Tony Damico is a familiar face around Long Beach. He’s one of the founders of the Long Beach Time Exchange, and has been involved in countless local grass roots efforts. Tomorrow, he launches a new monthly series called Beat Theatre, taking place at CALB‘s Bungalow Art Center Screening Room.
This month, the theme of love is being explored. A film, to be announced at the event, will be shown, accompanied by performances from Memesy, The Slimmy Hart Project, and Luke Cage of The Mothership Collective.
“Beat Theatre pairs live beat artists with a different film each month,” Damico explained, “bringing new perspectives to classic and modern films. The artists draw inspiration for their beats from a variety of sources, including the film itself, and their sets are planned to syncopate with the film’s progression.
“The idea came about via the old college past-time of watching muted films with friends while listening to music. It was always exciting to me to see what sort of synchronicity would come about without even trying. With this event, there’s definitely more effort put into syncopating the film with a new score, but the magic is there via the multimedia re-contextualization that occurs with these disparate elements.”
Damico has been drawn to “Boom-Bap” beats since he was a kid, primarily because of the grounded and progressive feel it brings to music.
“Beats typically center around some really basic sounds: The kick drum, snare, and hi-hats. So you have low frequency and high frequency sounds giving a sort of confidence to the overall sound. Typically the beat is broken, so it’s different than, say, techno, where the downbeat (or kick) always happens consistently on the first beat. The kick, snare rhythm elicits the head-nod, or at least the tapping toes.
“I also enjoy the fragmenting of this initially grounded beat, using stutters, echoes, and effects to take the sound into inner and outer space, so to speak. There’s also the experimental angle on the beat that we’ll be sure to explore.
“The beat is really the glue in experimental hip-hop, because we can have these sweeping palates of sounds coming from vinyl sampling, film dialogue, field recordings, and who knows what else woven together via the beat. So while immersed in the multiple dimensions of sound, the beat can keep us somewhat grounded in a sense of reality–to the extent that the artist wants us to.
“I play some of the drum beats live, but also have some drum loops that I’ve spent a lot of time developing. I often layer them together, while using drum pads to trigger different sounds that are gated with the beat. Then there’s also live looping and manipulating the beats that way. There are a lot of different methods, depending on the technology the artist uses. I think you’ll see that variety of approaches in our first installation.”
Damico started programming beats, using a popular music program called Fruity Loops, when he was 18.
“It was a combination of basic drum programming on a grid, with the ability to slice and dice different samples to midi so they could be easily triggered and reconfigured. Before that, I was dabbling with recording instruments and producing songs for a couple of years. But I grew up listening to great music on vinyl, making tapes, recording stuff from the radio, and just loving all of it. The ability to reconfigure and reinvent the sounds that inspire me was really a game changer, and the technology has continued to evolve in exciting ways for the past 13 years.”
Damico sees hip-hop as a response to the 70s disco and club scene, bringing the dance party to the streets.
“The thing that made it real is that they were bringing in a lineage of music that inspired them. Today, a lot of the beat scene is trapped in trends… ‘dubstep’ being the last, and ‘trap music’ being the latest. I see nothing wrong with stylistic trends, don’t get me wrong. Thus is art, but many of these renditions really lack authenticity.
“Authenticity begins with one’s lived experiences, and ends with their expression of these experiences. In other words, taking the risk of sharing your unique imprint or inspiration without allowing external expectations (ie: what’s popular, or what’s going to sell or get radio play) to take the front seat. Without this kind of authenticity–being true to your experience–there is no innovation or true art being created. There’s just copycat music that doesn’t really appeal to anyone. It might have its place and practical uses for people, it might be something to listen to on the way to the grocery store or the club, but it’s going to be predictable and ultimately boring to the listener because it’s not coming from a real place of inspiration.
“Also, while everyone draws on other sources for inspiration, finding your unique approach to transcending or evolving the forms that inspire you is challenging, but important. So, the inspiration is not just looking back, but looking forward into slightly different terrain.
“I’m bringing very different textures and sounds together, and rather than having a particular sound in mind that I want to achieve, mixing them until something fresh and different seems to emerge. Lately I’ve been working with field recordings. One song that I’m working on mixes a Prince sample with a recording of the Lakewood High School marching band that I captured at the MLK parade, along with snares from an elementary school and some digital synthesizers.
