RATTLER DE-FANGED BUT TWICE AS LETHAL @ DC9 – 8/27/09

You say “hipster bullshit,” I say vastly entertaining time. Rattler, the wildly entertaining hair metal comedy sendup out of Washington, DC played an acoustic set at their “press conference” on Tuesday night. Armed with tunes that recall the kitschy low culture of 80s hair metal, the five man act played a 25 minute set of their ribald and ridiculous hits, including such titles as “Cocaine Migraine,” the Poison’s “Every Rose Has It’s Thorn” recalling “Rattler Way of Life,” and the completely ridiculous “Panty Incinerator,” to a crowd of roughly 150 appreciative fans, who, in realizing these tunes were being played without 1,000,000 volts of electrified heavy metal angst, were treated to some of the most goofy and vintage metal lauding lyrics I’ve heard in awhile. The band is as technically apt as they need to be, but make up for a lack of over the top musical talent with enough cocksure braggadocio to make Bret Michaels, Sebastian Bach, Axl Rose, Kevin Dubrow and the brothers Winger stand up and take notice.

NINJASONIK/noon:30/HATE HUGS – DC9 – 8/19/09

(all pictures courtesy Lady Glock Photography)

Brooklyn hip hop punks Ninjasonik rolled into DC9 last Wednesday on their east coast minitour supported by local act noon:30 and Hate Hugs for an affair dominated by solid performances, but as has been the case for the hipster trending trio, less than solid attendance. However, this isn’t to state that the group, as well as the openers did not give 110% in their performances. They did. But in a city doing so much right this year in regards to showing overwhelming support for vital acts creating new, challenging, and entertaining music, this was not exactly the best reflection.

I unfortunately missed Hate Hugs, but noon:30 were phenomenal. The DC stalwarts came onstage, and from the first note lead singer Blue S. Moon hit, the crowd settled in awestruck at the raw punk power and well honed grooves of the trio. The locals have developed an appreciative following from the area media, and have translated it, alongside a steady diet of constant touring into a live show that really portents for great things in the future if the band continues to improve and develop at their present clip. The most telling song of their 45 minute set was easily their most polished and most anthemic, that being the Yeah Yeah Yeahs type sound of “French Song,” complete with Aissa Hill rocking out on a bass guitar that growls and roars with a thundering fuzz, and Vivianne Njoku’s drums locked in producing terrific rhythm, Moon belts out the lyrics, as expected from the title, in French, with pulse pounding punk intensity. The most intriguing strength of the band is in their rampant versatility. Guitarist hill also plays bass, whilst Moon as a lead singer has terrific vocal range and expression, just as aptly handling beautiful ballads as in growling out the punk numbers as well. These three women sounded absolutely massive and desiring of world domination by the end of the set, and created plentiful new fans by the end of the evening.

Closers Ninjasonik, hot off the heels of the release of the Darth Bano Mishka mixtape came on with great expectation from the small yet vocal throng. However, those expecting the typical braggadocio laden rap event were met smack dab with a set that starts with rage filled shoegazing to Devo’s “Gates of Steel” and fitfully meanders in a bizarre realm of stream of consciousness to ending with an energetic rap cover of Matt and Kim’s “Daylight.” Telli Federline, Jah Jah and DJ Teenwolf are all vastly charismatic individuals in their own way. Telli, the hyperkinetic emcee willing to flow over anything. Jah Jah the loveable and lyrically capable hypeman with more skills than you would expect from initial view, and Teenwolf, the greasy haired white DJ with skills who keeps the whole thing together, crashing together the variable elements of the Ninjasonik experience and creating gold from straw like Rumplestilskin where anyone else would see something completely ridiculous, absurd and lacking artistic merit.

Ninjasonik, much like a group that I oft compare them to, the Beastie Boys, are more a live performance experience than the intentionally barely polished funloving rap/punk hybrid they appear on record. For instance, in performing mashup with power punk act The Death Set “Negative Thinking (About Tight Pants), they call onstage a young man wearing a Death Set t-shirt who belts out the chorus in a manner consistent with the Death Set’s diminutive sparkplug Johnny Siera. Or, keeping an ever constant onstage banter that really gives you a peek into their bizarre universe that creates such jams as the now infamous by video “Pregnant,” (which, in this author’s opinion, is an underground hit waiting to happen, as chanting the chorus “somebody’s gonna get pregnant,” is a ridiculously fun and absurd time) there’s a certain unintentional vulnerability and openness that is oft endemic to the punk rock community that is part of seeing this group live, as opposed to listening to the recording.

