Bloc Party, Jon Brion, Dead Prez, Robert Pollard

BLOC PARTY
The name Bloc Party may ring a bell whether you’ve heard their music or not. You may have seen them perform on late night chat shows or heard their music in a car commercial or on “The O.C.” (in which case let’s hope you were watching it with your little sister and she hid the remote in her pants.) In the past year, they have been invading your subconscious with their rambunctious and infectious post-punk songs. Their success can be attributed to frontman Kele Okereke’s distinctive voice and songs encumbering relationships both in love and in the wider spectrum of the world. They have been touring constantly, making appearances at last year’s SXSW festival and this year’s Coachella. They have been hyped up to an explosive degree, but remain one of those few bands that are worth the ubiquitous accolades. In concert, they suck the audience into their universe with unbridled energy and uncompromising attributes. (Sunday, 9:05-10, Vice Stage) –text: Garin Pirnia

JON BRION
Jon Brion enjoys multitasking. While most of his work is best known behind the scenes, he frequents L.A.’s Café Largo with a score of talents and the occasional high profile guest. When he’s not scoring films like Magnolia and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, he is producing a mélange of artists from Kanye West to Rufus Wainwright. His recent controversy with friend and client Fiona Apple over the production of her latest album, Extraordinary Machine, created a cult classic of sorts. After his arguably superior version began to take shape, Apple brought in outside help. His version heavily circulated on the internet, gaining high popularity far before Sony released the altered product. There is really no telling what he’ll do in both studio and live sessions. From looped Duke Ellington to Dixieland sing-a-longs, Brion has remained as unpredictable as the music business itself — and often several steps ahead. (Sunday, 6:15-7:15, Virtue Stage)

DEAD PREZ
Dead Prez burst onto the “conscious rap” scene in 1997 and with their 2000 debut, Let’s Get Free, seemed to be spearheading the political rap revival. Ethereal yet hard-hitting beats underscored tales of self-determination, cultural upheaval and racial strife in the subsequent Turn off the Radio Vol. 1 and Turn off the Radio Vol. 2: Get Free or Die Tryin’. Yet with 2004’s Revolutionary But Gangsta, the Dead Prez sound acquired more “gangsta” and sold off a bit of that “revolution.” There were still reverberating overtones of anger and urges to speak out against powers that be, but the methods by which this might be achieved fell away from socialist themes and leaned towards wayward, misdirected chaos. The music itself was not bad, though structured within more of an R&B vibe than past head-bobbing glory. Yet Confidential, member M-1’s new solo effort, may save the day. The return to harder beats and focused discourse will likely keep fans satiated. (Sunday, 8:15-9:05, Virtue Stage) –text: Clara Rose Thornton

ROBERT POLLARD
Robert Pollard is pretty much the O.G. of indie rock, and quite possibly the man who burns through pads and pens the fastest. Pollard writes garage rock ditties at a pace few can match. Throughout his career he’s released project after project populated with 1- and 2-minute flashes of music. Sometimes it’s brilliant, sometimes forgettable, but Pollard’s voluminous catalog is undeniable. He abandoned his former band (and some might say pseudonym) Guided By Voices and curtailed his touring schedule at the close of 2004, but Pollard continues to pour every song in his head onto whatever recording device is handy. He’s got four albums out already this year and shows no sign of slowing down. Intonation is a rare chance to catch Pollard on stage — where his drinking ability and wild karate kicks are legend, as are the microbursts of pure rock energy he dishes out. For Intonation, he’ll be playing with Superchunk drummer Jon Wurster along with Tommy Keene, Dave Philips and Jason Narducy. (Sunday, 7:15-8:15, Vice Stage) –text: Noah Levine

Dead Prez

The primary philosophy of Dead Prez is to use the phenomenon of hip hop to articulate the general goals and objectives of our movement – the real movement, the in-the-streets movement by the people – for freedom, self-determination and liberation, ultimately. We are a vehicle by which our culture is used like a weapon, as one of the revolutionary tools to connect organizations to the people and to the voices of those people who are freedom fighters: the doers, the movers and the shakers.

