Also this issue:

A Man Up
Father and Lilys frontman Kurt Heasley takes responsibility for the band he keeps rebuilding.
-Brian Howard

The Couple That Plays Together
Megan and Mason Wendell run Canary Publicity all day and make music all night in The Method and Result.
-Patrick Rapa

Al Green
-Paul Burress

Mondo Generator
-Sam Adams

Fog/Dosh/Beans/ The Majesticons
-A. D. Amorosi

DAT Politics
-Chris Nosal

Cobra Verde
-Brian Howard

Karan Casey
-Mary Armstrong

May 22-28, 2003

musicpicks

Simply Jeff

by Sean O’Neal

Dance/electronic

As the rave scene evolved in the early '90s, it became a dancefloor thriller for a DJ to drop in a record or two that strayed from the four-to-the-floor beat norm during a funky house DJ set -- replacing it with a more raved-out, hip-hop-like breakbeat. These days, DJs are known for playing full sets of just breaks, and Simply Jeff is one of the key innovators. In the book Generation Ecstasy, respected music critic Simon Reynolds calls the Cali DJ the pioneer of the "funky breaks/West Coast breakbeat house sound." Simply Jeff has been rockin' the electro-fused, house-tempo breakbeats since the '80s, playing for local breakdance crews one night and massive raves the next. His brand of lip-smacking, butt-shaking booty-beats (ranging from house-breaks to progressive breaks to electro to tech-funk (from old-school to nu-skool) has become the basis for today's typical funky breaks/electro-funk DJ. With a discography that can fill an entire wall, Simply Jeff (who went by "X-Calibur" when he spun with the DJ's Project alongside Brian Scott Ginsberg, DJ Dan and DJ Rectangle) dropped a plenitude of vinyl and remixes on labels like Orbit Transmission, Chunk, City of Angels and his own Phonomental. He's also got four mix-CDs, like the two revolutionary Funk-da-Frieds and his recent Breakbeat Massive (Moonshine). Get ready for an intimately illin' good time as the funky breaks superstar makes his long-awaited return to illy-illy Philly.

Wed., May 28, 9 p.m.-2 a.m., $5 (free before 10 p.m.), Discobots 03 with Simply Jeff, Imri and Kil0byte, The Five Spot, 5 S. Bank St., 215-574-0070.