Through random internet searching of something somewhat unrelated, I stumbled on an artist by the name of DJ HVAD. or as he spells it: DJ H▼∆D, on his myspace.
I'm not sure if there's a particular genre associated with this type of rap and beat-making, but it's very homegrown sounding beats, often with sped up vocals and a bunch of random samples and edits. I'd say that it's vaguely related to the chopped and screwed music side of hip-hop, but y'know, on the opposite end of the spectrum.
Either way, I considered it to be a pretty sweet find, a gem that has virtually no exposure in the US.. the biggest evidence of which is that it is hardly google-able. The hooks in the raps and the beats are surprisingly catchy and well constructed. The most information I could get out of his myspace was that he is on a label (equally as mysterious) called Bornwrong Records, and that he's from Denmark. and also that he likes to ordain his page his weird photos of black people, for whatever reason.
So on a whim, i sent him a message to ask him where I could buy his music, and to my amazement he responded by initially saying that I could send him some money through paypal for the tracks. I asked him how much and for which tracks and he replied by apologizing for trying to charge me, and told me that since I was from LA and he liked that town, he would send me the tracks for free. He also recommended a night in LA called GROWN at M Bar on temple st. which i am going to most certainly check out the next time i'm out there.
still waiting on the tracks (keepin' my fingers crossed), but in the meantime he provided me with his youtube and soundcloud accounts, which I am now providing for your enjoyment. so indeed, enjoy.
his youtube channel, interestingly enough is called 'listen to mogwai' and his soundcloud is under his other alias dj yungbukkake / WhyBe.
for a quick listen, here's a rip of one of his myspace tracks:
all in all, a pretty fascinating character. if i ever get those tracks they will most certainly be a SPEED GLUE AND MUSIC EXCLUSIVE.
oh and btw, I found this guy by coming across an event for (i'm assuming) Denmark arthouse aids-3D.
who also led me to this performance art piece by them called Network of Love:
i think it's pretty interesting, but i must warn you, it's probably very NSFW starting at 8 or 9 minute mark. but then again, why are you watching videos at work? GET BACK TO WORK
why am i not at work you ask? well maybe because this is my job!.. i'm a professional blogger, OBVIOUSLY
alright, i'm done. will return w/ updates, new fun things
I remember when you posted this DJ DVAD track on tumblr or facebook or something, it seemed really familiar but I couldn't really figure out what it was, but I finally got it.... it's this
ReplyDelete"i'd rather bang screw"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ywVPA4WjLLY
just sped up (instead of slowed down, which has been done). you can hear its been chopped too, but I don't know if DJ HVAD did that or if he just took a chopped n screwed version of the song and sped it up. which is kind of interesting conceptually but doesn't really take much skill or creativity. I'd like to hear other tracks by him though. the sped-up sound reminds me of chipmunk soul in hip-hop, or skwee (which geographically is a scene he's kind of close to)
oh shit... that's insane, it is basically the exact same thing, just sped up. huh. i still like his 'version' though, and i guess it's kind of a fault of his to not give credit to the original, but maybe he didn't think it would matter since he's all the way in denmark. or maybe he just didn't think of it/didn't care.
ReplyDeletebut yeah, if you check out his soundcloud and myspace there is some other cool stuff by him, albeit probably heavily sampled and possibly other stuff like this (just whole songs sped up). i'm gonna have to go back and check on that. in particular there's a track on his myspace that's an 11 minute mix called 'lol hvad hi definition mix' which i like a lot.
and again, his soundcloud. but either way, i like his whole aesthetic, and weird style.
going back to listen to his myspace tracks it seems like they're all basically just sped-up versions of various rap songs i can't identify. i guess in theory it makes it a little less cool because of the lack of original material, but i still really like it a lot.
ReplyDeletein all fairness, chopped n' screwed music is a similarly simple concept.... but that sort of emerged naturally and locally out of the houston rap scene, and this is more just that flipped on its head. it's not a bad idea, but i'd want to see more done with it
ReplyDelete