Out ‘n' about in the City of Angels with Blurt's roving shutterbug (February 2010)

By Scott Dudelson

(above) Hellride (Mike Watt) - Live @ The Central (www.centralsapc.com) - 2/12

(below) Hellride (feat: Mike Watt, Stephen Perkins and Wayne Kramer) - Live @ The Central (www.centralsapc.com) - 2/12

Hellride (Stephen Perkins) - Live @ The Central (www.centralsapc.com) - 2/12

Hellride (Wayne Kramer) - Live @ The Central (www.centralsapc.com) - 2/12

Linkin Park -  Live @ Staples Center - 2/23

Linkin Park (Chester Bennington) -  Live @ Staples Center - 2/23

Linkin Park (Brad Delson) -  Live @ Staples Center - 2/23

Linkin Park (Mike Shinoda) -  Live @ Staples Center - 2/23

Linkin Park (Phoenix) -  Live @ Staples Center - 2/23

Prodigy -  Live @ Staples Center - 2/23

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Scott Dudelson is a music journalist and concert photographer based in Los Angeles.  Scott is also the Chief Operating Officer of Prodege, LLC, the company behind www.swagbucks.com.

Steve Ignorant Interview (formerly with Crass)

By John B. Moore

Since this interview was conducted, Steve Ignorant and his band mates have had to reschedule their much-anticipated shows in the U.S. and Canada after failing to secure Visas to enter the countries. Originally slated for March, the tour now starts in April. According to a press statement: "As of  (March 7^th), the band had not been issued US entry visas, despite months of preparation and despite having delivered all of their documents to their visa agent well in advance of usual guidelines. With only 3 days to go to the first show and no hope left of getting the visas in time, the only decision that could be made was to let the fans know and move the shows."

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British anarcho-punks Crass certainly never stressed out over skinny jeans and asymmetrical haircuts, nor did they go around comparing ironic tattoos like many of today's punk rockers.

Instead they spent the late 70's up to their inevitable implosion in 1984, creating in-your-face political rants set to abrasive sound collages and pretty much taunting Thatcher and her conservative minions. The highly influential, but often overlooked punk band set out a template for everyone from The Dead Kennedys to Anti-Flag.

Having vowed to never again reunite, band co-founder and front man Steve Ignorant has decided to give fans one last chance to hear the songs of Crass before he officially nails the coffin shut and encases it in cement. Just don't call it a reunion.  

Let's start off with The Last Supper Tour. Can you tell me a little bit about the concept behind it?

It all really started with the Feeding of 5000 shows in 2007. I got a lot of phone calls from people wanting me to repeat that show across the world. I had to explain to them that the whole idea of the Feeding 5000 was just a one-off show, never to be repeated and I couldn't go back on that. As time went on it became apparent that a lot of people couldn't get to those shows and were desperate to see them live. It took me a long time, but spoke to some people and thought long and hard about it and thought why not. Why shouldn't I for one last time perform Crass songs live and I won't just do Feeding 5000, because to repeat that would be just jumping on a bandwagon.  I asked people on the Web site what they'd want to hear and they sent in suggestions and that's how it sort of comes about really. I called it the Last Supper because I want to make it apparent because this will be the last time it happens. When I do the last show in England, I will never every perform these songs live again. That's a promise I have made to not only people, but myself.

And why is that? Obviously having been a part of this movement you have a strong identity to these songs. Do you just want to put them to rest?

Partly that. You see it so many times that someone will say "this is the last tour," and of course they come out again. The Sex Pistols have been guilty of this and so has Jimmy Pursey from Sham 69.

They realize there's still money left on the table?

Absolutely and I don't want to be seen like that. I've shot myself in the foot because there's no way I can do it now. I have to finish. I can't go back on my word and I won't. If it is going to be your last tour, make it your last tour. You know as well as I do that in three years time I could come out with The Last Supper: Second Sitting. What a sellout that would be on my part. My conscious just won't let me. It's a time for one last big celebration. It's also a chance for people who never got to hear those songs to hear them live. And after the show in November I'll take some time off and start work on the next project I want to do.

