Indiana:
Grampall Jookabox
CITY: Indianapolis
SONG THAT GOT US: “The Girl Ain’t Preggers”
ON THE TUBES: MySpace, YouTube
RECORD LABELS: Asthmatic Kitty, Joyful Noise, Fat Bird
WHY HIM: Hoosiers, you’ve lost a Michael but gained a Moose. David “Moose” Adamson seems like he already has a perfectly serviceable nickname, but that hasn’t stopped him from adding a nom du disque to his ID repertoire: Grampall Jookabox. The Jookabox cannon — equal parts industrial hip-hop, key-bump disco, psycho-freaky folk, and loonish lyrical journeys to the center of Moose’s mind — is a dangerous mélange that triumphs over its disparate ingredients. Taken all at once, his eclectic works present what seem to be field recordings from some bizarro Lynchian landscape, but beyond their weirdness the songs also explore street culture, particularly where black and white traditions collide. They’re also hypnotic as all get-out.
BONUS BIT! One track from his new album, Ropechain, “I’m Absolutely Freaked Out,” was recorded in Central State Hospital, an abandoned Indianapolis insane asylum.