GENIUS KILLS (Live!)
aka MR. SOFALUMPKINS & DR. FUNKINCHUNKIN
british columbia/ canada
electro breaks + house + speed funk
performing LIVE: main stage: sunday, august 1st @ 12:30 am (late saturday night)
production workshop: chill tent: sunday, august 1st @ 11:30 am (sunday morning)
The Strange World and Mad Live Stylings of...
Mr. Sofalumpkins / Dr. Funkinchunkin
Geniuskills is a label manifested from the minds of two the transdimensional funky music gurus Mr. Sofalumpkins and Dr. Funkinchunkin.
The artists who bring you Geniuskills are a group well verse in funky beats and high end psychedelic baselines geared towards a discerning brand of crunchy raver. Those who appreciate their journey and the music that not only compliments its ever aspect but helps to guide to new heights.
"Genius Kills is taking a performance-based approach to its genre-spanning brand of electro" - Anthony Augustine
If you asked anyone who attended the 14th annual Connect Festival this past summer in Saskatchewan who stole the show, the only name you heard was Victoria B.C.'s Genius Kills. Blurring the lines between post-rave electro, bass-heavy breaks, wobbly dubstep, twisted techno and big-system house, the psychedelic vision of Mr. Sofalumpkins (formerly of T-Power & SHY FX) and Dr. Funkinchunkin is self-described as "Pink Floyd meets Daft Punk."
"With the dance music scene, most of the music is so disposable. We wanted to set something up that was visually appealing. We wanted it to be a performance," explains Mr. Sofalumpkins, over the phone from the duo's homebase on the West Coast. "'No risk, no reward' is a good motto to live by. I think if you don't aim high, you're going to shoot low."
With ambitious goals to include elaborate props, pyrotechnics, real-time video manipulation and even weird performance art in its live show, the pair is hoping to not only make a lasting impact, but take back some of the power of its own music.
"We are trying to have something that is more band-based. Electronic music has really fallen short from that perspective and it's what's given DJs the ability to become superstars on the backs of other people's work." Mr. Sofalumpkins says. "I am not doing to diss DJs - you need DJs to help promote your music. Producers were at fault, though, for a long time, not thinking about how to take this to the next level. Part of the problem was the technology wasn't there. It is getting there now."
Along with fine-tuning its live performance, Genius Kills has used the past year to build an impressive soundbank of over 1,000 grooves and released its first EP on March 15.
"The live act was really the testing ground for our tracks," Dr. Funkinchunkin says. "We wanted to see how the dance floor reacts to them."
Releasing material through their own label and all the major digital-download sites, the full-time producers hope to put out between two and four tracks per month. They also hope to have a full-length out by the end of the year.
Considering both had successful careers before Genius Kills - Mr. Sofalumpkins as a drum 'n' bass producer in England and Dr. Funkinchunkin as a DJ here in Canada - the duo has taken what it has learned in the past and is applying it to this project. Pulling from a number of styles, its hybrid blend channels the best elements from each genre and allows the pair to experiment in ways it never thought possible.
"I don't know if I would call it reactionary, but I definitely got to a point where I didn't want to be known as a drum 'n' bass artist anymore," Mr. Sofalumpkins says. "I am a producer. I make music. That's all I do. To be stuck in one genre so long is really fucking soul-destroying."
More about Genius Kills
www.myspace.com/drfunkinchunkin
funkinchunkin.geniuskills.com/
Music:
soundcloud: geniuskills promo mix
Video:
The Masquerade Promo from Alberico Sofalumpkins on Vimeo.
Even more about Genius Kills
The Strange World and Mad Live Stylings of...
Mr. Sofalumpkins / Dr. Funkinchunkin
Geniuskills is a label manifested from the minds of two the transdimensional funky music gurus Mr. Sofalumpkins and Dr. Funkinchunkin.
The artists who bring you Geniuskills are a group well verse in funky beats and high end psychedelic baselines geared towards a discerning brand of crunchy raver. Those who appreciate their journey and the music that not only compliments its ever aspect but helps to guide to new heights.
Mr. Sofalumpkins (formerly T-POWER of T-Power & SHY FX)
The Introduction
Did I startle you?
You cannot create what already exists.
I was not born out of thin air.
Do you want to know me?
I am the seed of infinite dimensions with a birthright of one thousand rhythms.
I will inherit your mind as I have his and in this carnival of sound we will frolic with fierce abandon.
Try not to look away.
I am the author of his madness, his introduction to insanity.
I am the vanguard to his creativity, Svengali of his imagination.
I am the omnipotent ringmaster to his circle of clowns, conductor of his manic concerto.
You make me laugh.
Do you long for some semblance of reality?
Something tangible, I assume.
Perhaps, something reminiscent of your childhood?
Familiar, yet strange. Comedic, yet nightmarish. Distant, yet clenched.
I know.
I am your childhood.
He won’t admit it.
I was your favourite.
You make me laugh.
Do you long for some semblance of reality?
He does.
He, like you, will converse with conversion.
Indulge in the promiscuity of your mind’s maze.
Mischievous rogue of twilight’s prince whence we dance and play, dance and play!
Skip! Twirl! Spin!
Dance and play, trip and sway, swirling turpentine,
Effervescent and coiling malevolent friend, fiend, friend, fiend.
Swindler in electric fray!
You see me now.
You know my smile.
You move without rationale.
I am he.
I am she.
I am me.
I bow.
Concierge of depraved delightfulness.
It’s a pleasure to finally meet you.
Dr. Funkinchunkin
De Novo
Pronunciation: \di-'no-(?)vo
Function: adverb or adjective
: anew, from scratch, or from the beginning.
***
I was created.
My exact origins, however, are unknown.
I am neither an equation nor a formula.
Merely the sum.
“Do you know the significance of this?!?!”
His voice boomed out into the cavernous nothingness, but nobody heard.
I heard.
Although I lacked a comprehensive design, there was biochemical activity.
Pulsation.
I am that double bond between the second and third carbons of the chain.
“Perhaps just a drop…Yes, just…a…DROP!”
He grinned maniacally, but his hand trembled over the beaker.
Borosilicate glass 100 ml R.
Just a drop.
I reacted.
I bubbled.
I spat.
I burned.
I hissed.
“Impossible? Blasphemous!” he bellowed, “They might even shake my hand.”
I bled through a red copper capillary tube, past the distillation apparatus.
4 Litres stainless steel, electrical automatic.
“Syringe. Syringe. Syringe.”
He swirled playfully, butterfly needle in hand.
I trickled into the conical flask.
250 ml Borosil glass.
Hovering over me, he drew me up into the cold cavity of the stainless steel.
Silence, as I surged through his veins.
I knew exactly where I was going.
He recoiled in pain, yet his lips curled back in a knowing smile.
“We are one,” he slobbered, transformed.
His mind flickered wildly.
The dipping, sliding, and bending of tones.
Melodic psychosis.
I had arrived.
***
I am a fluid dynamic.
I am an oscillation.
I have height, length, energy and frequency.
I create and emit a continuous wave of rhythm.
Backbeat, downbeat, offbeat, upbeat.
Syncopated eloquence.
Metronomical precision.
I am that sound that resonates in the darkest dimensions of your mind.
Listen.
I’m here.
“We’re here.”