It’s birthday time for those on the Virg-Leo cusp. But you don’t have to know star signs well to know that when hometown turntablist and party rocker par excellence KDSML — aka Kidsmeal, aka Jesse Shacklock, depending on how long you’ve known him — takes over The End on Friday to celebrate his 40th with a special KDSML and Friends party, it will be a wall-rattling, booty-shaking good time.
KDSML has been a fixture and a fomenter of the Nashville underground dance music and hip-hop communities for more than a decade-and-a-half. He’s cut and scratched his way up, around and through trends since the heyday of backpack rap. His sound and style have evolved alongside the technology — getting bigger, bassier and more malleable as time goes on — but his foundation has always been the break beats that created the culture. And this positive momentum is carrying forward into the post-lockdown world.
“Everybody that didn’t, like, abandon things completely has really leveled up,” says KDSML. “People are going for bigger projects, and at least in my immediate sphere, it seems like everybody’s going for it a little bit harder.”
His artistic evolution has been an amazing process to watch, from the house-party era to head-ringing big-stage shows. It also reflects the ways that Music City has evolved since the Clinton era: the way Nashville has opened itself up, expanding the possibilities of what gets celebrated as “local music.” KDSML’s rapid-fire record scratches were startling, alien even, when I first saw him play a party in someone’s mother’s living room in Murfreesboro an eon ago. These days, his technical turntablism, old-school head-nodding grooves and future-bass sounds feel just like home.
“I think that the key is staying true to yourself and learning more about yourself,” he says. “Taking great care of yourself — ’cause I know I’m taking much better care of myself than I ever have at this point. It’s coming out in my art and music and motivation. … I think that the space away from everything has helped me hone in what I actually want to do as an artist. It’s a powerful thing.”
KDSML had never canceled a gig prior to the April 4, 2020, show he’d booked — one of the many dominoes that fell as the music industry receded into a livestreamed cocoon during the COVID shutdown. In spring 2021, he played as part of Red Bull and Music Venue Alliance Nashville’s joint venture, a cool pop-up event at Exit/In featuring DJ sets and an indoor skate ramp booked for private sessions; the Omicron wave pushed the next installment of his KDSML Revue into spring 2022. Getting back to playing safe, fun shows has been a journey in itself.
“Being able to get out there again and play, it’s a cool feeling, man,” says KDSML. “And I think that there’s just gonna be, you know, the beginning of something great and new — or I’d like to think, you know. It’s always good to try and stay positive about it. This whole time not having gigs — I’m not gonna stop practicing. I’m not gonna stop, like, just DJing, ’cause I love it. So whether people are around or not, I would still be practicing. I feel like I’ve kind of got a stockpile of sets I’ve worked out and tracks that go together and new material for these shows that I have. I feel like they’re a lot more potent.”
The guest performers at KDSML and Friends shows aren’t just casual acquaintances. Friday’s party features Gates, who’s known for creating dope instrumental hip-hop and has been tag-teaming with KDSML at home and on the road. Like just about all of KDSML’s events, this show will include live painting courtesy of longtime running partner Bryan “Rex 2” Deese, a graffiti and mural artist who’s been covering walls from the Rock Block to Five Points and beyond for more than 20 years. Dread Savage, aka drum ’n’ bass stalwart Dorian Williams, was the very first person to put KDSML on a club stage.
“He put me on jungle and drum ’n’ bass stuff when we were playing together in my bedroom,” he says. “Just spinning records for hours on end practicing and all that in the early days.”
KDSML has friends all over; while we’re on the phone, he makes it a point to plug the show happening across the street at Exit/In at the same time as KDSML and Friends. Featuring the proggy, heavy sounds of Look What I Did and Born Empty, it’s a gig marking the birthday of Jesse Baker, a talent buyer, sound engineer and bartender who’s been boosting local music for two decades. It’s the kind of cross-genre community-building, focused on making sure that all the homies get a little shine, that has been a hallmark of KDSML’s style since the early days — and it’s what’s kept him pushing his art forward.
“Yeah, play it all. That’s definitely the vibe.”
