missreputeddj

Hi everyone

I think this group is awesome because I am a fan of all kinds of different music styles.  I wanted to make sure everyone marks their calendars for June 18, because that is the scheduled date for this year’s Taste of Tippecanoe festival!  There will be good food and many stages of all different kinds of music.  The Purdue Beat Society usually has an area with lots of cool djs.

Here is what I’ve really been into lately: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDxu0WESuLM

It’s an oldie (1993), but a goodie.    Most people in Indiana don’t listen to ska… My big brother has always been into it though, so I was indoctrinated to like it from an early age. I recommend at least giving it a try… I promise it’ll put a little pep in your step!

On the note of my last blog, Which performers from Indiana do you find the most inspirational?  Everyone knows that Michael Jackson is from Gary (well all the Jacksons really), and I know that some members of Guns and Roses are from Lafayette… But what other performers have called the great state of Indiana home?  I decided to do some research, and here is what I found.

The following people are either from Indiana or have lived here:

• Kyle Cook (Matchbox Twenty guitarist), Frankfort
• Shannon Hoon (Blind Melon singer), Lafayette
• Axl Rose (Guns N Roses singer), Lafayette
• John Mellencamp (singer, songwriter, musician), Seymour
• David Lee Roth (singer & member of Van Halen), Bloomington
• Kenneth “Babyface” Edmonds, singer & producer, Indianapolis

Most of these people I had known about, but just forgotten about. Haha You see, my family is from Indiana and I grew up hearing about some of them. Secondly, It sortof makes sense why Indiana residents are predominantly into rock music (as a rule) with the state turning out predominantly famous rockers.

My entire family (on both sides!) actually hails from good ol’ Frankfort, Indiana. I have always thought of it as a small town, but my grandfather has been quick to inform me that it is the county seat of Clinton county! In any case, it is about 45 minutes north of Indy on SR 31, right in the middle of the state. So I have of course known that a member of Matchbox 20 is from Frankfort. That is kindof like a claim to fame for them.

I have spent a fair portion of my life here in Lafayette, so I am well aware of the fact that Axl Rose lived here. He even spent some time attending Jefferson high school.

This classic photo of Axl Rose in the 1980s was taken from his facebook page.

Well, I hope you’ve had fun being schooled on Indiana’s musical history! I leave you with a YouTube video of the greatest Michael Jackson performance ever!

Since we are all united by living in Indiana, which is kinda big,

I thought it would be a good idea to include some more info about music in the great state. Here is what I found:

From the moment I stumbled upon my very first Google search, I was absolutely inundated with info about Indiana University (haha Boiler up!) and their fabulous school of music. There is a ton of documentation and ummm… other stuff about it. haha

What I found to be most interesting though, was probably all of the stuff I found about punk rock in Indiana. Apparently our state is quite rich in history for this style of music!

I mean, I already knew about a popular punk rock night at the Melody Inn in Indianapolis,

but apparently Indiana really made its waves in the punk scene in the 70s.  Some notable bands during that era were:

• The Gizmos
• Dow Jones and the Industrials
• Latex Novelties

It is not really surprising to me that the first two bands are from big college towns in the state (Actually, The Gizmos and Dow Jones and the Industrials released a split LP together valled Hoosier Hysteria). Punk is definitely based towards a younger crowd.  It also didn’t really surprise me that the band from West Lafayette had such a nerdy name!

Here is a youtube video of a performance by Dow Jones and the Industrials:

I also found out that Indiana was one of the very first locations, after Chicago and New Orleans, for Jazz to become popular.  This made me happy, because I was the first chair tumpet player for my high school jazz band.

More recently, the predominant music scene for young people in Indiana is has been alternative music (artists such as Nirvana, Smashing Pumpkins, Dave Mathews Band, ect.

Livetronica (a portmanteau of the words live and electronica) is a new style of music that has become popular in that last decade. Sometimes this new genre also goes by the name Jamtronica or Trance Fusion. It is a new age subgenre of the jam band movement that is also inspired by musical styles like rock, jazz, funk, and electronica. It is very popular all throughout the midwest, as well as in Colorado and the south Florida/Miami areas as well.

