I have been working on this album for the past year. It has been a process of writing, performance, reflection, editing, writing, recording, listening, editing, writing, performance and recording. I am very pleased to have met Joe Cyrus who was kind enough to let me take home some of his beats and begin work on this project. We have found a mutual love for soul music and positive energy and it has led to some incredible songs and great times.
This album is many conversations at once. It is my response to Joe's production. It is my response to the music of my brother. It is my response to the multitudes of beauty i find in the creative communities I take part in. It is my response to a falling world. It is a statement of where I am at, so that I may someday recall the moment. It is a letter to the friends I've lost touch with, and even to those I see every day.
As many who have been following the progress of my lyrical process are aware, I have been ripping up stages and inspiring dance parties as one half Start Fires for the past few years in Portland, OR. For those who don't know, we speak about personal empowerment in a world that seems hopeless though the dialect of hip hop and punk rock, accompanied by music rooted in classic electro and west coast g-funk.
We finally got a really solid recording of our work and have released the first 13 songs as a collection titled "Dedicate Your Growth to the World" - it features some of our most requested songs such as "is this living?", "things tend to happen", "internment", "i am the light", "genocide tactics", and our portland basement favorite "party at my house".
The entire album is available to listen to and download at startfires.bandcamp.com, or directly through the player above.
We have also had it professionally manufactured on CD and are releasing the discs in limited editions of 100, each hand packaged and with unique features to that edition. The first 300 copies also come with a full color 11x17 double sided poster featuring new collage art from both myself and shermstixx on either side.
You can get a copy of the CD here: -----++++actually its now sold out(3/23/10)++++-----
or by sending me and email at DMLH-at-STARTFIRES-dot-COM.
A few weeks ago I did a solo set at Hush with Inkre:mentals in memory of our dear friend Sokhak who passed on last October. It was a really special night. Red-E and E-magyn, the two guys who make up the core of inkre:mentals, put together a memorium dvd with clips of Sokhak doing live poetry as well as many of his friends discussing his inspirational presence in their lives. The DVD was sold to raise money for to purchase bikes for Cambodian children, a cause that Sokhak had wanted to achieve in his life. They are working closely with his family here in the US as well as in Cambodia to make this happen. The room was filled with Sokhaks family, friends new and old, and new faces who heard there was something cool going on. I rocked what was probably my tightest solo set since last June, possibly just because of the extremely awesome energy i felt in the whole room. I had the first set and the room went from sitting and listening to poetry to dancing in ecstatic joy. I was stoked right there, but then I had the treat of seeing Inkre:mentals rock out their set. I first met these guys at an Aftermath open mic (which was hosted and promoted by Sokhak for a good 2 years)and we all hit it off. We spent a few months getting together on mondays to freestyle and connect about art. Since then Red-E and E-magyn have been recording and practicing and their set is TYT. They incorporate costume changes and general goofiness to keep the energy light, while rapping about more serious themes like societal hypocrisy, building for peace and interpersonal issues, and their spiritual connection. These guys rip it up, with passionate presentation that had the whole crowd bouncing. Their set led into an hours long jam session that went deep into the night, with freestyles, live drumming, tap dancing and more, just freewheeling creative energy flowing between everyone who decided to stay. Overall the night was also a success, raising a good amount of money for the cause and bringing people from diverse parts of Sokhaks life together to celebrate his inspirational life.
I was hoping to post video from the show, but i have yet to get the footage, so for now i will post the newest version of Bring Back The Basics, which i premiered at this show and really was feeling the response from the crowd. Check it out:
Lyrics:
bring back the basics food and water shelter that's proper health so we prosper
give back a day spent what can you offer? skill sets we trade barter wealth from the larder
my money's worth less than it was when i first spent it on dubs before i put songs on your ipod and rented out clubs now the treasury's rescuing banks from all the lent out funds so when the economy really tanks they'll have more room for their guns its got me wondering why i would want to get more of their paper money stacks face it buddy, we chase the bunny for the false safety of running in packs i'm looking for a place to create things, whos coming? who wants to relax? cooking up plates where the taste sings true love and the body reacts! you know - a decent spot to watch the prophecy blast cracking and offering pabst macking on apocalypse ass after all its probably the last time we'll get to party and laugh after the fall its going to be a lot more of the yard work and trash no one picks up at the curb, you can't afford to waste the scraps so fill the compost and turn it, help some food replace the grass! after the blast we'll be learning all the lessons we left in the past actually i hope concerned individuals will get together and act!
bring back the basics food and water shelter that's proper health so we prosper
give back a day spent what can you offer? skill sets we trade barter wealth from the larder (2x)
is it time versus money? well, my money is on time as an actual resource that i can use to get mine i'll spend it stacking more resources, we use what we find in the trash and free boxes, re-using all kinds of scrap wood, hardware, fresh foods and yard care i'm mad good at scoping when i'm rolling in a car share i'm a fool for good fabrics in day-glos and rainbows to make clothes that match all the light that my brain glows nurturing my heart, i'm watered when i hydrate to bloom into the part that i play as a primate so why wait to find out if we're too late to climb out of the hole they've been digging since they sold us a living? i'll take time out to chase my fate and wind down to play the role being written in my notebook descriptions of a future laid out with a co-creative vision where a few of us will get together to keep living shape rhythms and words, paint images of worth and feed each other with a feast that was collected from the earth!
