East Village Boys / 2010 / February

SAHEER UMAR

by

Richard Welch

13-Feb-10

This Wednesday, February 17th, East Village Boys is co-hosting the latest (and potentially greatest if we have any say in the matter) BLVCK AMERICA party, "BLVCK IS THE NEW BLACK". Saheer Umar from House of House will be DJing at this traveling temple of dance, so we thought we'd introduce him to you all here first. (But first, scroll down to the bottom, pick some music, scroll back up and have a long read. He's a talker.)

Saheer is one of those guys you always see around and about downtown. He is, I guess, a bit of a downtown face... but unlike other downtown 'faces', who through their branded monikers seem to be living a facsimile life, Saheer quietly, but relentlessly keeps twisting and turning, and at each twist and turn, whether it's something he's written or a set he's just DJ'ed you can see and feel thats its not about him starring in his own movie, it's simply him doing his thing.

Saheer photographed for EVB by Steven Chu

Richard Welch: You're not only a DJ, but you write about the arts, make music and sing under the name House of House, you're involved in fashion... are you a slash kid?

Saheer Umar: I look at the artist as a holistic entity. So, any fruit borne from the tree of said artist falls under that umbrella of 'art'. I feel that art surpasses categorization. Everything is art and art is everything to me.

RW: You've been into clubs and 'dance' music for years - tell us about our first experiences and about how the New York 'scene', has changed over the years?

SU: Some of my fondest, and earliest memories of New York nightlife were sneaking out of arts camp during the summer at the ripe old age of... Jesus, I dunno, maybe 14, to go to Michael Alig's 'Disco 2000' at The Limelight. I remember I was wearing too big pants and a super-duper tight striped yellow and blue polo, Dada brand platform sneakers that were altered on St. Marks and a giant pom pon winter hat. I remember some of the other kids I went with were all nerves about getting in but it all melted away once you got that knowing feeling that you looked the part and it wasn't going to be a problem. Getting in felt like I'd stolen and gotten away with it. I also remember all of the Club Kids' psychotic candy-colored outfits, seeing Amanda Lapore for the first time (before she started dancing the cube at Twilo) and Richie Rich working the door. And all of the ravers at 'Kurfew' at The Tunnel and the clubbers who went to 'Arena' at Palladium.

The thrill of sneaking into a club at that age was immeasurable. I'd hear the muffled thump of the beats outside while squeezing my way towards the front of the line. Sure, in retrospect the music was awful, but that didn't matter at the time. I was there for the culture. So in I went, and I guess I never turned back, but unfortunately New York did. The post-9-11 club scene is a dismal joke comparatively, and it's not worth the words. There were a few parties in the late '90s that lasted through the early '00s, like Body and Soul (which was life changing for me), but the vibe has been swallowed up by the rising tide of a fear-mongered, Bush-era New York City. The large clubs are gone, in favor of the more profitable bottle service clubs which are filled with only the worse sort of people: patrons who think they're in a music video. And can we all put a moratorium on talking and shirt-lifting on the dance floor? Leave that for the chat rooms!
RW: Which DJ has had the greatest influence on you and your own DJ style?

SU: These "greatest" lists are tough to produce, and honestly, it's because as a working artist you have to skate the razor thin line between appreciation and adulation. While these people may be legends, they are still technically the guys you're trying to eventually take over from, and we're gunning for the same audience. But, with that disclaimer in mind, I will say that a good deal of influence came from seeing DJs like Masters at Work, Danny Tenaglia, Jeff Mills, Joe Clausell, DJ Harvey, Daft Punk, Francois K, Kerri Chandler and Timmy Regisford in my personal halcyon days of the mid to late '90s.

