Merry Christmas! In the spirit of the season, I figured there was no better artist to focus on than one who took his name from a gargantuan version of the sweet little baby in a manger whose birthday so many are celebrating. Merry Christmas MC 900 Ft. Jesus, and happy birthday regular-sized Jesus!MC 900 Ft. Jesus is one of those artists that I was exposed to growing up in Boston and listening to our equivalents of KCMU - mostly WZBC and WHRB - as I've probably mentioned in this space before. Through college radio I was exposed to a wide array of new, strange, strongly political hip-hop-infused sounds that started coming out in the late '80s and early '90s, such as MC 900 Ft. Jesus, Consolidated (whose September 1989 show with MC900FJ is hyped on the cover of this here record), and Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy. They certainly broadened this budding music fan's world in an exciting way. As always, it's gratifying to see so many KCMU smartypantses agreeing with me.
"These guys are dangerous. The menacing, processed vocals on 'Too Bad' put that track over the top. MC 900 Foot Jesus (what a name!) sounds like a malevolent Beastie. 1.2 kicks and 2.1 is a good groove - and if you play 2.2 on the air, you won't have an airshift anymore (but check it out off the air anyway). M" "This rocks hard! Are they Canadian?" [Answer: no. And no offense to our neighbors to the North, but this might be the first and only instance of this particular exclamation/question pairing in America.] "I think they're from Dallas - that could fuck anyone up." "Right-o Austin! M?" "This is very hot!" "So fucking kool." "Why is this in soul/R&B?" "DUDES!!! Know what? I think I know who this be. It's that guy from CTI's 'Core' that sings 'Future Shock.' Mark my words." [A little googling leads me to believe that this is not at all the case, and it's probably either Chris Carter or Monte Cazazza on that particular track. But feel free to prove me wrong in comments.] |
From last week's Spud War, we continue our tuberous theme with Tater Totz, which you might think would be even more contentious than Devo's synth-heavy fifth album, but which seems to have been more well received at KCMU. What is the deal with Tater Totz? I think just attempting to explain this pro…
