Silent Southby 2012 with Lyrics Born, DJ Shortkut, AnTenNae, Eliot Lipp, Jeremy Sole, DJ Platurn, Motion Potion, DJ Manny, Señor Oz, DJ Mancub, Small Change

Amongst the dusty records of UC Davis' KDVS college radio station, Tom Shimura, who currently makes records as Lyrics Born, found too much to love. Sandwiched between gatefold LPs, 12-inch singles, dub versions and white-labels was a reservoir of inspiration that he would draw on for the following decades. That was then. This is now. Since his college days, Bay Area-native Lyrics Born's raw, authentic talent has been polished to a gleaming beacon of originality in a time when it's needed most, and it's release marks a new era of label relations. "The old model is dead, you cant just put it out and expect people to get it", explains LB, and the statement could easily be applied to his sound or his approach to marketing the finished product.

Lyrics Born has gone about the creation of his latest effort, As U Were, in a less-than-conventional manner. One defining characteristic of his sound thus far has been that it can be described as unequivocally fun, and this remains true of As U Were. However, LB does routinely peel back the gregarious exterior to reveal a contemplative everyman, and it's times like this that his true artistry is apparent. "It's at the point in my career where I've been through a lot, fun and not so fun. I think I'm dealing with a lot issues that are more mature than the last few albums, from abandonment to betrayal to incredible joy". He voices these sentiments prominently on the lead single "Lies x 3", a driving, heartfelt plead for truth.

While touching on newer subjects, he also reached out to artists that he felt removed himself from his comfort zone. "The new record is more synth-oriented. I made an effort to work with younger artists: Trackademicks, Francis and The Lights, and Sam Sparro, namely". The bay-swagger is in full effect on "Funky Hit Records", and while the new guests add a new dimension to the sound, Tom Shimura isn't one to lose sight of his roots. Gift Of Gab drops a requisite, thought-provoking verse on the critical "Pills" and the classic Latyrx tag-team makes it look way too easy on "Pushed Aside, Pulled Apart", one of the album's standout cuts. As U Were may well be LB's greatest achievement, but it's been a long time coming.

Lyrics Born had been a music obsessive since his youth, and in 1993 freestyles among a group of UC Davis classmates that occupied the same cramped radio quarters began to find their way onto paper, and suddenly LB had written "Send Them". It became the first single on the newly minted Solesides Records, a collaborative venture between himself and his accomplices who would later go on to be known internationally as Blackalicious (comprised of MC Gift of Gab and producer Chief Xcel), DJ Shadow and Lateef The Truthspeaker, an East Oakland rapper with whom he found a shared affinity for the rapid-fire lyrical volleys that would define the next step. As Latyrx (a combination of their working names) the two MCs released The Album, in 1997. The LP would go on to become a certified classic, selling 100,000 copies, yet would prove to be the tip of an even larger iceberg.

Solesides was re-imagined as Quannum Projects in 1999. As co-owner, LB used Quannum as a conduit through which he delivered his most realized project to date, 2003's Later That Day. The album yielded his biggest commercial success to date, "Callin' Out", which charted nationally and was featured in several major motion pictures, EA Sports games as well as a Diet Coke spot featuring Adrian Brody. The remix LP, Same !@#$ Different Day was released shortly after, showcasing the talents of his closest associates and as well as new material. Meanwhile, Lyrics Born began to explore different means of engaging listeners. He kept fans abreast of his work by peppering the internet with The Lyrics Born Variety Show mixtape series whoch he released himself through his website. The mixtapes, as well as ceaseless touring and the creation of his own internet media outlets Lyrics Born TV and LBFM, were elements of a new formula.

Since the release of Later That Day, Lyrics Born has averaged over 150 shows a year, and his explosive live energy was captured on the disc Overnite Encore, a compilation of live performances with live musicians from the Australian leg of his 2006 world tour. He followed up in 2008 with Everywhere At Once, a varied studio disk that signaled a departure from the sample-based pieces he had become known for, supplementing the sound with a full band and a healthy does of synthesizers. Hence, he has arrived at well-rounded sound that is classic and yet futuristic. Tom Shimura hasn't forgotten how he got here, but he's never been afraid to look to the future, either.

No other DJ in the world will ever be a member of the three most innovative and influential DJ crews to ever exist. As a member of the Invisibl Skratch Piklz, Beat Junkies and Triple Threat DJs, Shortkut’s contributions to the DJ world greatly assisted in building this culture into the multi-million dollar industry it is today. His years of musical experience and unparalleled presence in the national and international circuits exemplifies his passion and dedication to a culture he helped create. In 2007, Shortkut celebrated 20 years as a DJ, producer, DJ equipment designer, and battle champion.