If anything, Ninjasonik, as well as numerous other punk leaning, DIY attitude espousing hipster/punk bands and groups all reach the same problem in encountering the mainstream. The Ninjasonik show absolutely works in front of small crowds of people intimately acquainted with the style and scene the music creates. However, in aiming to do more than what they are doing, and increasing fanbases, the loose, funloving nature can stay, but there needs to be attention paid to tailoring performances and charisma to reach thousands, not hundreds. In many ways, in creating the mixtape, Ninjasonik has begun to address this issue. Telli’s “Hold the Line” is one of the standout hip hop performances of the year and did wonders in validating the band to numerous populations. In performing it unwittingly as an encore, there seems to be a belief growing that times are changing for the act, and that the proper steps need to be made to negotiate the road to stardom.

Overall, it was an amazing night. Two bands, both well on the road to success, mastering their craft with tremendous skill. Kudos.

FELIX CARTAL/FRED MASLAKI/FREAK N NASTY @ IBIZA 8/22/09

Vancouver’s Felix Cartal, Steve Aoki’s Dim Mak Records affiliated wunderkind, played Ibiza on Saturday night to a slow arriving but appreciative crowd in the cavernous main room. The press kit I received on Cartal stated correctly that he gained acceptance as an internet favorite, a blog darling, and parlayed that into what has developed into a very successful career. Cartal is highly representative of the new musical vanguard, for whom the approval of those intimately acquainted with music as fans, and not as industry decide the fate of success of an individual. Certainly the DJ may gain favor later from fellow DJs and key industry figures, but in this conflated scenario, to claim “stardom” is hollow, and creates a greater standard to live up to when presented as a top performer.

Openers Freak N Nasty played a great set, setting the table for a night that, while not overwrought and overwhelming, was certainly more than exciting.

Felix Cartal played a set that showed his depth in style, from opening with loud, intentionally abrasive, distorted, Dan Deacon esque noise, to electric club cuts that featured racing, fidgety synths and staccato basslines to pulsating dubstep that threatened to melt the faces of everyone in attendance with uneven and undulating bass. It was a solid set, but not the manic and crippling insanity that usually accompanies him. Part of it, well, certainly the rainstorm, as the entirety of DC was a bit slower than usual on a Saturday night, but also some of it, the room. While Cartal certainly plays big rooms, the 30,000 square foot giantess of unbelievable sound that is Ibiza responds best to selectors who opt to play the tracks that go big, go deep, go ridiculously hard, and err on the side of bass that rattles bones and pulsing synths that slice into the soul. As well, Cartal comes off like a performer who benefits from a vibrant crowd that wants that energy, and gives it back to him. Being 25 feet in the air on a less than perfect evening for that definitely seemed to have an effect. But that’s not to say Cartal isn’t without merit. He clearly takes chances in his mixes and in creating tracks, as his recent “The Grinch,” which appears on Diddy and Felix da Housecat’s “Lectro Black” mixtape, where he takes the sample of Sir Mix-a-Lot’s 1988 classic “Posse on Broadway” of Mix-a-Lot saying that “the 808 kickdrum makes the girlies get dumb,” and Cartal takes drum patterns to places that, well, certainly accomplished that on Saturday night.

The re-revelation of the evening though was when former Club Five regular Fred Maslaki closed the night. Classic techno rhythms saturated Ibiza as the most telling and amazing thing about his set was just how powerful and really soulful his sound was. All driving rhythms and booth rattling bass, Maslaki, a clear veteran of one of the city’s best large room experiences just laid down as professional and solid of a closing set as I’ve heard all year. Many newer DJs attempt to submit the room to their energy by playing loud, hard and fast. In many cases it works because the people have usually been worked into a lather by that point, and the music, when it slams over their heads, causes an eruption, that when sustained well, is quite the scene. Maslaki, a veteran, didn’t pulverize people immediately with grandiose fits of knob twiddling and insanity. Instead, he played well, not hard, and created an experience, while just as pleasurable, that wasn’t panic and widespread hysteria, but just a great, wild evening.

