Bomb the Bass

El próximo 4 de octubre (2008) se cumplen exactos 10 años del fenómeno electrónico causado por dos vieneses al emitir “The K&D Sessions™” bajo el sello discográfico !K7. Peter Kruder junto a Richard Dorfmeister lograron revertir el efecto de lo que se conoce como un remix. Si bien no se les puede llamar pioneros, sí se les puede adjudicar un importante rompimiento de esquemas dentro de la electrónica al apartarse de un sonido apto para las pistas de baile y que por el contrario busca adentrarse en un espacio parecido a un sofá y unos buenos audífonos para echarse a escuchar sus estudiadas y bien balanceadas mezclas.

Algunos meses después de su lanzamiento el Pocho llegó hablando maravillas de Kruder y Dorfmeister. Cuando dijo que se traba de una producción de dos discos llenos de remixes mi primera reacción fue pensar que se trataban de aburridas mezclas de punchis-punchis que pronto estarían sonando en los bares y discos, con gringas borrachas deseosas de mostrar sus chichis-chichis. Meses más tarde, todavía sin graduarme de la universidad, nos subimos al coche de alguien que puso la mezcla de Depeche Mode a su canción de Useless que hicieron este par. Quedé  tan maravillado que en cuanto pude fui a comprar el par discos.

Conformé un gallo, lo prendí, le di varias fumadas, puse el disco uno y me tiré sobre la alfombra. El viaje fue grande, delicado, reconfortante, sorprendente y aleccionador. Fue un disco que me ha acompañado en muchos viajes, el que escogía frecuentemente para estabilizar mi estado anímico y que terminó todo rayado y su estuche deshecho, pues era de cartón.

Mi track favorito, hasta la fecha, sigue siendo el número 3 del disco 1: “Bug Powder Dust (K&D Session™) ft. Justin Warfield”, sobre todo por la letra, la cual es todo un código referenciado para todo aquel iniciado.

I hope you read English :)

Bug Powder Dust lyrics

[I think it's time to discuss your philosophy of drug use as it relates to artistic endeavors]

Check it, yo!

I always hit the tape with the rough road styles

You heard the psychdelic and ya came from miles

Keep my rhymes thick like a Guinness brew

So you could call me black and tan when I'm a wreckin' a crew

I'm like Bill Lee writing when he's in Tangiers

And now I'm on a soul safari with my Beatnik peers

Analog reel and a little distortion

Smokin' on somethin' s'you could say I'm scorchin' 

I never been the type to brag but beware

I'll make a man burn his draft card like it was Hair

Send ya up the river like you lookin' for Kurtz

I got the mugwump jism up in every verse

I always hit the apple when I'm going to shoot

So you can call me William Tell or Agent Cooper to boot

Mr. Mojo Risin' on the case again

So tell your mother and your sister and your sister's friends

Like an exterminator running low on dust

I'm bug powder itchin' and it can't be trussed

Interzone trippin' and I'm off to Annexia

I gotta get a typewriter that's sexier 

My name is Justin and that's all that's it

And I'll be spittin' rhymes wicked like it ain't for this shit

Houses of the Holy like Jimmy Page

But the song remains the same so I'm stuck in a rage

Just like Jane when she's going to Spain

I think I'm going away tomorrow, just a fool in the rain

Light up the candles and bless the room

I'm paranoid, snow blind, just a black meat fool

Bug powder dust an' mugwump jism

And the wild boys runnin' 'round Interzone trippin'

Letter to control about the Big Brother 

Try like hard to not blow my cover

Never been a fake and I'm never phony

I got more flavour than the packet in macaroni

Rock drippin' from my every vowel

I've got the soul of the sixties like Ginsberg's Howl

Shootin' mad ball and I'm always jukin'

Take you to the hole and I'm surely hoopin'

Top of the pops like the Lulu's show

I'll take a walk on Abbey Road with my shoes unsoled 

I got a splinter though, damn, you know man it hurt

I got a Vegemite sandwich from Men at Work

I keep minds in line, but time sublimes,

So when you search you find something like a gold mine

A psychadelic meanderings in the poem

I got a patter, patter anyplace that I roam

Waiting for the sun on a Spanish caravan

Solar eclipse and I'm feeling like starin' man

Bug powder dust an' mugwump jism

And the wild boys runnin' 'round Interzone trippin'

Letter to control about the Big Brother 

Try like hard to not blow my cover

Who's that man in the windowpane

Got somethin' on his tongue and it's startin' to stain

Sho' nuff equip so wop n'get down

Step up on my ladder and you'll get beat down

Hash bar style so I'm singin' day glow

Wakin' up the dead like Serpent and the Rainbow

Jeff Spicoli roll me another hay

The Fish that Saved Pittsburgh with Dr. J

Shockin' your ass like a faulty vibrator

Hear me now, but you'll probably get the vibe later

Who knows where the wicked wind blows

Que sera sera just leave it alone

Great Space Coaster toast up the town 

Makin' midgets with my man Dr. Shrinker

Pass the hookah, throw down the pillows

Cloth on the ceiling, blow rings that billow

Kick off the shoes and relax your feet

Now roll up your sleeves for this lyrical treat

[I think it's time for you boys to share my last taste of the true black meat; the flesh of the giant, aquatic, Brazilian centipede.]