But the DJ who takes the prize, without question, is Larry Levan. Granted, this is the default answer from many a DJ who aspires to keep an open-minded approach to programming an evening, but when it's undeniable, you submit. Sadly, he died in 1992, just two years shy of my first forays into New York City nightlife, so the majority of his influence came through rare interviews I found, word-of-mouth and eighth generation cassette recordings from nights of his residency at the legendary Paradise Garage. The very fact that he's been able to be a leader to an entire generation of DJs and fans that never actually saw him, while mining and playing the full musical spectrum from rock to disco to house to new wave and to funk, is beyond my comprehension. He was fearless, reckless and understood the power of a song. Not a just a dance track, but of some truly unifying, wall-melting, orgiastic songs that could, and often would bring an audience to tears. He could work a record like Sylvester's celebratory "Over and Over" or extend Crystal Waters "Finally" for a half-hour straight until the floor felt like it would collapse. Or so the legend goes. Alas, I was too young. That's some kinda power. Most DJs crave it, and he got me hooked.

RW: Nightlife is traditionally about sex, drugs and rock n roll and you are a teetotaling muslim. How do you find you are received in the dance/electronic scene?

SU: My religion is never really an issue when I go out. I love being Muslim, I love Allah and I wear it proudly. I'm always open to discussion and explanation with any and all who approach the subject. Though in all of my days playing records, the majority of my questions come from the general pool of "why don't you drink?" or "wait, you DON'T want a bump?"

The thing is I grew up playing in straight edge vegan hardcore bands, so needless to say, I'm adamantly against it. I just never felt the need to experiment with drugs or alcohol. My drug is the potent relationship between audience and artist. I need nothing more.

RW: You DJ all over the World, what is your favorite club to play?

SU: I've really enjoyed all of the places I've played with the exception of a few clubs that will remain nameless. But of the good ones, a couple stick out in my mind as favorites, and for terribly different reasons.

For sheer volume and size, it's got to be Berghain in Berlin. It's a warehouse style, three-tiered predominately gay club with terrifyingly powerful sound system and a fabled bottom level that's host to several parties that sit comfortably in the scatological realm. The resident DJs (Marcel Dettmann, Ben Klock and Shed) treat music with the respect of art handlers and the audience like eager collectors, thirsty for inspiration. The city of Berlin itself is also the Wild Wild West. It's hard not to love it just for the fact that Berlin is every young-artist-who-moved-to-New-York-City's dream come true: a surplus of cheap or free apartments and squats, no jobs and a nightlife that rivals the best in the world. Plus the German "perverted" makes Western perverted look like an episode of Full House, and that's always good entertainment value.

The other club is a tiny club (and I mean my bedroom is the same size) in Tokyo called Grassroots. It's tucked away at the end of the hallway on the fourth floor of an unassuming office building. Run by a wonderful group of guys who run a record label, record store and again treat music with such importance that one could assume this a place of worship. The entire club is wooden, so the sound is warm and punchy. It fits 20 people maybe and everyone, literally EVERYone dances. I liken it to walking into a temple of music and being greeted with instant paradise.

I also would have said Fabric in London, but I want to play their main-room before putting them on that list.

RW: What was the motivation behind starting the BLVCK AMERICA parties?

SU: In spring of last year, we started a discussion about our dissatisfaction with the public perception, cultural significance and artistic merit of dance music, so we started throwing our own events and gatherings at gallery spaces and lofts and restaurants around Chinatown (the last bastion of old New York City in my opinion) to try and break up the monotony and put some fire under the feet of the old guard. From our first outing, there was an audible buzz about what we were doing: real dance parties, with real dance music with a really really good looking crowd. A damn near impossibility these days. We were stunned by how fast word traveled, and not only in the New York City underground, but among our friends in Europe and Asia, yet it still remained coveted by those in the know.

It all galvanized when we took inventory of all of our friends and realized that we had diversely talented and un-jaded creative collective, sitting in our laps the whole time! We saw the potential for this collective to promote and support the under-exposed artists and designers yet to be discovered, as well as create a cultural forum where ideas can be exchanged, discussed, debated and built.

RW: Explain the name BLVCK AMERICA.