JONNY BLAZE presents his biography. A must see Bmore Club moment!

Just wanted to stop in quickly and drop this Jonny Blaze video. More info about oh so many new and interesting projects coming around the bend will drop tomorrow, but this really is the sort of special occurrence that warrants it’s own post. Easily one of the best things to happen to club music in DC and Baltimore in 2009 was the resurgence of Jonny Blaze. Jonny’s been in the game likely longer than 20 of your favorite DJs of the moment combined, and is easily one of the most important DJs spinning in the scene today. Jonny provides an authenticity and old style of hyperagressive and ridiculously fun Bmore club that very few in the Bmore club game that spin in “hipster” enclaves brings to the scene. Today, Jonny dropped a biographical video that is part bio, and a larger part history lesson of Bmore club, as everyone from Shawn Caesar and Scottie B at Unruly, to Blaze’s mentor Mike Mumbles, to Rod Lee, Dave Nada and so so so so many more swing through and offer praise to Jonny Blaze. really, he is easily one of the two or three best hypemen I’ve ever seen do much of anything. In fact, if he sampled his own voice during his sets, there’s likely 20 things he’ll say that could make him either the world’s funniest comedian, or create an international Bmore club smash. Check the video below. Much like anything that Jonny does, it’s a fun time, indeed.

MY BIO
http://mediaservices.myspace.com/services/media/embed.aspx/m=62204762,t=1,mt=video

Lectro Black and Felix da Housecat’s "Last Train to Paris" Mixtape: A Review

DOWNLOAD THE MIX

At about fourteen minutes of Diddy and Felix da Housecat’s “Lectro Black – Last Train to Paris Mixtape,” Diddy, as “Lectro Black,” a house music exhorter that meets at the cross section between Cyrus and the Gramercy Riffs attempting to unify the gangs of New York in The Warriors and Afrikaa Bambaataa’s sampled and mixed exultations over Kraftwerk’s “Numbers” and “Trans-Europe Express” on “Planet Rock,” does more to upset the quickly moving into ridiculousness and absurdity nature of mainstream hip hop than Jay-Z could’ve ever done on “Death of Autotune,” when he states…

“…this that gangsta music, that type of shit that makes you lose control, makes you lose your mind, body and your soul, type of shit that makes you shoot up a club…”

No, that statement isn’t uttered over a tough sample of Billy Squier’s “Big Beat,” or even over the squeals and sirens of NWA’s “Straight Outta Compton.” It isn’t even done in the context of the horns that are the precursor to the warning of MOP telling you to “Ante Up.” Yes, in hip hop before thismixtape, those were indeed the tracks that’d make me want to “shoot up a club.” Well, that’s certainly changed. Diddy instead utters this in the middle of Felix the Housecat amping the electro mix up to 130 BPM on this mixtape. Is this a hip hop club? No, probably not. But, if Diddy’s involved, it could soon very well be, and that speaks volumes about where hip hop is headed when Diddy hops aboard his Last Train to Paris, once the electro and house music dipped in hip hop concept album is released on November 24th.

It’s one thing for Pitbull to take “Calabria” by Enur, “Push the Feeling On” by the Nitecrawlers, and “75, Brazil Street” by Nicola Fasano Vs Pat Rich and create four minute hits that stick out like sore thumbs in radio formats, but get a pass because, “Pitbull’s on some Miami club ish. (yes, we’ve all said it before)” But we’re at a completely different place when Sean Combs commissions Felix da Housecat to spin electro and dubstep (which Diddy humorously calls “that dirty sound”) for 57 minutes and call it “hip hop.”