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NOTES / REFERENCES:

The spoken lines at the very beginning and end of the song are quotations from the movie 'Naked Lunch.'

Verse 1

Black and tan is a drink made with half a pint of Guinness (the black) and half a pint of Bass (the tan). It may also refer to the 1919 revolt of the Irish Republican Army.

Bill Lee is the main character in 'Naked Lunch' and it refers to William Burroughs

Tangiers is a port in Morocco

A Beatnik is a member of the Beat Generation (the generation of people that came to maturity in the 1950s) that tends to shun conformity

Burn his draft card like it was Hair probably refers to the musical 'Hair'

Send you up the river like you looking for Kurtz is a reference to the novel 'Heart of Darkness' by Joesph Conrad and/or to the movie 'Apocalypse Now' which was based on that novel.

Mugwump jism is a reference to 'Naked Lunch'

Verse 2

William Tell was an archer who used to shoot apples off of his son's head (according to legend). In 'Naked Lunch,' Bill Lee kills his wife by attempting something similar.

Agent Cooper was also an incredible marksman like William Tell in the TV series Twin Peaks

Mr. Mojo Risin' is an anagram for Jim Morrison that he apparently used to check into hotels and is used in the song 'LA Woman'

Trussed is a term used in hip-hop to mean tied down

Interzone is a fictious Algerian port where Bill Lee wrote novels in 'Naked Lunch'

Annexia is a fictious location that Bill Lee goes to after leaving Interzone (from 'Naked Lunch')

Typewriter that's sexier might refer to the behaviour of the typewriter Bill Lee used in 'Naked Lunch' (Author's note: I don't know what a tight bite of dyslexia might refer to)

Houses of the Holy is an album by Led Zeppelin

Jimmy Page is the guitarist for Led Zeppelin

Song Remains the Same and Fool in the Rain are songs by Led Zeppelin

Jane ... going to Spain and going away tomorrow refer to the song 'Jane Says' by Jane's Addiction

Paranoid and Snow Blind are songs by Black Sabbath

Refrain

Bug Powder Dust and Mugwump Jism are both references to 'Naked Lunch'

Wild Boys is a novel by William Burroughs

Big Brother refers to the novel '1984' by George Orwell.

Verse 3

Packet in macaroni is probably the concentrated cheese powder in boxes of macaroni and cheese.

Ginsberg's Howl refers to the book of poetry entitled 'Howl' written by Allen Ginsberg

Shootin' mad ball and hooping refer to basketball.

Top of the Pops is/was a British music chart show

Lulu was an artist who had hit songs in the late 60's such as 'To Sir With Love'

Abbey Road is a recording studio in Britain and the name of an album by the Beatles

I got a splinter might refer to the fact that Paul McCartney is walking barefoot outside the Beatles' recording studio on Abbey Road on the album cover for 'Abbey Road' by the Beatles. Some conspiracy theorists believe that McCartney died before this album was released and the album covers hints at this.

Vegemite Sandwich is a reference to the song 'Down Under' by Men at Work

Waiting for the Sun and Spanish Caravan are songs by the Doors

Solar eclipse and I'm feeling like starin' man probably refers to the urban legend about some kids who got blinded from staring at a solar eclipse while high on LSD.

Verse 4

Who's that man in the windowpane, got somethin' on his tongue and it's startin' to stain might pertain to the movie 'The Name of the Rose' ('Der Name Der Rose') or the song 'Windowpane' by Coil which is about taking LSD.

Serpent and the Rainbow is a movie about a drug that is found in Haiti that makes users of it appear dead

Jeff Spicoli is a character in the movie 'Fast Times at Ridgemont High' who smokes weed (possibly referred to as hay in this song)

The Fish that Saved Pittsburgh is a movie that the basketball legend Dr. J (Julius Erving) appeared in

Que Sera Sera comes from Latin meaning "whatever will be, will be." This is the name of a song from the Hitchcock movie 'The Man Who Knew Too Much.' Also, Justin Warfield has a song entitled "K Sera Sera"

Great Space Coaster was a children's television show from the early 1980's.

Dr. Shrinker is the mad scientist in the TV series with the same title who plans to use his shrinking ray on all the people in the world

Roll up your sleeves probably refers to injecting drugs (i.e. heroin)

Taken from some lyrics and their figuring out at sauna.org