On The Wheels Of Steel
DJ Killacut Delves Into Hip Hop's Traditions And Looks Towards Its Future Potential
originally published November 15, 2006
Members of the T-Nebula crew (L to R) Nolan Terrebone, F.L.Y. and DJ Killacut.
Longtime bedroom deejay Jeremiah Collins, known better by his public moniker DJ Killacut, is ripe to open up to the public. Over the course of time, hes developed some of the traditional turntable skills that made hip hop what it is today, honing his audience skills through live acts at local hip hop-friendly venues like the Caledonia and Tasty World.
Killacut is an unusual artist. He laments the demise of the classic vinyl deejay, referring to himself as somewhat of a novelty or dying breed in the local scene of Athens hip hop, yet he also seeks to learn the new home studio technology that is defining the sound of hip hop today. He is an Athenian to the core, and talks about the influence of sensation Danger Mouse, having once opened up for him when the multi-faceted deejay/ producer/ free-media icon was making music in Athens and working at Wuxtry Records.
I remember wondering why he had to be so adamant about how something should sound, why he couldnt just like certain artists or songs [the way they were] he says. Now, I know why: because he knew what he wanted out of music.
Following in the footsteps of those before, Killacut's main method of self-advertising is mix-tape (okay, CD) distribution. He has finished a remix album of all old-school artists featuring his greatest influences, like Grand Master Flash and Run DMC. This is the stuff that I grew up with," he says with conviction. "This is how I got into what I do. The recording tops out at more than an hour, and is a continuous mix of early-to-late-'80s breakbeat flavored with Killacuts own style of phasing and beat-matching - a slip-cue here, needle-drop there, a few specialty scratch solos thrown in the mix.
But plans for an actual album release are sometime later in the future. Copyrights, Killacut says with a grimace, recalling the immediate lawsuit following Danger Mouse's Grey Album.
Killacuts musical taste has a range that follows the history of hip hop from '80s legend Grandmaster Flash to '90s icons DJ Red Alert and DJ Premier up to this decades movers. And as a fan of local rock acts Polemic and Music Hates you, Killacut is also exemplary in defying archetypes, and will explore territories of punk and rock, claiming to sympathize with the revolutionary value of punk and connect it to the voice of hip hop.
If he plays his cards right, Killacuts musical career could head for local success. On an intellectual level, Killacut can appeal to an elite Athens music scene because he gives playtime to classic and independent artists. His theory of music is informed and diverse, which is reflected in his music, and he can recite a well-versed history of both hip hop and rock and roll, from blues to R&B to Motown. A lot of people these days dont know what rock and roll is, he says. To me, James Brown is real rock and roll.
On the other hand, Killacut is also sensitive to pop culture, providing a friendly ear to Top 40 hits (he opened his last set with cuts from Gnarls Barkley), and expresses admiration for regional successes such as Bubba Sparxxx, Outkast and Chris Chrisis.
Along with a developing sense of professionalism, the 30-something Killacut is continuing to show ambition. And, as a recently signed artist and contributing member of the local T-Nebula Productions crew headed by industry veteran Nolan Terrebone AKA Jon Gris, Killacut also seems to be exploring interests outside live performance. T-Nebula has produced local hip hop albums such as Ya Boy Brell's recent debut and Bears Ready Fo Me, and counts rapper F.L.Y. and R&B crooner Ben Stevens among its numbers. But whatever direction Killacut decides to pursue in the future, what he offers now is a style of hip hop that looks to both its home in Athens and beyond its borders.
DJ Killacut is taking part in this week's "Ball in the Fall" benefit show at The Ritz. The event benefits the local Loran Smith Center for Cancer Support, and features a producer battle wherein local talents can face their sounds off against one another. Several Savannah College of Art & Design grads will be in town to provide decoration and art installations, and a varied assortment of rappers also performs, including the Dead Fresh Squad, Big John Burbon, Mantic, Elite tha Showstoppa and all their respective entourages. For more information on the event, visit the website of the promoter at www.myspace.com/mantoothmusic.