You seem to make a point on your web site and in all press materials of not calling this a reunion. It's you and other musicians playing Crass songs. At any point did you consider bringing in other Crass band members to make it a reunion?

No and for no other reason that if only I do it, it's Steve Ignorant playing Crass songs and not a reunion. I know there's been some stuff in the states over there saying "Steve Ignorant/Crass". If anyone is being duped by this thinking it's a Crass show, it's just wrong. Crass are not reforming and never will. This is just me. If anyone is out there buying tickets to see Crass, you won't. You'll just see me, so if you don't want that I suggest you take your ticket and get your money back because I wouldn't want anyone to come under false pretenses.  That (reunion) rumor is not being started by us. When I get to the states, I'm going to find out who's been starting this and there shall be a little discussion.

Does that seem to be an American phenomenon - show promoters trying to play this up as Crass, instead of you playing Crass songs?

There was one attempt somewhere in Germany where someone tried this and we had to put an end to it. I don't think it's just an American thing, I just think it's someone trying to make more money.

As an American punk fan, I was cognizant of the fact that you never got to play many shows ever here. Do you see this tour as a way to make up for it? You're playing more than just NY and LA.

Absolutely. Crass didn't really play in many countries and I think it's only right on this tour that I go where I can. Go wherever people are willing to come. It gives me an opportunity to meet people and gives them an opportunity to meet me...  The tour so far has been quite emotional, because they are getting to see me play these songs and are just happy that we're hitting so many different places. It's just really, really emotional. It's wonderful.

You're hitting some mid-size markets that a lot of bands from overseas tend to ignore like Atlanta and Baltimore.

Yeah, someone had to explain to me that America is a really big place. I thought fuck it. This is the last time it's going to happen, why not? If people are prepared to come out, we might add in another date here and there.

 A lot has been written over the years about the band being very thought out from the beginning, with a clear path of when the band would break up. Did you ever anticipate that three decades later people would still be talking about Crass and still be talking about punk in general?

No, not at all. I have to say I know that Penny has said that it was planned when we would break up, but I don't remember that being the case at all. I remember having the conversation about the (catalogue) numbers on the records and I remember saying "what happens when we get to 1984? And they said never mind, We'll sort that out." (Editor's note:  Many have speculated that the releases were numbered in such a way as to represent a countdown to the year 1984, when the band would split up. For the record, they did call it quits that year). So, no, I certainly didn't think we had plans to break up ahead of time.

The thing that really separated the Crass from others is that it always seemed like more than just a band. You certainly weren't shy about your politics and there was a lot of performance art as well, from the spray painting around London, to the faked taped conversations supposedly between Thatcher and Reagan. Did that stuff just happen or did you set out to more than just a punk band?

No, it was really just us wanting to start a band. We thought we'd just be playing pubs. We had no idea we would be doing so much. That just sort of came along. But we very quickly went from seeing ourselves as a band to seeing ourselves more as an information Center. We started handing out leaflets telling people what to do if you are arrested by the police; what you're rights are. A lot of other bands then started doing that as well. No, we didn't start out doing that, but change just came along and once she (Thatcher) came into power, we started thinking of way to get up her nose.

You may have had Thatcher, but we had Reagan at the same time...

You know I felt so sorry for you guys.     

The thing that surprises me is how he has become a hero to so many. It's as if everyone collectively agreed to forget about anything bad he ever did for this county.

I am shocked at younger kids who think the same thing about Thatcher. I'm completely beside myself... I've always told people that once she dies, the drinks are on me. If that woman achieved anything it's that she taught me how to hate.

Do you still listen to punk music? Do you listen to some of the newer punk bands?

