RAPIDLY NEARING A critical mass of “important” bands, it’s odd that New York City has churned out so many bland jams in recent years. Sure, many are excited with the onslaught of cutesy guitar and drum duos, Animal Collective clones and masturbatory noise acts designed to appear experimental, but those of us on the outside have been waiting for a battle document to counteract what really amounts to a puzzling local complacency. Good thing DJ /rupture (aka Jace Clayton) and Matt Shadetek are stepping up.With their globetrotting Dutty Artz crew and a new mix record entitled Solar Life Raft—released Nov. 11—this Brooklyn-based production duo avoids rockist tendencies by viewing local music through a polycultural lens that’s actually reflective of its population.
Solar Life Raft functions like a massive cultural blender. Local acts such as Gang Gang Dance and Telepathe are chopped to chum and mixed with everything from dubstep toasters (Jahdan Blakkamoore) to modern classical composers (Luc Ferrari), international poets (Elizabeth Alexander and Caroline Bergvall) and rhythms from all over the world. Using around 30 percent original compositions and 70 percent remixes, DJ /rupture and Matt Shadetek blend sound from three turntables to create an organic snapshot of marginalized music.
“We wanted to highlight local music in Brooklyn and basically reached out to everyone that we knew,” explains Shadetek. “The ones who got back to us, those are the ones we used.The mix has one foot in the dubstep kind of world but we also added this New York look at that world.”
Rupture and Shadetek remix these local acts right out of rock territory all together. See Gang Gang Dance, a band that certainly doesn’t fit a normal mold for rock music, but has increasingly played into its familiar tropes
and earned the accolades that come with experimentation within the system. Solar Life Raft positions it outside again—remixing Saint Dymphna’s “Bebey” into a bouncy, sinister dubstep concoction. It’s an intelligent flip while also presenting something closer to the international ideals that the band often strives for in its compositions.
“I just think music should be crazier in New York City,” reflects DJ /rupture. “We have our friends and those are the people we reached out to on this mix, but I want a little more with so many things happening. Music isn’t even central to New York City at this point. It is very image conscious compared to places like London or even San Francisco.”
Solar Life Raft is just a small piece in the duo’s emerging Dutty Artz label and movement (other participants include Geko Jones,Taliesin and Jahdan Blakkamoore). In celebration of the new record, the crew is throwing a release party at the planetarium in the Museum of Natural History Nov. 13.The Dutty Artz outlook and international style will be on full display for hungry New Yorkers.
“This is our preemptive strike on genre,” says Shadetek.This is about openness.We play and deal with reggae, Latin music, house, dubstep and even hip-hop.When it’s live in a museum, it’s like the kids taking over.We’re playing totally lewd dancehall and the audience is dancing in this normally conservative space. I like going into a museum setting and saying, ‘This is my modern art. This is the freakiest shit going! Listen to it!’”
> DJ/rupture and Matt Shadetek
Nov. 13, American Museum of Natural History, Central Park West at West 79th Street, 212-769- 5100; 8, $TBA.
Mad docent: DJ/rupture and Matt Shadetek will perform at the Museum of Natural History.
