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THE FOUR BEST SEATTLE BANDS YOU DON'T KNOW
"(MASH HALL) does bouncy, blunted hip-hop with a love that can't be faked."
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UNIQUE X INNOVATIVE X CRISPY
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...He invited me to check out Mash Hall, the product of Seattle based cousins djblesOne and Ronnie V......He invited me to check out Mash Hall, the product of Seattle based cousins djblesOne and Ronnie Voice along with slew of other musicians and dancers. They have a sampling technique that is unique and innovative, but also has that west coast crispiness that is so easy to get pulled in by. Mash Hall gets bonus points for slick titles such as The Greatest Fuckin Adventures Of Bruce Illest – Streaks & Blurs & Shit.
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MASH HALL - for everyone who lives their own way
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The Pacific Northwest scene as always felt like its own family. Regardless of being Canadian or Amer...The Pacific Northwest scene as always felt like its own family. Regardless of being Canadian or American we are one community and do our best to support each other. With Seattle being only a 2.5 hour drive from Vancouver, crews like Massive Monkees, Circle of Fire, and Dance Broomz have played an integral part in building and inspiring the Vancouver bboy scene. Massive Monkees have been paving the way in the Northwest for quite some time, and djblesOne has helped build their reputation around the world. He’s become a good friend of ours and happens to be a huge fan of Canada! We have him up spinning at our jams whenever we can and he will have the honours of DJ’ing the first ever CIRCLE PRINZ CANADA for us along side Flipout from Contents Under Pressure. He brings impeccable selection, hype remixes, and never lets the vibe slow down. A true DJ and master of his art.
Growing up from LA to the Bay, Portland and Seattle, blesOne started breakin in 1986 at the age of 6, doing graffiti by 11, and DJ’ing at 14. He keeps his art simple, clean and classic, just like the west coast he represents, but also progressive and fresh. He’s been down with hip hop since day 1 and never leaves his crew hanging. He’s always ready to represent and will fly out from behind the decks when his crew is called out in the ciphers. BlesOne believes that it’s not what a person says but what they do that truly represents who they are. And this is what his current project and lifestyle movement called MASH HALL (est 1995) is all about – it’s for everyone who lives their own way.
MASH HALL is about music, dance, and fresh fashion (clothing coming back fall 2010). MASH HALL is made up of djblesOne, Bruce Illest, Ronnie Voice, Gatsby & Emecks. Lived out through the MASH HALL bboys “THEM TEAM”: Bboy Dial Tone, Junior, Cha Cha, Tim The Pit, Chico, Bboy Thesis, Iron Mike Brysen & Juse Boogy. All the MASH HALL music is produced and mixed entirely by djblesOne and includes classics like “Bles vs. Bboys”, “Massive Monkee Soundtrack”, “Straight Outta West Coast”, “DJ BlesOne Is Dead” & the “Soul Walk” & “Soul Shot” Series. He’s had many great successes over the years, but by far the accomplishment he is most proud of is producing the bboy song “THEM TEAM THEME” off of the DJ BlesOne is Dead album, (buy now from our store) which has become a part of bboy music culture. Track included in the video below:
My favorite MASH HALL Destruction episode (can you guess why?) – THEM TEAM in Frisco for the Renegades 25th Anniversary
To stay up on djblesOne, and all that’s goin on with MASH HALL, here are some links to videos, free albums and mixtapes:
MASH HALL Music - Includes albums “THEY LA SOUL”, “UPGRAYEDD…land hoe!!” and more.
MASH HALL Destruction Show – All MASH HALL videos
DJ BlesOne is Dead (Not Free) – Most recent Bboy mix, most songs remixed or made by djblesOne.
djblesOne just took off for Italy today for the Hip Hop Connection 10th Anniversary – safe travels bro!
