Data Breaker

DJ Collage is one of Seattle’s most powerful energy sources.
Collage (aka Mr. [Lawrence] Chatman) has been running Seattle’s
internationally respected dancehall/
roots rock/reggae night Jam
Jam on Mondays at the Baltic Room since July 2006. To keep a night
going for that long on the worst day of the week for clubbing takes mad
energy and determination, both of which Chatman has a surplus.

If you’ve seen Chatman perform, you know that he owns that
stage with alpha-male authority. A DJ in the Jamaican sense (what
Americans call an MC), Chatman’s mastered
dancehall/raggamuffin/dub/bhangra ceremonies with a mercurial patois
that’s self-aggrandizing, but engagingly so. Chatman bigs up his
considerable self, but you end up feeling empowered by his
efforts. If music doesn’t pan out, Chatman could embark on a career as
a motivational speaker.

Chatman’s new album, Marathon Man, seems rougher and
rawer than The Parlor (Collage’s strong 2006 album, which was
never officially released), although the slick “Rubbadubb Style” could
be a hit single. “[The] only different approach that I took to
Marathon Man was that I wanted to [capture] those vibes I had
when I started making music,” Chatman says. “I was going for a more
stripped-down, rawer sound focusing on riddim, bass, lyrics, and vibes,
whereas The Parlor focused on more electronica elements.”

Chatman is best known for striking cameos on tracks by prominent
artists like Meat Beat Manifesto, Sofa Surfers,
Dubtribe Sound System, Ghislain Poirier, and
Truckasauras. He says he’s learned a lot from those
collaborations, applying techniques from them to his own productions.
But, as adaptable to different musical styles as he is, Chatman prefers
dancehall. “[There] is so much energy and versatility in the riddims
and lyrics, and it’s very hypnotic in the way it all works
together—especially the ’90s era of dancehall.”

A sonic chameleon, Chatman gets grief from genre purists who don’t
like his hybrids. “Electronic-music purists don’t see the connection
with ragga lyrics and electronica, just as reggae-music purists don’t
understand chatting over what they consider ‘techno,'” he explains.
“But there are some music scenes out there that I’m a part of where
musical genre–mashing is much more accepted. In Canada I have
collaborated with a group called Delhi-
2Dublin, which is a
fusion of bhangra and Celtic music with dance beats and dub bass lines.
And in San Francisco I am a frequent guest of the Non Stop
Bhangra night, chatting raggamuffin lyrics over heavy
bhangra/hiphop mashups.” That latter style can be heard on Marathon
Man‘s “Bombay Rokk” and on “Crown Mi King,” from The Parlor.
(“Crown Mi King” also appeared on Webdreams, a Montreal-based
reality-TV show rooted in the porn industry.)

Chatman’s hustle is nonstop, so prepare for much future activity.