PICKS OF THE WEEK

It may be impossible to adequately define the type of music created by the talented gaggle of artists of Mush Records. They've been called "avant-underground," "emo-Brit-blip-hop" and "down-tempo free-jazz." Mush co-owner Robert Curcio says even those hyphenated descriptions sell his artists short. "We're interested in creating a place where all the genres fit together, but don't fit into one category," he says. The Mush-men will get the opportunity to find that place when the eclectic gang of performers converge at Omaha's Sokol Underground Sunday, June 27. The line up includes Circus with Andre Afram Asmar, Radioinactive and Anti, Listener, Curse Ov Dialect and Omaha'a own white-boy rapper Buck Bowen. Mush's Curcio offers the following about five of the acts on the bill:

Andre Afram Asmar takes an approach far different than that of most electronic music producers. With equal part influences from hip-hop, dub and world music, Asmar most often builds around live instrumentation, utilizing samples and effects as accents to the acoustics, ethnic percussion and live vocals found in his work.

Whether working with underground emcee Circus (Shapeshifters), dub pioneer Scientist or any of a host of instrumentalists, percussionists and vocalists who can be found nightly at his Los Angeles recording compound, the Shroud, Asmar find a way to twist the end result in to a product that is uniquely his own.

By way of Los Angeles, Radioinactive has set foot on stage with many groundbreaking artists: Freestyle Fellowship, the Shapeshifters, Of Mexican Decent, the Coup, the Sugarhill Gang and Afrika Bambaata. A poet in arms and true maintenance man of the underground terra, he has been putting out new music since the last president. From his days with Log Cabin (members include Eligh, Murs and Scarub) to his underground classic "Fo' Tractor," Radio has infiltrated music collections around the world.

After coming to prominence through his work with Radioinactive and other underground hip-hop notables, Antimc has broken out on his own with solo meltings of jazz, rock and hip-hop. A lifelong resident of Los Angeles, Antimc's backing tracks compliment the hyper flow of the West-coast emcee using traditional drum programming, world-influenced samples and live instrumentation in a way that maintains a hip-hop edge. His instrumentals are equally as strong as the absence of vocals allow him to add more detailed live instrumentation and to build even greater dynamics into the productions. With a unique blend of intelligence and street smarts Atlanta's Listener is an emcee capable of creating authentic tracks that capture the best of the styles most often attributed to the underground. His previous recordings with Deepspace5 on Uprok/EMI and his self-released Lablik projects have enabled Listener to reach a point in his career where he is as comfortable building a story of meaning as he is with traditional hip-hop wordplay. He favors a dark blend of hip-hop production built on dusty samples and hard hitting drums that allow his easy flow, and lyrics that often touch on spirituality, to shine through.

Reaching out to the world from their home in Melbourne, Australia, Curse Ov Dialect consists of vocalists Raceless, Vulk Maledonski, Aturungi, and August the 2nd with DJ Paso Bionic. Production duties are shared by all five crew members. With a diverse range of backgrounds, their music comes off as a non-homogenized tapestry of culture. Their political raps, razor sharp writing, unique flows, and standout production accurately represents their knowledge of hip-hop as world music and the multi-cultural climate of their homeland. Their live show combines unrelenting energy, fine tuned execution, and jaw dropping costumes to create a one-of-a-kind concert experience that tears the hip-hop rule books to pieces.