Bass Culture: Mad Prof at Mighty

I love dub reggae. Its bass-heavy, sparse, echo-laden arrangements, with various musical and sound effect tracks weaving in and out, insinuate their way into your consciousness and move you in ways that very few other genres of music can. At least it does that to me, anyway.

Mad Professor is one of the true masters of dub production, right up there with Lee 'Scratch' Perry, Scientist, Dennis Bovell and Bullwackie. So you can imagine my excitement when a friend invited me to check him out live at Mighty in San Francisco. Big shout out to Chiara and Derek - thanks again for everything.

Mighty, located in Potrero Hill, is a medium sized gallery and club, which as partner Derek Hena mentioned to me, has invested seriously in its sound. And it shows. While I have seen and performed live music with some unbelievable sound systems, I have yet to experience a set of dub music run through such impressive, booming, chest vibrating, leg buzzing sound, all while maintaining great crispness, clarity and punchiness. If you are a musician or DJ and happen to be looking for a 500ish capacity venue in San Francisco that is serious about sound, then Mighty is definitely worth a look.

Back to the man that brought me to Mighty, Neil 'Mad Professor' Fraser. Best known for his 12 part 'Dub me Crazy' series of records, Mad Prof was in top form DJing live. Along with him was a toaster and hype man, who would occasionally stir up the crowd and throw in some toasting over the music. I would best describe Mad Professor's style as driving, mid to upper tempo and highly percussive, with some of the most unusual sound effects I have heard in dub thrown in for good measure. In between songs, or sometimes alternate versions of songs (the remix, by the way, is essentially a Jamaican concept derived from different artists' takes, or 'versions' of classic hits), Mad Professor would introduce a song with a brief anecdote, a quick check-up on the crowd, or a plug for his record label, Ariwa. All delivered in a heavily processed alien sounding voice. Awesome. My favorite aspect of the set was that Mad Professor was not just merely spinning records and punching effects buttons, but essentially mixing, dubbing and arranging on the spot, as he was able to isolate each channel and mix or add effects to the various instruments as he saw fit. It's an art that requires a high level of coordination, and above all a great ear.

I left Mighty feeling like I had satisfied my long lingering primal urge for taking in some top notch dub music, as conveyed by a legendary practitioner of the 1's and 2's.

MAD PROFESSOR LIVE @ GALA HALA

Last night I went to check out Mad Prof, and the performance was very, very solid. Energy level high, the Professor in top form, and the bass, prodigious. I'll describe the show in more detail in an upcoming post.

Heather B. - All Glocks Down

Heather B!! Remember her on the real world, first season? Speaking of hip-hop luminaries, writer Kevin Powell was also a cast member.

Heather hard....

Two from Contino

Well, I promised a comprehensive CVNE, Vina Real, Contino post, but fate would not allow it as the notes are spread amongst two different tasting books, one of which is currently residing in Rockridge, where my tasting group recently met to taste through some wines, double blind (look for that post very soon). So, for now, two notes on some pretty amazing wines from the famed Rioja estate, Contino.

Contino Rioja Gran Reserva 1996

For the detail oriented, this cepaje is composed of 85% tempranillo, 5% Mazuelo, 10% Graciano. Fermented in stainless, with a 15-20 day maceration, followed by 2.5 years in a mixture of French and American oak barrels. After 2.5 years aging in bottle, the wine is released to market. Mineral, dried cherry, spice, and everything nice that you would want in a Gran Reserva Rioja of this caliber, from such a well regarded vintage. There is great acidity and structure in this wine, and though it's tasty now it should continue to develop for a number of years.

Contino Rioja Graciano 2001

While this is decidely more modern, aged in barrique (new American and, per the website, 'semi-nueva' French oak), the wine nonetheless is impresionante. Bright, bursting purple fruits show in this single vineyard Graciano. It's intenser than a muv, with great acidity and length. Tight, though, and has a lot more to show. I'd love to see the wine in a decade. Only 3,034 bottles were produced - for between $130-$150 a bottle (I'm guessing based off the wholesale price) this wine could be yours.

Husker Du - Pink Turns To Blue

I started listening to Husker Du five or so years after this performance, so around '92. As I recall I was reading an article about Sugar, which of course mentioned the importance of Husker Du in the development of alternative rock. Since I was then around 13 and had an older brother feeding me a steady stream of cool music, I was excited to have made my own little discovery. First I bought Warehouse: Songs and Stories, an oft dismissed, poppy major label effort that I still maintain is underrated. Then I got a Rhino Records re-release of the Everything Falls Apart EP, which also included a few assorted singles and B-sides. Then I finally bought Zen Arcade, which to this day sounds as fresh, innovative and inspired as it did when it was released 24 years ago. Pink Turns to Blue is one of the tracks on Zen Arcade, which ranks amongst my favorite all-time records.

Cantina di Gallura Vermentino di Gallura 'Canayli' 2005

Last night I cooked up some linguini with olive oil, raw garlic, crushed red peppers, walnuts, chopped parsley and and toasted bread crumbs (no pecorino or parmeggiano because of the cold) and enjoyed a few glasses of this Vermentino to accompany the dish. The pasta was solid, but the Vermentino was smoking! Ripe, red appley nose, with a soft, fleshy palate of apples and melon. Some bitter melon and iodide on the finish. The extra year in bottle really fleshes this wine out; the flavors are simultaneously vibrant and minerally, while maintaining a slightly viscous texture. Vermentino di Gallura D.O.C.G. is located in the northern part of Sardegna, and this particular example is the Cantina di Gallura’s top-of-the line, from the granitic canayli vineyard. This is a really interesting Italian white for $15 and change.

Obligatory Wire Post

For the few people out there who still don't know - I'm from Baltimore (And no, I'm not just saying that to be cool, or for street cred, per the hilarious 'stuff white people like' posting from yesterday). I have been playing some serious Wire catch-up of late, since I have never had HBO, tend to not watch much TV with friends who do have HBO, and am relatively new to the rent or burn onto DVD an HBO series phenomenon. What a brilliant show, though! Not having grown up in the projects, I can still tell you that the dialogue is authentic and the details very much on point. Some examples would include the lake trout sandwich, Stringer's conversation with his DC guy in the second season ('I hate go–go music anyway,' - a hilarious example of the Baltimore-DC rift, as in Bmore club music is popular, whereas in DC it's all about go-go), and the depiction of Locust Point as a gentrifying extension of Federal Hill. Of course this won't make sense unless you have spent some time in Baltimore, but if you have then you know what I'm talking about.

'The Wire' boasts some unbelievable character development. Most folks' favorite character would probably be Omar, the very openly gay stick-up man. His penchant for attractive, light skinned African American guys, loyalty to the double barrel shotty, and ability to rile anyone and everyone, from pushers to sleazy criminal lawyers, makes for one complex, entertaining character. Oh, indeed!

Everyone from Terry Gross, to Thurton Moore, to wine blogging stalwart Lyle Fass have been fawning over this show. If you've been under a rock and want to find out more, here's some more info on The Wire.