Right in the pocket

>> The cyborg sounds of Toronto's Pocket Dwellers

by RUPERT BOTTENBERG

From old-school funk to enlightened hip hop, from smooth R&B to boisterous club noise, Toronto's Pocket Dwellers take on all comers--competently. Their forthcoming album Digitally Organic, produced by Canadian indie icon Michael Philip Wojewoda (Rheostatics, Barenaked Ladies), raise the ante for them, and if Dweller MC Nigel Williams' enthusiasm is any indication, they're up for it.

Mirror: You guys move from style to style really smoothly. Do individual members have particular styles of which they're in charge?

Nigel Williams: Kind of, at first, but now we've rubbed off on each other, musically. There's guys with rock and hip hop backgrounds, and others who are really into electronica. Everyone kind of represents a couple of different genres, but it's blurry now, because everyone's into everything. It's those long road trips, listening to each other's CDs.

M: Explain the principle of "digitally organic"--it's a contradiction in terms.

NW: Exactly. I really dig that kind of thing. We're all into electronica, yet we're playing organic music in an age of electric. I like to think of it as cyborg music, mixing everything. We've got live drums and programmed drums, we recorded things both digitally and analog, so the album's kind of a hybrid of the two.

M: Let's talk about your lyrics a bit. They're not only well-schooled, really informed, but they come on really dense, too, requiring multiple listens.

NW: That's what I wanted. I'm really into longevity. I wanted the album to have staying power. Two years from now, I want people to put on their Pocket Dwellers CD and still find something new. There's so much going on in the music and lyrics that it's not something you can decipher in two listens. Like, I'm really into Mos Def, and he's got this lyric--"Manhattan keeps on making it/ Brooklyn keeps on taking it." I didn't get it till the other day--they make money and we rob them. It was this huge epiphany!

M: So what inspires your lyrics?

NW: Everything, man, everything. I'm such a slave, and a master, to pop culture. Growing up in the '80s, just watching huge amounts of TV and reading a lot, being aware. I really find that young adults today are so well-rounded, because we had so much input. So, I don't want to be too vague, but everything hits me off.

M: I heard that when you were planning the show here, you were poking around for chances to do offshoot DJ sets. Does Pocket Dwellers ever break down into sub-units?

NW: It's funny, we haven't ever officially done that, but it happens in practice. Some of us will take cigarette breaks, and the DJ and keyboard player will be left there, and they'll start doing something. And maybe the guitarist will start soloing over it. We haven't done it officially, but it's just a matter of us getting down to it and saying, "Let's do it." I know we're going to work that into our show. : At Le Swimming on Saturday, Sept. 30, 10pm, $5

At Casa del Popolo on Thursday, Sept. 28, 9pm, $5