Isaac Dunbar Takes Our Pop Quiz
office gave Isaac an impromptu pop quiz where there are no wrong answers... except, of course, the wrong ones.
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office gave Isaac an impromptu pop quiz where there are no wrong answers... except, of course, the wrong ones.
The anticipation is high for Detroit's techno and Ghettotech pioneers and trailblazers for this year's iconic Movement festival. Whether it's a pre-party, a Movement set or an after-party, the city's rich history will present itself through its unique sounds. But it doesn't stop at Movement; Detroit's techno night life and club scene have been prominent and lively for almost 50 years.
As a Detroit native, it's important we recognize the influence and individuality that comes from the musical liberation that is Ghettotech, especially at the height of gentrification and displacement in the city.
How would you define Ghettotech?
Tiptonaires: Ghettotech is a lyrical expression over techno beats; raw freedom personified. Most times it's freestyles and random, catchy expressions that just stick. I feel like anything can be ghetto and that's why it's so special.
Milfie: Ghettotech for me is DJ Assault, Sex on the Beach, or hearing "I ain't got no panties on, on the dance floor!"
How would you define your own work as a Ghettotech artist?
King Milo: Inonovatively left-field.
47Chops: High-energy, for real.
Milf Melly: Everything you listen to; the sounds are all-in-one.
What makes Ghettotech unique compared to other genres?
Sheefy McFly: The different drum rhythms. It's a crazy drum pocket that's so minimal but so mesmerizing. Detroit and Chicago Ghettotech have such a unique drum pattern that I've never heard in any other production, so does Baltimore and New Jersey club music.
Milfie: Everything about Ghettotech makes it unique. The sound, the feeling, and the way it makes you move your body is unlike anything I've ever felt. The vibrations are very heavy!
Who are some of your favorite Ghettotech pioneers?
AK: DJ Deeon, Lil Mz. 313 and DI Clent are first to come to mind because I grew up on them. Their music was heard at damn near every block party in the D. Lil Mz. 313 inspires me the most amongst all of the men telling you how bad they 'want to fuck' and 'suck my dick.' In so many words, Lil Mz. 313 put on the for the women! We wanna fuck too!
Who are some of your favorite Ghettotech artists in today's generation?
Milfie: My absolute favorite Ghettotech artist today is AK. The feeling I get hearing her DJ and mesh some of the most classic and iconic Ghettotech songs with some shit like Tyler, the Creator is something I have never seen. I know that no one can do it like her.
How are you preserving Detroit culture through music?
King Milo: Staying fresh and in the moment. We talk about what's happening, even if it's right in front of us, and relative to everybody else.
47Chops: Looking back in the past, listening to different artists that got this shit started, having an understanding of that, and thinking about what we can add and how we can build upon that.
Milf Melly: Taking stuff from the past, living in the present, and making the future with our music.
What are some reactions when you play or perform Ghettotech in cities that aren't Detroit?
Tiptonaires: When I play in other cities, people go through waves of emotions. I've never seen people rock and try to understand what they're rocking to like they do when I play booty music. The beat will capture you first with a fun vibe then someone comes on talking about fucking granddaddies and taking social security checks. That's when people start trying to understand what they're really hearing.
AK: Everyone loves Ghettotech. It's a bit brash and vulgar but that's why we love it; pure, unfiltered expression over slapping ass drums. A lot of people come up to me and ask where I discovered these tracks and where they can find more.
What's your favorite thing about playing/performing Ghettotech?
Sheefy McFly: Letting the music and rhythm speak. When I DJ I let go of I can let go of all of my problems in my life and let my soul flow through my set. Ghettotech feels like my heartbeat and my life's pace. My artistic thought process is like an after-hours set at 160bpm at three in the morning during Movement weekend in Detroit.
Singles such as “Make it Work for Me” take a refreshing and rightfully-demanding stand asserting sexual autonomy, while “Suburban Mall Jewelry” is haunting, stirring a loneliness only describable through floating sounds of ouds and neys, through airy vocals, and through the image of being reduced to nothing but your earrings.
The “Suburban Mall Jewelry” music video, however, adds a level of complexity and tells a story of consumption. Comparing snapping dogs to the jaws of objectification, Thoom’s campy and provoking visual language subverts and reappropriates the male gaze, reducing men to marble and muscle. From dancing on top of cars, to running through the woods, to finally collapsing in the grass, Thoom portrays desire - the desire to be desired, the manic lengths one will go to, and the inevitable exhaustion at the end of the entire ordeal.
