RTP-area local music and culture

[local506 AT earthlink.net]

Two shows were just added to our February calendar that I want to draw
attention two - especially since both acts appear on the front page of
pitchfork today (granted, one  is an ad!)

1) Buck 65 - Friday, 2/25
2) dalek - Wed 2/16

Here is some info about dalek - and if you're not familiar with
them, check out the free mp3 of 'Ever Somber' on their website
(http://www.deadverse.com/audio/ever_somber.mp3) - as mentioned below,
it's like a hip-hop version of My Bloody Valentine!   This is the
best rap song I've heard in a long time!

I can't wait!

glenn



d=E4lek pronounced dialect are:

d=E4lek - mc, producer
oktopus - producer
still - turntablist

d=E4lek is a band that's been around the world more times than most,
playing shows and expanding minds since 1997. Quiet for almost a full
year after constant DIY touring with such bands as Mike Patton's
Tomahawk, ISIS, KRS-One, De La Soul, The Melvins, Grandmaster Flash,
and fresh off of a landmark collaboration and release with Germany's
krautrock legends Faust, d=E4lek are back with their third and most
sonically challenging full length to date, Absence. Expanding their
sound and pulling from their influences, Absence recalls the best parts
of Public Enemy and the Bomb Squad, the street poetry of KRS-1, the raw
beats of Gang Starr and Mobb Deep, and the fearlessness of the avant
garde, like Glenn Branca, My Bloody Valentine and Penderecki.

If only Hip Hop aged like wine -- where Public Enemy sampling
Slayer while spitting lyrics for the "Permanent Underclass" had
informed and challenged younger artists who were socially conscious and
musically aware, then maybe in 2004 d=E4lek wouldn't seem so out of
place. Instead, the contemporary Hip Hop scene is more interested in
hyperactive 1000 word-per-minute emcees backed by cookie cutter
production. With such lowered expectations of course it's difficult
to understand d=E4lek's frustrations in the fiery opener "Distorted
Prose." If you're used to emcee's boasting about their skills, you
might miss the history lesson in urban oppression on "A Beast Caged."
And if you can't believe that hip hop music can or should be
complicated, emotional and breathtaking, you'll probably want to pass
over the MBV-drone bliss of "Ever Somber" or the sheer sonic terror
behind "In Midst of Struggle." But then again, if you missed all that
rest assured MTV will soon pump out another mindless Hip Hop record
that you won't have to worry about. One that won't offend you, or make
you think, or challenge your expectations. This is not that record.
This is an album of violence, pain and the challenges of life. And they
never sounded so good.