Coog Radio Boiler Room Set | Graphic by Ram Armendariz

Spooky season is officially here. Bats with bold Victorian letters have replaced standard Twitter names. Halloween decorations are out, scary movies are a daily thing, and most importantly Coog Radio is putting on their second Boiler Room set with in-house student DJs to formally summon and welcome the spooky vibes onto campus on Friday, Oct. 12th from 7 p.m. until 11 p.m. in Agnes Arnold Room 110. In-house DJs consist of The Broken Matrix, Gabriel Mallari, Frederick Mallari, Diiirty Anthony, and DJ Archaic. They will be playing EDM, house, hip-hop, sampling their own beats, and sharing their sound. To understand what to expect and what their sound truly is, you need to know a bit about them. Read until the end for an interview with Diiirty Anthony.

The Broken Matrix

The Broken Matrix consists of Lord Niko and Hypno. The duo showcase electronic music – specifically house and techno. The Broken Matrix has a two hour show every Friday from 3 p.m. until 5 p.m. Other than the boiler room, the guys will be performing Sunday Splash at the Dive on Sunday, October 14th.

https://soundcloud.com/coogradio/the-broken-matrix-the-best-of-lord-niko

Gabriel Mallari & Frederick Mallari

Photo Courtesy of Gabriel Mallari

Gabriel Mallari & Frederick Mallari are known around the studio as “The Twins.” They refer to themselves as Thing 1 and Thing 2. Things 1 & 2 graduated from nearby Elsik High School in Alief, Texas. They have been DJing for a couple of years. Their introduction into the electronic music scene began at their cousin’s house where a childhood friend had a turntable and mixer. After messing around and exploring the devices, the connection was solid. Since then, performances include Party in the Park at University of Houston a couple of weeks before Fall 2018 began. One of the most exciting aspects of this gig for Gabriel was being able to play on a full sound system with approximately 10k worth of equipment.  Gabriel describes their sound as “all over the place,” and that they want to be as “creative as [they] can.” Eventually, Gabe would like to continue to pass the trade on to others by teaching while traveling the world playing festivals all over the world.

DJ Archaic

DJ Archaic is not only a talented DJ, he is a great mentor. DJ Archaic is the Station Director of Coog Radio. Through his position within the studio, he mentors and teaches DJs and radio show hosts how to transmit their beats and voices to others. His sound itself, though, is solid on its own feet. Comments on his SoundCloud consist of, “This is the greatest song I have ever heard where the f did it come from?” “Best song!! Like the key board,” and “Chief this is tight x!!”

Diiirty Anthony

Sipping on a Double Nook with four shots of espresso Diiirty Anthony sat down to answer a few questions to shine some light on who he is as an artist. The fact that he could sit still, calmly, without any evidence of the four shots of

Diiirty Anthony | Photo by Tiffany Neufeld

espresso coursing through his veins at 7 p.m. on a Tuesday night is just one of the intriguing aspects of his character. He explained that his caffeine tolerance is a result of his Eritrean background. He went on to answer a few other questions and offer more explanations of himself as an artist.

Where did your name come from?

Diiirty Anthony is a name that I decided to give to all the bad parts of myself; all the parts of myself I just don’t like and all of the bad energy. It’s sort of like me reclaiming it I guess. Sort of like accepting that side of myself, but also rejecting it at the same time. Like accepting that it is part of me, but also kinda like working against that ya know.

And how does that influence the music that you create?

My music can be very vulgar and violent. Vulgarity and violence are always like fun in music and movies and all that stuff just as long as it’s not overdone or done real badly or done really distastefully ya know. I don’t think there’s anything inherently wrong with it.

What is one feature of your music that specifically plays into that vulgar and vulgarity quality that you speak of or one example that you can give? Is it lyrically? Or in the sound?

It’s a bit of both. Like they definitely inform each other. It’s definitely there in the sound. I pay attention to my contemporaries. I pay attention to other artists. I pay attention to trends and stuff. And like sometimes I’m not even actively trying to subvert them, but adopt them and then like add my own spin to them and that spin is usually something that’s a lot more atmospheric and a lot more – a lot more like heavy. Ya know?

How did you get started DJing?

I got started DJing my freshman year of college. Aarik, AKA DJ Archaic, has basically been a mentor. And so he taught me how to DJ my freshman year and then I got my own set last semester. I haven’t really been doing gigs as much as I’d like to but I’ve been kinda doing that whole thing and getting really good at it and working on that.

What do you like most about the craft?

Just discovering something. I just like messing around and seeing what can come out of it. I like to mess around. I like to experiment. I think experimentation is really good. Like sometimes, like, I’ll just mess around in Ableton and I won’t even finish the project. I’ll just take a sample and like stretch it and distort it until it’s like something completely unrecognizable. I like to do that with popular music.

What’s an example of a popular song that you’ve done that to?

One of my favorite beats that I’ve done flips an Arianna Grande song. I can’t remember which one it is, I think it’s “Focus,” but I flipped it and you don’t realize it’s an Arianna Grande sample until I point it out to you because it just doesn’t sound like it.

That’s neat. You stay in tune with what’s going on in the music industry and politics. What’s the most important thing that’s going in the world to you right now?

In the world? I think there’s a lot of important things happening at the same time and right now we don’t really have the luxury of sorting out what things are a big deal and what things aren’t. Ya know? I guess the biggest thing would be would be nothing because everything is just kind of disposable.

Does that play into your vulgar and violent sound or the anger that you have that you use music for as an outlet? Or are you just inherently violent and vulgar?

I just think violence and vulgarity are like cool – aesthetically. I like how they look. I like how it looks. I like how it sounds. Ya know? Like I miss when action films were rated ‘R’ and actually were rated ‘R’. I kind of like that cartoonishness and hyper realism.

When you say that cartoonishness to violence and vulgarity are you speaking more like Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill or Sin City?

Yea. I’m definitely thinking that and Paul Verhoeven’s Robocop. Like the opening scene of Robocop plays on a loop in my head all the time.

Where does Saw fall in your aesthetic? Does it vibe or do they take it too far?

It vibes. It definitely vibes with my aesthetic because like even then they make it fashionable. Like the trendy thing now is to like, what the Twitter people are doing, smearing fake blood on themselves and stuff, right? It can be soft if you want it to.

Well, it’s spooky time.

It’s spooky season! Exactly! And like you know sometimes making something that was originally scary, soft, is cooler than making something that was originally soft, scary.

Other than the Boiler Room, what gigs do you have coming up?

I’m in the talks to do some other things. Like right now I’m recording my first tape, which should be out by Halloween, but realistically speaking it probably won’t happen. It will be out in the fall though. And it will be out soon and I do have singles and everything is all done for it. Like basically, the first tape needs to be recorded. I already have the concept for the second tape written out and I already have ideas where I’m going to take it.

Where can people follow you to catch the drop of your first tape?

Soundcloud 

Instagram

Twitter 

And what’s the one thing you want people to know about you as an artist?

I’m fun!

Come get spooky with Diiirty Anthony and the other great in-house student DJs on Friday, Oct. 12th at the Coog Radio Boiler Room.