#DCMUSICWEEK – Bad Brains – Attitude

http://www.youtube.com/v/aWWI2rGdda4&hl=en_US&fs=1&color1=0xe1600f&color2=0xfebd01

Bad Brains may be the most vitrolic band in punk history. The four African-Americans from DC are iconic heroes to literally every black man with a guitar slung on his shoulder for the rest of time. What separates them and makes them heroes for all music is their combination of virtuoso skill blended with speed of play and relentless angst filled energy. The band, originally called Mind Power, has a name culled from the tome Think And Grow Rich by Napolean Hill, suggested reading for band leader HR when his father questioned his initial decision to choose jazz-funk musicianship over a more lucrative concept. Key to the book is the concept of “PMA,” positive mental attitude, the idea that someone can use a positive mindset towards organizing their life towards success.

“Attitude” from debut LP Pay to Cum is a paean to PMA, which coincidentally is stamped on the back of the album. A sterling example of what makes Bad Brains, and DC by extension so distinctive and wonderful, do enjoy the video, and definitely take some time to explore the concept of PMA as well as the Bad Brains discography as well. Both more than worthwhile.

#DCMUSICWEEK – Questionmark Asylum – Hey Look Away

 http://www.youtube.com/v/geBci0VcSM0&hl=en_US&fs=1&color1=0xe1600f&color2=0xfebd01

In 1995,  I was 17 years old. My favorite after school hangout when not at practice for the It’s Academic team (Jeopardy style quiz bowl TV show with three three person teams of high schoolers) was The Wiz on Wisconsin Avenue. For those unaware, The Wiz was a giant chain music store that was very influential and popular on the East coast for most of the latter part of the previous century. Well, I hung out at the Wiz constantly, listening to pretty much every hip hop CD in the store, but rarely ever buying an album (save Black Moon’s Enta da Stage), and loving the dying art of the cassette single. Easily my favorite cassette at 17? The single of the below DC winner, Questionmark Asylum’s “Hey Look Away.” The quartet, Eddie Black, Mistafiss, Doms and the now deceased Ding didn’t necessarily reinvent the wheel, but they absolutely provided a laid back winner that fit well into the ethos of the era, and with a mellifluous hook with lyrics flowing like water holds up well to the test of time. Questionmark Asylum while signed to RCA, and being the first DC hip hop act to ink with a major, were not able to match their success, and while still together, opened a door that many can, have and hopefully will walk through in the future.

#DCMUSICWEEK – Nonchalant – 5 O’Clock

DC hip hop is a touchy subject that I’ve addressed on the site before at length. But nobody can deny the amazing nature of Nonchalant’s 1995 gold single “5 O’Clock.” At the height of the jackin’ fools and making cash moves era of hip hop in the mid 1990s, DC’s Nonchalant stood tall as a lone female voice antagonized and annoyed by this behavior, and with a phat sing-a-long hook, had a top notch one hit wonder. The track is solid, the vocals are important, but between the hook and a video that took place five minutes from my front door (1210 Eastern Avenue, NE is literally five minutes away from the corner of Minnesota Avenue and Benning Road, NE), it struck VERY close to home and made an immediate impact for me personally as a call to intellect over violence. Oddly enough, it wasn’t soon after this track that out went my jeans and hoodies, and in came my cardigans, pressed slacks and suede saddle shoes.

http://www.dailymotion.com/swf/x46vqq
Nonchalant – 5 o clock
by Th3_bArjOo

Nonchalant ended up a one hit wonder, but is absolutely an icon to the local hip hop community.

#DCMUSICWEEK – Teen Idles – Deadhead

 

Anti-hippie punk by straight edge teenage kids who play loud, play hard, play fast, but don’t necessarily at this point, play well. Fast forward 30 years and Dischord Records was likely the most important label in American punk and hardcore history. But this song, “Deadhead,” by four Georgetown punk kids, the Teen Idles, and Dischord’s first release, is all sorts of amazing with the sheer amount of tightly funneled yet in retrospect misguided teenage angst recorded for posterity. 

When I think of the early days of DC punk, the first words that come to mind are exuberance and enthusiasm. The liberating feel of being allowed to have that freedom of expression that the music allows, really jumps off the stage at you and smacks you square in the face. The violent nature of the DC scene comes in my mind from the sheer amount of embittered emotions and newfound entitlement to express it that many of the bands have. “Deadhead, whose lyrics are listed after the cut, is a fine, fine example of exactly what I’m discussing, and a phenomenal example of when DC does it right.

http://www.youtube.com/v/oNAb9WlYT1Q&hl=en_US&fs=1&color1=0xe1600f&color2=0xfebd01

Deadhead, deadhead, take another toke
Deadhead, deadhead, you’re a lousy joke
Friend of the devil, who you trying to kid
Friends of the devil are dead like Sid

I’ll be grateful when you’re dead
I’ll be grateful when you’re dead
I’ll be grateful when you’re dead
So don’t stick around too long

Riding that train high on cocaine
The music is really lousy, the fans are a pain
Troubles behind, troubles ahead
The only good deadhead is one that’s dead

#DCMUSICWEEK – Rare Essence – Pieces of Me

  

One of the best elements of go go music is the ability of a live band to cover a popular track and instantaneously breathe new life into it. This has been one of the lifeblood notions of the music for years, live performances on PA tapes (yes, for those unaware, recordings of go go shows on tape that were directly from the PA system) being dominated by takes on popular urban radio tracks. The practice has been done for years, and none may be truly better at it than Rare Essence. “The Wickedest Band Alive,” the group has existed for over 30 years, and may be most famous to mainstream music fans for performing as the backing band for Ludacris at the 2002 MTV VMAs for “Pimpin’ All Over the World.”