SU: It says so much, yet so little about our identities, politics and mission. It's bold, unapologetic and slightly confusing. With information so rapidly served to inattentive audiences, we felt that it was time to re-examine what that apathy and lack of participatory spirit was doing, not only to the creative process, but the creator themselves.

Misconceptions about the name ('black' traditionally symbolizes absence, void, mystery), questions about the use of the V (our secret) instead of the standard A and the uncouth nature of using 'America' in anything pertaining to subculture (very taboo don't you know), have run amok. But this was our exact intention from the start.

We try to look at BLVCK AMERICA as a symbolic match to light the powder keg that is the complacency of our generation. The identity crises that is plaguing the American diaspora is part and parcel of what it is we're trying to fight against and dissect. If we're throwing a party, we want those attending to not only feel special and chosen, but that they get a new experience. BLVCK AMERICA wants to make lasting memories, indelible images and explore the void in American creativity. I think we're well on our way.

RW: The name House of House is, I assume, a play on the vogueing scene that Madonna hijacked. Has the vogueing scene been an influence on you?

SU: Indeed! There is an allegiance to the legendary Houses of yesteryear (House of Dupree, House of Labejia, House of Ninja) in the choosing of our name House of House. It's a play off of that subculture as much as it is a nod of gratitude to their pioneering of modern dance. But the performative aspect of ball and vogue culture has been a large influence on me since my discovery of it the early '90s. And sad to say, it was Madonna who was instrumental in that discovery. Granted, I had caught Malcolm McClaren's "Deep In Vogue" a few times prior to seeing Madonna's rip-off version on MTV, but it was hers that stuck and made the connection.

At that time I also began getting more and more interested in fashion and design, so there was a crossover interest in the presentation aspects of the vogueing and fashion shows that fed off of one another and influenced my understanding of music, primarily house music, in relation to space, environment and context. Unfortunately, due to stigmas associated with the gay black and latino community - the purveyors of the vogueing scene - pop culture never fully embraced the culture, so it took artists like Madonna to yes, steal from them, but at the same time expose them to the rest of the world. I wouldn't have known about it otherwise.

RW: Tell us who House of House is, what you're up to, and when we'll be able to get our hands on your tracks and see you perform?

SU: House of House is comprised of Liv Spencer (of Still Going/DFA fame) and myself. We released our first 12" single 'Rushing to Paradise' on Whatever We Want Records early last year which garnered quite a bit of praise from the dance community. The fact that the record still has the impact that is has on dance floors is not entirely in our control. I think after the over-saturation of minimal coolness and the blips and beeps that it comes with, people in the dance music world were craving something that was uplifting, soulful and honest, so we tried to deliver that.

We spent a lot of last year touring and performing and/DJing overseas. But one of the highlights of this past year was opening for Grace Jones at the Hammerstein Ballroom. She's a legend. Words couldn't form in my mouth after she performed. I just felt honored that we could contribute in anyway.

We just saw the package of 'Rushing to Paradise' released with a remix by the amazing DJ Harvey, and we did some remixes for The Juan Maclean and A Mountain of One as well. When we're not on the road, we try to lock ourselves in the studio and just make music. We're currently putting the finishing touches on several remix projects, hammering out a few new mixes and working on our next 12" record. So if you'd like to catch us live, it'd be beneficial to have a valid passport handy. Basically, expect more touring in Europe, South America and Asia. But fear not, we'll be doing a few here in the states as well.

RW: Outside of "club music", what do you listen to at home?

SU: This mix is an accurate example of what I listen to when I'm not DJing. This is, in my opinion, the sound of the seedy and sleazy side of NewYork City. The "dark side", if you will. I feel like creativity flourishes in the wee hours of night for many artists so I'm drawn to the darkness and solitude inherent at that time. You know how when you're leaving a club at 4AM and your energy is still running at 100 miles per hour? Well, this is how I comedown.

Blvck Nights of the East Village Mix - Saheer Umar [download]