This style of music is played with midi keyboards and sequencers in addition to traditional instruments, like guitar and drums. In many ways it is a bit reminiscent of the disco era because it is usually very funky and chilled out.  In fact, this style of music was inspired by the group Disco Biscuits. The New Deal and Lake Trout are also considered to be top acts for livetronica throughout the country.

This is a video of a live performance by the Disco Biscuits, the founders of this genre:

Here is an online radio station that features samples of livetronica.In West Lafayette, a group named Papadosio stopped into the Knickerbocker as a part of their Retrospective Release tour.  Livetronica and jam-bands before its emergence have actually been popular in Lafayette for quite some time, so they were very welcome performers for this area. The music of Papadosio is downright psychedelic and they describe it themselves as being experimental. Papadosio is currently an up and coming group within the style.Like jazz, and really the whole jam band tradition that influences it most heavily, there is a lot of emphasis placed on improvisation.  A lot of Livetronica acts do sets that are entirely composed on the fly. In summary, this is a form of music that is just totally different!

Papadosio’s Observations album cover

reggae funk hip hop: musical group
guitar/bass/drums/dj/mc

Lafayette Indiana

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Everyone’s “favorite national holiday” (according to the website), national Record Store Day, has just passed. That website features a countdown until the next one; It is currently only 347 days away!

National Record Store Day was founded in 2007. Since then, independently owned record stores have festivals every third Saturday in April. This year, it was sponsored by international superstar Ozzy Osbourne!

Every year on Record Store Day, special releases on vinyl and CD for a variety of artists are made exclusively for that day only. For 2011, special Record Store Day releases were put out for a wide variety of artists- from Lady Gaga to the Grateful Dead.  Here is a video that discusses lots of things that were put out:

As the man in this video shows, not all of the special releases were oldies.  For example, there was a lot of grunge put out on vinyl this year (Nirvana, Foo Fighters, Sonic Youth, Green Day, Death Cab for Cutie, ect.)! A lot of that vinyl was a different size or color than usual. There were several picture discs even some clear vinyl. There were also special toys made for Record Store Day.

In Lafayette, there was a celebration of National Record Store Day at Von’s Records shop near Purdue on State Street.  One of its stages was scheduled to be out in their parking lot and was canceled because it was rained out, but it was still a great day!  Here is a soundslides presentation I made about that event.

Since Record Store Day is a national celebration, it was of course celebrated at various independent record stores all throughout the state. Similar festivals were held at independent record stores everywhere from Ft. Wayne to Bloomington.  And there were of course tons of festivals all throughout Indianapolis!

Well, I am a Purdue student, so I am going to start out the Essential Rhythm blog by talking about places that Purdue students can go out and hear music. Sure, Purdue may be pretty nerdy, but in this blog post, I am going to check out some spots that Purdue students can go out for fun!

Here are some that are located right in West Lafayette:

Everyone that goes to Purdue knows about the Neon Cactus. It is a popular night spot in West Lafayette because of it’s huge dance floor that is open Thursday – Saturday nights.

Where Else? Bar is located very close to campus.  It has more of a nightclub type of atmosphere than any of the other locations in West Lafayette.

Nine Irish Brothers is a super authentic Irish pub located on the Levee!  Live bands perform here.

Grey House is everyone’s favorite campus coffee house directly across from Chauncey Hill Mall.  I’m not sure that many people know this, but they have live bands every Friday night.

And let’s not Lafayette is right across the river!

Black Sparrow Pub is located at 233 Main Street in Lafayette. They are actually an exciting restaurant that many have compared to an authentic Irish Pub, but they are definitely a viable music venue that hosts a wide variety of music events.  This is a podcast from a live music act they had perform in house.

Zoolegers is Lafayette’s only gay bar, and it is located right downtown as well at 644 Main Street.  Zoolegers has bands and DJs on the weekends. I have djed there myself a couple of times and I know some Purdue students that enjoy going there for the atmosphere.

Jerilee’s Pub is farther away from campus than any of these other locations at 2100 Elmwood Avenue, but it was voted the best music venue in Lafayette in 2008 and 2009.