ATJ presents DAS RACIST, Saturday, August 29, 2009, at After the Jump Fest 2009. This year’s 3rd annual festival is a three day extravaganza of independent music, and will take place at Brooklyn NY’s Littlefield Performance & Art Space.

The silly art rap, freak folk styling of Das Racist will be throwing a late night party along with artists such as Free Energy, Drink Up Buttercup, Talk Normal, Shark?, and Captain Ahab and the Sea Crackens.  Individual and weekend passes are available to purchase online here.

Listen :: The Combination Pizza Hut/Taco Bell

In preparation for After the Jump Fest 2009, Music Is Art asked the lovely duo of Das Racist to answer our ATJF Interview questions, and below are their special replies.

Please share your earliest memory involving or creating music.

Victor: I was a concert pianist at the age of 8, mostly Chopin mazurkas and a couple Beethoven symphonies. I studied piano at Oberlin Conservatory. Professor Tom Lopez was a huge influence. And Sun Ra has always been a spiritual godfather.

Himanshu: I’ve been a master of the Tabla since I first started studying under the esteemed Zakir Hussain at the age of five. He taught me everything I know about rap also.

If you had to explain your sound to a stranger, how would you do so?

Victor: Using only hand gestures.

Himanshu: Interpretive dance.  A piece I put together called HARDBODY.

What are your favorite instruments to work with and what do you like most about using them?

Victor: I’ll always love the piano, but I also like the trumpet. It’s very intuitive.

Himanshu: My favorite instrument is the tabla, though like Victor I’m a huge fan of the trumpet.  Melodicas are also splendid.

What are your inspirations?

Victor: Flowers, birds, trees, everything in nature, mythical gods, real ones, the cosmos…

Himanshu: The Wayans family.

On average, how long does it take for you to create a song?

Victor: Every song I’ve made this year has been twenty-five years in the making.

Himanshu: Every song I’ve made this year has taken about twenty-five minutes to make.

With Music Is Art, our mission is to show how music and art are simply connected. Which albums do you credit as having the biggest influences as far as your life is concerned?

Victor: Sun Ra’s Nuclear War, Ornette Coleman’s Free Jazz, Captain Beefheart’s Trout Mask Replica, Flipper’s Generic Flipper, The Germs’s (GI), and KMD’s Mr. Hood.

Himanshu: Beastie Boys’ Pauls Boutique, Biggie’s Ready to Die, KMD’s Black Bastards, Wu-Tang Clan’s 36 Chambers, Nas’ Illmatic (duhh), Television’s Marquee Moon, The Stone Roses’s The Stone Roses, and Neutral Milk Hotel’s In the Aeroplane Over the Sea.

If you could have a drink with one musician, living or dead, who would it be and what would you like to ask them?

Victor: Beethoven. I wouldn’t ask him anything, I’d just touch his hand.

Himanshu: Biggie, and I would say, hey Biggie, “Who Shot Ya?”

What do you hope people take from seeing you perform live?

Victor: Anything.

Himanshu: Everything.

What has been your favorite experience thus far in your career?

Victor: Falling asleep in a field full of flowers on a sunny day with Stephanie Smith.

Himanshu: This interview.

What would your number one suggestion be for someone who wants to do what you do?

Victor: Don’t do what I do, do what you do.

Himanshu: Don’t watch me, watch TV.

What exciting projects do you have coming up?

Victor: We’re starting a new super-group. We really can’t say much else.

Himanshu: Vic, you’ve already said too much.

May you have a particular inspired quote, statement or favorite words to live by?

Victor: “Ay!” –OJ Da Juiceman.

Himanshu: “Ay!” – Juelz Santana. Actually, no, scratch that – I’m going to go with “Ayyyyyyyy” – Young Jeezy

Please share a mix tape within a theme of your choice.

DAS RACIST MIXTAPE

Food-Related Raps

Webstar & Young B: Chicken Noodle Soup Buckwheat Boyz: Peanut Butter Jelly Time A Tribe Called Quest: Ham ‘N’ Eggs De La Soul: Pease Porridge KMD: Popcorn Digital Underground: Food Fight Beastie Boys: Egg Man Skee-Lo: The Burger Song Trunk Boiz: Cupcake No Fillin’ Ghostface Killah: Fish Lil Wayne: Filet Mignon MF Doom: Beef Rapp

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