NYC band Rebelmatic describes their sound as “James Brown in a mosh pit,” a tagline that says more than most genre lists. Formed in 2008, they blend hardcore punk, funk, hip-hop, metal and soul, and their bio lists appearances at AFROPUNK and Punk Island and stages shared with Pure Hell, Death and Slick Rick. Rebelmatic Live at Main Drag, also known as DCxPC Live Vol. 50, is their second live record with DCxPC Live, the DIY label that documents underground music on vinyl, and it is the label’s milestone fiftieth volume.
The first one, recorded at Fuzzfest WV in the band’s second hometown of Morgantown, sold out. Instead of repressing it, the label and band went back with a completely different performance recorded years later, this time at Main Drag in Brooklyn. It was recorded by Craig Wehringer and mastered by Joshua “Danger” Dobbs.
In a way, this is the most anti-AI album I’ve seen in a while. It’s live; it won’t exist on streaming platforms. It’s just pressed on vinyl and available digitally only on Bandcamp, which is a platform that banned AI music earlier this year. The live sound itself is very raw and aggressively punk with a huge room sound. It kind of feels like someone just left their phone recording the whole thing in the background; you can hear extra mic noises and crowd noises and everything that happened in that room. Now that I think about it, James Brown in a mosh pit makes perfect sense. The energy is erratic and funky but ultimately has a different kind of power. It must have been exhilarating to experience in person, as the band keeps engaging the audience in fun ways. Speaking of fun, it was also the guitarist Alkatraz’s birthday, and you can tell he’s having lots of fun playing these bouncy riffs.
The tracklist draws on the band’s recent run of releases, including “Peace,” “Help,” “Forever More,” “Cornbread and Collard Greens” and “Alive on Arrival,” across 14 tracks. Most run under four minutes, with “Forever More” and the closer “Emergency Break” stretching longer. Only 200 copies are being pressed on ecomix graphite vinyl, so DCxPC Live Vol. 50 is a small run. Preorders open October 27 and the album arrives November 21 with a release show that night at the OCNY Vet Center in New Windsor, NY, part of a run of dates from November 20 to 23 alongside WORLDSUCKS. For anyone curious how Rebelmatic sounds with nothing but a room around them, this is the record to track down.