WHAT: "Ball in the Fall"
WHO: Dead Fresh Squad, Big John Burbon, Mantic, Elite tha Showstoppa, DJ Killacut
WHERE: The Ritz
WHEN: Friday, November 17
HOW MUCH: $5$10
A New Day Dawns
Now It's Overhead Returns From Tour, Third Album Dark Light Daybreak In Tow
originally published November 15, 2006
Chris Bilheimer
Now It's Overhead
Andy LeMasters reputation precedes itself. A longtime principal of Athens Chase Park Transduction Studios and Omaha label Saddle Creek, LeMaster has cast a long shadow in little time. He has, in short order, become an in-demand producer and engineer, working with the likes of Bright Eyes, R.E.M. and the Drive-By Truckers. So now, in 2006, he is doing what any young man who has actually succeeded in the music business would do: he wants to tell you about this band hes in.
Of course, if your band is Now Its Overhead, and demand for your output is actually quite high, this may not seem like such a bad idea. The band, or more accurately, the moniker for LeMaster and carefully chosen cohorts, released a strong self-titled debut in 2001 to only mixed reviews. After that album's release came a period that saw LeMaster, drummer Clay Leverett, bassist-vocalist Orenda Fink and keyboardist-vocalist Maria Taylor plunging into other projects.
The usual suspects came together for 2004s Fall Back Open, a more ambitious song cycle that garnered national attention. Two more years, and we've got the recent album Dark Light Daybreak, which also welcomes touring members Brad Register (keys, guitar) and Curtis Brown (bass), also in the band Summerbirds in the Cellar, into the fold. The first impression listening to Dark Light Daybreak conveys is a sense of déjà vu. The packaging is similar to Fall Back Open: a purposefully understated affair with original, expressionistic artwork by LeMaster himself. As before, at only 38 minutes, the album makes sure not to wear out its welcome. And, certainly at first listen, the sonic approach is similar. With LeMaster at the helm, Now Its Overheads recordings are not so much band recordings as they are painstakingly assembled sonic collages.
Title track Dark Light Daybreak illustrates this as well as any. Layered vocals lead into an ominous rhythm recalling second-decade Depeche Mode. A standard verse melody by LeMaster lurches off the tracks with a sudden glissando, which effortlessly leads into the chorus. While it might be a stretch to call songs like these catchy, there is a certain immediate attraction to this particular song. It recalls Fall Back Opens opening track and main single, Wait in a Line" - both draw you in by the sheer audacity of the arrangements.
Andy LeMaster says, however, that the albums seemingly similar look and sound doesn't point to a Now Its Overhead aesthetic that is relatively static. There are similarities," he says, "but I dont see Dark Light Daybreak as a continuation of our last album. Appropriately, it was the extensive touring behind Fall Back Open, and the musical bonding between bandmembers it fostered, that took the group in a more aggressive direction. I set out to explore that more aggressive sound on this album by writing and arranging more with the entire band in the room together, says LeMaster.
Comparing Dark Light Daybreak with the previous albums, its clear that LeMaster has a good point. While terms like dreamy and psychedelic will certainly sneak into reviews of this record, there are some rockers in the bunch, albeit ones refracted through Now Its Overheads formidable prism. "Walls," for instance, is not only the most aggressive song in the groups canon, but the most schizophrenic as well. Drastic changes in Leveretts rhythms, coupled with churning guitars coming from every direction, prove almost disorienting. Plus, LeMasters rapid-fire, hyper-masculine vocal delivery has to be a first.
With Estranged, the connection people have made between Now It's Overhead and My Bloody Valentine becomes clear. That rare ability to make swooping, throbbing guitars and angelic vocals work well together comes through. This track not only shows the band working as a unit, it also showcases LeMasters ability to pile on crazy overdubs, yet know when to quit before it becomes too much. My rule is to always remember the initial intent of the song, LeMaster says of the editing process. Then its just a matter of knowing when the song is finished.
So, while LeMaster & Co. have kept the groups resolutely Euro-friendly, studio-as-an-instrument approach intact, there is a move toward rock convention that may bring more fans into the fold. When the group returns from its tour this week for the first local show since the album's release in September, ask the members how the new material is going over in the heartland.
