Tuesday March 7 2006

JEL (anticon), THE BELLS THE BELLS, KID ATOM (tbc) @ the marquee

JEL

* drum machine maestro from Anticon Records / San Francisco, USA.
* second LP Soft Money just released!
*** JUST ONE OF THREE UK DATES ***

While most hiphop kids fused puberty with rap, jel spent years 14 and 15 fueling tanks at a Chicago gas station, saving pennies for his trusty and still ticking SP1200 sampler. The drum machine's premier musician, jel's distinct few-bit sound and rhythmic sensibility render him coveted by vocalists far and wide. His frequent Chicago to Cincinnati sojourns to collaborate with DOSEONE took a final turn when they removed themselves to California. This drum-thumbed producer's programmed textures unravel the genome of an Anticon sound, if there ever was one.

Today Jel lives in the Oakland Bay Area with the same SP-1200 he purchased as a teen. They left the Midwest together in a concerted effort to defy genre with a collective of like-minded individuals and instruments. His crunchy punched-out beats and swells of low-bit atmospherics have become anticon trademarks, highly sought after by artists around the globe. Jel was one of the first, if not the very first musician to use the a drum machine in live performance like a drum kit with little to no sequencing. Using the pads on the drum machine, Jel plays each snare, bass kick, cymbal and loop with his fingers. And his raps ain’t half bad either. To date, Jel’s list of collaborators includes Can’s Malcolm Mooney, Stephanie Bohm from Ms. John Soda, Mike Patton, Wise Intelligent of Poor Righteous Teachers, Black Thought of the Roots, DJ Krush, Mr. Dibbs, Sage Francis, Atmosphere, and just about the entire anticon roster, naturally. Jel is currently a member of themselves (with Doseone and Dax Pierson), Subtle (a cello-drumssamplers-guitar-keyboards-winds-and-words sextet on Lex Records), and 13+God (themselves and the Notwist). His second solo full-length is entitled Soft Money.

http://www.anticon.com


THE BELLS, THE BELLS!

* as heard on Rob Da Bank's Norwich special on BBC Radio 1

The Bells, The Bells! formed in the hazy late summer of 2004 in an attempt to fill big dark holes which existed in all their souls. Encouraged to perform live by local legend & promoter Shane O'Conner, instead of fiddling around in stoned & morbid introspection on 4 tracks in their bedrooms they started meeting up in dark rooms, trying to recreate home made recordings. Singing songs about love & regret & washing up & trust & fear & text messages & obsession & betrayal & kids tv from ten years ago & lust & anger & marine life, The Bells, The Bells are about to (any day now) polish off their first extended recording session for Mummy Where's The Milkman? Records, which took place mainly at notorious dosshouse 45 City Rd. The band includes various members of 100 Monkeys, Le Tetsuo and Teknikov at absolutely no extra cost to the consumer. There is a single in the pipeline– officially– with a bit of luck our long-distance platonic love song 'The Washing Up' will be out this side of new year, with the D&D themed 'Twelve-Sider' B-siding for us on this occasion, and Rich Dinnis providing some jaw-dropping artwork. You should all be very excited and happy for us.

http://www.myspace.com/thebellsthebells

Doors: 8pm
Admission: £5