No, I'm afraid I don't. Once I hit middle age I mellowed out. I listened to some Reggae, but now I listen to a lot of the classic Soul and Motown. And I've been getting into a lot of John Coltrane and Miles Davis. I'm cool man; I'm getting hip.

I know you've started re-releasing some of the Crass albums. Were the rest of the band members involved in that as well? Does everyone have to sign off on it?

No, no. Some of the ex-members of Crass didn't agree to it, so we did it the way we always agreed to do things: let's put it to a vote and it was 4-to3, so we released them. I won't mention names, but someone threatened us with court proceedings, so we sort of stuck our two fingers up and went ahead. So, who knows, maybe I'll see you in the Klink.

DJ LENGUA

By Carl Hanni

As the world turntables...

Somewhere along the way ‘dance music' became a genre, much like ‘indie rock' has become a genre; these terms no longer indicate that music is just for dancing, or released by independent labels, but refer to wide but nonetheless finite set of parameters. We know know dance music when we hear it, like we know indie rock when we hear it.  

Dance music now generally refers to that constantly shape shifting and morphing world of electronic dance music, picking up and mixing and discarding sub genres (drum & bass, dubstep, jungle, whatever) that all originated, at one time or another, out of what we used to call house music then eventually, techno. 

Let us acknowledge and give a nod, then, to the makers of original music that subverts the norms of electronic-based but still danceable music. Especially because, for all of it's future-is-now aspects and embracing of new technology, much electronic dance music is pretty standardized and generic; huge swaths of it is tedious and unoriginal, actually. 

DJ Lengua is a cat who knows how to have it both ways. His two mix LPs that I've heard, 2008's DJ Lengua and 2010's Cruzando, (another, Dilo!, came out in 2001) are primers of original and unconventional mixing, but they are (for the most part) still danceable as long as your mind is open and not blindered by the Top 40 mentality of most dance clubs. More importantly, they are listenable, ingeniously constructed and about as much fun as you can have with a slice of vinyl with grooves cut into it. It was that sense of play and mischievousness that first struck me when I heard DJ Lengua for the first time a couple if years ago. It evidenced great musical wit and originality, but didn't neglect the booty, either. Lengua seemed like someone who approached his craft with a sense of play and humor, infinitely attractive qualities for those of us who are primarily interested in dance music that can be listened to and danced to in equal measure. 

DJ Lengua was born and raised for his first fifteen right here in Tucson, as Eamon Ore-Giron. Currently calling Los Angeles home, he's also lived Mexico City, Peru and San Francisco. Like lots of DJs, he's obviously a cultural and musical omnivore, picking up bits of this and that wherever he's lived and traveled. In his case this especially holds true for musics from Peru and Mexico, as well as other musics under the umbrella "Latin Music," a non-genre wide and wildly diverse enough to include everything from vintage Chicano garage rock to Tex Mex, Latin Jazz to Salsa, Tejano to Chicha, and pretty much anything produced in South and Central America and Mexico since the dawn of recording technology. 

It what he does with all of this that is singular and sets Lengua apart of the crowd around the turntables. Radically slowing down or speeding up bits and pieces of this and that, dropping all but a vocal line or a break, thinning it all out and cranking up the high end and mid ranges, while layering it all with his own beats and squeaks - that may sound exactly like what other adventurous mixologists do, but a DJ Lengua mix is a truly original and singular thing. There is something decidedly, delightfully off-kilter and off the wall about every track on DJ Lengua and Cruzando, from the flute twitters on "Cumbia Squares" and psychedelic dub swirl of "l Pacheco" to insistently straight ahead and sassy groove of "Perdido" and the ingeniously catchy "La Jungla." The man's a true stylist.

DJ Lengua is also the co-owner of Unicornio Records and a renowned visual artist (as Eamon Ore-Giron), working in acrylic, spray-paint, silk screening and multi-media. In addition to Lengua's releases, Unicornio has released titles by Chicano Batman and DJ Roger Mas, with more to come. 

