photo credit: Heather McConegal
This past Saturday, November 21st, we had the pleasure of hosting our latest cover dude, Murderbot, who came down from Chicago to spin at the launch party for the fall/winter 2009 issue of Demencha Magazine at Balanca’s Pyro Room at 18th and Grand, downtown. Murderbot, who’s originally from KC, bolted up to Chicago about two years ago to broaden the possibilities of his two record labels, Dead Homies and Sleazetone, which is going pretty well for him to say the least. I’m not sure when the last time was that he played a DJ set in front of a KC crowd, but I know that it was probably some time ago.
Hip hop artist, Dirty D, went on first at about 10:30 or so, along with a colleague or two of his. Negro Scoe did MC stuff as well, over Z-Sonic’s bass-laden originals. (Shout out to DJ Z-Sonic, who’s birthday party was on the same night). Galactic Soul Tribe warmed things up before Murderbot went on, with a foray of house and techno.
Leading up to the event, Z-Sonic and I were a bit worried that we wouldn’t have much of a pull because of the Bassnectar show in Lawrence on the same night. Murderbot went on at a little after 1 a.m., I believe. Most of his set was reggae-influenced music, everything from dancehall to reggae to dub to dubstep to UK Funky, even some ghetto Chicago tunes got dropped. I meant to have lunch with M-Bot before he leaves in a couple days to go back to the Chi, so I could pick his brain more about this UK Funky stuff. But throughout his set, the majority of the crowd on the floor seemed somewhat enthralled and highly interested in what he was playing. This was not a typical set you’d hear at Balanca’s, where house music typically rules.
I also have to give a BIG thanks to Les Izmore for coming out to that show. He was basically the only local hip hop head who made the concerted decision to come out to this. Speaking of which, another thing that I knew was going to throw some of our hip hop base for a loop was the venue we had this party at. Someone I highly admire in the local hip hop circle (I won’t name names) said to me when I gave him a flyer the week before the party at Balanca’s, “Is this still a lesbian bar?” Now, I’m not gonna lie, we all know that Balanca’s is where the freaks come out, but I now think that others in the hip hop scene might not be as open-minded about the venues and crowds they associate themselves with as I had once given them credit for. Real talk.
Murderbot’s last 30 minutes on the decks were his best, and everyone was into it. Considering the huge event out in Lawrence that same night, and half of my readers apparently taking a discriminatory attitude towards even coming out, the turnout was dope. I even did pretty much all my Christmas shopping the next day with some cash made from the door! It’s such a nice feeling to get Xmas shopping done before Thanksgiving, because we all know it’s going to be nuts out there from now until mid-January.
Anyhoo. Murderbot straight killed it. Z-Sonic even said he should’ve passed out toe-tags to people on the dancefloor at the end of the night. Sam Blam, I know for a fact was raving mad about this party for a couple days afterwards, and hopefully still is. After that, M-Bot went home, I believe, to hang out with his family. Z-Sonic, Spliff and I went to a house party of sorts and just kicked it.
All in all, it was a good event. But to get as many people out for the next release party as possible, which should be mid-February, I think I’ll need to find another venue (no disrespect to Balanca’s).
Album Review
Ces Cru
The Playground
(INnatesounds, 2009)
As far as this town of rappers is concerned, Ces Cru’s Godemis and Ubiquitous have held court atop the ever-enlarging anthill for a minute or two now, busting like twin King Kongs dispatching versatile verses rather than simian blows. Despite earning those words and continuing to burn down about every battle they enter, Ces’ recorded output has been inconsistent to this point, both in terms of cohesion and timeliness. On The Playground, their first official full-length in five years, Leonard D. Stroy’s beat tapestry brings Ces’ world into focus – a Golden Age combination with Now Age relevance.
On the album’s best beats, it’s as if Lenny D rolled out a gob of Silly Putty over the culmination of his production career, rolled that shit up tight, and made it bounce. Sure, there are elements both trace and whole from his bag of tricks (subtle touches of reggae and jungle, not-so-subtle air horns, the slightly offbeat shuffle that reveals an upbringing in jazz), but overall he waxes like a shadow, taking Ces’ rhyme patterns as a starting point on tracks like the menacing, loping “Hate Season” and the spaghetti western b-boy moves of the title track.
Ubi and Godi spend about half their time stomping all over their less loquacious foes with fierce finesse, lording their veracious verbosity over so many lesser than them, and raps about rapping are all fine and good, but the glut of rewindable verses come when Ces get topical. Media commentary (“Idiot Box”), cautionary hood tales (“Outtabounds”) and the state of youth (“Teeter”) all figure in the overarching concept of The Playground, which as loose as it is at least achieves a thematic feel.
Taking into account the five-year gap in recording (Iron Giant and Alpha aside), this joint still feels a little bloated, like it could have been pared down to a more concise 13 to 15 tracks. The classic one producer/one group formula suits CES well though, and if they progress lyrically at this rate every five years, they’ll no longer be giants in KC alone.
-Skill Laimbeer
Local production prodigy (and yes, we’re comfortable calling him a prodigy after hearing this tape) DR+, has put together a collection of some of his best beats, mixed up by local DJ duo, Barbaric Merits. We’re not sure what’s up with a tracklisting just yet, but we do know that this may go down as the best beat collection of 2009 out of KC. No bullsnit. I would describe this as electronic music from a hip hop producers mindset/background, while others will be calling DR+ the “Flying Lotus of Kansas City.” You will probably be calling him “that dude on the cover of the new Demencha Magazine” in a matter of 3-6 months. We at Demencha slept real hard on this dude for a long time, admittedly. But two words come to mind when I think of this release, which I’ve been pumping in the whip and at home since I got my hands on it last night: MIND. BLOWING.
DOWNLOAD HERE:
DR+ – DOANDROIDSDREAMOFELECTRICLOVERS
http://www.mediafire.com/?1moyzzwyjmw
S’ar Lavoe is a local hip hop group consisting of Approach, Smoov Confusion and Royce Diamond. This is the single for their release, Ashes. Lozano kinda knocked this one out of the park, in my opinion. He’s the director behind this video, and he also helped out in tricking out the covers for the spring/summer ‘09 Demencha. Dude’s got a good eye, for sure.
When? SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 21st / 9:30 p.m. -3:00 a.m.
Where? Balanca’s Pyro Room / 1809 Grand / downtown KCMO
Who? Murderbot (everything from dubstep to juke), Galactic Soul Tribe (EDM) & Dirty D (hip hop)
Why? Demencha Magazine’s fall/winter 2009 issue release party / Z-Sonic’s birthday bash!!!
How much? $5 cover
Why should I go? Because Murderbot isn’t on the cover of the new Demencha for no good reason. Over the past 12 months, since relocating from KC to Chicago, he’s toured Europe, been pushing his two record labels (Dead Homies and Sleazetone), opened up for dubstep icon, Skream, and Chicago juke vet, DJ Slugo, has contributed an exclusive mix to the Mad Decent blog, released a self-titled dance album that will probably go down as one of the better dance releases of 2009, and has held down http://www.yearofmixtapes.blogspot.com. You can also get a free copy of the new Demencha at this show, with him on one side of the cover, and Gear + Scribe on the other side. And I almost forgot to mention, BECAUSE MURDERBOT IS ONE OF THE COLDEST DJs TO EVER WALK KC!!!
What does Murderbot’s music sound like? LISTEN.
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