Tribute to the MC BRACE

My first full-on rave was in the fall of 1998. We got the last spot in the fenced-in parking lot, which was nice, because it was the middle of the night and I was in a really run-down neighborhood. More importantly, the "last spot" had symbolic significance-- I was being let into the rave scene-- maybe at the tail end, but I still made it in!

It might have been the Beginning of the End at that point, but the emphasis is on Beginning-- the Chi-town rave scene was really blowing up. That party was in the basement of a church, which was pretty beautiful. Truthfully, I had some rather amusing theories about the things I was seeing-- for example, I thought that pacifiers were symbolic of the fact that we are all children before God.

I partied away for a good run (often at blessed Dalton, sometimes in the actual city), but just couldn't crack the musical code. I mean, I liked it, but it was still... basically background noise, wallpaper.

Then one day in summer everything changed. It was a magical forest faerie gathering- this incredible, mind-melting, extradimensional outdoor rave. It was like the party in the Ewok Village at the end of Return of the Jedi, with a little Burning Man Playa-faerie dust sprinkled on top. This party was nuts; a space colony tent city slung over the hills and stretching as far as you could see-- and you couldn't throw a toadstool without hitting another mutant sound system blasting the night with crispy bass (that party was at Black River Falls, Wisconsin-- "Rave 'Em & Bail-E 3" in '99-- my next biggest life-changing party moment didn't come until 2005 at Black Rock City, Nevada-- but I must not digress!!!).

MC Brace was throwing down rapid-fire rhymes alongside the DJ Cypher. The energy was so palpable, so intense! It was a system on the top of the hill; Brace's words formed a lattice of crackling energy that danced like cosmic weather reports. He was the leader of the New School Army; on the opposite side of the hill, trombone players in silver space suits accompanied the Old School house dons on stage.

And so, rock-n-roll and Floridian death metal would no longer be my exclusive musical muses. I began an aural odyssey that is now going on its 10th year-- from drum&bass-with-an-mc (99) to industrial (99) to minimal techno (99) to breaks and underground hip-hop (2000), to grime, crunk, and gangsta (2004), to the Burning Man days; dub, dancehall, reggae (2006) and even some electro and psytrance (2007), to beloved dubstep! To me the best electronic-beat-based music is always when you see it with a live MC at a rockin' party.

Even though he is largely a mysterious underground figure, the Brace has gotten some recognition here and there. I remember an on-line party reviewer from the UK noting, favorably, that he couldn't tell whether it was MC GQ or MC Brace on the mic at a Minneapolis party-- that, folks, counts as a compliment when it comes from a presumably-biased Brit. Personally, I highly doubt that any MCs are better. His character reviews are also favorable; I've met Sean aka Brace a couple times, and he seems like a cool guy. I have noticed that whenever I mention to some Minneapolis party kid that I like MC Brace, he or she invariably says something like, "Yeah, Sean used to be my neighbor, he is a really great guy". Well, if you are such a good guy, Brace, let me ask you a question-- why don't you record your voice on some more tracks?! I know we can't "commodify" the music experience and all, but still-- not all of us are willing to move to SF for you. Ha! Just kiddin' with you, much respect to the Brace MC, thank you and keep the art alive!