Shortkut began his DJ career in 1987 with Just 2 Hype!, a mobile DJ soundsystem based out of Daly City, California. In 1994, J Rocc, the "Funky President” (Stones Throw Records), invited Shortkut to join his internationally acclaimed collective of DJs and producers, The Beat Junkies. Since Shortkut’s addition to the group, he has diversified the Beat Junkie audience. In 1995, Shortkut, DJ Q-Bert and Mixmaster Mike (Beastie Boys), formed the Invisibl Skratch Piklz, a legendary turntable band that led a new era in the DJ/turntablist world. The Invisibl Skratch Piklz went on to become the most influential DJ crew of all time. In 1999, Shortkut, along with world DJ champions Apollo and Vinroc, founded the Triple Threat DJs. These DJs all shared the same philosophy of combining raw turntable skills for the hardcore, while satisfying dancefloor crowds. This musical philosophy exploded with the birth of the Triple Threat DJs, and is now what DJs around the world follow today.

Throughout his career, Shortkut has made numerous contributions to the DJ culture. His involvement with seminars and tutorials in techniques and DJ history helps develop aspiring DJs and turntablists from middle schools to college classrooms worldwide. He was also a key designer of the Vestax 05 Pro, which became the best-selling DJ mixer of the Japan-based Vestax mixer line.

Shortkut claimed numerous titles, notably the 1994 and 1998 US/West Coast DMC Championships. He has also been featured in prized national and international publications including Rolling Stone, URB, DJ Times, Scratch, and VIBE. His talent has taken him to almost every continent, in which he showcases his performance/mixing DJ style to crowds - many of whom were introduced to the artform for the first time. In 2001, Shortkut appeared alongside X-ecutioner's Rob Swift and actress Shannon Sossamon for a GAP clothing commercial that aired worldwide. He was honored with the Grand Wizard Theodore Lifetime Achievement Award in Germany for his contributions to the development of scratching & DJ culture in 2004.

A diverse selection in music, combined with turntablist roots makes Shortkut one of the world's premier DJs. He has the creative ability to fuse many styles, which enables him to play for various audiences. Influences such as Jazzy Jeff, Rob Swift, Q-Bert, and his DJ crewmembers have contributed to Shortkut's well-rounded DJ style.

Shortkut’s musical talent magnetizes audiences of all ages both in his hometown of San Francisco, throughout the United States, and overseas. His 20+ years of DJ experience and membership with three of the world's most influential DJ collectives allowed him to enhance his skills, expand his musical selection and develop into an inspiring musician that believes in sharing his talent. Shortkut continues to add to his discography through creations in different areas of music production, mix projects and more recently, video mixing. With the addition of the visual element to his DJ sets, Shortkut continues to innovate and lead in progressing the art of DJing.

After more than eight years of global touring, seven solo albums, countless collaborations, label-head tastemaking and vital artist-incubator in the USA's most critical beat-making cities (SF, Chicago, NYC), Eliot Lipp's status as an electronic music pioneer is known to scene connoisseurs and weekend warriors alike. Lipp's omnivorous tastes are apparent, from the obvious funk and myriad manifestations of hip-hop though less explicit reference points as jazz fusion, folk and techno. His well-earned reputation as a producer's producer stems in part from his craftsmanship. Never content with well-worn breaks and effects, his work incorporates a fetishistic love of analogue gear with sampledelic flourishes, intricate rhythmic patterns and more than a few leftfield surprises. But his melodic instincts and tunefulness are what have earned him such wide appeal, his songwriterly connection to music's storytelling possibilities, even without words.

When Eliot Lipp first arrived on the scene with his self-titled solo album in 2004 (Eastern Development), he seemed to have a fully formed aesthetic out of the gates. Lipp displayed an intuitive knack for teasing earwormy melodies out of rhythmic bangers, and drew from a remarkably mature sonic palette - two qualities that immediately set the young instrumental producer apart from his oft-indistinguishable beatmaking brethren. Since that promising debut, Lipp has played to his strengths while creating an imposing body of work with a style uniquely his own.

After spending formative, collegiate years in San Francisco, Lipp found his next home of Chicago—along with label Hefty Records and the fertile, exploratory music scene that surrounded him—to be an indisputable font of inspiration that resulted in two full-lengths in 2006. Lipp's Tacoma Mockingbird record—named in homage to his boyhood home in Washington State—is a study in contradictions, as back-to-basics hip-hop and electro breaks underpin a more nuanced approach. He soon followed with Steele Street Scraps, a record that makes great use of some of his many collaborators. While it can't be said that his Chicago years resulted in the post-rock phase one might expect from his associates, it seems to have laid the groundwork for greater compositional maturity to come.