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PURE UNADULTERATED FUN
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Mash Hall headlined the night and proved again why every local party should have a Mash Hall soundtr...Mash Hall headlined the night and proved again why every local party should have a Mash Hall soundtrack. This band is about pure unadulterated fun, from their laugh a minute rhymes to their boundless energy as performers … there wasn’t an inch of Columbia City’s considerable stage that weren’t covered by El Mizell, Bruce Illest and their guest popper and locker of the night. But there was an extra bounce in both Mizell and Illest’s step that night, this wasn’t just a party for partying’s sake, this was a celebration of a place and project near to their hearts. Shortly after the two emerged dramatically from behind the shadows and red velvet curtains of the stage, Mizell remarked with earnest excitement about playing such a beautiful stage in South Seattle. Looking around a capacity theater, packed full of smiling faces, bobbing heads and all kinds of moves I would never have guessed Seattle had, Mizell’s excitement was clearly shared.
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HIPHOP PARTY MUSIC GOLD
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The truth is, I’m an eighties baby who is a sucker for any nostalgia-inducing music that reminds me ...The truth is, I’m an eighties baby who is a sucker for any nostalgia-inducing music that reminds me of my formative adolescent years. So when a group like Mash Hall enters the scene, late eighties to mid-nineties pop culture references flying, I’m immediately taken. Show me a group that can borrow snippets from Jodeci’s Diary of a Mad Band (mind you, not even that r&b group’s career-defining record), cultivate the awesomeness and unintentional comedy of the foursome’s bad-boy loverman antics into hip-hop party music gold, and then sign me up.
Mash Hall’s full-length debut, They LA Soul (released for free download on 12.24.09 via the band’s blog) works that party magic. It’s a collage of many things eighties-nineties: Die Hard, Stevie Wonder, Total Recall, Shai, and New Edition are all given stage time via brief audio samples, the visual equivalent of which would be rapid flashes of ADHD-inducing klieg lights. The whole organized mess is then spray-painted with basic hip-hop treatment in the form of 808 kick drums, high hats and hand claps. And it’s all narrated with an intelligent stoner’s hazy wit by emcees Bruce Illest (who sometimes sounds a little like 50 Cent — if 50 were white, way more stoned, and significantly less menacing) and Gatsby (AKA El Mizell), whose assertive West Coast style exists somewhere between the unapologetic party-rocking antics of Sir-Mix-A-Lot and the confident street sensibilities of Ice Cube. They’re a bit of an odd couple, but that’s why it works.
The production here isn’t completely based on sample mash-ups, but it comes close. Most tracks are built around familiar blasts of audio that are immediately recognizable to anyone who remembers awkwardly dancing in middle school to songs like Shai’s “If I Ever Fall in Love” (heavily featured on “Serve You”), The Brotherhood Creed’s “Helluva” (here reimagined as an ode to West Coast diction, “Hella Hella”), and New Edition’s “If it Isn’t Love” (on “Can You Stand the Reign”, where Mash Hall uses a familiar section of the source material’s synthesized drum pattern to similar, and thus ironic, rhythmic effect). The best track is “Up Early In Em”, a bare-bones drum and bass posse cut (featuring Tay Sean, Spaceman and Ronnie Voice) about being on your daily grind.
They LA Soul is a charming, catchy proposition because it reminds us that the very first hip-hop dance parties originated as massive collaborative endeavors, the music invented basically on the fly by turntablists who practiced a pure and free-wheeling extraneous form of musicianship. Or, maybe that’s digging a little deeper than the members of Mash Hall intended. Could be, Bruce Illest and Gatsby just want us to drink a little, smoke a little, find some shorties who remind us of the Fly Girls, and wild the f*ck out. Yeah, pretty sure that’s what this record is all about.
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ONE OF THE MOST EXCITING ACTS IN THE CITY
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"With a knack for self-mythologizing, stage-diving and girl-baiting, They Live!, Mad Rad and Champag..."With a knack for self-mythologizing, stage-diving and girl-baiting, They Live!, Mad Rad and Champagne Champagne are the most exciting acts to watch in the city. The music frequently takes a back seat to the spectacle, performance art in the age of the status update."