Felix da Housecat didn’t have to do this. Diddy could’ve cultivated this album with just about anyone, and, well, it likely would’ve sounded contrived, terrible, and filled with all manner ofBmore club samples, typical hip hop breaks and samples, and ending up with a very ironic, hipster leaning sound. But no. Diddy aims for validity in the house music world at large, and Felix responds, in one mix doing more to legitimize Diddy’s attempt at expanding the concept of urban sound than he ever could have done by constantly showcasing his “Dirty Money Crew (who will be featured almost exclusively on the album)” of himself, fomer Danity Kane member Dawn Richard and newcomer Keelena singing over electro samples whenever the trio is featured at any point of his new “Making My Band” on MTV. Secretly, Felix was the man behind the sound of “Last Night,” so he’s clearly had no fear of taking Diddy here before, but wow. This is a horse of a different color entirely. To the average person, the Last Train to Paris concept should come off like a danceable 808s and Heartbreak. That’s expected. But what Kanye West owes his album’s success to moody 80s synth pop and the tribal drums of deep house and polite forays into electro, Diddy jumps into the scene fully and completely, creating something that has to be regarded as “hip hop” by affiliation to Diddy alone, but comes off as a far far far far cooler collaboration than anything MSTRKRFT could’ve conceived for their poorly received yet very appreciable Fist of God. Diddy cosigns Felix and Felix, by laying down a masterful mix, more than cosigns Diddy.

But all of that is not to say, like all things Diddy, that it’s not mainstream accessible. he constantly appears as a hypeman on the mix, not so much hyping Felix, but guiding the listener, more than likely a completely terrified hip hop fan that really can’t wrap his ears around the fact that Diddy would attempt something like this, through the moods and emotions Felix is attempting to evoke. It’s here where we get the album’s meaning, as the “Last Train to Paris” is the attempt to reach a woman, a lost love, and Paris, the beautiful city of romance, represents the bliss of finding the woman, and the train, well, the train are the wonderful rhythms provided by the DJ to take one to that location. Diddy ruminates, as aforementioned about “shooting up a club,” but also discusses cunnilingus in both the literal and metaphorical sense, and really gets open about the euphoric sensations of house music. This euphoria creates the mix’s most telling point, as he cosigns MGMT’s “Kids,” as the chorus over those New Order styled synths are literally the only other voices heard anywhere on the mix, as Diddy refers to the chorus as “the voices of angels.” Of course, Jim Jones and Jermaine Dupri beat Diddy to the cosigning punch, but, for a group with an album dropping early in 2010, getting Diddy to sign off creates the type of crossover appeal that 50 A & R reps couldn’t likely muster on their own.

Diddy sampled The Police, David Bowie, Matthew Wilder, Kool and the Gang, and pretty much anyone that ever had a hit single in the 1980s and changed hip hop before. Now, clearly, in dropping this mixtape, and DARING the hip hop community to question his authority and past record in the industry as a hip hop tastemaker, he’s clearly changed it again.

NEW ARTIST SHOWCASE: AMANDA BLANK’S I LOVE YOU

If you hate Amanda Blank, you have every desire to lock every hipster in the universe in an Urban Outfitters, soak it in kerosene, light a match, and walk away giggling. There’s something about Amanda Blank that brings out the most amazing and dynamic of opinions in people. There are those who hate her, if for no other reason than what she brings to the table is so completely mindless and vapid that in our current musical era, in which everybody and their best friend has a blog to tear apart an artist word by word and line by line, and over and counteranalyze everything, that artists that make you think, or well create thought provoking and/or different sounds get pushed. Someone like Amanda Blank, who sings and raps about absolutely nothing of gravitas past relationships, boyfriends and partying, well, it’s more than likely that she’ll get the shaft in a 2009 musical conversation. However Blank, the daughter of a college professor, is clearly more than fully aware of this, and in being an in your face sexpot favored by the pink t-shirt and purple sneaker crowd, embraces them likely more than they embrace her, allowing herself, as an artist to exist and excel, despite the slings and arrows of tastemakers and media alike.

See, I’m of the belief that Amanda Blank’s I Love You is one of the best albums of the year. It has a timeless quality to it that, not like the Black Lips or US Royalty remind you of classic, feel good 60s rock dipped in a batter of southern soul, or like the Cool Kids remind you of Masta Ace, Stetsasonic or any great number of late 80s – early 90s rap geniuses, but instead, Amanda Blank is deeply reminiscent and appreciative of cherubic, club ready, one hit wonder pop. She covers Vanity, Romeo Void and LL’s panty moistener on the album. Let’s not forget that. This is not for the Grizzly Bear, Passion Pit or Animal Collective audience. Hell, it’s not even for the Wale, Kid Cudi or Pac Div audience either. It aims lower than that. The base. The confused young lady that’s in a scene and it’s her first pang of acceptance. The gay guy that’s living for the moment. The partier that revels in life’s absurdity and laughs in the face of taking anything too seriously for fear of crying about the morally devoid and tumbling into a rabbit hole of irrelevance nature of society. Say what you will, but imagine a universe in which you don’t know or care deeply about bills or jobs, and your stress is totally encased in “Will Bobby buy me a can of Sparks and sneak off with me to the bathroom tonight?” Amanda Blank, with I Love You, successfully attempts to raise the universe’s lowest of cultures to the highest of art, and succeeds. It may not be a victory for you, but to a legion of kids nationwide fully ensconsced in hipster and club culture, it’s an entirely too accurate portrait of a completely absurd and ridiculous universe.