However, the greatest achievement in the world of covers for the band may be their cover of Ashlee Simpson’s 2004 smash hit “Pieces of Me.” Featuring one of the lushest hooks and tightest grooves of the first decade of the 21st century in pop music, the jam was an unusual decision for being covered by a go go band, but, then again, this is Essence, and yes, at the time, were in the business of employing Kimberly “Ms. Kim” Graham who takes the song and elevates it from just another pop hit to something truly special.

http://www.youtube.com/v/X6gtcy9qN5s&hl=en_US&fs=1&color1=0xe1600f&color2=0xfebd01

The most important thing to note here is just how professional and typical the band sounds at the start of the song. It’s as if it’s just another cover on just another night, just another crazy idea probably launched by band’s de facto leader Andre “Whiteboy” Johnson. But listen to how Ms. Kim handles her voice and handles the track and it slowly evolves from cover song into winning proposition of enormous proportions. By the time we get to the second round of choruses, it’s a full fledged groove, and has become property of the band, in a manner, yes, better than the triple platinum work of a teenage girl expressing her love for Ryan Cabrera.

#DCMUSICWEEK – Stinky Dink – One Track Mind

 

By 1991, go go music, the percussion driven, jazz, soul and hip hop style borrowing musical hybrid familiar to Washington, DC was a household concept. Hurby Luv Bug, the producer of Salt N Pepa and Kid N Play amongst many, had used the style to create the distinctive and unique breaks that would propel them to international superstardom. As well, Spike Lee, in wanting to lend some true HBCU authenticity to School Daze had DC’s Experience Unlimited (EU) throw down “Da Butt,” and the entire universe got to see what coeds at Howard, Virginia Union, and pretty much any HBCU in the area were intimately acquainted with. Go go music is a party, an insistent groove that once it locks in with your body, allows for the most amazing things to occur.

But what next for the sound? The go go evolution into truly incorporating hip hop elements was not a foreign concept. However, on Stinky Dink’s 1991 classic “One Track Mind,” he takes elements of hip hop, a magical sample of Michael Jackson’s “Human Nature,” a tight go go break, and his unique and well known “riggity raw” rap style, and creates a hit. 

http://www.youtube.com/v/Txwsn7T6WG4&hl=en_US&fs=1&color1=0xe1600f&color2=0xfebd01

“It all started, 12:01 was the time/One man, $100 and a one track mind.” There’s not a person alive that can’t get behind that. There’s individual free will, skill and initiative at play here. The backing track is tight, and the lyrics are too, more inspirational than anything, as while Stinky Dink isn’t going to win the Rap Olympics, he certainly weaves a tale here that leaves the listener motivated. As with all things go go, John “Stinky Dink” Bowman didn’t end up a millionaire with an international record deal. Instead, he plays with the Familiar Faces band now, a local act that plays local venues, and likely has a musical IQ and ability to create tight tracks that goes through the roof.

In any event, definitely take a listen here, and get into the timeless craft, style and message of “One Track Mind!”

TGRIOnline.com presents #DCMUSICWEEK

So, I recently moved back to Washington, DC. The less said about the seven years where I didn’t live in DC proper the better, but, I’m here, back to my city of birth, and I couldn’t be happier. Yes, as always, if you read the page you’ll read where I have rather extremely pointed things to say about the nature of the development of culture here, so, with that being said, I’ve decided to do my part to bring some DC cultural folklore back to the table. See, I love DC, and I think there’s depth and worth here on a musical level on the level of, or comparably better than other cities in the US, and let’s even extrapolate that to worldwide. But I think the city’s lost its way. I’ll posit this theory here. DC has become completely a city based around satiating the desires of a transient population. I think we’ve finally hit the tipping point, to the destruction of a unique DC culture. Yes, there are bands, acts, food, artists, etc., but none of it feels truly and uniquely organic as go go, hardcore or even on another level, Cool Disco Dan felt 30 years ago.

If people come and people go with alarming regularity, where’s the need for creating concepts, styles, sounds and ideas that have any permanence, roots or truly soulful reality? I argue that there isn’t one. However, let’s reflect on a time where DC was a valuable and positive cultural center of the universe and turned the world’s head around to the three stars and two bars.

This is the week where we celebrate and rediscover what makes DC special. Do enjoy!