by RAF KATIGBAK

The downtempo world-music scene has become a sad and sordid affair. Generic chillout compilations chock-a-block with prerequisite sitar and tabla samples, time-stretched qawwals and ouds looped to infinity over substandard hip hop beats litter the shelves as producers looking to cash in on the boutique hotel market (damn you, Claude Challe!) slowly turn world music into world muzak - empty and unlistenable.

Enter Basement Wigger, aka Dac Chartrand, the Montreal (via Burlington) experimental drum & bass producer whose latest album, A Celebration of the Concept of the People's Republic of North Korea, is set to knock world-music lovers on their asses. Cut-up North Korean music and vocal samples, along with old-school electronics (Commodore 64s and Atari 2600s), become ammo for his frantic breakbeat cannons. The Mirror caught up with him to find out more about "wiggerism" and his similarities with Kim Jong-Il.

Mirror: I grew up in the West Island suburbs of Montreal, so I knew a lot of wiggers back in the day. Could you explain what a wigger is, for those who don't know?

Basement Wigger: It's a false emulation of a cultural identity. An easy example that people tend to associate with it is Eminem wannabes from the suburbs. Personally, I think it's much more than that. For example, Asian misappropriation in Western society is very predominant - people try to work Buddhist statues into their placid decor, not thinking, "Is some yuppie in Taiwan sporting Jesus on a cross to feel cool?" Or getting Chinese characters as tattoos, but not really having any way of knowing if it says "bag of rice" on their back.

M: But you're very conscious of your misappropriation - you're talking wiggerism as a positive force, an impetus for change. How does North Korea fit in?

BW: The actual culture is so shrouded in mystery that misappropriating it is a given. It falls easily under the constraints and guidelines I establish for a BW project.

M: "Ridiculous" and "terrifying" are two words that you use to describe your music. They're also two words that come to mind when I think of Kim Jong-Il. Would you say you two are more similar than different?

BW: Kim Jong-Il is not ridiculous. He's not an absurdity. He's a reality living in a self-propelled absurdity. This BW project differs in that it is an absurdity made real.

M: Legend has it that when Kim was born, a double rainbow andbright star appeared in the sky - any similarities there?

BW: Holy shit, me too! Actually, my birth story is as follows. My mom had an IUD and went to a doctor complaining about headaches and nausea so he prescribed some pretty hard medication. A few weeks later, it just kept getting worse, so she went to another doctor for a second opinion. This doctor told her that the headaches and nausea were being caused by pregnancy and that the medication she was taking probably severely damaged the fetus. An abortion was considered, but my parents decided to go through with the birth - thanks, Catholicism! I came out fine, with the IUD in my hand.

With Zark Behida, Ramdac, Cyan and Dialect at Saphir tonight, Thursday, Sept. 8, 10 p.m., $4

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