Pete Miser

Pete Miser
Radio Free Brooklyn
Rating - 4 out of 5

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Who?
New York based DIY rapper who's probably the only person ever to tour with Dido and be praised by Chuck D.

Sounds Like?
Sample line: "Got no bitches and ho's but love- I got that." Hip hop could use more role models like this.

How is it?
Smart and inventive. Plus "Might Be" is hands down the most poingnant song about 9/11 to date.

Kindred Spirits:
Talib Kweli, Common, Dead Prez - Alternative Press Magazine

Radio Free Brooklyn is definitely a juxtaposition to enslaved mainstream New York City airwaves.  Pete Miser certainly brings the heat like other Brooklyn Emcees that own their music.  And he goes further to make a mockery of an unrecognizable Hip Hop industry, with all its bling and posture.  This album is Ho-Made music, that means not for industry pimps.

Tracks like "Endure" reinvent a drum break used by the Jungle Brothers (a favorite of mine), whereas he shows his virtuoso musicianship on the cut "Toothbrush."

On the real, play this album right behind EL-P's Fantastic Damage just to see exactly how Brooklyn spitters are free from the norm. 

- YRB Magazine

Critics Pick – Pete Miser

Pete Miser, a Portland, Oregon, native, who as a young man reached for the turntables instead of an acoustic guitar. He moved to New York City in the late nineties and was chosen to d.j. on British songbird Dido's tour. His latest solo release, "Radio Free Brooklyn," is squeaky clean (one track, "Toothbrush," is built around the sound of bristles on enamel).


- The New Yorker

"Pete Miser is a multi-talented, multi-cultural b-boy right out of Wild Style…"
- Eric Arnold, the Source

"In a scene where the battle cry is about independence and "keeping it real," Pete Miser stands out as an m.c./producer who takes these values to the extreme. As the owner of his own record label (Ho-Made Media) Pete is responsible for every aspect of his projects, from production to creative design to promotion…"
- Chuck D’s RapStation.com

“Quite possibly, Radio Free Brooklyn will be exalted as a shining example of hip-hop intelligence - a substantial, thought-provoking alternative to all the gangsta rap clichés and predictable odes to "bitches," "hoes," gats, blunts, and bling-bling that have flooded the market.”
- Alex Henderson, All Music Guide

“Smart and inventive…Hip hop could use more role models like this.”
- Alternative Press

“[Pete Miser] builds himself a musical gymnasium for his verbal somersaults and low-key floor exercises delivered by a voice that could belong to the husky athlete brother of Black Sheep's Dres.
- Richard M Juzwiak, CMJ Monthly May 2003

"Mr. Pete Miser provides a hot & heavy glimpse into the future New York City underground hip-hop scene. On Radio Free Brooklyn, Pete's style make needle and vinyl cry out. Highly recommended."
- DJ Logic

“Radio Free Brooklyn is loaded with clever songs, innovative recording techniques, and other things that can all be boiled down to one very pure word: creativity. Pete Miser deserves a better word, but that'll do for now.”
- DJ Johnson, Cosmik.com

“Pete Miser's refreshing verity, die-hard enthusiasm for the art form and next-level creativity all feed into Radio Free Brooklyn, a benchmark independent album that successfully fuses lyrical substance with solid, neck-snapping production.”
- ElusiveStyles.co.uk

“Pete Miser's long-awaited follow up to his first solo album was certainly worth waiting for. Pete Ho has accomplished an amazing feat. Within the framework of his chosen means of expression, he has created a great work.”
- SP Clark, TwoLouiesMagazine.com

“This album is nothing short of breathtaking from the first note to the last. If you like your hip hop strong and purposeful, Pete Miser is your man. Forget the nonsense that Jay Z, Eminem, and their clones offer, this is the album you want.”
- Mark Fisher, 1340mag.com

“Pete's unique brand of conscious, intelligent hip hop is akin to the golden age of hip hop… - buy his album, and brag to your friends about how you run shit.”
- Office Album Of The Week, Yellow Rat Bastard May 2003

- Assorted Press Quotes

Pete Miser: Camouflage is Relative
Coup De Grace
2004
9 out of 10

Probably one of the biggest surprises of 2004 is Pete Miser's Camouflage is Relative. Fourteen tracks of pure hip-hop the way it was meant to be. As a DJ who performed in the touring live band of Dido, Pete Miser was able to leave Portland to travel the world, inevitably picking up the experience that most musicians never have the opportunity to gain. Currently stationed in NYC, Miser gives us a record to remember. The lyrics are funny and insightful and it's nice that they're actually included in the layout. Songs like "So Sensitive" and "Politics Schmolitics" definitely stand out, but every track is good. Bottom-line, this record is catchy, inventive and genuine; a breath of fresh air for the hip-hop community.
- Christopher
- San Diego Punk

PETE MISER
Camouflage Is Relative (Coup De Grace)

It's rare for rappers to combine a talent for jazzy, laidback production (à la Native Tongues), a sense of humor and rants about Williamsburg's gentrification. But Oregon-born/Brooklyn-based Pete Miser successfully cuts his own funky path between old-school grooves and new-school concepts without sounding lost in the past? or preachy, pedantic and pretentious. Like a hip-hop Dalai Lama, Pete always finds the middle path between moving heads and moving feet, managing to get them both boppin' in the process.

