Massacooramaan to some, Dave Quam to others, this Portland-based DJ, producer, and high-ranking general in the war against bad music writing, has made quite a name for himself in 2012. Quam’s blog, It’s After the End of the World, broke ground in 2010 and ’11 covering obscure regional musics from around the world with more care and accountability than your average fact-checked ethnographic journal. The website helped introduce the wider world to Chicago’s buzzing footwork music and dance style and has since been one of the movement’s most vocal proponents in the indie mediascape.
As Massacooramaan, he builds mongrelized club jams with rhythms pulled from all over the global underground. It’s not clear exactly which race of aliens descended to use him as their messenger here on Earth, but the insane song structures, impossible syncopations and disorienting array of hi-fidelity samples in the mix are not of this planet. The man took on this week’s <300 segment, digging through his SoundCloud network to pull five hidden gems and giving us a little background about each. Highlights include Japanese ballroom house, party rap from Equatorial Guinea, and bubbling/jungle hybrids from Rotterdam (conveniently named jungling). WTF, Dave.
—Max Pearl
“Autotuned reggaeton/rap/Coupe Decale duo from Equatorial Guinea, the most corrupt country in the world. Like many who have escaped President Obiang’s reign of terror, these guys now call Madrid their home. I heard rumor that the trumpet arpeggios on this track caused successor/baby dictator Teodorín to lose a briefcase full of $2 million dollars in cash last year when he was clubbing in Spain.”
“Some serious ‘what the fuck’ from Koppi, a dancer and producer from Tokyo’s seemingly awesome ballroom scene. When I got this from DJ MikeQ in an email, I couldn’t believe my ears. Japanese folk Ha, not too many people fuckin with that!”
“Enter the darkside…the other darkside…the one in Rotterdam. Atmospheric bubbling from 97. Jungling, The genre name he made up for this stuff is pretty goofy, but that’s exactly what it is. With so many parallels between the two genres, I’m surprised this kind of thing isn’t easier to come by.”
“Live rara recorded by my friend Tony aka Rainstick in Prospect Park, Aug 2011. This was a practice run for J’ouvert, which I was fortunate enough to go to that year. If you haven’t experienced this stuff live, you ain’t livin right.”
“Asma from Nguzunguzu found this guy on some Scooter Braun shit. Really impressive male version of “So Sick”, my favorite track on Brandy’s new album. His acapella multi-track quartet cover of Ciara’s “Sorry” is pretty amazing as well.”
Follow Massacooramaan on Soundcloud.
Check out Massacooramaan’s record label, Fade to Mind.
Featured image by Wills Glasspiegel