-Jonathan Zwickel
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RIDICULOUSLY RIDICULOUS
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I just came across a project album comprised of Bruce Illest (djblesOne) of Massive Monkees and Gats...I just came across a project album comprised of Bruce Illest (djblesOne) of Massive Monkees and Gatsby of Cancer Rising who takes on the moniker of Dro Boy. Sh!t is ridiculously ridiculous. Naw, not even ridiculously ridiculous, sh!t is bananas on some narrative type journey to space and beyond, yet it's still grounded and not too far out. Ya dig?! If not, just take a listen and then you'll understand what I'm talkin 'bout.
The "saga" is even broken up in chapters. Barfly of The Saturday Knights even makes an appearance on this soundscape that would be fitting before, during, and after several rounds of drinks or a little puff, puff, pass action. Wake up the next morning in a stupor and press play again and you'll experience something different prior to first listening to this mini album. I've had this on repeat for the past hour or so and can only hope that the saga continues in hopes of another Dro Bots song or album. In the meantime, click here to download The Dro Bots Saga
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THEY LIVE! @ CAPITOL HILL BLOCK PARTY 2009
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They Live! just fucking killed shit headlining the Neumos stage. MCs Dro Boy and Bruce Illest (aka G...They Live! just fucking killed shit headlining the Neumos stage. MCs Dro Boy and Bruce Illest (aka Gatsby and BlesOne) are plenty entertaining on their own�genial, cartoonishly animated, and totally on top of their games�but their back-up breakdancer, Chase, as well as his accomplice, damn near steal the show. Whether twitchily stalking the stage like a meth-head on the song of the same name or pulling a lucky lady onstage for a recreation of Bruce Springsteen's "Dancing in the Dark" video (complete with the Boss' awesome Carlton-esque dance move), Chase is the act's not-at-all-secret weapon. They did new song "Whitney" and old favorite "Weed Murderer." They ended the set by pumping Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody," rocking out a la Wayne's World, before cutting the song up into a beat for one last jam, pulling the crowd up on stage to get down.
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For the Block Party’s biggest contrast in tone, They Live! followed Earth at Neumos and took House of Pain’s “Jump Around†literally to heart. They Live!’s Bruce Illest and Dro Boy are consummate, hyperkinetic, hyperliterate hiphoppers, A+ students of the old school who somehow make those ancient samples pop to vibrant life and hold their own amid They Live!’s exuberant stage presence. Energy, talent, and charisma to burn here.
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...then they brought out They Live! for what has got to be one of the best live collaborations I have ever seen. The room went from “feeling it†to “losing their shit†in a matter of moments. Missing They Live’s set on Friday was my one big regret of the weekend, but seeing them for even one song with Truckasaurus was enough to confirm my suspicions that those dudes are in store for some big time attention.
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REFERENCES, ECHOES, REFLECTIONS
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The more I listen to They Live!, the more I think of them as the Pacific Northwest's most academic h...The more I listen to They Live!, the more I think of them as the Pacific Northwest's most academic hiphop group. Dro Boy (aka Gatsby of Cancer Rising and Larry Mizell Jr., who's also the The Stranger's hiphop columnist) and Bruce Illest (djblesOne) are essentially hiphop historians, or closer yet, processors of hiphop's cultural history. For example, one quick line by Gatsby in "Meth Heads": "Are you in good health?" Where is this chip, this little bit from? The 1988 song "Hey Young World" by Slick Rick, and there are many other such references, echoes, and reflections, not only from '80s hiphop, but also from the pop culture (or junk culture—here I'm thinking of Rem Koolhaas's idea of "junk space") that shaped and defined that period.
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JUST TEARING SHIT THE FUCK UP RIGHT NOW
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A new track from local hiphop cartoons They Live!, aka Dro Boy (Gatsby of Cancer Rising/the Stranger...A new track from local hiphop cartoons They Live!, aka Dro Boy (Gatsby of Cancer Rising/the Stranger's Larry Mizzell Jr.) and Bruce Illest (DJ BlesOne). All conflict of interest aside, these guys are just tearing shit the fuck up right now. This track, "Whitney," comes from their forthcoming EP, They LA Soul, and it's a perfect intersection of cracked humor, iced-out, reverby production, and playfully aggro rapping. "I be smoking that Whitney/so come and get with me".