ATTN: Daisy-agers, instinctive travelers on the paths of rhythm, leaders of the new... oh, you get it

KEY TRACKS: "So Sensitive," "Final," "About Time," "It Rains In New York Too"

OF NOTE: Pete Miser is the tour DJ for everyone's favorite Slim Shady sample source, Dido
- CMJ

Not just a microphone fiend
Oregon-born and Crooklyn-based Pete Miser cops a streetwise but mellow, almost matter-of-fact, rhyme style—the perfect foil for the heaviness of the topic at hand, whether it’s busted love (on the scathing homily “Final”), politics (“Old News,” with Dionysos and Stimulus) or borough tales (“The Fall of Williamsburg”). That said, his real secret weapons lie in his turntable chops, production skills and an uncanny ability to recruit great talent, as the soon-to-be-classic jam “All I Do” (with soul siren Maya Azucena—someone to watch for in 2005) reveal with a quickness. - Remix Magazine

Pete Miser Loves Hip-Hop and You should too
By Dave Terpeny, KyndMusic Editor

Underground Hip-Hop has always been an interesting enigma for me. I’ve looked in the door and brushed up against it on the street but never went in or asked if it had a minute to chat. And I wish I had.

It is a musical and cultural phenomenon with undiscovered talent, back-breaking feats of lyrical intelligence and vibrant, experimental rhythms and beats. There are collective groups of MC’s, stunning graffiti art, joint-popping break dancing (and old-school b-boying) along with acrobatic DJs and more.

It has a rich history and recently KyndMusic had the chance to sit down with one of its proponents and greatest talents, the New York b-boy genius Pete Miser.

Pete started out alienated as a white/Chinese suburbanite who found salvation in the Portland, OR b-boy scene and its counter-culture elements. In the late 80’s he released several solo albums, grew up in the scene, was introduced to Reggae and then, in the early 90’s formed the nine-piece live band Five Fingers of Funk.

Through the decade, Fingers toured internationally, released two albums and shared stages with the likes of Maceo Parker, The Roots and Run D.M.C. In 1998, however, they were finished and Pete continued on his unwavering road to hip hop greatness, moving to New York.

There he played with several members of alternative queen Dido’s band. Those encounters led to Pete being invited to join Dido as the DJ in her band. He spent the next four years traveling the world and appearing on numerous television shows. He also recorded and released Radio Free Brooklyn, his critically acclaimed 2002 solo album. But he wasn’t even close to his potential yet.

More and more he felt the pull of the being his own MC and he left Dido’s fold in early 2000 and entered Duotone Studio in New York City.

When he emerged, he had created a classic.

Camouflage is Relative is overflowing with 14 innovative tracks. His sample-heavy beats twist and turn through the back-alleys of Brooklyn, whipping your ears to and fro on a wild ride. His turntable must have been built by the lumberjacks in his home state of Oregon. It is strong to the point of being indestructible.

And as the rhythms grab hold of you, Pete’s verbal gymnastics, keen intelligence, wit and honesty wrap up the deal.

His voice is husky, purposeful and clean so as to better lace into you and himself. He decries his failings as a thuggish playa in “So Sensitive,” crying out in the chorus “I need a hug!” And in “Scent of a Robot” he tells a sharply satirical tale of the programming we all undergo in the modern work place.

But his sense of humor isn’t his only weapon. There are plenty of instances on Camouflage where he aims his sights on bigger targets.

“Old News” is one of those instances. A searing commentary, complaint and call for change; it is a masterful political grievance. Just listen to lines like “It’s not freedom or democracy, it’s capitalist. Same system had me locked up on a slavery ship” sung by guest MC Dionysos and try to not feel it. Then add to that the brief but epic-sounding sampling of the anti-war protests in New York City in 2003 in “Politics Schmolitics” and the exposure of hypocrisy in “I See You.” Damn.

Throughout our conversation, the one thing that struck me the most about Pete was his take-no-prisoners honesty. He would have nothing to do with my ignorant attempts to stereotype hip-hop attitudes and throughout the course of our 45 minute long conservation, he set me and the record straight countless times on issues large and small. It was refreshing if not sometimes slightly embarrassing. And he did it disarmingly.

As the artist goes, so does his album and hopefully his career. Pete Miser is the real deal in a world filled with MTV wanna-be's. He lives and breathes hip-hop and b-boy culture and this passion comes through in one of the top albums of the year, no matter the genre.
- KyndMusic