"Let Me Out Of This World" by Hunter Connors Herm

“Let me out of this world…
Let me our of this world…
Let me ride shotgun.”

For those of you still living in this world…
For those of you who have become a bit bored with the ho-hum-auto-tune lyrics of the American billboard top 25…
For those of you craving the next wave, whatever wave that may be…

Have I got an inside track for you!

It’s called "Dream Catcher" and it’s just another in a series of fresh rhythmic tracks featuring out of this world electro melodies, chest thumping bass lines, and soul-touching lyrics from Madison, Wisconsin’s locally grown Electro-Pop group Star Persons.

Deken Frost, co-founder and co-MC of the fast rising and far shooting Star Persons, has a voice that commands attention even in the most informal of settings; like a narrow, musty alleyway reeking of overflowed dumpsters which line the cold walls behind an underused dance club on Madison’s near west side.

The piles of trash in the alley serve as a metaphoric backdrop to Madison music scene; each dumpster symbolizing a broken down and forgotten local musical talent. A talent that came but never went far.

Deken Frost, who plans on going as far as he can, is quick to reference the title of his brainchild album and hopeful ticket out of these back alley trash heaps.

“The album is called Just Visiting…and as far as I’m concerned, that’s all we’re doing here.” Indeed, Star Persons has a sound that is too grand in scope to be confined to Madison’s non-existent pop scene.

Frost has been pushing the envelope in the Madison music scene since his teenage days busting out improvisational rhymes on the street corners of Madison’s West side while avoiding truant officers and skipping out on the majority of his high school classes in the 1990s.

But it wasn’t until his front man days with this hip-hop-hard-rock group Know Boundaries that Frost emerged into the limelight of Madison’s critical music media.



“I leaped head first without much concern for commercial viability” Deken recalls of his younger self, “I didn’t make a dime but I earned 5 MAMAs (Madison Area Music Awards) with Know Boundaries though…not many people know that about me.”

Not many people know anything about Star Persons…yet. But they will…soon.

“Me and my crew we grew up strong,
We are the few that are moving on…”

It’s early in the morning on March 10th, 2010. After having unloaded their souls on the stage moments before, Deken Frost and his Star Persons crew are now loading their electronic equipment out through the side door of the Annex dance club and back into the dark, dank, dumpster filled alley. The trash kept its distance, though.

It was a foggy and otherwise quiet Monday night on Madison’s Regent Street. But inside the Annex it was one epic musical set, which featured the12 tracks from Star Persons soon to be released album, Just Visiting. It was 70 minutes of head nodding hooks, frightening fresh flows, and one hell of a LED light show.

That late night set at the Annex may prove, in time, to be the quintessential moment of a legendary power move in the charted history of Madison live music; a sudden shift which quaked and rattled a low ranked and virtually unknown local music scene and a volcanically erupted a genuine and truly unique talent into a limitless and star-speckled midnight sky.

Perhaps, no longer will Madison be the womb of stunted local talents whom are unable to breach the college town’s cliquey-coastie student body or bridge the finicky tastes of Madison’s upper-middle-class, intellectual base. With the birth of Star Persons, Madison may soon adopt on the role of estranged parent to this unique sound that will surely open up the American ear to a new inter-galactic vibration; electro-rap-pop.

And why the role of estranged parent for Madison? Well, for one, Madison’s media elite were invited to Monday night’s private performance. But, strangely, or typically even, the media didn’t show. Not one of them. This show was pitched as a media preview and the media delegates were contacted personally by a Star Persons publicist. Estranged, indeed.

“That’s Madison,” states Mic Douglas, co-MC of Star Persons, as he shrugs off the media’s slight. “We don’t make our music to impress Madison. We make our music to groove the world. Hopefully the Madison media will hop on board, but if not it's all good. Soon we’ll be long gone.”

Mic Douglas, who paces on stage opposite Deken Frost, is a strong vocal compliment to his grammar school friend. Whereas Frost is enthusiastically kinetic and, at times, ferociously frenetic in his stage movements, Douglas is calm and calculated as he strolls about, hypnotizing unsuspecting eardrums with his steady lyrics and low, smooth baritone voice.

“We need each other in this,” Douglas admits of himself and Frost, “We keep each other in check and we keep each other in balance. Just before the audience losses themselves in one of our flows, the other one of us brings them back to earth and starts them on another lyrical trip all together. It’s ebb and flow with us. Ebb and flow.”

“The smiles on their faces,
No place I’d rather be.”

Media presence or not, there was an in-the-know crowd that did show up on Monday night at the Annex. It was a modest sized, exclusive list of close friends of the Star Persons band members. A few long time supporters of Madison’s late night funk and hip-hop scene found themselves privileged witnesses to the event as well, but for the most part it was invite only for this live rehearsal and album preview.