To check out some of his stuff, see: 

Unicornio Records: www.unicorniorecords.com

Twitter: @SONIDOLENGUA

www.myspace.com/djlengua

Facebook Group: http://www.facebook.com/djlengua

DJ MIX: http://supersonido.net/2010/03/09/dj-lengua-rebajada-mota-mix/

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Here's a Q&A we did via e-mail recently:

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You can leave comments below or e-mail them to me directly at modmedia@theriver.com .

Carl Hanni is a music writer, music publicist, disc jockey, book hound and vinyl archivist living in Tucson, AZ. He hosts an occasional concert and film series at The Screening Room in downtown Tucson, "The B-Side" program on KXCI (Tuesday nights midnight - 2 a.m.) and spins records wherever and whenever he can. He currently writes for Blurt, Tucson Weekly, and (occasionally) Goldmine and Signal To Noise.

New BLURT Column spotlighting "dusty instrumental hip-hop, techno and bass artists" kicks off.

By Dominic Umile

When I pitched a column idea to my patient editor at BLURT, it was with the intention of carving out a place for its readers to find an intimate discussion of electronic music, or records that are largely beats-driven, be it dusty instrumental hip hop, techno, or the subject of this first entry, happenings in various bass artist circles. My initial idea was in part informed by a reaction to the instantaneous one-offs and press release re-posts that are occurring these days with unhealthy frequency. I hope to offer what I consider a deep and more personal analysis of new (and maybe older) releases in lieu of the immediate, short-form album appraisals and so-called "criticism" of "leaked" MP3's that materialize within 15 minutes of their mass distribution. I'm calling this endeavor Beats Working because there will be a lot of talk of beats, and because consuming and thinking about music - whether it's on long subway commutes or sifting through records in my apartment - well, it beats working. I've spent a good deal of time lately thinking about the bass-oriented records that have come my way.

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The turbulent third LP from Dave "2562" Huismans (pictured, above) rattles so much, it's unlikely that you'd ever detect one of the disco samples that allegedly stirs and stutters at its foundation. The Netherlands-born, Berlin-based producer has been exploring a haunting dubstep-minimal techno sound for years, and even though his source material was limited to loops from classic disco vinyl for Fever (no additional synths or drum programming), the new tracks are far closer to hard, cold techno than the releases in his recent catalog.

2562 - Aquatic Family Affair (doubt000 A) by 2562 / A Made Up Sound

The beats are deep and pugnacious for Fever, and the base of pre-album single "Aquatic Family Affair" as well as the title track treads closely to the rhythmic patterns on Dave Huismans' 2009 LP Unbalance, where percussive thrusts of kick drums and hi-hats drive an affable mix of dubby textures and hazy techno. Fever is fascinating and difficult to digest - at times it's similar to Claro Intelecto's dim Warehouse Sessions, devoid of the melody that so frequently underpins the last 2562 outing. "Juxtaposed" is rich with fluttering sci-fi sonics and long-echoing snare rolls, while Fever's mere chunks of bass and metallic clinks are weaved into track-length machine rumbles on "Flavour Park Jam" and on the blurting "Cheater." Huismans trims dizzying textures down to half-second bits and layers them on top of hard and jumbled beats for most of the record, while tangible instances of tightly packed 4/4 dance music occasionally bubble to the fore - micro-diced synth bits and backward swirls on "Brasil Deadwalker" and "Final Frenzy" are built for a thrilling club set, but certainly nothing here sounds like disco. Instead, Huismans expands his palette with a perpetually cryptic record that's really difficult to explain to your friends. I'll take that over disco any day of the week.

Drew "FaltyDL" Lustman doesn't stray noticeably far from the temperate analog sounds that we generally associate with disco records on his second proper full-length for Planet Mu. As much play as the more prominent UK garage and house-inspired dubstep offshoots are getting these days, New Yorker Lustman has remained ahead of the pack, loading his work with consistently provocative shifts in color and rhythm. On You Stand Uncertain, Lustman exhibits a refreshing and ever-steady intention to sweeten lush, late-night house-driven dance music with strong melodies and loads of atmospherics.

