Jon Ditty Celebrates New Album, Working on Next Rap Release
I swore I wasn’t going to write about this show. Didn’t have time. Not really my genre. Just planned to relax. That was before the show.
Jon Ditty held his album release party on Saturday, February 4th, at the Dunedin Brewery. In honor of his album College Radio: Alumni Edition, he invited DJ Hurley and Foundation-FNDTN to join him and asked jamtronic trio Future Vintage to play and collaborate as well.
So I wasn’t going to write about this. But the evening was super-special, and it was so impressive I wanted to attempt to describe it. Because I’m not a rap or hip hop connoisseur, I am hoping that I do the performances some justice.
Calling Future Vintage a jamtronic trio works as a launching pad, but these guys also venture heavy into funk, rock and jazz. They knocked out a tremendous short set to get the dance floor packed for the main event with three excellent originals and a Michael Jackson cover. Trevor McDannel (bass) and Eric Layana (drums) were absolutely in the funk zone, while keyboard wizard Matt Giancola seemed like an octopus, moving with ease among his phalanx of keyboards.
Then it was time for the main event, with Jon Ditty flanked by DJ Hurley on mini-turntable and rapper Foundation-FNDTN. Ditty explained about the original album from 2012, and the trio proceeded to perform each of those first eight songs, which are also on the new release.
Ditty was spitting out lyrics far faster than I could begin to comprehend (he said they would be available on the internet soon), but the effect was hypnotic, buoyed by DJ Hurley’s excellent turntable work, Ditty’s computer samples and Foundation-FNDTN’s accents to the Ditty lyrics. Throughout this first part of the set, Ditty was self-deprecating in a riotous way, and the dance floor remained wall to wall.
His apology to Florida and Dunedin was particularly amusing before jumping into “Welcome to the Deep South.” Especially interesting was his discussion about people wanting to correct the title of “Legislative Superfluum” (even my autocorrect is sure it should be ‘superfluous’), obviously never having heard the noun!
“Star Song” was the last of the songs from the 2012 album. From there, they performed DJ Hurley’s tune “The Lineup.” Giancola slipped back behind his keyboard command post to join in“Knaamsayin’” & “Ode to Mr. Bungle.”
After that, McDannel and Layana returned, and the collab went skyward, first withFoundation-FNDTN also took the lead on his composition “Braggadocio Flow,” then with this amazing title: “Point at Which Rap Music Collapses on Itself.” The six musicians on stage were killing, including great covers of A Tribe Called Quest and Rob Sonic. For “Hatemail to mikew422,” Ditty pointed out that they needed a third voice, which Giancola provided via his talk box! DunBrew was rockin’!
Ditty and crew bowed out to go check out the merch table (with Mama Didier in charge!), and Future Vintage took over for one last set crushing five more funked-up originals. Thanks to sound engineer Chris Fama for making it sound so great.
[FUTURE VINTAGE 1: Funk Invaders, Save the Drama for Your Mama, Baby Be Mine, Work it Out]
[JON DITTY: Natural Selection, Soapbox Politician Dictating Nonsense from a Three- Foot Radius… F@#k It Let’s Go Get a Beer, Fanmail to Self, Welcome to the Deep South, (I) Run-on Sentences, Why I’ve Had It Up to Here, Legislative Superfluum, Star Song, The Lineup (DJ Hurley), Knaamsayin’, Ode to Mr. Bungle]
Here are links to three Facebook live videos from the show: Video1, Video2 and Video3.
[JON DITTY / FUTURE VINTAGE: Braggadocio Flow (Foundation – FNDTN), Point at Which Rap Music Collapses on Itself, Buggin’ Out (A Tribe Called Quest), Hatemail to mikew422, Student Bodies (Rob Sonic), Read Before Listening]
[FUTURE VINTAGE 2: Do It, Snake Eyes, Get Loose, Technophobia, Ole]
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