Sonik Youth
Meeting Ninjasonik in the daylight, and sober no less (well, relatively sober) is a strange experience. It almost feels wrong. The guys from the band are to be witnessed in a filthy warehouse or overcrowded dive bar somewhere in Brooklyn in the early hours of the morning when youre off your face amongst friends, covered in sweat and losing your mind on the dance floor. Not at Pianos at dinnertime.
Which is why it seems almost unfair that some peoples first experience with Ninjasonik will be the bands forthcoming debut album, Art School Girls. It should come with a bag of your favorite illicit substance and a teleporter that sends you to a party in Bushwick packed with 21-year-old Pratt girls losing their shit.
Because, and not to sound too lofty here, but its about more than just the music. Its an experience, an atmosphere brought about by guys who were like, fuck it, if youre not into our sound leave us to our own devices. Were going to have a fucking blast, make our music and burn this shit down to the ground.
This record wasnt based on some A&R guy sitting around like, This is a great idea, says DJ Teenwolf. Its not made for the music industry, we made it for ourselves. Were not trying to sell a million records.
Ninjasonik formed in 2004 when Teenwolf was DJing parties in the Bronx while attending Fordham University and met Jah Jah. They moved to Brooklyn a few years later and set up in the DIY scene populated by bands like Matt & Kim, The Death Set and Japanther.
Thats my favorite scene in New York, the most creative scene, says Teenwolf. Im just proud to be able to perform with all those guys.
The guys DJed all over Brooklyn and gained some attention with the song Tight Pants Nigga. Eventually the guys hooked up with Telli Federline and came up with a sound that corny-ass journalists like to refer to as hipster-hop. They kind of defy categorization but if you held a gun to my head Id call it electro-punk-rock-Pharcyde-dance music.
Since then, the band has developed quite a following, playing shows what seems like every week in Williamsburg, Bushwick and on the Lower East Side, gaining as much attention for insane live shows as for the band members hard partying ways.
But with a weeks worth of shows in early May opening for Clipse, are mainstream rap fans and people outside places like Brooklyn and Baltimore going to understand the hilariousness of songs like Art School Girlsshe likes to draw on pads/ her sketches are so rad/ her bills get paid by dad/ she loves me cause Im bad? Ninjasonik is not concerned.
Everyone is going to be able to relate. Even if you dont see it [the live show], you can paint a picture in your mind, says Jah Jah.
Telli adds, Thats the last thing Im worried about, Ill play in Kansas City or in the south in a redneck dive bar doing Tight Pants Ass Nigga.
In fact, these guys generally dont seem worried about anything.
We made this album for fun, and if you cant understand that, we dont give a fuck, says Teenwolf.
We dont give a fuck. Were real, we live this shit, adds Telli. We dont rehearse, we just go onstage and be ourselves.
In fact, the only time in the interview Telli turns serious is when he talks about all the people that have supported them. Were friends with everybody, he says. To the naked eye this might look like smoke and mirrors, but its all about relationships. None of this shit ever happens without your friends.
>Ninjasonik
April 20, Pianos, 158 Ludlow St. (betw. Stanton & Rivington Sts.), 212-505-3733; 7, $8.