If you don’t follow Definitive Jux closely, you may have missed the news that a new artist, Despot, joined the label last year. (I sure did.) For the past year, he has worked on his debut recordings for one of the biggest underground rap labels.
At some point he’s scheduled to release an EP, Hooray for Me, later this year. In the meantime, he’s dropped two singles, “Crap Artists” and “Homesickness,” and a track for the recent Definitive Swim (“Get Rich or Try Dying”).
You can get familiar with Despot when he hits the road with New York rhythm duo Ratatat. For those who don’t know, Ratatat is strictly guitars and drum machines. Decent stuff. The tour begins in mid-March and lasts through early April.
After the tour comes, hopefully, Hooray for Me, with a full-length slated for 2008. “The EP will have something like 9-10 songs on it,” wrote Despot in an October 2006 post on MySpace. “My two previous singles will be on there, which you can hear right here on my myspace page, along with a whole mess of new stuff. Production will be handled mostly by Blockhead. The way it’s looking right now, the other producers will be Arcsin (on “Homesickness”), El-P (probably one joint), and maybe something with Ratatat.”
Here are the tour dates with Ratatat:
- 3/15: Paradise, Boston, MA
- 3/16: Showplace Theatre, Buffalo, NY
- 3/17: Beachland Ballroom, Cleveland, OH
- 3/19: Southgate House, Newport, KY
- 3/20: The Gargoyle, St. Louis, MO
- 3/21: Logan Square Auditorium, Chicago, IL
- 3/23: Bluebird Theatre, Denver, CO
- 3/24: In The Venue, Salt Lake City, UT
- 3/26: Wonder Ballroom, Portland, OR
- 3/27: Neumo’s, Seattle, WA
- 3/28: Richard’s on Richard’s, Vancouver, BC
- 3/29: Wow Hall, Eugene, OR
- 3/30: Bimbo’s, San Francisco, CA
- 4/01: Glass House, Pomona, CA
- 4/02: Henry Fonda Theatre, Los Angeles, CA
- 4/03: UC San Diego, Porter’s Pub, La Jolla, CA
- 4/05: Ridglea Theatre, Ft. Worth, TX
- 4/06: Emo’s, Austin, TX
- 4/07: Rice University, HoustoGn, TX
- 4/09: Mercy Lounge, Nashville, TN
- 4/10: The Loft, Atlanta, GA
- 4/11: The Social, Orlando, FL
- 4/12: Common Grounds, Gainesville, FL
- 4/13: Florida State University, Club Downunder, Tallahassee, FL
- 4/14: TBA, Miami, FL
- 4/16: Cat’s Cradle, Carrboro, NC
- 4/17: 9:30 Club, Washington, DC
- 4/18: Webster Hall, New York, NY
3/15-3/19: w/Professor Murder
3/21-4/10: w/120 Days
