psychedelia and more towards hard funk and fuzz work-outs. For the large part, Atomic Forest sit comfortably in that vast and unlikely territory between Jefferson Airplane and James Brown, managing a mixture of underground garage band energy and high musical proficiency. As with all of Now Again’s reissued records, the accompanying material is well collated, and offers an insight into a musical scene that has vanished to all but the memories of those who participated. Away from that initial sense of discovering a previously untapped or unimagined fusion of music, the album itself could perhaps have benefited from some editing. It feels occasionally like Atomic Forest recorded an entire live set in the studio, including some songs that seem ill-placed or intended to showcase their crowdpleasing repertoire. There is a cover of I Saw Her Standing There that collapses into a ‘Rock N’ Roll Music Medley’, all of which seems crow-barred between the exceptional Sunshine Day and Obsession ‘77 (Slow) with the aim of placating less ‘far-out’ of listeners. Later comes an inexplicable cover of the music from the Godfather, which only works when it strays from the original melody in order to allow the musicians to solo. All of which raises the difficult question of how far can a curator interfere with the original material? It would be unjust to suggest that Now Again should have removed some of the less invigorating tracks but one must be prepared to accept Atomic Forest in all their peculiar and sometimes ill-judged glory. It’s worth the occasional duff track just to experience the zippy synth on Butterfly or the weird ballad to sexual abstinence Mary Long. This LP may only tell part of the story of what underground music was like in India in the seventies, but it seems a compelling place to start. AS

For the large part, Atomic Forest sit comfortably in that vast, unlikely territory between Jefferson Airplane and James Brown. 69

Listen, Whitey! The Sounds of Black Power 1967-1974 Various Artists | Light in the Attic The Black Power movement reached something of a pinnacle between the late sixties and early seventies. As civil freedoms and desegregation acquired a legal backing – if rarely a real-world application – so it seemed that there was an opportunity for radical, real change. Listen, Whitey! gathers together recordings that provide a snapshot of this exciting period in American political history, intended to accompany a photo book of the same name. Tracks range from recordings of key Black Power figures and comedians, funk and jazz pieces, and spoken word from poets. Such an eclectic selection is a bold gambit, but for the large part it works. There’s a superb balance between contextual pieces, such as Dick Gregory’s part-stand-up, part-political-speech, Black Power, and obscure, soulful gems such as The Lumpen’s Free Bobby Now. There are, however, some genuinely mystifying inclusions, such as John Lennon’s Angela, a heavy-handed tribute to Angela Davis Roy Harper’s I Hate the White Man, a sentiment so clumsily expressed lyrically that it would be terrible even if Roy Harper wasn’t a white, English folk-singer. Most significant in expressing the fraught exchange between sixties hippie radicalism and Black Power figures is the recording of Eldridge Cleaver articulating his decision to place LSD-guru Tim Leary under house arrest. Perhaps here lies the success, though, of Listen, Whitey! – it refuses to tidy away the problematic edges of sixties and seventies radicalism. This is embodied by Marlena Shaw’s live rendition of Women of the Ghetto, an ecstatic and smart song that feels like a revelation, even thirty years on. However, there too is the sour note: there is still a modern relevance in such strong expressions of frustration and anger, and perhaps this makes Listen, Whitey! not the museum piece a neo-liberal consensus would like to believe. AS

As civil freedoms and desegregation acquired a legal backing – if rarely a real-world application – so it seemed that there was an opportunity for radical, real change. 70

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Statement of Intent | DJ Format | Project Blue Book Records Format’s Statement of Intent comes across as slightly more focussed and aggressive than his previous work. On the very first track old-school stalwart Sure Shot verbalises their collective cause: “Hip-hop never died it just departed, it’s up to us to stop it, and bring it back to where it started”, which perfectly demonstrates what Format sees as his remit. Effectively he’s a controller of the culture as he is a controller of the equipment he handles. “Hip-hop is still alive” is an easy statement to make, but harder to prove. Format’s intent is to demonstrate that the original spirit of hip-hop is alive in contemporary music through musical style and deep-rooted influences . Format consistently uses ‘live’ drum samples throughout giving each track a sense of living, breathing, humanity that ‘exists in the moment’ as it did in the parks. He addresses a wide spectrum of hip-hop styles, from party-rocking B-boy joints; Planet-Rock infused electro-breaks to the more gloomy and tempered soundscapes which paint pictures of the environment that birthed the culture. All which serves to make this album simultaneously satisfying for long-term Format fans, whilst retaining an element of surprise and unpredictability for anyone new to his music. Throughout Statement of Intent Format demonstrates his growth with subtleties not previously heard in his music, and following the founding cultural codes of hip-hop and reaching out to legendary MC’s he manages to make a hip-hop record sound current. AH

