Three Imaginary Girls - Dyme Def

Tonight at the Sunset: wish SW's Rocket Queen a happy birthday

ChrisB — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 16:07:57 +0000

A very necessary, but no less sincere happy birthday should be extended to Hannah Levin, author of the must-read "Rocket Queen" column in the Seattle Weekly every week, co-owner of Gainsbourg and host of KEXP's Audioasis program - and all-told, she was my favorite music writer in Seattle long before we ever met several years ago and, of course, still is. Tonight, Levin is celebrating her birthday with a kick-ass show at the Sunset. Rock writers' birthday shows are always a great time (see here and, uhh, here) and this one is certainly no exception. Levin has booked a great night that promises to be "ear-bruising" with loud rock bands Helms Alee, The Ruby Doe and The Keeper. My favorite local hip hop group Dyme Def was recently added to the lineup as well, which makes perfect sense because they always know where the party's at.

Tonight at the Crocodile: Mad Rad's beardless era begins

ChrisB — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 20:51:45 +0000

Yesterday, I wrote about what I was sure would be an epic event: The Beard/Off at the Funhouse between Sir Thomas Gray of Champagne Champagne and Terry Radjaw of Mad Rad. By all accounts (my Twitter feed went crazy last night), it was a great game. Line Out has the most detailed recap I've read yet.

Tonight, Mad Rad is playing their first show with a beardless Radjaw. The press release that went out this morning said:

Our pals in Head Like A Kite are murdering it lately, gaining all sorts of much-deserved praise and attention. The boys in Dyme Def will be returning to the stage, and we are still loving that EP they released a little while back. And, Mad Rad? Forget about it, we’ve got some big Northwest history taking place with them this August 14.

Bumbershoot preview: Dyme Def

ChrisB — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 16:30:04 +0000

On their Jay-Z sampling single "The Game Needs Me", Dyme Def made one of my very favorite boasts in hip hop: "I'm the future, wondering where the past went; I'm ahead of my time so the future is past tense."

Modesty isn't Dyme Def's most visible trait but it doesn't seem unfair. The young trio from Renton have been one of the biggest acts in Northwest hip hop for the past few years and they may have the most potential. Each album and EP and mixtape they release (and they're quite prolific) seems to be an advancement over the its predecessor with the beats (from hot-shit producer Bean One) growing more intricate when they need to or more subtle when the songs call for it. The rhymes are more assured and confident.

The most recent release from Dyme Def is their Panic EP, whose release party at the Crocodile marked the club's first hip hop show since it's reopening (and they were pretty rare before that) and by all accounts, the night was quite the event: a sold out affair with appearances by some of the biggest and most talented artists in the flourishing hip hop community. Such a party outdoors, in the mid-afternoon would make for one of Bumbershoot's obvious "can't miss" sets.

Here's a video they just released that was shot mostly on Pine Street with iPhones. It's to their song "I'm Gone":

Dyme Def plays Bumbershoot on the Fisher Green Stage at 2:15pm on Sunday, September 6.

Tonight's recommended show: Dyme Def's EP release

ChrisB — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 15:13:35 +0000

Tonight, the Crocodile is hosting their first hip hop show, and it's going to be quite the party. It's the EP release for Dyme Def's newest album, Panic.

KEXP's Audioasis: Live broadcast, rad bands, good cause

imaginary victoria — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 19:21:13 +0000

This Saturday's show at The Sunset benefits Real Change Newspaper, with Weekend, Jason Dodson (of the Maldives), and slew of great bands!

Chris B's Top 10 NW Releases of 2008

ChrisB — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 05:31:14 +0000

Here are the ten Northwest albums that made my iPod a happier place in 2008.

Best of 2008: it's half-yearly check-in time

three imaginary girls — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 16:45:01 +0000

As of today, we're officially in the second half of 2008. Welcome! To gear you up for another fabulous six months of local Northwest releases, we here at imaginary headquarters have brainstormed an imaginary mix for all of you, containing some of our favorite songs by Northwest artists released this year to date thus far.

No promises that each of these will make our Best of 2008 Reader's Poll final list, but at least this way you have the next six months to follow-up and listen to these releases before you have to decide. To paraphrase imaginary ChrisB, we feel like this list is pretty unfuckwithable. But that doesn't mean that we didn't inadvertently overlook something great. If you have additions for our list, please chime in with your comments below.

Blue Scholars Present: The Program (Night Four)

ChrisB — Sat, 22 Dec 2007 19:35:44 +0000

21 Dec 2007

program.jpg

By any measurement, The Program – the five night showcase of local hip hop acts curated (and each night headlined) by Seattle’s own Blue Scholars – was an unqualified triumph. By the time it is over, each night will have sold out, with at least dozens of people clamoring to get in.