story by Clara Rose Thornton

For reasons that are not difficult to decipher, hip hop duo Dead Prez have been veritable media darlings since their 1997 inception. M-1 and stic.man had underground credibility, an afrocentric image and lyrics rife with racial discourse, tales of class struggle and calls for black revolution. It’s easy to write glowing reviews when something seems fresh, unspoiled and a bit intimidating. Yet the years have passed and Dead Prez moved away from independent label Loud and towards powerhouse conglomerate Columbia. Their first major label release, 2004’s RBG: Revolutionary But Gangsta, focuses more on “real big guns” and being “ready to bust gats” than espousing socialist politics, perhaps due to the label’s quest to reach a wider, more radio-friendly audience. They penned the song “Hell Yeah” with Jay-Z as RBG’s first single, a rapper not exactly known for radical politics and grassroots organizing. As M-1’s solo project, Confidential, debuts this spring, some critics and fans are questioning the purity of what they assumed was Dead Prez’s dedication to setting themselves apart from meaningless commercial rap and to providing solutions for black America’s social ills. Simply put, “Have Dead Prez sold out?”

M-1 doesn’t think so. “The primary philosophy of Dead Prez is to use the phenomenon of hip hop to articulate the general goals and objectives of our movement — the real movement, the in-the-streets movement by the people — for freedom, self-determination and liberation, ultimately. We are a vehicle by which our culture is used like a weapon, as one of the revolutionary tools to connect organizations to the people and to the voices of those people who are freedom fighters: the doers, the movers and the shakers.”

That sounds serious, and Dead Prez’s music certainly was. Early tracks like “Black & White” and “They Schools” brimmed with poetic analyses of imperialism, war, governmental blights and a thinly veiled educational caste system. The beats were milky yet fierce, the overall production was innovative and the songs left a shadow over the listener’s thoughts, no matter what race or class he or she belonged to. Even the one single that got moderate radio play, “Hip Hop”, demands of fellow rappers, “You’d rather have a Lexus or justice/ A dream or some substance/ A Beemer, a necklace or freedom?” They were held up as the new Public Enemy and helped keep the underground fire burning. It seems that today’s question, though, is how they can keep up an anti-capitalist, pro-black, pro-poor theory when they’re signed to a very capitalist record label and don’t seem to offer an accessible plan of action for common people, besides RBG’s call to rob the pizza boy when he comes to the door.

M-1 responds that with wider distribution it’s easier “to use some of that white power to make black power. That’s dollars; that’s resources, that’s schools and organizations and community outlets to throw behind the revolution. That’s what we stand behind…We made our music unequivocally for the black community to rise up and to be a freedom-fighting tool for black revolution. And we’re still going to get there. It has a lot to do with distribution, it has a lot to do with our ability to directly connect with our community. Right now it’s through the Internet, but even the Internet is not working class-community friendly. At the moment, the only thing that’s really related to our community is the radio. We’re not a part of that. So we’re working on getting directly to the people through any barriers, by any means. That’s the struggle we’re in today.”

Good answer, but what about doing a song with notoriously “hoes and gold chains” Jay-Z? Reasonably and falling within his stated goal, it can be thought of as a way to directly impact the pop cultural spectrum, seeing that Jigga is still a king of the airwaves. Yet Jay-Z’s overall presentation would seem to be in contrast with everything Dead Prez, and M-1 as a solo artist, strives to put forth. “I think the problem is that people have polarized this rap thing — and it’s not real. When I say that, I mean Jay-Z’s just a man, from a working class community just like mine. Why wouldn’t we be able to relate on many, if not all, issues? Yes, he has a hyper-capitalist theory, but so do all rappers. All of them want the same thing Jay-Z wants, he’s just expressing it. I feel like with a lot of people, because they get lumped into the ‘all you want is money’ category, then that’s all they get…That’s what Dead Prez is looking to do — not be pigeonholed and put into this box of ‘we’re the type of rappers who can only talk about this.’”

Dead Prez is still going strong, and it remains to be seen how the fickle tides of critical praise and fandom will flow. The best way to judge is to see their forceful performances, where politics still mesh with theatrics, and where hip hop may still be capable of saving the day after all.

Dead Prez will perform on day two of Intonation Music Fest at 8:15 p.m. on the Virtue Stage at Union Park on Sunday, June 25.