He says he’s up to the task of this weekend’s festival gigs, despite ongoing medical needs.

He’s back, but he’s been better.

“I’m still a work in progress,” said Twin Cities rap hero P.O.S., who has been sidelined since December, awaiting a kidney transplant. His new kidney is still on hold, but he’s not waiting any longer to return to the stage.

The Doomtree crew member doubly known as Stef Alexander gave his first P.O.S. performance in five months last week as part of St. Paul’s “Love Is the Law” concert celebrating the legalization of same-sex marriage. (“I was very, very proud to be a part of it,” he said.) He performed about 25 minutes, and he might go a little longer at his two festival gigs this weekend, starting with Soundset on Sunday. From there, he flies to Seattle for a set Monday at Sasquatch!, playing before the Postal Service and Alt-J.

It was at last year’s Soundset when the seemingly invulnerable P.O.S. started to feel the effect of his damaged kidney, first discovered in his teens.

“I performed less than 45 minutes, and it took me over two hours to recover,” he recounted. By the time he got to the second of Doomtree’s three Blowout concerts at First Avenue in December, he had to be taken to the hospital instead of the stage, although he pointed out, “That mostly had to do with the medicine I was taking then.”

Since then, Alexander and his doctors have vetted six matching donors, but each has fallen through for various reasons (one guy’s kidney was an inch too small for his body). Thus, he announced, “I’m going to start soliciting donors.” He’s looking for males with any O-type blood for the procedure. In the meantime, Alexander’s body finally started to react better to home dialysis.

“I’ve been feeling pretty good for about two months now,” he said. This has enabled him to start making music again. He is all over the wild array of releases this month by Marijuana Deathsquads in conjunction with their residency at Icehouse in Minneapolis (which concludes May 31). He also took part in the Deathsquads’ upcoming remix edition of last year’s P.O.S. album, “We Don’t Even Live Here,” and he has been working on beats for a new album — but not lyrics, he said.

“I don’t want to make an album all about being sick,” he said, putting a positive spin on his ordeal. “I’ve been watching a lot of Netflix and hanging out a lot with my [14-month-old] baby. There are worse things that could’ve happened to me than spending so much time at home, feeling well-grounded.”

But, he added, “I’m definitely eager to start performing again.”

• Article by: CHRIS RIEMENSCHNEIDER , Star Tribune 

Segments

Nirvana - Radio Friendly Unit Shifter

Mudhoney - Touch Me I’m Sick

Smashing Pumpkins - Hello Kitty Kat

Melvins - Lizzy

Cursive - Art Is Hard

Elastica - Stutter

Rocket From The Crypt - Return Of The Liar

Desaparecidos - Manana

Nine Inch Nails - March Of The Pigs

Sonic Youth - Kool Thing

Le Tigre - Deceptacon

Brainiac - Go Freaks Go

The Faint - Worked Up So Sexual

fyeahtotallygrossnationalproduct:

Marijuana Deathsquads is the ever-evolving, experimental project lead by Ryan Olson, (producer/writer of POLIÇA and GAYNGS), Isaac Gale, and Stefon Alexander (P.O.S). With multiple drummers, a slew of electronic instruments, and highly effected vocals, their live shows are a violent onslaught of improvised yet tightly woven, jagged, intricate experimental sound. The band will be releasing two new E.P.s this month; Music Rocks 1 & 2, via Totally Gross National Product, at the end of a highly successful residency at the Icehouse in Minneapolis.

“The River” while released today, 05-14-13, for streaming so that it is available before this Friday’s performance of the piece at the third of five residency shows at the Icehouse will see a physical release in early fall. The physical 12” / digital release will see the light of day via Blood of the Young, and we couldn’t be more proud to say that the first new music from the label in a decade is from Marijuana Deathsquads. Dig it.

We present to you, young-038d : Marijuana Deathsquads - “The River”

Marijuana Deathsquads - “The River” is based on a piece written for Czeslaw’s Loop, a two day art installation on the Mississippi River that took place in North East Minneapolis in May, 2011. Marijuana Deathsquads performed as a 14 member band (7 drummers), in the rain, on a houseboat and homemade floating stage in the middle of the river.


Ryan and Isaac went down to the river and beat on pots and pans to try and figure out the tempo of the echoes on the river. Who knows if it was successful, but they figured it was 76bpms. (And Ryan now has one less pot, it having been destroyed via said beating.)


The cast of characters on this piece:

Ryan Olson, Isaac Gale, Stef Alexander, Ben Ivascu, Freddy Votel, Drew Christopherson, Joe Christopherson, Ryan Olcott, Jesse Whitney, John Coe, Andy Fritz, Sean Hartman, Seth Rosetter, Varun Kataria, Mark McGee, Jason Power, Albert Elmore, Jeremy Nutzman.


Recorded by: BJ Burton at April Base.

Mixed by: Marijuana Deathsquads

Mastered by: Huntley Miller

P.O.S. - Music For Shoplifting

robotsexfiend:

Marijuana Deathsquads w/ Lazerbeak, Ben Ivascu, P.O.S and Lizzo

P.O.S. @ Love is the Law Concert in Downtown Saint Paul, Minnesota on May 14, 2013.

P.O.S. @ Love is the Law Concert in Downtown Saint Paul, Minnesota on May 14, 2013.

P.O.S. @ Love is the Law Concert in Downtown Saint Paul, Minnesota on May 14, 2013.

Segments

Slayer - Raining Blood

Iron Maiden - The Trooper

Dillinger Escape Plan - Sunshine the Werewolf

Ice Cube - Really Doe

Ghostface Killah - Shaky Dog

Lil Wayne - BM JR

Lupe Fiasco - Kick Push

Velvet Teen - Spin the Wink

Bon Iver - Lump Sum

Colin Stetson - To See More Light