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We Are Not Moving Forward: An Interview with Dalek
[by Scott Thill]
Sometimes there is literally too much on the radar to be able to separate the bullshit from that which is singular and true. Dalek falls into the latter category. A multicultural, self-aware hybrid of industrial noise and hard-hitting hip-hop, they are far from the norm. And so it is with pride that Morphizm unveils its newly renovated Whatcha Missed section with a collective whose latest effort Absence channels Derrida and Run-DMC with equal investment and skill.
Morphizm: Unlike other music, your work seems to balance a wide variety of influences. Are you happy that your work is unclassifiable in the conventional sense?
Dälek: I grew up with two cousins who were hip-hop DJs. They were spinning disco breakbeats at the inception. That was a time where DJs had to have an open ear, dig through crates, look for the newest sounds. Heads were listening to all types of music, like Afrika Bambaata sampling Kraftwerk, for example. And that is what I have always held onto, the spirit of hip-hop that can be heard and felt in the pioneering joints of the late '70s and early '80s. I was equally influenced by Boogie Down Productions, My Bloody Valentine, Public Enemy, Rakim, The Velvet Underground and Bad Brains. And I'm happy that we're making music that we like, that we can be proud of. But I'm not interested in bridging the gap between anything. I want to make the best songs I can. I love music, not genres.
Morphizm: How do the guitar pyrotechnics accent the album?
Dälek: We were looking for a sound or feel that the entire record could have. So we sat in the studio for about four hours and beat the fuck out of a guitar, running it through a bank of effects. We then used that as our source material, pulled out loops that we were feeling, and made those the spines of the songs that we eventually wrote. But guitars in hip-hop are not a new thing; just having them doesn't automatically make our music a mashup or rap-metal thing. Run-D.M.C. was using guitar samples as early as their first album. Boogie Down Productions sampled "Smoke on the Water." Public Enemy actually had Kerry King from Slayer come in and play guitar on It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back. Sound is sound: You use what you have to make your songs. We are obviously very influenced by My Bloody Valentine's sound; in terms of both text and texture, we owe a lot to Kevin Shields and Loveless . But, then again, I think all of music owes him -- and that album.
Morphizm: Your band seems to embody in microcosm the multicultural face of America's 21st-century. How does your ethnicity play a role in your work?
Dälek: As a minority in America, my ethnicity plays a significant role in my every breath and step. Racial and socioeconomic differences are what helped create hip-hop culture. It was birthed out of frustration with a country and a system that didn't give a fuck about minorities. We made ourselves heard and felt, as the downtrodden always do. But America was created with institutionalized racism. Things may seem better on the surface, but as a whole? No, America still doesn't more readily accept racial difference. No, we are not moving forward. We haven't moved at all, with or without Bush at the helm.
Morphizm: Speaking of Bush, how has his reign over the last term inspired you politically, especially with regard to Absence?
Dälek: Bush is completely out of his fucking mind, but the politics of Absence would have been the same even if Kerry had won. Because the system, not just a specific individual, is what's fucked up. How much would have really changed, had Kerry been in office? We would still be a country ruled by rich assholes. As for Bush, there will be many, many more wars until he's removed, because his people in control maintain and increase their wealth by perpetuating fear and death.
Morphizm: Do you feel that punk, indie and hip-hop are inherently political?
Dälek: Both hip-hop and punk grew as movements of the disenfranchised in the African American, Latino and White communities, respectively. So yes, I do feel that they are inherently political. They both made heard people who the mainstream paid no mind to. However, when you have pop music now posing as representatives of each of those movements, I can see where some would say it has lost its distinction as a political artform. There still are political hip-hop and punk bands, but one must look past the glossiness of corporate product to find them. I do follow that ethic to the extent that I express my distrust of the powers-that-be. I do not however have a political agenda that my music shoves down people's throats. Outside of expressing my views and concerns. I only hope to have people open their eyes and form their own educated opinions.
Morphizm: In your view, has the Bush administration alienated its allies? Do you think they care?
Dälek: I truly feel that Bush and his cronies are the worst of all evils and his policy for war is killing us, the poor. Anything would be better than that muthafucka. However, the real problem, as I keep stressing, is the system, not just an individual. I really don't know what the public's options are anymore. It seems that the old money in this country have decided that they want continuous war. 'We the People' have never had any true power in the United States. We have always been ruled by the aristocracy; that is a fact that has never changed. Bush is just on some other shit because he has left the U.S. alienated, from without and within our borders. But don't get it twisted, there are many Americans who believe in all this bullshit. Remove the East and West Coast and you have a pretty scary place. I mean I know there are heads in the middle of the country that hate this shit as much as I do, but on the real, they aren't the masses that make up Middle America.
Morphizm: Is your work created with the desire to inspire action in your listeners?
Dälek My work is created with the hope to open eyes, open ears, and open minds. The next logical step would be action by those educated individuals to better our collective situation. One would hope.. But at the end of the day, I'm a musician, I write songs. If I had the answers, I'd fix shit, I wouldn't be wasting my time with this! But yeah, apathy is rampant, and yes, media consolidation has left people in a catatonic state. The question is, what is the solution? It seems to me big business and government have learned how to keep the masses in line. They learned from the Civil Rights movement. They learned from the race riots. The people have not learned and have been lulled to sleep. The consolidation of mass media has left us in the hip-hop and punk communities, who haven't done the song and dance for corporate music, pushed even further from the center. We are marginalized, like we always have been.
Morphizm: What do you feel the alternatives available to the public?
Dalek : Media owned by a few wealthy individuals can't help but fail us. Art has always been the voice of the oppressed to some degree or another, so I most definitly see that trend continuing in this new century. The internet is an interesting option, but I have mixed feelings. I can see it's incredible potential, but I also see how it has dissolved the traditional underground. When hip-hop and punk started, you had to know about the shows, record stores and parties to be part of what was a very local scene. But today with the internet, a kid from Bumfuck Idaho can be as up on a new group or style as someone from the Bronx. Its great that smaller and more underground groups, like us, get worldwide exposure, but on the other hand I think the culture loses something. We had to work for our music. Today, kids have it all at their fingertips.
29 November 05
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THE BAND
From: A Musical History
Listen: "The Weight"
WMA
WOLF PARADE
From: Apologies to the Queen Mary
LISTEN: "Shine a Light"
MP3
ANTHRAX
"I Am the Law"
From: Alive 2
See Also:
Public Enemy
QT WMA
DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE:
"Soul Meets Body"
From: Plans
AUDIO: WMA REAL
See Also: Transatlanticism
BLACK REBEL MOTORCYCLE CLUB:
"Ain't No Easy Way"
From: Howl
AUDIO: MP3 REAL QT WM
See Also:
Black Rebel Motorycle Club
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