June is ANTIGRAVITY anniversary month, so to help celebrate we’re blogging some more classic AG pieces. This one is our first ever cover story, an interview with Glorybee from June 2004. Glorybee was the perfect choice for our first cover, as they were well-known around New Orleans and certainly visually interesting. A side note is that they were my first choice to be the musical headliner for the first Alternative Media Expo (in June ‘03) but had an out-of-town show on that day. The first year or so of AG isn’t available in .pdf format, as I lost the computer they were stored on in Katrina (and stupidly hadn’t uploaded them to our website), so we’re having notable pieces like this re-transcribed. Which is nice because they can also be re-edited—keep it a secret, but I don’t think I knew as much as I think I did when this whole thing started.

Anyway, where the magic began…

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Glorybee is a trio of musicians based in New Orleans and own a sound best described as “rap/electronic/sonic death on helium.” Their live show is a unique spectacle, one where the unthinkable not only can happen but usually does. Be careful if you see one of them, even on the street, as their soldering banter can easily suck you in, after which you’re stuck like a fly in the proverbial web of Glorybee. Featuring three main members (Nasty Burga’ Kang [Bass/vocals/percussion], Lord Hoffa [vocals/keyboards], and Masta Boink [keyboards/programming/drums]), Glorybee is one of the truly unique bands in New Orleans, relying not on horns and someone else’s name to carry them, but on their own ideas and techniques. Their new CD, GYB: The First Power, is set to hit the streets June 1st, with the GYB CD release parties on June 25th at Dragon’s Den and June 26th at Chelsea’s in Baton Rouge. (more…)

With one act up for a 2008 Big Easy Entertainment award (Chef Menteur’s up against MC Trachiotomy and Quintron for “Best Electronica Artist”), local label Backporch Revolution is throwing its hat into the ring for 2009 as they release two albums this week: Potpie’s Potpie Plays the Classics and Liteworks’ Sound Sensation.

Liteworks is Mike Mayfield of Electrical Spectacle and Buttons fame. Sound Sensation is available for free and can be downloaded here.

Potpie Plays the Classics is the last album Potpie recorded before leaving New Orleans, and is available only at McKeown’s Books and Difficult Music.

According to Michael Patrick Welch, Noizefest is indeed going to happen on Saturday, May 3rd (noon ’til 5am Sunday morning) at 609 Lesseps St. They need artists to play alongside those who’ve already committed: Rob Cambre, DJ Twist, Mikroshards, Vargr Wulf, Quintron, Ratty Scurvics, Paint With Music, Ray Bong, Dave Hyman (of Triple Delight), the dude from HateMoms, PinkySquish (Dan from Chef Menteur), LOID (Dan from New Moon).

Says Welch: “

Personally, in my experience, NOIZEFEST is the only event in the city that celebrates a scene more than its individual components. Really, there is no real SCENE of anything in New Orleans. There are certain New Orleans people and entities that good times revolve around, so tons of us show up, sure. But a real SCENE is something in which EVERYONE is (almost) EQUALLY important. HELP SUPPORT NOIZEFEST AND HELP SUPPORT THE UNDERGROUND NON-TRADITIONAL MUSIC SCENE.”

If you’re interested in playing or helping some other way, e-mail Michael Welch here.