Hipology | Visioneers | BBE/Omniverse During the recording of this album over 2011-12, Marc Mac started thinking about the fundamental role hip-hop had played throughout his life. He began an online scrapbook of hip-hop culture at hipology.org, and this record is the aural equivalent. If you’re familiar with Dirty Old Hip-Hop, the first Visioneers LP on BBE released in 2006, you’ll know the score: no sampler, simply live reinterpretation – essentially a jazz outfit with hip-hop production. Hipology certainly has more of a block party vibe than its predecessor with the inclusion of tracks like Apache and Shaft in Africa, and permeates hip-hop culture throughout. Luke Parkhouse’s drums are exceptional, adorned with era-invoking keys work and guests such as John Robinson, Baron and TRAC plus a reflective flow from Toronto’s Notes To Self in the penultimate banger Oil and Water.

Hipology has been worth the wait. A natural, beautiful and universally appealing piece of work that sums up the foundations of hip-hop so you don’t have to. If you can’t afford that plane ticket to Brooklyn yet yearn to feel hip-hop emanating from the sidewalks, grab this and close your eyes. JL “I’ve got billions and billions of rhymes to flex / ‘Cause I’ve got more rhymes than Carl Sagan’s got turtlenecks.”

Rollerchain | Belleruche | Tru Thoughts Belleruche’s play for the band most likely to soundtrack elegantly wasted dinner parties steps up a notch with Rollerchain. Following on from their understated 270 Stories, Rollerchain delivers another slice of sophisticated and timeless dance music. Lead single Storm Bird is a pulsating piece of pop, and its polished and refined glory hightlights Belleruche’s charm. What it doesn’t do though is communicate how dominating singer Kathrin DeBoer’s cocquettish presence has become. Rollerchain gives the singer a platform to showcase her fantastic, unpredictable vocal range. DeBoer has a knack of being able to flit between moods with the click of, what I imagine are carefully manicured and coloured, nails. From the anguished Wasted Time and it’s moody electronica, to her subtly vicious, malevolent and cynical contribution to Get More through to her breathy and teasing turns on Hebane and Song For Bill, DeBoer’s voice bends wondefully around the music. Gleefully ignoring the bittersweet message of mnemonic Reach For the Bottle, switch off the lights, pour yourself a large glass of something fine and soak up the atmopshere. JG

The Best of Perception & Today Records | Various | BBE BBE stalwart DJ Spinna is let loose on the New York based sisterlabels Perception and Today Records (sometimes known under the Perception Productions umbrella moniker) stellar catalogue of jazz, funk, soul and proto-disco singles. The double-sided LP is loosely split by chronological release order, with the first side focusing on the classic American jazz era and bubble gum soul sound of the late 60s. Dizzy Gillepie is perhaps the standout name but it’s tracks like the meandering, smoky soul of J.J. Barnes’ You Owe It To Yourself, the feel good Tropicalia pop of Astrud Gilberto’s Gingele that are the highlights. Side two ventures deep into funk territory pulling up some absolute gems like Fatback Brother Bill Curtis’ Dance Girl, a song so cool that Quentin Tarantino needs to make a film about it. Perception Records released music for little over five years yet its footprint within the canals of popular black music remains strong despite the labels relative anonymity 30 years later. This is none more so evident in hip-hop where artists as influential as the Beastie Boys, Ghostface, Madlib and Q-Tip have all borrowed from the label’s rich tapestry of sounds – and that’s just the tracks on this compilation. DK

