Searchl1te

Chicago, IL

Ill Reverence

Searchl1te aka Kee : Part Time Sucker Cru : Chi-tilla U.S.

"You don't play with music. If you play with music, you will die young. Because one day higher forces give the gift of music, it must be well used for the good of humanity. If you use it for some other reason or your own gain, you will die young." ~ Fela Anikalapu-Kuti

Around age six, I was granted access to the family tape recorder that was used to record my first words. Re-using my parents' abandoned cassette tapes, I documented my random glossalalia, the rubbing of the mic on various household objects and pets, interviews with my toddler brother about the state of the known universe, and skits with neighbors touting the strength and effectiveness of fictional products like Mr. T Brand Toilet Paper. With the addition of a walkman-type gadget given to me by a neighbor, my bedroom dj career ensued. Tunes were cued up on the walkman, tape rolled, mic stuck in between the headphones and the hottest Weird Al, Fat Boys, or ZZ Top jammed. Spoken tracklists and special guests like "Weird Jeffrey", played by my bro, were sandwiched in between. The result was 45 minutes of a radio-type production that provided me and my brother a soundtrack to fort-building and stuffed animal throwing.

Throughout primary school, I assembled pause tapes featuring freshly excavated cuts and passed them to friends. I heard more and more music, and all of it seemed to stick to me. Sharing these sticky-ass sounds was one way of keeping fresh ones coming.

1994, enter a turntable and a classical electronic music wax obsession (Edgar Varese!). Then another turntable, mixer, and contemporary electronic music in 1996, along with a Friday a.m. (hungover!) college radio slot with the BassByThePound Crew.

Since then, I've tried to put forth seamless collages of tunes from all corners of the breakbeat diaspora. These rhythms and textures are backed by the cold gleam of truth seen in the eyes of ancestors. Been doing non-commercial radio for over a decade, most recently with WNUR 89.3 Fm Chicago - www.WNUR.org, Vocalo 89.5 Fm Chicago www.Vocalo.org, www.Destroyer.net, www.DnBRadio.com, and www.Dubstep.Fm. I'm the organizer of the Part Time Sucker Cru, a Chicago-based Dj, production, and promotion collective. Part Time Sucker Radio serves as a creative outlet for the crew, as well as for forward-thinking dj's, producers, and musicians in, or as they come through, the midwest.

I like to apply my computer music geek-i-tude to teaching multitrack recording, audio engineering, and sequencing to youth incarcerated in the Cook County Juvenile Detention Center, the oldest and one of the largest juvenile jails in the world. My students learn to record their poetry, rap, autobiographies, and conversations. Student work has been featured on WNUR 89.3 Fm Chicago, Vocalo 89.5 Fm Chicago, and in many of my mixes and tracks. Upcoming projects include a full-length cd featuring incarcerated students' productions, a sound installation at the Jane Addams Hull House Museum in Chicago, and continued collaboration with Vocalo 89.3 Fm community radio.

For a full list of gigs, residencies, and recent downloadable mixes, peep myspace.com/searchl1te
For more info on my arts and literacy program for incarcerated youth, visit www.freewritejailarts.org
Part Time Sucker Cru links - www.parttimesuckers.com, www.jeekoos.com, www.m50.net , www.cosmicbreaks.net