It was a risqué venture, to be sure. Never, to my knowledge, has a project been undertaken of such ambition with local hip hop. Could the Blue Scholars handle playing five consecutive nights? Was Neumo’s the proper venue (right in the heart of Capitol Hill and mostly plays host to rock shows)? Is there enough talent in the Northwest to fill out all five nights? Yes, yes, oh hell yeah. Isn’t that why those of us who like hip hop like it in the first place? The music often projects an aura of confidence and invincibility that we can follow. As those (non-local) smartasses from Handsome Boy Modeling School once put it (truthfully), “rock ‘n roll could never, ever hip hop like this.”

“You didn’t come to a show” exclaimed the Blue Scholar’s Geologic early into his group’s set, “you came to a motherfucking party.” It was as much of a celebration of the establishment of local hip hop as a showcase for it. The acts, though, were perfectly in tune with the posted schedule. You could set your watch to it (if your cell phone didn’t do that automatically) – every act began when the schedule said it would.

I was there for the fourth installment of The Program, which had an exclusively Seattle-based bill (throughout The Program, acts up and down the I-5 corridor were featured, from Portland to Vancouver). Up first was GMK (which stands for “Golden Mic King”). He was a young MC (I searched all over the internets trying to confirm his age to no avail. I’d guess somewhere around 19 or 20) but on stage and on record he sounds much older, with a delivery that was equally frantic or smooth - whichever the beats called for. He also has a mix tape available for free download on onlygp.com. Later he joined the second MC on the bill, J. Pinder, for several songs on his 30 minute set.

Throughout the night, the audience’s reaction to an act was driven by the beats. When they were upbeat and unpredictable, the packed crowd responded accordingly. It reminded me of one of the last sold-out shows at Neumo’s I was at, French electronic duo Justice. Justice, like the DJs on stage at the program, brought the audience along for the ride, almost controlling the crowd like puppets. They knew which beats the crowd would respond to and knew which moment to put them on. Similarly, each act at The Program Thursday night had a few moments where the crowd went wild and all you could see were hands up in the air. Even at one point DJ Jake One, who was spinning records between songs, got the crowd to sing along to NWA’s “Fuck tha Police.” Or at least sing along to the chorus.

Up until the Blue Scholars took the stage, the highlight of the evening for me was Dyme Def, A local trio whose LP, Space Music, I’ve only just recently become addicted to. Their set was only 30 minutes (I thought the schedule said 45) but it was tight and energetic. I don’t think any of the three rappers ever had their own verse; they seemed to all finish each other’s sentences as a group – which requires perfect timing to pull off – which they, of course, had. They won the crowd over early when their DJ, hot producer Bean One, sampled the Beastie Boys’ “Paul Revere” and got the loudest applause thus far into the evening. It was at that point obvious that the crowd was 95% Caucasian. They closed their set with “The Game Needs Me,” the best Northwest rap song I’ve heard all year. The chorus is catchy as hell (“Can’t leave rap alone, the game needs me”); the verses are smart and skillful, boastful but not too arrogant; and the beat is energetic and has a few unpredictable breaks. One rapper in Dyme Def said it was in regular rotation on KUBE (the Seattle mainstream hip hop radio station, for those outside of King County). That is no insignificant feat. I’ve also heard it on KEXP several times as well.

I suspect that Dyme Def’s set was cut short to give more time to set up for the Blue Scholars. That’s understandable, considering this night they were playing with a full band, Big World Breaks (who were also part of their set on the first night), for most of their set. If my count is correct, there were nine other people joining Geologic and Sabzi onstage, including a horn section. They went all out for this performance, even throwing a bone to the white guy college crowd by rhyming over the music to “Float On.” Yes, that “Float On.”

It was positively sublime to hear the sold-the-fuck-out crowd, not one you would assume to be politically active, sing along to the chorus of “Back Home” (“Bring ‘em back home, for my brothers and sisters who have been gone too long, I don’t want to have to keep singing this song.”). It was a moment I wish George Bush would have seen. Not that he’d care, but still.

The live band (especially the brass instruments) helped draw out the sound and made songs like “The Ave” sound even funkier than they do on record. Another local rapper, Gabriel Teodros, showed up for a cameo on “North by Northwest” and dropped a verse. By the time it was over, performing most of their well-known songs (I think closing the evening with “Joe Metro”), they were on stage for almost 90 minutes before they left the stage, only to be dragged back for an encore.

The whole affair was a thing of love. Each act gave a shout out to everyone else on the bill that night. Lots of the acts in The Program use the same producers (like Vitamin D, Jake One, and Bean One) and the crowd was packed with people who went crazy for the people performing. Everyone. Not just the headliners. That’s something I don’t see too often (or even at all) at the countless rock shows I go to. Then again, as Geologic put it, this wasn’t a show. It was a motherfucking party.

It was positively sublime to hear the sold-the-fuck-out crowd, not one you would assume to be politically active, sing along to the chorus of “Back Home." It was a moment I wish George Bush would have seen. Not that he’d care, but still.