In the meantime, when asked whether he felt his time spent with the group, instead of his lucrative production work, was due more to public demand or to his own drive to succeed, Andy LeMaster, perhaps out of modesty, goes with the latter. I love making albums and touring," he says. "Writing and recording my music is the most fulfilling thing for me. So I consequently focus more time and energy into Now Its Overhead.
WHO: Now It's Overhead, Psychic Hearts, They Sang As They Slew
WHERE: Caledonia Lounge
WHEN: Friday, November 17
HOW MUCH: $6
It's Elemental!
Magic Missile Writes Songs About Space, DNA And The Periodic Table
originally published November 15, 2006
Question: What do you get when you combine a passion for science fact and science fiction with some of Athens' most talented musicians?
Answer: The humorous, informative, euphonious science-geek sound of Magic Missile.
Magic Missile's beginnings originate from the misfortune of singer Jake Mosely, formerly of Johnny Carcinogen. In 1994, the self-proclaimed lifelong geek lost his Governors Honors scholarship at the University of Georgia, where he was majoring in physics and astronomy. Mosely was indifferent, but his parents were nonplussed at the trajectory his career took him: more than a decade of living the Athens life, cooking in restaurants, living with other musicians and playing lots of rock and roll.
Deirdre Sayre
Magic Missile
In 2003, Mosely bumped into a former bistro coworker Peter Keane (Quiet Men, Side of Fries) and the two concocted a plan to record the ultimate science geek band. They roped Keanes collaborator since junior high, Brian Smith (Fabulous Bird, Ordinary Germans Like Yourselves, King of Prussia, etc.), into the project on keys, adding an orchestral element to the impressive effects eked out by Keane on guitar. Keane, it should be noted, also is responsible for most of the production on the band's recorded material.
Soon, local native Meghann Jordan (ex-Cafeteria) came aboard, adding a powerful femme dynamic with her husky, sweet and at-times plaintive voice and her ever-reliable rhythm guitar. The Missile crew was further bolstered by the addition of bassist Wyatt Nicholson, who deejays locally under the name DJ Other Voices Other Rooms.
For a while, the Missile was bummed at the exile of Keane to Ithaca, NY, but the band's disappointment turned to elation when local legend Creston Spiers (Producto, Harvey Milk) joined on percussion, replacing interim beat provider Big Red (a drum machine). According to Mosely, Spiers inclusion adds a more dynamic, more rocking element to the band's sound, one that, according to Jordan, is more complex.
Elements are a passion for this band that has the ambitious, Sufjan-esque goal to record a song for each element of the periodic table. Magic Missile is off to a promising start with the deceptively bouncy gem "Chlorine," sung in a sweet duet between Jordan and Mosely: Take a swim / remember to pour some chlorine in / If you want to kill something / kill it with chlorine. Other elements that have been addressed so far include hydrogen, helium, carbon, fluorine and beryllium; some of the tracks are available on the band's MySpace page, www.myspace.com/magicmissile23.
Currently, only eight elements have their own songs, but seeing as how, depending on which periodic table one refers to, there could be more than 100 elements left to tackle, Mosely is open for collaboration. He encourages interested parties to contact him via jakemosely@gmail.com if they are interested in collaborating on songs.
Magic Missile addresses other science topics (both fact and fiction) besides the periodic table; comets, space rockets and DNA have all found their way into songs. Though the members say they're all interested in a diverse variety of bands, and claim not to be trying to emulate any particular sound, there is an obvious Flaming Lips influence, at least on the recorded material, though this influence is less noticeable in the live setting. With its new line-up coming together, the group's in a fine and interesting position to evolve.
For now though, take comfort in the fact that while listening to Magic Missile's music, you can be both entertained and edified with treasures like "Oxygen." Breathe it in, breathe it out," sings Mosely. "Oxygen can be your friend, but in the end, oxidation wears things out.
Please note this is an early show that starts at 7 p.m.
WHAT: Magic Missile, Blank Faces
WHERE: Caledonia Lounge
WHEN: Wednesday, November 15, 7 p.m.
HOW MUCH: $5
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