ALIAS

The other side of the looking glass

CD, Anti-con

“I am composing the soundtrack of my life putting myself out there for you.” And Alias does it in mid- to low-tempo breakbeats (real drums!) with jazzy, loose sounds in the background, lots of syncopation and long, complex lyrics that hover over the fields of emotion, anecdote and intellectuality. This is a CD to dive into, get wrapped up by ambient sounds and stories and thoughts. If you liked label-mate Sage Francis or the new Dälek-CD, check this on out and get even deeper into the positive side of depression.

No gangsta-shit, no big cars, no fashion-victims, no big bootied hoes – thought that rap / hip hop had become impossible without these attributes? Tired of De La Soul’s triple-CD-concept-albums? I am very glad to have found Anti-con, who prove (once again) that rap / hip hop is still a true artistic expression of personal life of those who do it. True in the sense that the artist is trying to express his life and not trying to change his life into the cliché that hip hop has become. And I am not even going into the point how the lifestyle propagated by hip hop-videos in heavy rotation on MTVIVA will effect young kids, boys and girls of the age of 12 to 14 years old. I don’t think that I am really reactionary if the sight of a twelve year old kid dancing like Shakira gives me the creeps, because there are some movements and facial expressions a twelve year old shouldn’t yet know about. But the obvious stuff always seems to have more impact and success than the well thought through, artistically worthy stuff done with honesty and vision. Maybe it is a thing of maturation and age, or maybe it is a thing of people being stupid jerks most of the time. How many years ago did Jim Morrison say, that one day the best bands will be on top of the charts? Why do I mention the doors? Maybe just because their name comes from a drug-era-book (“The doors of perception” by Aldous Huxley) and the title of Alias’ CD is a hint at another book popular by drug-era-fans (“Through the looking glass” by Lewis Carrol who also wrote “Alice in Wonderland). And if literary allusions don’t make for intellectual hip-hop, I don’t know what does? Well to get back to the argument mentioned before, there is a “good band” – by definition of honesty and artistic trueness – on top of the charts (thinking of Nirvana, who are by any means the Doors of the Nineties anyway) but that is a drop on the hot stone in comparison to the vast amount of shit in the top positions. Are you trying to get into the top positions? Then you’ll have to compete for the fickle attention of the 12-to-14-year old kids, who are expecting beats, tits & asses and gangsta-shit all along. Artistic vision and economic success rarely ever meet during ones lifetime, so you have to chose: it is surely possible to live on art or on your very own personal vision, but not as luxurious or bathed in fame as with hitting the lowest common nominator right on the spot. No musician on Anti-Con will ever hit that spot, as of yet. Maybe a wonder happens and suddenly there is a big hype for intellectual, personal, emotional hip-hop and the common hip hop fan will suddenly understand and like lyrics such as done by Alias – which I won’t quote here all to much because they only work in connex to the whole story and believe you me, his lyrics are looooong and complex. But what are the chances of that wonder happening? About none to nil, so we are all still waiting for the pay-off and biding our time until success comes along. Another question to ponder in this connection: how many people want success? How many people are working hard and long hours to get “up there”? And how many stars do we have? I mean real stars, not just people appearing on TV or in magazines, but real stars who “have made it”? Not that many – actually, most people who are labelled as stars nowadays; I’d call them starlets or not even that. There is a difference between being “known” and being “famous” and “being a star”. The celebrity–craze is driving people crazy, but that is what it exists for – the buzz. Get well known, become a celebrity, appear on TV, get a show and write a book and maybe get into a Hollywood-movie and earn a lot of money. The price you pay is throwing all your morals, ethics and intellectual aspirations over board, dumb down to the level of pathway and tone up your body to look good. Looks are way more important than your work or words. You won’t find a glossy picture of Anti-Con-artists on their releases, not even on their website. Is that a strategy? Counter marketing? I don’t think so, I guess it is just a reaction to what is perceived as wrong because it is not true. Sure, a distribution-deal with Southern Records for Europe helps a long way, but whatever you say about Southern – they have good taste and bordering on the line between major and minor, they are still the best thing available, because they seem to know and respect the way of thinking and working of independent producers. And why has business become more important than the music?

10/2002