To London by FaltyDL

Often as shadowy and hypnotic as the jumbled headphone opus he dubbed Bravery in 2009, You Stand Uncertain is also bright and dramatic, lined with risky moves that make for the most complete-sounding statement Lustman has issued to date. The doses of breathy, unfinished garage diva samples and spirited hi-hat exercises that run through "Voyager" and "It's All Good" look back at his well-received debut album, as well as at his flashy Endeavor EP in 2010. Vocalist Anneka (you heard her on Starkey's "Stars") figures into the You Stand... opener's captivating swirl of vintage organ keys and jangly percussion - the collaboration, along with two others here, marks a new direction for Lustman, as he's previously relied on vocal samples to establish the intimate feel of his records, rather than invite another musician into the studio. Live, untreated vocals instead of the usual pitch-mangled snippets on "Gospel of Opal" are welcome, particularly in the spots where sparse harmonies fall into place just ahead of the audible acoustic guitar loops. The harder stuff is here too, in innumerable junglist drum sources that tumble through "Lucky Luciano," reminiscent of the streamlined, breakbeat-backed Phreqaflex and the absolutely nasty "Never" remix that Lustman did for West Coast beatmaker Eprom last year. [LISTEN TO MIX: FaltyDL for Dummy Mag]

Considerably less light slips into the straight 17 and a half minutes of whooshing, rubbery techno that newer UK bass producer Jamie "Blawan" Roberts laid down for his danceable Bohla EP, released on R&S. Drums play the biggest role on this percussively robust three-songer. Roberts' musical roots are said to have sprouted behind a drum kit, and it shows, perhaps in the barrage of rimshots on "Kaz" or in the deep tribal thwacks of the title track. While Roberts deals an innovative hybrid of alien bass music and tribal house on Bohla, the Round Black Ghosts compilation on Berlin's ~scape comes to mind after his "Lavender" takes off - the 2008 collection features a set of dub and techno crossovers from artists like Untold and 2562, whose ideas back then can be compared to the plans Roberts has now.

BR #47 Blawan by BOILER ROOM

I'm more likely to return to R&S releases from James Blake and Pariah ahead of Bohla, because they're overall more aesthetically diverse, with the emphasis on UK garage sounds that I find so appealing these days, as well as on abundant melodies. Hailing from a town in Worcestershire, England, a trio called Swarms invests a lot of energy into building melody. They're producing a psychedelic but quite polished blend of bass music and chirpy midtempo techno, with heavily coded guitar lines and frequent vocal samples worked into the mix.

Flikr of ur eyes by Swarms

Old Raves End, Swarms' debut full-length for LoDubs, sits snugly alongside the label's releases from dubstep well-known Clubroot, whose sophomore LP is loaded with similarly refined choral textures, field noise, and somber, ambient 2-step tunes. Clubroot's best work is in his understated tracks, and Swarms is also strongest when they're reining it in. "Roulette" boasts broad, sweeping synth chords that move along at a syrupy pace, clashing with the sped-up, indecipherable vocal churning the background. The same batch of elements work in a slow, massive-feeling cycle for "Sky Below Sea," which is equally stirring, but the text msg-friendly "Flikr of Ur Eyes" is the most comely of the lot. Tenderly strummed guitars match measured synth swells and whispered vocal cut-ups a la Lali Puna's "Faking the Books" on "Flikr..." The beats that eventually shuffle in barely disrupt this organic stretch, and close listens summon actual fretboard slides as well as the affecting soft patter of English countryside rain. [LISTEN TO MIX: Swarms And Geiom]

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BLURT contributor and blogger Dominic Umile lives, writes, and drinks in Brooklyn, NY. Follow him on Twitter: @DominicUmile