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TRUCKASAURAS @ NEUMOS
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...Things really hit a peak with They Live, the newish gas of a project from MCs Gatsby and BlesOne,......Things really hit a peak with They Live, the newish gas of a project from MCs Gatsby and BlesOne, jumping on top of Truckasauras' melancholy synth-heavy triumph "Angels Sound Like Bottle Rockets." They Live is these guys letting loose their cartoonishly funny, weed-murdering side (as alter egos Dro Boy and Bruce Illest respectively) while also still killing in the departments of beats (by BlesOne) and rhymes. (You can download their mini-album, the Dro Bots Saga for free here, and I highly recommend it.) They hit the stage last night in sweatshirts, beanies, and shades, looking like they were about to knock over a 7-11 (or at least purchase some jumbo slurpies and assorted munchies). Their delivery was far from blunted, though�Gatsby and BlesOne were the most animated people to hit the stage so far, all exaggerated energy and gestures big enough to play to the back of the room. -Eric Grandy
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MP3 of the Day: The Drobots Saga
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If you dig long-ass songs referencing weed, Human Giant, and putting nuts in the mayo jar, you'd be ...If you dig long-ass songs referencing weed, Human Giant, and putting nuts in the mayo jar, you'd be wise to check out the theme song for the Drobots Saga. It all started with a little mission to the "inhalation station" where emcees Dro Boy (Gatsby of Cancer Rising) & The Death of Brue Illest (of Mash Hall) got so high their minds exploded into a hazy, jazzy, comedy sampling, voice-altering saga of drobots spiraling through a very stony headspace. -- Jennifer Maerz
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Mindblowing 16-minute EP
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As a fan of most of the stuff in this 16-minute "Free Bird" for the hip-hop mash-up generation I can...As a fan of most of the stuff in this 16-minute "Free Bird" for the hip-hop mash-up generation I can identify, this has made my month.
-Chris Estey
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For A Good Time Tonight, Call Hiphop
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A word on They Live!: it's Gatsby of Cancer Rising and Bruce Illest (aka DJ Bles One) of Massive Mon...A word on They Live!: it's Gatsby of Cancer Rising and Bruce Illest (aka DJ Bles One) of Massive Monkees and Mash Hall, performing the hilarious stoner epic "Dro Bots Saga." This 18-minute concept composition made the rounds on the internet awhile ago, but in case you missed it, you can download the clever original Saga here and the addictive instrumental version here. "You don't want this shit," it starts out, but we're telling you firmly: yes, yes you do want this shit. - katelyn hackett
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Tonight in Music: Murder City Devils, They Live!
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They Live! is a new project featuring Gatsby of Cancer Rising (aka Stranger hiphop columnist Larry "...They Live! is a new project featuring Gatsby of Cancer Rising (aka Stranger hiphop columnist Larry "Second Wave" Mizell Jr.) along with Bruce Illest (aka djblesOne). It would be easy to dismiss They Live!'s debut, The Dro Bots Saga, as a joke, as it's some funny, punch-line-heavy stuff, with snatches of dialogue from sources ranging from South Park to Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story ("It doesn't give you a hangover!" "It's not habit-forming!"). But even though the Saga's nine chapters in 18 minutes play out like sketches, both in the sense of sketch comedy and in the sense of feeling like short rough drafts of songs, the ersatz Adult Swim rapping and djblesOne's ADD production are serious enough to sustain the stoned humor. Live, these guys are veteran stage rockers—it should be fun. ERIC GRANDY
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Hotshit Seattle Duo
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Named after the finest cinematic work of master thespian Rowdy Roddy Piper, They Live are the hotshi...Named after the finest cinematic work of master thespian Rowdy Roddy Piper, They Live are the hotshit Seattle duo of Cancer Rising emcee Gatsby (Larry Mizell Jr., who also has been known to write for this paper from time to time), and Mash Hall's rhymer/producer Bruce Illest. The Emerald City supergroup balances a pair of freewheeling emcees with a penchant for finishing each other's lines, and lyrics that gently cradle the emotional fragility of the human condition. Okay, that last part was a lie: They Live rap about weed... like there is anything else in this life worth rhyming about. -Ezra Caraeff
supersonic