bring back the basics food and water shelter that's proper health so we prosper
give back a day spent what can you offer? skill sets we trade barter wealth from the larder
I wrote this song during this past summer while going through a number of beats that Alex had produced in 2004. This one caught me because it was so subtle, yet when you hear it through some badass subs it overpowers most clubs. Anyway, at first I thought that the chorus concept was a little too vague, but after a year of total absurdity and probably the most self growth I have experienced yet, I think there is probably no other way to describe this wild ride.
THINGS TEND TO HAPPEN:
if we don't notice then maybe we might act in our best interest and ask man we're at half mast with our heads in the past while my heart is in the present tearing the strings from the mask
akin to wearing things received as a true gift from the trash faces grin: i can bear that with the strength of my laugh i chase the wind to find my spirit sitting steady like a statue ask, you may receive what you need or perceive to lack i hope you will succeed in that i believe in the maps of the stars and the hands that clap in the back of these bars while we stand there and stare as the bands get prepared i believe in the traps for the scared so i'm facing my fears i want to chase em with beers but that's complacent and geared to making me forget the reason i'm so blatantly weird what i create is the mirror to see my fate through the years when i can't see it clear i wonder where I'm looking from here, hear the kicking drums cheer when the weekend comes NEAR we cycle through the seasons keep our vital signs breathing see with sight: the signs meaning is the right to reason: its alike to the timed flash sequence of the lights its the sight in the mind as the image reunites its the memories we make with all the message we're given our energy at stake that feeds our enemies within you can catch me at the gate watching with empathy and vision will it ever be different? will i only be the witness?
as things tend to happen, if we don't notice then maybe we might act in our best interest and ask man we're at half mast with our heads in the past while my heart is in the present tearing the strings from the mask
This is the moment that we're sharing hold our stories in a basket all we ever wanted was our future tied fast with the strands that extend throughout the passage of time what we choose is our path which every action refines when i sing its for the sensual impact on my mind ring with vibration in my breath to match the earth and the sky I am a person alive i learn how people survive I earn my place out in this process of rebirth and design
i'm searching for the signs that have been placed for my eyes so i can learn how my perception keeps my whole world aligned its worth the time to turn my mind into a beacon that shines to build my heart into the rhythm that can move us through the lines fill my voice with all the wisdom i can find in the clutter let the noise turn into symphonies all timed with each other or allow myself to learn as it occurs while i stare without a doubt as to the purpose myself when i'm there
as things tend to happen, if we don't notice then maybe we might act in our best interest and ask man we're at half mast with our heads in the past while my heart is in the present tearing the strings from the mask
This is a rough mix of a song composed of parts of a few other songs, that all came together just right on this beat. The beat, of course, is by Shermstixx, and this song is being recorded for our upcoming Start Fires LP.
*****edit - i have since recorded the final version of the song and so this is now the album version.
Lyrics:
Quit dragging the gravestone. Sip flagons and blaze cones, raise your hands! Take action! Live with passion and great hope! This is our last chance to do something present. The present turns to past just as fast as we live it so NOW you can pivot to check this: Picture all the pictures we've been fed: Stars and stripes, Nixon's hands, and JFK's head. Fixtures in the texts guide history lessons, inflict patterned processes that shatter our senses. Pick up the pieces, reformat your fences they define the lines for us to color in. If we step out they prescribe a life to keep us wondering: "What just happened here?" People fear thunder, when it rains it pours we keep on working with this program under reigns of laws. Fuck chains and bars! Write your names on walls! Leave a message for the future when your slang's been solved. That which stands can fall, that which falls is gone they'll never break my balls, my word is my bond! NO ONE CONTROLS ME can't tell me what to do, I'm free to choose THEY ARE LOSING THEIR HOLD, MAN that's okay, something new is on the move
WE WONT KNOW what it is they've done to us IF WE DONT GROW we build: ashes to ashes, dust to dust
Return home to this triple-grit, middle ground silhouette simple sounds soften the bash: smashed: back out the ditch lash out at the whip, cash out and get gone. This old staid scream is a charade game playground love affair: she's in summer hair with grass clippings Navigating class trappings as meter cops walk down the block implanting satellite tracers: just to hear us talk? we're being watched by all these cameras connected to clocks while we stand they're connecting the dots I'm sure you've seen the map on the wireless spots on the devil box of lights and tireless thoughts TURN IT OFF! be the hype kid who used to dishwash turned around, made it big, and hired his boss pay attention: when they lie they switch words, get us high with big words, inflict the burbs with sick words: the promise of flight in the eyes of sick birds stuck in the nest egg and taxed on sustenance Trust its delivery? Don't ask for your liberty! This is every moment lets examine how we're living it!
WE WONT KNOW what it is they've done to us IF WE DONT GROW.....