“Another song is composed almost entirely of sound captured in a visit to the farmer’s market. So for me, it’s back to saying–what am I experiencing? How can I throw back to my roots, yet also tap into some stylistic trends that are popular now? Then, once a track is produced, thinking about remixing these sounds live takes on a whole new contextualization.”
Damico believes that the sources of inspiration, and the resulting work, can be recombined.
“I’d like to see beats brought out in the public in a way that forces authenticity. I’d like to see beats as more of an everyday life phenomenon, as a way of expressing one’s place and perspective in the world. Something that you hear at the train station or the airport, in the galleries and artwalks, at college in between classes, or while enjoying a BBQ with friends.
“Far too often, hearing good beats relies on going to a club or bar, which is such a limiting atmosphere for people to connect on a real level. That was never the environment where the scene flourished, like in Leimert Park, for example. I want to hear and see beats in the public sphere, despite the bad rap that hip-hop gets, despite the fact that the city is less likely to permit beats than other events. Is it because they fear that chaos and hooliganism will ensue, or is it just pure systemic racism and cultural imperialism? Either way, there’s a noted resistance to this, and it’s a big reason why they say hip-hop is dead, in my opinion.”
The film being shown on Wednesday remains a closely guarded secret, but Damico admits that the process for selecting arose from a survey of sorts that he conducted via Facebook.
“The film is kept a secret to the audience for a reason. We want people to come out for the artists, to hear and see something different, not because they’re a huge fan of whatever actor or director. We can only hope that folks will be up for the unpredictable adventure!
“The artists are all from Zypher [un]Label, which is collective of experimental beat makers. I put out my first full-length album with these guys, and they’re all really genuine and honest artists whom I respect. We’re also excited to be hosting Zeroh and friends next month. He’s probably the most interesting beat maker we’ve got in Long Beach, and has friends spanning the greater Los Angeles scene. We’re going to talk more with him about what type of film he’d want to use.”
Damico performs and records as Memesy, a modern nod to Lewis Carroll’s “Jabberwocky” poem.
“I used to go by Mimsy, but then became interested in the study of Memetics, which looks at self-replicating ideas known as Memes from an evolutionary perspective. I decided I liked the phonic sound of Memesy, because to me it suggests a sort of unassuming personality that may sneak up on you and become infectious and irresistible.”
Damico believes that sound vibrations have metaphysical power.
“Certain frequencies can tap into parts of our physiology, and, by extension, our psyches, that we may either be ignoring or not fully experiencing. This is why some dance music, even the simplest club jams, can really help us feel free. It’s also a big reason why drugs enhance these effects. To me, the music’s always been the drug, and I’ve always liked that it can be designed to do different things for you.
“The issue for me, then, is the extent to which the listener is being imprinted by the artist, by the intentions and inspiration behind the music. If it’s not authentic, if it’s not created with the hope of connecting people, expanding positivity, creating diverse culture, then what’s its purpose and effect? Perhaps its simply to disorient, which seems a virtuous goal to me as well. If music can disorient us from the monoculture in which we live, and help us desire something more novel and true to experience, I’m for it.
“In my music, I really take what I would call a Gnostic approach. I think that the light and dark elements of the spectrum of experience all should get equal play, that mixing them is an important goal of art, with the goal of transforming and creating something whole, something that doesn’t reject any part of lived experience. This can often be disorienting, when we’re accustomed to music either being light and poppy or dark and broody.
“Bringing in these multiple dimensions into a given song, or performance, really honors the entire being and, hopefully, activates parts of the brain and body that may have something to say to each other.
“There’s something shared, something there that urges pure individualism and fragmentation. There’s also a shared magic there, even if it only comes in the form of a wink, slide of hand, or smile in the live performance. Little bits of authenticity can slip through and add thick layers of meaning. It’s tenuous and prone to subjectivity, which is sort of what I like about it.”
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Beat Theatre will take place on Wednesday, February 13 CALB’s Bungalow Art Center Screening Room located at 727 Pine Avenue. Doors open at 7:30 PM, and the performance runs from 8-10 PM. Admission is $5, and all ages are welcome. Metered parking is available on the street, and additional parking is available at City Place.
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