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Big Fun In The Big Town | Bran Van Splunteren For a culture that’s permeated every aspect of western music and lifestyle, footage of hip-hop’s early years is surprisingly scant. There’s Wildstyle of course. Beat Street. Breakin’…and after that, the list starts to falter. Enter a “long lost” documentary film Big Fun In The Big Town. In 1986, Dutch filmmaker Bran Van Splunteren spent a week in New York with a list of phone numbers, a film crew and a “burning desire to get to the bottom of what this still growing subculture was all about”. Looking like an extra from Miami Vice, he managed to find a hugely impressive list of New York’s hip-hop luminaries who all seemed keen to explain what their culture was all about. This short documentary approaches hip-hop with the respectful tone and curiosity we would normally see from the likes of David Attenborough. He sketches out a world where skills were still king and spinning on your head or making drum sounds with your face was still a novelty to the mainstream. Hip-hop’s rise is charted from the schoolyard of Harry S. Truman high school, through the clubs like Latin Quarter to Mr Magic’s radio show up to the worldwide stardom that Run-DMC and LL Cool J were starting to enjoy. Highlights include Russell Simmons talking in his office at Def Jam Records while a hopeful rap duo from Chicago kick rhymes on the pavement outside in the hope of getting his attention; Run DMC freestyling, recording and showing off their new Cadillac; Marley Marl and Mr Magic in the studio at WBLS; Doug E Fresh beatboxing on the street and “philosophising” and a pre-NCIS LL Cool J at his grandmother’s house. It’s no Style wars but Big Fun in the Big Town is a rare chance to bear witness to the start of hip-hop’s ascent to worldwide domination. Essential viewing. KH

Looking like an extra from Miami Vice, he managed to find a hugely impressive list of New York’s hip-hop luminaries who all seemed keen to explain what their culture was all about.

RIP Adam ‘MCA’ Yauch

The Bamboos Where Does The Time Go? feat. Aloe Blacc (Digital)

The first single to be lifted from The Bamboos’ incredible fifth album, ‘Medicine Man’, is this double A-side digital package out on 21st May; announcing the advent of the LP in some style, the two tracks here feature none other than international pop phenomenon Aloe Blacc and Australian rock ‘n’ roll royalty Tim Rogers on vocal duties.

Hint Daily Intake (CD / Digital)

Hint’s third album 'Daily Intake’ sees this highly respected underground producer, remixer and DJ working with incredible vocal talent from around the World; mashing up dancehall, hip hop, UK house and bass music influences to create a flowing yet constantly surprising album.

Sleepin’ Giantz Badungdeng (Digital) The word is pretty much out there, the buzz is well underway - since Benji B (BBC R1), Gilles Peterson (BBC 6Music), Mistajam (BBC R1/1Xtra) and others have been rinsing this immense track. “Badungdeng” will be released on digital single on 28th May, and it is abundantly clear from the opening four bars that this track is nothing short of a banger.

Quantic & Alice Russell with the Combo Barbaro Look Around The Corner (CD / 2LP / Digital)

‘Look Around The Corner’, out on 2nd April on Tru Thoughts, is the first full collaborative album from musical soulmates Quantic and Alice Russell, two of the UK’s best loved independent artists and leading lights of the international funk, soul and alternative dance music scene.

Riz MC MICroscope (CD, Digital)

The deluxe physical release is out on 18th June. ‘MICroscope’ sets Riz MC apart as a singular voice with an innovative and bold musical vision; featuring collaborations with Redinho (NMBRS), Plan B, Lazersonic & Zed Bias, alongside a host of cutting edge remixes. This highly intelligent, multi-talented rapper mixes big ideas with big bass on an adventurous musical canvas.

Belleruche Rollerchain (CD / 2LP / Digital)

Out 7th May, ‘Rollerchain’ is the 4th album from Belleruche showcasing a new progression in sound for the acclaimed London trio, the LP is preceded by the “Stormbird” single in March, which has already clocked up over 75,000 YouTube hits as well as early radio support including Huey Morgan and Nemone on BBC 6Music. Visit www.tru-thoughts.co.uk for all tour dates, releases & news. All Tru Thoughts & Unfold music is available direct from etchshop.co.uk, or from Amazon & iTunes

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