However, far, far, far more important than anything Amanda Blank says on the album is the canvas upon which she gets to artistically create upon. Diplo, Switch and XXXChange, given their creation of and participation in the Hollertronix parties that pretty much spawned this entire movement, are the absolutely perfect production squad. They do nothing more than put the pitch perfect beats behind the pitch perfect people. You may want Chuck Inglish of the Cool Kids over something other than a fuzzed out synth bassline on “Lemme Get Some,”, but, as anyone will tell you, that’s where he excels. You may want to hear Amanda Blank ape LL Cool J over some generic electro sounds, but, over a Sir Mix A Lot and Masta Ace sample, with Santigold’s “I Love You” over the chorus, it’s exactly the place where that track should be. The album’s opener, “Make It Take It” sounds like it was jacked from the Yeah Yeah Yeahs or CSS’ discard pile. The Vanity cover “Make-Up,” well sounds as close to the original as humanly possible because, well, sometimes you can’t mess with perfection. To NOT see Diplo, Switch or XXXChange attempt to push music forward with Amanda Blank as the showpiece is appreciated as Amanda Blank celebrates what is literally happening right now for so many young men and young women in urban America. A different sound would have completely destroyed the album’s legitimacy, which is so absolutely key to where it succeeds.

The album’s real winner though across all fronts is the Lykke Li duet “Leaving You Behind” which, if it were a track without the soul stirring Swedish songstress on the hook, would be Blank’s attempt at showing some artistic expansion, but, with Lykke Li there, the heart stopping gravitas not apparent anywhere else on the album is more than apparent, likely making the track more a victory for Lykke Li than anything, but definitely showing Blank the exact space where there is significant room for improvement. And “Might Like You Better?” Well, outside of being a good cover and a very solid production, well, it allows Amanda Blank to make videos like the one below, and craft an entertaining and media ready visual image. It may not be an image we like, because it’s too expected and too mainstream, but, there’s the victory of an Amanda Blank. She is, EXACTLY what she is. Nothing more, nothing less.

http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=6052264&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=&fullscreen=1

Amanda Blank “Might Like You Better” from Downtown Music on Vimeo.

Amanda Blank has officially arrived and not a second too late. If nothing else, I Love You is a very adequate encapsulation of the last three years of popular culture. For many, it has been the best of times. For yet so many more, it has clearly been the worst. In urban America, it really is the tale of two “cities.” Mainstream and alternative. The alternative diva is here. The city has a leader.

NEW ARTIST SHOWCASE: Ninjasonik’s Darth Baño Mixtape!

Last Tuesday, Brooklyn collective Ninjasonik released their most cohesive musical release to date, the “Darth Baño” mixtape as released by Brooklyn based but internationally recognized clothier Mishka. The year has been one of great moves for the band, as the mixtape, featuring Telli “Bathroom Sexxx” Federline’s Star Wars recalling alter ego “Darth Baño,” Jah Jah and solid production work from DJ Teenwolf amongst others cements tremendous progress for the band from being a ragged punk rock meets Digital Underground “Humpty Dance” video party time group into being something far more palatable for mainstream ears. Their rise to success has been one of intense learning, and a great “how to” for any rising act attempting to make it to the top, as their grind and hustle never really stopped, but, they keep learning what works along the way, as their live show, which has gone from being them as the perfect table setter for Philly by way of Brooklyn by way of Baltimore by way of Australia swaggerific punk act The Death Set to now, watching them perform with OG hipster Spank Rock as a headlining act, and having the talent, charisma, and yes, tracks to more than keep up, and appear quite comfortable on stage. This mixtape shows that, as well as shows the desire of the band to make it for their families, themselves, and their friends, preaching it (amongst many other concepts) on nearly every second of the mix, and in this authors mind, where there’s a will, there’s most certainly a way.

