Today's highlighted Madison-based musician is DJ Pain 1.
A hallmark of hip-hop in Madison is its resiliency, due in large part to the multifaceted work its most tireless creators. One long-time local contributor is Pacal Bayley, who performs as DJ Pain 1. Specializing in down-tempo remixing and hip-hop as a producer and DJ, Bayley collaborates with numerous local artists both on stage and in the studio.
Here is his bio:
DJ Pain 1, also known as "Pain [Of Thought]," has been a DJ and producer for the greater part of a decade. Selected as one of the city's top four hip-hop DJs by Rick's CafÃ, Pain appears at many live shows, mostly backing up crew members with scratches and cuts. However, he prefers to be in the studio, producing dark hip-hop, downtempo and fusion. Pain has produced numerous songs and albums, provided music for films appearing at the Sundance Film Festival, has performed at countless venues including a Source magazine event featuring Talib Kweli, and traveled as a Warped Tour 2004 DJ, sharing the stage with acts such as Non-Phixion, Immortal Technique and J-Zone.
One of DJ Pain 1's more recent projects is the The Grey Scare (MySpace page), a local super-crew consisting of his regular collaborators El Guante and Starr, along with God-des & She, Memory, Stryfe, DJ Kres and DJ Toki. Early in the summer, the collective released the "Grey Summer' mixtape, a hip-hop, down-tempo and spoken word concoction featuring new studio tracks, live performances and other wordplay by the crew's members.
Another Pain production is R.K.S. (MySpace page), a down-tempo, trip-hop project that he launched early in 2005. By the autumn of that year, the DJ had produced Bollywood Ka Bacha!, a twelve-track album sampling and remixing bollywood songs. Work on a second album started early this autumn.
DJ Pain 1 recently participated in the "Feel the Beat" producer battle, which was conducted by Streets of Gold Productions as part of the Music, Media and Technology Conference at the UW Memorial Union Rathskeller on Saturday, Nov. 4. Several days before the battle, the local hip-hop production scene was examined in Isthmus, including the work by Pain, who described his style as "more melodic and somber in a minor-note way." His work was also featured in a recent Isthmus item about local DJs written by Kyle Myhre (who performs as El Guante). There are many more details about DJ Pain 1 -- including his musical affiliations and thoughts about hip-hop -- featured in a profile on MadisonHipHop.com.
Seven tracks produced by DJ Pain 1 are available at from his Extortion Entertainment press kit. They are: "Hard-Headed" (for Stryfe, Mic Virus and Starr), "Love You Better" (for God-des & She), "Mr. Big Wallets" (for the Crest), "Chandi Raaten" and "Jhoom Jhoom..." (both for R.K.S.), "Best of Me," (for Starr), and "Walk Away" (for Lovespirals). More of the Pain's work can also be found on his MySpace page.
On Wednesday, Nov. 22, DJ Pain 1 will be joining in the fun at the MadisonHipHop.com Thanksgiving Dance Party. The show will feature an evening of spins and grooves in honor as MadisonHipHop.com founder Bro DJ (Brody Rose) is briefly returning to town for the holiday from his new home of D.C. Performing alongside DJ Pain 1 is a virtual convention of local standouts, including DLO, Rob Dz, Felicia Alima, Roberto Rivera, Josh Healy, Horton, ANT, KALO, Ms. Bozack, Ghetto Fab and El Guante. Pain will return to the King Club just over a week later on Thursday, Nov. 30, where he will perform at an EP release party for Office Hours, a hip-hop duo consisting of emcees Ethos Mega and M Phix. The DJ will also be playing at Club 770 on Saturday, Dec. 9 at a concert featuring Brother Ali. Part of the Madison Pop Festival, this show is likely to be DJ Pain 1's final local performance of the year.
This is the latest featured entry from the Madison Music Project, an online database of Madison-area musicians. Please register or update your current profile on the project for consideration in these highlights.