Dalek doesn't have time for bling bling. Dalek doesn't care about shakin' ya ass, or reinforcing the stereotypes of this vibrant new music. Yes, hip-hop dates back to the late 1970s and DJ Kool Herc, but like Nirvana or The Velvet Underground in rock, in hip-hop music when a new idea bubbles to the surface, the entire genre tremors with the after-effects.

Need an example? Try It Takes A Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back by Public Enemy (1988), Step In The Arena by Gangstarr (1990), Enter The Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) by The Wu-Tang Clan (1993), Dr. Octagonecologyst by Dr. Octagon, Endtroducing by DJ Shadow (both 1996), or Tragic Epilogue by the Anti-Pop Consortium (2000).

Every few years someone comes down the pike spinning tales and throwing what were once simple break-beats through the spin cycle, tweaking, shaping, and poking them until they sound completely different from what their creators visualized when the songs were first written.

Unlike most rock and roll (only 99%, to be fair), hip-hop music continues to grow, evolve, and develop. It progresses. Rock moves backward. Sometimes it pretends it's a crab, and goes sideways, borrowing liberally (stealing) from itself, and hoping that you'll never notice.

Remember when you were younger? Ever eat a scab, a booger, or your own fingernails? Rock does that all day. It will eventually have nowhere left to move, and it will eventually die. You can quote me on this: Self-cannibalism will lead to the eventual demise of rock music.

Fresh from collaborations with Techno Animal and 2nd Gen, Dalek is set to embark on a full US tour, with their newest album From Filthy Tongue of Gods and Griots dropping on August 6, 2002.

You can either buy that, or continue encouraging the corporate rock organism, by purchasing the new Ray Manzarek (of the Doors) album when it comes out the same week.

I spoke with Dalek while they were on tour in late July...

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Cosmik: Give me the lowdown on you guys getting together.

Dalek: Me and The Oktopus (DJ/Producer extraordinaire) met while in college, what at first was a artist/engineer situation turned into a group after many 40s, bottles of wine, and conversations about music. We recorded what became Negro, Necro, Nekros and toured extensively starting in 98. We met Still before playing a show at Swarthmore College in 2000.

Cosmik: Where can I get your lyrics? Especially "SwollenTongue Bums" from Negro, Necro, Nekros. It can be hard to understand sometimes.

Dalek: All of my lyrics are posted on our website.

Sat amongst wise kings Indian-style
witnessed the birth of the 1st child in exile
On banks of Nile.
Grew seeds of post destruction
Juveniles lack such instructions
As so-called truths rattle such assumptions
Oneness of polyrythmic shifts into....
Nothing.
Suburbanite tikes slumming for trend
Humanity pretends to be humane
Urbanscape fails to sustain.

[Rain falls upon my weary brow.]
[Shrugged shoulders of indifference speak]
[Tao]

Swollen tongue bums with smoke filled lungs
Swollen tongue bums with smoke filled lungs
Acoustic warfare on masses like Iranians

- Swollen Tongue Bums (Sound Excerpt)

Cosmik: Who's putting out your new album, From Filthy Tongue of Gods and Griots?

Dalek: The album will be released on Ipecac Recordings (Mike Patton's record label).

Cosmik: How did the collaboration with JK Broadrick (of Godflesh, Napalm Death, etc, etc.) happen?

Dalek: After writing a thank you email to writer Dan Hill he wrote back telling me that a friend of his, Kevin Martin, had read about us in Hiphop Connection, and was eager to contact us to talk about collaborating. Dan gave Kevin my email and we began talking about working together. We had a concept for a split 12-inch in the works. When Techno Animal got signed to Matador they pitched the idea for the 12-inch with us, and Matador was with it. We also worked on the 2nd Gen remix for "And/Or" together (I did the vocals) and I lent my vocals to their track "Hell" on the Matador release the Brotherhood of the Bomb. We have toured Europe with those guys and have built a tight friendship. We really consider them to be our brothers.

Cosmik: So now are you guys traveling in the future--hitting Europe, Asia at all?

Dalek: We should be back in Europe this November/December and have plans to hit Japan sometime next year.

Cosmik: What inspires you to write a song? I know that's a stereotypical "what are your influences"-type thing to ask...

Dalek: Life inspires me. Everyday situations and experiences. I know it sounds corny, but isn't that what always inspires the musician or poet?

Cosmik: All right, what ARE your influences? I don't hear any easy-to-pinpoint shit, like "oh, that's Erik B right there," or "the way he segued into the verse was EPMD, and the beats are Primo, all the way."

Dalek: Wow! To keep the list short.... My Bloody Valentine, All Natural Lemon & Lime Flavors, BDP, Public Enemy, Velvet Underground, Rakim, Kerouac, Hughes, Neruda, Led Zepplin, Beatles, Faust, Indian folk and classical, Black Sabbath, Bad Brains, Black Flag, Burn, Slayer...


Slow folds of moments trapped within clasped hands
Thoughts beyond grasp of man
Means one more night to drink 'ock
One more sec my cell's unlocked
I watched for days as his wrist fell
Enthralled with all except the smell of decayed decadence
Earth-soaked peasants reek a sweet life
Mistaken blatant use of profane gestures
Suggesting once really cared.
Verses once in pairs now seem like ancient etchings on cave walls
I breath deep.... This air is fatal.
Savor it.
Bathe your seeds in it.
Grim realities flourish into valleys
While on desolate peaks souls speak to their shells
Slow process... Eternity inhales
Frail infrastructures are ruptured by infectious nature of ideas
All played by ear
And that Shady Individ who graced the rear has long since adhered to
society
...Or has he?
Shear blasphemy! I saw your lips mouth
As I wiped my brow with Turin's shroud
Turns heads mongst crowd
Before Thelonius Monk I once bowed.
It must have been a dream

- Images of .44 Casings (Sound Excerpt)

Cosmik: Have you ever noticed that you confuse people who wait for you to rap about stupid shit? And, if so, what's your take on "underground" hip-hop vs. the poppy stuff that's been making hip-hop get this negative stigma of silliness and stupidity for years?

Dalek: I don't know...to me all we are doing is hip-hop... and more importantly just music. The problem is that what is on the FM dial and on M-TV is HipPOP. HipPOP is a product that basically only reinforces false stereotypes and relegates minorities to the role of the minstrel. We just want to make good music. Hip-hop was the voice of minority youth, it was angst, it was anger, it was passionate and political. HipPOP is the voice of White corporate America telling minority youth how they are expected to act.

(C) 2002 - Jason Thornberry