Vocalist of David Byrne & Fatboy Slim's musical "Here Lies Love", Dana Tutaan-Diaz is joined by APSCI partner Raphael LaMotta as they play a special midnight show at Mo Pitkins before their upcoming European tour.
Trans-Pacific duo Apsci (Applied Science) are on the spiky left field of hiphop: their debut on the Quannum label (aka Solesides, home to Bay Area underground legends Blackalicious and DJ Shadow), Thanks For Asking, is full of quirky rhythms and off-centre rhymes. Ra and Dana are versatile vocalists, ranging from atmospheric harmony (over the moody, techy beats, Dana's singing voice occasionally recalls trip-hop veteran Beth Gibbons from Portishead) to frenetic rap. Ra is the American half of the duo, and Dana's the Australian; their debut album was already released (in an earlier form with much fewer tracks) on the homegrown Aussie label Elefant Traks.
It's a modern love story.
Boy meets girl. They fall in love and buy laptops. They travel the world, sleep on floors and make a groundbreaking record. In 1998, Filipino-Australian Dana Diaz-Tutaan was performing in New York with a crew of Australian musicians, when she serendipitously met Bronx native Raphael LaMotta in front of nightclub. The two jelled and a whirlwind courtship commenced. Two years later they were married and making music. Literally.
Ra's teen years were spent writing and performing with his first band, Vitapup, a high school trio he founded as singer & bassist. Vitapup went quickly from playing basements and garages to headlining clubs and performing nationally with groups like Tortoise, Elliot Smith & Bikini Kill. Dana spent her pre-Apsci years performing in Australia's hip-hop scene. Dana's time in the local underground trenches gave way to more time spent abroad with well-known acts such as Mike Ladd, Anti-Pop Consortium and Blackalicious. Her signature wail can be heard on Ladd's Vernacular Homicide, The Infesticons' Gun Hill Road and Blackalicious' forthcoming album, The Craft.
Despite different backgrounds, Dana and Ra developed similar work ethics and musical landscapes, bringing Dana's classically-trained ear and pipes to mesh seamlessly with Ra's genre-bending sensibilities. The two pulled from their equally eclectic backgrounds to forge a signature blend of bass-heavy, electro-influenced hip-hop. While Ra holds down the bulk of Apsci production, Dana also brings fire to the console, producing 3 of the tracks on their worldwide debut Thanks for Asking. Together the two crafted the album's unique amalgamation of live instrumentation and programmed beats.
Joining Apsci on the stage are human drumbot Guy Licata, (recently featuring on new recordings with Bill Laswell), Superstar DJ Big Wiz (resident Def Jux DJ), and DJ Boo (Jugganots) on the help-out. These talented soldiers form like voltron with Ra & Dana to generate what is arguably the hottest live set in town