The 12 track mixtape takes you right into the heart of Ninjasonik which is to say for those without prior knowledge, that you’re seeing what would happen if you cryogenically froze the Beastie Boys two seconds after they hopped off the plane at Laguardia after the “License to Ill” tour. Yes, I know, two-thirds of the group is black, but trust, it’s an apt comparison. Actually, there’s something really magical about that, and it says something truly unique about the far reaching fringes of what we call being a “hipster,” and also the unusual state of race and influence of the 21st century. These are beer and substance soaked rhymes and beats about days in which, well it’s likely a lot more fun to see the world from an angle than to face it straight on. However, in the midst of all of that, you get the sense of the hustle that these guys have been on for almost the last decade now, trying to make it, and trying to still be comfortable and not sell out the soul of what they are as musicians for a slice of success.

From reworking Major Lazer’s “Hold the Line” into a showpiece that shows that Telli is a very serious emcee, to the collabo “The Way She Used to Give Me Head,” featuring Blaqstarr’s Issac Hayes styles crooning on the hook, to “My Kids Can’t Eat No Fame,” and the Ninjasonik anthems “Bars,” “Pregnant,” and “Tight Pants,” to featuring a number of other hustling artists, from The Death Set, to Zakee Kuduro, Maggie Horn and killer productions by the Blanco Brothers, Ninjasonik comes hard with this mixtape intended to start their drive to being successful far beyond their wildest dreams.

MSTRKRFT/CRYSTAL METHOD/WILL EASTMAN @ FUR, 8/8/09

Under the most ideal of circumstances, every night for anyone who dreams the dream of being a club shaking, body rocking disc jockey would be like what occurred at Fur on Saturday night during the MSTRKRFT/Crystal Method/Will Eastman triple bill. It was a riotous confluence of epic proportions as the right crowd and right DJs met up with the perfect night for a sea of excited revelers.

Will Eastman more than capably opened, giving the crowd a taste of the current alternative dance hits, some Amanda Blank mixed with some Blaqstarr, a lot of other faves we’re all aware of, with a bit of himself as well, as his remix of Ruby Isle’s “So Damn High” fitting in with pretty much any mix, with it’s unmistakable pop appeal.

The Crystal Method, a landmark duo in the dance music genre were next, and played a sweeping set, exquisitely taking the glowstick waving and eagerly raving crowd on a joyride, building to a crescendo in which the entire room, when met by a certain waving and pulsing rhythm, made the dancefloor look like a sea of undulating neon coral, with the Crystal Method’s electric rhythms swimming fluidly through. Nearing the end of the set, they even showed their attempt at being with the times as well, as they dropped a mix of their own track “Sine Language” with LMFAO, yes, the same LMFAO of “I’m in Miami, Trick” fame, either the most genius or utterly annoying song of the year, but, nevertheless, there were moments in the 90 minutes when the Crystal Method played, where it was patently obvious that you were watching two men who knew exactly what it takes to build a crowd to a ravenous point, and take their minds and bodies to the stratosphere.

Closers MSTRKRFT are really a phenomenal collective. Jesse Keeler was clearly a member of DFA 1979 who felt he had a lot more to offer. With original DFA 1979 producer Al-P, the duo takes elements of electro and elements of thrashing rock and punk sounds, and crashes them together in ways that owe as much to being awesome to being unsure of what the sound will be, and hoping, along with the listener, that they will be awesome. Their second album, “Fist of God,” in which the duo records with all manner of hip hop and R & B stalwarts from John Legend (whose “Heartbreaker” proves that they guy sounds good over pretty much everything,) to E-40, Ghostface Killah and Noreaga, proves their desire to expand sounds, and explore everything in the element of just creating a more raucous yet inventive affair. Their set was massive as always, high energy electro fused with elements of just about everything, from old school b-boy breaks to Baltimore club, punk rock and literally everything in between, with, of course, an ironic kick in the pants at the end, as they closed with a typical closer of theirs, Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody.” Yes, after five hours, in which I saw fuzzy boots, all sides of the naked female anatomy, enough glowsticks to make me think it was 1999, and a veritable myriad of frolicking revelry, the last thing I heard was Freddy Mercury saying, “Nothing really matters, anyone can see, nothing really matters, nothing really matters, to me.”