After time immersed in Los Angeles' vibrant community of producers, Lipp crossed the continent to set up shop in Brooklyn. His 2007 album, City Synthesis (Metatronix), is notable for its relaxed tempo, while the following year's The Outside (Mush Records) proved to be a thorough artistic breakthrough, his most formally complex and emotionally engaging work yet. Lipp's irrepressible creativity found another outlet in his Old Tacoma Records label, offering the opportunity for more diverse collaborations and a greater range of expressiveness. That freedom yielded 2009's Peace Love Weed 3D: a release that upped the electronic ante and supplemented his boom-bap instincts with futurefunk details. He followed this with collaboration from long-time friend and producer Jasia 10 for How We Do: Moves Made (2011).

JEREMY SOLE (89.9 KCRW, Afro Funké, theLIFT, Musaics) Chicago-born Jeremy Sole
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> has been making beats since the MPC60, deejaying since rotary crossfaders were the standard, and playing clubs since he was too young to (legally) get in. As a teenager, Sole's loft parties were a culture clash during the birth of Hip Hop and House music. He matured as a turntablist in Jazz, Dub and experimental hybrid bands. Jeremy's upbringing was seeped in the rich Chicago history of Blues, Jazz, Disco and Funk - and he reveled in that sacred space where they all blend together. As a kid he spent many nights in the alleys behind blues clubs listening through the air vents, before heading downtown to mix at deep Disco loft parties. Meanwhile his obsession grew to include music from every corner of the world. In 2001 Sole moved to Los Angeles, and with his broad musical palette he felt right at home in the spiciest melting pot in the country.

If your ears work, you can't not have fun at a Smalltown DJs gig.
That's a scientific fact. Look it up. The Canadian duo's uncanny
ability to make crowds feel like schoolkids at recess stems naturally
from their focus on maximizing fun for themselves.

'We're just out to consistently have the best time possible,' says
Pete Emes, who shares space behind the decks with partner Mike
Grimes. This fun maximization philosophy is the unifying force be-
hind the Smalltown's genre-warping club sets, which tend to cover
vast musical territory but never veer from the good times vibe.

In their focus on music as a means of letting loose and having fun,
Smalltown DJs are like the KISS of dance music. Actually, KISS are
too theatrical. They're more like AC/DC. Meets Raffi. At a water-
slide park. With a lot (a LOT) of beer.

The Smalltown story goes like this. Emes and Grimes met in the
late nineties and discovered a shared interest in funky breaks and
baggy pants. Emes at the time was moonlighting as a deejay
while working full-time as a geologist for an oil company. Grimes,
a former snowboarding prodigy (he's on the inside cover of the very first
Transworld Snowboard mag) was toiling in a skate/show shop.
Joined by a love of imposing their musical tastes on others, the two
started playing records out together.

Before long they had launched Hai Karate, a weekly Thursday
smash-up that's still going strong. Now in its tenth year, Hai Karate
is a free-for-all dance party that borrows a little from each of the scenes that shaped the
Smalltown sound - community hall punk rock, block party hip-hop
and early nineties rave.

The long-running night is now hosted at HiFi Club, the Calgary
nightspot that the Smalltowners opened with a partner in 2005.
The HiFi is but one part of the indie empire that Emes and Grimes
have built in their homeland. They also own a record label (Bigfoot),
a record store (Phonics) and a clothing store (Giant 45).

The way the deejay thing is going, it's hard to grasp how they
have time for anything else. Aside from weekly residencies at HiFi
and EyeCandy Soundlounge in Las Vegas, Smalltown DJs have
showcased at SXSW in Austin, toured Canada with Brooklyn's
The Rub, played Thievery Corporation's club in Mexico several
times, performed at a bunch of festivals including Lollapalooza and
Shambhala, and toured Europe on a swing that included a gig at
Fabric in London. That was just 2008.

Equally at home playing intimate private jams or massive festivals,
Smalltown DJs have have hosted and played alongside a huge
array of talent, including Afrika Bambaataa, Dj Assault, Jeru the
Damaja, Diplo, Tommie Sunshine, Spankrock, Chromeo, The Rub
DJs, A-Trak, XXXchange, Low Budget, James Lavelle, Z-Trip,
Fort Knox Five, and more.

