The
Video:
Conjuring the power for the 90's kid, iLL-Literacy breaks out with "Gentleman's Kool-Aid," a music video that stretches DIY to the limits. Featuring a hand-made nightclub diorama, action figures from their parents' garages, and hallucinogenic red vines growing wild in the Grand Canyon, the video (shot mostly on a passe 8mm camcorder) is juxtaposed with reinterpreted 16-bit throwbacks that become increasingly psychedelic. The song, "Gentleman's Kool-Aid," questions the concept of manhood through conjured ego, adding another layer to the musicians' representation of their experience coming of age at the same time as the internet.
iLL-Literacy is a band that explores new concepts of music and performance by promoting imagination as a means to connect entertainment, education, and politics. Moonlighting between stages at SXSW in Austin, Cornell University in New York, and the New Organizing Institute in Washington DC, the band is dedicated to shedding light on the power of creative approaches to a crumbling music industry, a failing school system, and a cynical political climate.
"Gentleman's Kool-Aid" is filmed and directed by iLL-Literacy and Karen Lum (director of the Emmy Award winning short film "Slip of the Tongue") with special effects and editing by Mandel Lum of Shia Productions.
Watch "Gentleman’s Kool-Aid" : http://illl.it/koolaid
Download iLL-Literacy's first project iB4the1.1 here: http://ill-literacy.com/music
The
Background:
For musicians today, a record deal can be like a used car; it might get you from point A to point B, but most likely the salesman took your money and poured sawdust in the transmission. Fortunately, while the industry is gridlocked in filesharing, the members of iLL-Literacy can teleport. And by teleport, they mean "make music that would inspire passionate love with a Silverback gorilla... if it was socially acceptable." Enter the world of digitiLL funk - an ever-expanding sonic universe piecemealed together by the ever-shrinking attention span of Oakland trio iLL-Literacy. Members Dahlak, Drizzletron, and N.I.C have known each other since birth, and since then have been mutating words and sounds, invading concert halls, off-Broadway stages, and college arenas throughout North America and Europe and infiltrating networks from HBO, MTV and beyond. Toggling between daydream and full-blown hallucination, the result is iLL-Literacy’s first record, iB4the1 ("I Before The One"). Colliding influences from afrobeat and hip-hop as much as Plato and X-Men, their freshman effort plays more like the soundtrack for a never-ending shroom-trip than a standard rap album. It pays homage to a wide range of inspirations, while constantly reaching for the new. From a record that is political in scope but never heavy-handed to an intersecting live show that can boast life-size Lego-men, iLL-Literacy is both a product of its time, and a defining feature. The first chapter of the forthcoming album, IB4the1, IB4the1.1 is available now.
Please contact Michelle or Dan if interested in talking with iLL-Literacy
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