Watch the music video to "Suburban Mall Jewelry" now and get to know Thoom in our exclusive interview below.
Tell me about the evolution of your music — when you started, how you started, and how your vision / style has changed since the beginning.
My first band was in high school. We were a four piece, all girl punk band called Deepthroat and I was the drummer. This was in Beirut and there was a punk/metal scene around this bar called American Dream. After high school I moved back to America for college and was studying film and fiction writing. I was writing a lot of stories and poetry, stuff I still use in my music now and was involved in the music scene, putting on small shows. Where I really started making music was in Chicago, I was going to Smartbar a lot and listening to a lot of music on Soundcloud. I convinced this guy who was a booker to let me DJ one night and a lot of people were into it and I just felt like, I can do this, I have a lot to say and I want to make my own music, videos, the whole thing. Then I had my boyfriend at the time crack ableton on my computer. I didn’t know what kind of music I wanted to make and I have so many influences from Arabic and English music so I just tried a lot of different things before anything stuck.
You’ve been to Beirut, Chicago, and Berlin — what made you want to set roots in New York (even if only for the meantime)?
Because New York is the closest I’ve felt to home in America. It’s chaotic and fun like a video game. And I find that a lot of people here just have similar ambition as me.
Why did you choose suburban mall jewelry as an item both of inspiration and of residue and wreckage? Why do you specifically call on suburban mall jewelry as something that is “all that’s left?”
There was one night in high school when me and my friends were smoking on a bridge and the cops came because we were smoking weed. I was wearing really heavy earrings and I just remembered the feeling of running on this gravel road with my heavy earrings bouncing up and down and it was all I was focusing on. I felt like I was the earrings. You know when you stub your toe and all you can think about is toe toe toe. It was like that.
I know you had a bit of difficulty filming the “Make It Work For Me” video in Amman — how was the production process for filming “Suburban Mall Jewelry?” (I personally love a nice frolicking-eerily-at-night moment).
It was the first time I’ve worked with producers and a crew that big and I loved it but I usually just make videos with a few other people helping me out so I learned a lot. I came to Ramzi and Rayan and Anthony with the idea to film a folk inspired erotica. With a lot of dogs. We scouted all the locations together. We filmed in the Lebanese mountains from 7pm to 7am. I almost passed out during the car scene fog because the guy showed up with a fog machine that only uses gasoline. So he was pumping clouds of burning gas on us. It was hard work being sexy in that moment but I did it. Anyway, I was just so happy that we got this car, because it's exactly the car I envisioned.
"Fantasy for Danger" is -– in part — about the desperation to overcome the incredible loneliness that is ironically a trademark of New York — where everyone seems to be on top of each other but no one is really with each other. Has your music helped you overcome the loneliness? Has it highlighted it instead?
Not really, music can be really isolating honestly. The only way I feel less lonely in music is when I’m making music with other people or during my performances. Sometimes it takes a stage.
You have a story in which you impulsively decided to share a ride with a stranger, then ended up genuinely bonding because of your shared history of growing up in the middle east. What advice do you have for people waiting to get picked up by their own man-from-Palestine?
Stop going to the gay bars.
Who would you like to work with in the future?
I’m working with Ike, my best friend and artist and producer who’s based in London. He’s like a Malcolm McLaren type. We’re making some of my favorite music ever. I’ve never worked with anyone I’m so compatible with so I’m really excited about what we’re making this year… Oh, and Noah Goldstein. I’d love to work with him.
What’s a question you wish someone would ask you? What would your answer be?
I want my crush to ask me out on a date and my answer would be yes.
Little Big’s front people Ilya "Ilich" Prusikin and Sonya Tayurskaya are eager to bring their live shows to the US, considering the US has been home to them the past year. On March 3rd, 2022, Little Big left their Moscow homes and moved to Los Angeles, due to their position against the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Despite the change, the group has been able to build a team they think is "excellent, assembled of mega-professionals: Russians, Ukrainians, and Americans altogether."
Ilya Prusikin elaborated that they treat life in a fun manner rather than being distraught with unnecessary obstacles. As a group, the five members agree that life should be fun because there is no meaning to life, except for what you choose. This song is about just that, that we all can be "Pendejo" and that be okay. "People can be dumb and act stupid — nothing is wrong with that. There is no meaning in life — we have fun and wish everyone the same." A lighthearted message follows through this song in hopes that listeners and fans are influenced to stop caring and have fun.
Watch the new music video below.