Pure, rollicking, mindless, necessary fun. If I take anything from this, it’s pure, rollicking, mindless, necessary fun. Phenomenal.

IS BMORE AT A MAINSTREAM CROSSROADS? A 2009 REPORT CARD FOR THE CHARM CITY…

No, it’s not THE video for I’m the Ish. That one, featuring the entire Unruly family, Ultra Nate, and almost every single human being that’s ever spun a record in Baltimore, and to be released by Universal/Motown hasn’t seen the light of day. Clearly, this video is an attempt by Class to keep the song hot while who knows what is happening over at Universal. Yes, as anybody likely reading this blog is aware, localized music in the DMV is a hard sell to national record labels. Wale, who tours with a go go band, will not likely have nary an ounce of UCB, or Tre’s amazing falsetto on the record, though frankly, it’s what makes him different, and possibly even more entertaining as an artist. Bmore club is a different sound. Scalding hot snares, skull crushing bass, wild loops, unusual samples, 120+ BPM, seemingly STRICTLY club music, “I’m the Ish’s” success is more anthemic to me of what Baltimore club DID for music to this point than any indication of what it is doing, on a mainstream level for the future of music. It’s the buildup of Unruly, Diamond K, the Dew Doo Kidz, K Swift, Jonny Blaze, Debonair Samir, and so on, and so on, and so forth. Class as a stand alone artist on a mainstream thinking, urban trending label is a lifetime achievement. But, looking to the future of Bmore club, does it have a future, an evolution, or is it what it is, an awesome and tremendous sound and force that has it’s place, a regionalized sound that had a second in the spotlight, but will fade back to regional and underground dominance?

We’re definitely at a crossroads here. Artists with the look and sound of Rye Rye were key. Until she has has her daughter Kinnidy, and can sort out her harrowing issues, I can’t imagine being exceptionally pressed for or demanding new tracks. So, until that and Class’ issues clear up, where are we? Blaqstarr, one of the new leaders of the Baltimore club sound? Well, he’s not in Baltimore. He’s in LA, and we’ve heard nothing, and the last thing I heard, the “Sing Sing” and “Think” breaks weren’t exactly at the forefront of his mind. He seems to be evolving in the manner of Wale and DC, in that Blaqstarr is FROM Baltimore, but certainly NOT a BALTIMORE artist. That’s all well and good, and I wish him professional success. Maybe he’ll come back with some new strain of club music that will turn flaxen haired girls carved in the image of American Apparel and comic bird New Era fitted wearing homeboys on their ears. Until then, when he left, he left us with Rye Rye’s “Bang” and “Get Off,” and the promises of a new direction that involved Trey Songz mixtape style urban soul with rock guitars, a street Hendrix concept for sure, one that left club folks scratching heads and music appreciators wildly intrigued. How about DJ Booman’s deservedly hyped pair the Get Em Mamis and Mullyman? Well Mully’s still unsigned, but grinding out The Wire Volume 4 soon, and his Tabi Bonney directed clip is all about being on MTV Jams every other day. The Get ‘Em Mamis? Tremendously cute, and musically sound. Just waiting for the opportunity.

Back to the club, there’s a TON of hungry folks, but nobody able to cosign them as being ready to be on a tippy top level. And here’s Bmore problem in conclusion. Baltimore’s music scene is STILL dominated by the legends that never got their mainstream just desserts. Jimmy Jones, Rod Lee, Scottie B, KW Griff, Diamond K, Jonny Blaze, and so on, and so forth are still around, still producing, still remixing, and still very vital. It makes no sense to cosign someone as the future if you have yet to see your past. It’s a very curious thing, this city. There’s guys like James Nasty and DJ Pierre, and so on, and so forth, who, if they were say, based in, Richmond, VA, would be seen as top stars and the head of the class quite possibly. But, when surrounded by the walls that built the house in which you choose to live, you merely exist inside them. And while wonderful, that’s a problem. Everybody’s still hustling, everybody still wants a cut of a pie that nationally, gets smaller by the day.

Bmore is a winner. We all know this. But all of us want to see somebody, anybody, attempt and succeed at going HARDER than Baltimore. That’s likely what it’s going to take. And that’s an amazing proposition indeed.