On the production side, the duo has released several blends,
remixes and re-edits that have been getting play all over the world.
Recently they teamed up with Wax Romeo to create Smalltown
Romeo, a new production supergroup focused on making fun
dance music with a sense of humour. Not surprisingly, Smalltown
Romeo's production style resembles the squad's approach to
deejaying - polymorphous, party-focused and pretension-free.

Smalltown DJs' quest to maximize fun for themselves and
others is an ongoing saga.
They continue to tour relentlessly. Look for them in your town soon.

MoPo (aka Robbie Kowal) is one of America's most versatile,
experienced and flat-out joyous party rockers. His decade long mission is to 'put the party back into the party', and to connect the casual music fan with the hard core dance music mavens; proving that music is more than just beats. San Francisco's bootleg indie remix partypusher, is known for a rare ability to play exactly the right music for the moment and an expertise with a wide variety of genres that he seamlessly melds into a coherent blend. Since breaking out as a rare groove Dj in the 90's he has spent the 21st Century using eclectic club styles, break beat, trip hop and tech funk as a backdrop for his genrebending experiments. From a near religious love of funk and hip hop, to a lifetime study of rock and roll to a massive aptitude for latin, reggae and other outernational formats, MoPo incorporates bits and pieces of music culture into electronic edits that slam the dancefloor. As a backdrop, he creates, edits or chooses only the biggest baddest breaks, hooks and drops to create a sound that truly slams. To the dancer, MoPo is a breath of fresh air, often transforming a room into collective song or crowd chant that connect the audience to the DJ.

These abilities have seen him preceding, following or tagging with a
who's who of breakbeat heroes like Afrika Bambaataa, DJ Icey, Cut
Chemist, Grandmaster Flash, James Lavelle, Bassnectar, DJ Vadim, Tipper, Kraak & Smaak, Aquasky, Fort Knox 5, Z-trip. He's also been among the first DJs to play many a rock festival including an unprecedented 6-year run at Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival and the first DJ sets ever at Gathering of the Vibes, High Sierra, Berkfest, Caribbean Holidaze, Mid Atlantic Music Experience, and Rothbury festival. He even played at Govt Mule's legendary "Deepest End" show, called one of the Top 10 shows of the Decade by Jambase. A live turntablist for the indie techno circus The Mutaytor, MoPo has sat in with Parliament-Funkadelic, Galactic, Rebirth Brass Band and BLVD. He has opened for live music legends like James Brown, Maceo Parker, Widespread Panic, String Cheese Incident, Femi Kuti, Sheryl Crow,
Spearhead, Jurassic 5, Isaac Hayes, Blackalicious, and Pendulum.

Don’t you just love music? That’s a rhetorical question, of course you love music. And that’s why you’ll love DJ Platurn. Duh. An 18 year veteran of the music industry, Platurn has traveled the world many times over bringing phenomenal music to phenomenal people. And with a client list that includes notables like Red Bull, Scion, Pandora, Adidas, Pixar, Monster Cable, MTV, Rane, the Golden State Warriors, Mixcrate, & the Hard Rock Cafe, he is clearly doing something right.

The man’s resume speaks for itself, but don’t just take these words’s word for it, go check the schedule and get out to a show. Make sure you bring dancing shoes, cuz you like music, and the two go super well together.

San Francisco based dj Señor Oz has been rocking dancefloors from Burning Man to New York City since he started djng as a high school kid. His eclectic selections mix up dance music from genres ranging from funk,Afrobeat, disco, house, Latin, Hip-Hop and reggae, the unifying factor being the breaks that make the party move. As a tastemaker, producer and promoter he 
has helped garner worldwide respect for the Afrolicious party he started and has gained critical praise for his remixes that have come out on Six Degrees Records and Akwaaba Records and his mixtapes and original production. 

West Coast musical artist Nicoluminous is on a mission…This unique multi-faceted artist takes a soulful approach to creating electronic music while fusing melodic progressions, futuristic sound design and organic elements into dirty bass drops.”Sunrize in LA”,his most recent release on Street Ritual records on March 21st 2011, went straight to #1 on Addictech.com.The EP is an elegant downtempo lovestep journey moving swiftly between haunting samples, throbbing sub-bass and 8 bit funk.

Lately, his sets have been geared to the sexier and less aggressive side of Dubstep with bass deep and hypnotic. When it comes to his love of Hiphop, Dub, and Dancehall, Nico melds these influences into upbeat Left Coast Crunkand Glitch Hop.

Having been performing as an MC/Beatboxer since he was a teenager, Nico also puts those skills to work in his DJ sets to create a live element and raise the vibes. Stay tuned nicoluminous.com, Nico’s Soundcloud and Youtube channel for free downloads, upcoming releases and music production tutorials.