Giving Reality Bites the Soundtrack It Deserves

For Debaser's 9th anniversary party this Saturday, DJ Jamie Jams has put together a booming alt-rock mix.

Jessie Schiewe Fri. May 26, 2017 12:17pm, All Shook Down

This year, Debaser — a monthly party at the Knockout dedicated to early ’90s alt-rock and led by DJ Jamie Jams — turns 9. For the party’s third anniversary in 2011, Jams concocted a mixtape of “odes to love and love lost” themed around Cameron Crowe’s film Singles, replete with vocal cuts from the movie. For its fifth anniversary, Debaser created a mix themed around Boyz n the Hood, with tracks by Cyprus Hill, EPMD, Grand Puba, Public Enemy, and more, and jokes from Ice Cube littered throughout.

In keeping with that tradition, Jams has just released Debaser’s third official mixtape, this time based on the iconic ’90s film Reality Bites, with songs by Yo La Tengo, Fugazi, R.E.M., The Lemonheads, My Bloody Valentine, and more.

“I wanted to take another stab at the ’90s rock era,” Jams says. “How can we distill it into its most distilled form? How can we get a concentrated dose of whatever je ne sais quoi there was about the ’90s?”

He’ll be playing the mix — along with an assortment of records, from the 12 crates of vinyl he’ll be bringing to the party — at the Knockout on Saturday, May 27.

“The idea is to create the feeling of being at the craziest rock show, but made out of all records,” he says.
We chatted with Jams about the mix, the particular songs he simply had to include on it, and why he chose Reality Bites in the first place.

Catch Debaser’s 9th Anniversary Party from 6 p.m. to 2 a.m., on Saturday, May 27, at The Knockout.