we're gonna need more speaker cones

April 19, 2011 2:40 PM

He is from Miami. They are from Orlando.

He is Roosevelt Collier, a nephew/member of esteemed praise band The Lee Boys. Once, twice a finalist in Guitar Center's King of the Blues competition (which just proves it's a rigged game if you ask me), and most recently featured in Toubab Krewe's cover of hillbilly classic Cluck Old Hen. Not enough? OK, one more jam, with Roger Zimish.

Now, some might ask why I am marrying pedal Steel with Hip-Hop? But I ask, why not? Seriously though, Florida is usually associated with oranges and Republicans, and it's easy to forget that it's also been the home of ass-kicking genre-busting music. I'm taken with the more-than-century-long path of musical evolution between these two acts.

They are the Solillaquists of Sound. Beginning with a Pledge of Resonance, the band encouraged fans to make their own videos for songs exploring alcoholism, racism, and capitalism...just for starters. Not that they're averse to live performance...just ask me if I care.

In 2010, the band teamed up with director (and MC and beat mangler) X:144 flash warning for a series of exuberant videos inspired by chase scenes and Marvel comics (and in their spare time, lampooning homophobia). The band talks about making their second album, No More Heroes (parts 1 2 3 4...my anger over the missing part 5 can only be relieved by somee MPC destruction).

Still not satisfied? An early live performance in the basement of WPRK radio (parts 1 2 3 4 5); MPC maestro DiViNCi shares his stunning technique. New Sherriff Live in Paris.

posted by anigbrowl (9 comments total)

Actually, this is the MPC Destruction. Oops.
posted by anigbrowl at 2:51 PM on April 19, 2011

I saw Solilla entirely by accident at Low End Theory in LA a couple years ago and it was probably the most entertaining hip-hop show I've been to (not that I've been to a million of them, but still. it was great). Guy-standing-on-MPCs is even better up close and personal than it is on Youtube.
posted by thedaniel at 3:13 PM on April 19, 2011

Sweet. I'm in Orlando, and I am in desperate need of local music. Thanks for this!
posted by cereselle at 3:27 PM on April 19, 2011

Wow, that Solillaquists track is good. The bald woman's flow as totally unexpected and it was cool to see the DJ rocking a real vocoder. Great work.
posted by Kraftmatic Adjustable Cheese at 5:10 PM on April 19, 2011

DJ rocking a real vocoder

Actually, that's called a talk box. Regarded as something of a joke for many years, in 2007 they officially became cool again.
posted by anigbrowl at 5:19 PM on April 19, 2011

Oops! Talk boxes. More talk boxes. Frampton still alive.
posted by anigbrowl at 5:24 PM on April 19, 2011

Nice, thanks for posting. It's always good to find some new music.
posted by carter at 6:31 PM on April 19, 2011

Those Lee Boys rock, too.
posted by carter at 7:08 PM on April 19, 2011

Just got around to looking at the videos (I remembered checking this thread the other day). The Solillaquists songs are great!
posted by Slothrop at 2:04 PM on April 20, 2011