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Milwaukee's Daily Magazine for Tuesday, May 21, 2013

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In Music

Sirius Booty wants to kick some ... you get the picture.

Sirius Booty kicks out the funk


Dr. Prescott Sobol -- aka "Fuzzy Logic" -- describes his DJ collective called Sirius Booty as "perilously sexy." And indeed, after a good long listen, the sounds -- which are a mix of '80s funk, electro, disco, synth-pop, new wave and rap -- could potentially put you in the mood.

Sirius Booty includes two audio DJs, Sobol and Brandon "Brazil" Reyes, as well as visual DJ "Scotty B" Baldwin.

"We like anything with squelchy synths and drum machines set to bugged-out visuals," says Sobol. "The music is playful and fun. There's something cheesy, but also really fun and danceable, about the synth."

Sirius Booty has upcoming gigs on Friday, July 9 at Tonic Tavern, 2335 S. Kinnickinnic Ave., and Friday, July 16 at Redroom, 1875 N. Humboldt Blvd. Both shows start at 9:30 p.m. and there's no cover.

The group has been together for five months, and has played live, public shows since they formed. The trio met at Rochambo Coffee & Tea House, 1317 E. Brady St., where Sobol and Baldwin are employed.

"Brandon was a regular, and the three of us would always talk music," says Sobol, who is also an English lecturer at UW-Milwaukee and the Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design (MIAD.)

Sirius Booty's process of creating music is slightly different from a conventional band. The audio DJs prepare on their own, then come together to talk visuals.

"In general, we're pretty loose," says Sobol. "We'll suggest visuals to Scotty -- like something from a movie or a vintage character that might work -- and then he slices and dices."

A Sirius Booty show is usually about four hours long. Sobol and Reyes use turntables and mixers, and Baldwin has three analogue televisions running through a laptop. Sobol says the group is interested in "old visions of the future," meaning how the year 2000 and beyond was envisioned in the '70s and '80s.

"All '80s electro funk is about the synth being new and video games being new," says Sobol. "We're making sounds that are simultaneously old and new. I guess you could also call them 'dated futuristic visions.'"

Sobol, who is 38, was interested in the music he samples when it was originally popular. He says he heard a lot of funk bands on the radio when he was a kid growing up in Ohio.

"Brandon, however, is in his 20s, and he's coming at it from being a fan of rap guys who sample this kind of music," says Sobol, who is the former guitar player for Milwaukee metal band Demeto Nocturnum.

Sobol developed his interest in DJ-ing while doing a radio rap / soul show in Indiana and he learned to do sets by hanging out with Elechronic, Chalice in the Palace and Andras. Reyes says he learned mostly through Internet tutorials.

"Fuzzy Logic is the only DJ prepared to produce Gramscian interpretations of 20th-century American literature," says Sobol. "And if you're throwing a roller disco party, we'd love to play it. Hit us up on Facebook."


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