No one quite knew what to expect from this low key, secretive premiere performance. The band had only released a few songs on their website and they had yet to unveil their combined talents and electro-rap-pop concept live on stage. However most were confident that something special was brewing given the decorated history of Frost and the combined decades of experience from the rest of the Star Persons crew.

The crowd barely budged as Star Persons broke into their first song, "Spanish fly". Most stood statue still, with jaws agape, inhaling the thick fog that rolled off the stage and soaking in the green and purple laser lights that shined down from the Annex’s dark rafters above. The impression was that of a UFO landing…and the audience could only hold their breath through the tense moments of first contact.

But the Star persons electro vibe quickly infected the audience’s spinal columns and, by the conclusion of Spanish Fly, hips and shoulders were swaying stage side and the heads of those older, more reserved guests seated at the rear tables of the Annex were already subconsciously nodding their approval.

The Star Persons nearly immediate engagement with the crowd was aided in no small part to Deken Frost’s vocal ace in the hole… a young unknown female vocalist who goes by the stage name of Veronica Chase. She is equal parts small town tavern spunk and big venue stage fox.

A country soul dressed in vixen clothes, Veronica demands attention in her heeled leather boots and florescent streaked hair. But make no mistake with this kid; she’s not just a visual side show to play on male hormones, nor is she a third wheel to the talents of Frost and Douglas. Ms Chase more than holds her own on stage as she belts out choruses that channel Merry Clayton from the Rolling Stones immortal hit Gimmie Shelter.

“I’m just having fun up there,” Veronica smirks modestly, “And I’m grateful these boys are giving me a shot.”

“I can see it in your soul,
You’ve been dancing on the sun,
Brightness flowing from your eyes,
Brand new life has just begun.”

It’s not Frost’s impressive resume, mind-bending lyrics, and front man star power…
It’s not Douglas’s professionalism, clean cut looks, and level headed persona…
And it’s not young Veronica’s edgy look, killer charm, and angelic vocals…

No, the three lyricist are not the engines that drive Star Persons pop potential. That credit lays with the beat makers, or, “Misson Control”, as they are referred to by those close to the Star Persons project.

It’s the two electronic keyboardists, one basest, and one electronic drum kit percussionist; that’s the lifeblood of Star Persons. And the kicker is, that since it’s an electronically produced sound, the performance is just as clean live as it is on a CD, and even more engaging; a rarity in the live performance world of hip hop.

Agent Smith, the half man half machine that sits behind the electro drum kit, is relentless perfection on a live stage as he sets the tempo and rhythm for every song. J Kool Aid is the sublime keyboard bassist whose distorted sounds will have your ears believing you are on the set of a science fiction alien invasion movie. Man Mantis & A-keys-E man the MPC (sampler) and the keyboards, respectively, and deliver hooks that can only be described as having been plucked somewhere from an 80’s-Nintendo-dance-pop subconscious.

“This is dance music, pure and simple,” says Man Mantis, who is also a major talent in the groups composing process, “We’re baiting the crowd into moving their bodies.”

The Star Persons certainly have enough electronic hooks to overflow a tackle box. Each track is catchy and contains the simple repetitions needed to reach a commercial audience. And at the end of the day, that’s exactly what Star Persons are trying to do,

“If you don’t deliver the goods in the beat department, then you don’t have anything to stand on.” Aaron Konkol, aka A-keys-E, flatly states “Eminem and Snoop Dog wouldn’t have careers without Doctor Dre’s beats.”

“This isn’t hip-hop though. This isn’t techno house, either,” fellow composer and keyboardist J Kool Aid cuts in quickly, “It’s dance music. It’s pop. And judging from what happened here tonight, I think it’s something people are going to be excited about.”

“I’m reaching…
Reaching for the sun.
I think I’ve found it.
I’ve got it.
They say that they don’t feel me but they know it…
I’m not afraid to show it.
I’m not afraid to blow it…
I’m just a supernova.”

Star Persons is on a light speed pace in the chase for a coveted and financially lucrative place in the American mainstream pop music world. It has been only 9 months since the band members verbally committed to Deken Frost’s and Mic Douglas vision. Their group’s creative process has come fluidly and with abundance ever since. With their first album all but sent off to get replicated, Star Persons are already laying down beats for their second crack at an intergalactic musical journey.

Madison’s mainstream media missed the Star Person’s inaugural lift off. But I have no doubt that they will soon try to jump on board the shuttle in their usual nonchalant and untimely fashion. By then, the stars may have already streaked.

As far as the rest of you music lovers are concerned, don’t fret if you missed the Monday night preview at the Annex. Star Persons will perform live in concert on March 20th, 2010 at the Majestic theatre in downtown Madison. It’s a free show to honor the Madison fan base… and you can bet Star Persons will be even more amped-up this time around for their first ever open-to-the-public performance.

I’ll see you earth dwellers and star reachers on the dance floor.

(Hunter Connors Herm is a member of the independent press and intergalactic media.)