Out of all of the bands inside the Beltway, Food For Animals might just be the only act that's better known overseas than in the District. The hip-hop/IDM/noise crew has toured Europe multiple times, been written up in U.K. mag The Wire and were listed among the highlights at last year's CMJ festival by Pitchfork. Yet, all along, they've maintained strong ties with D.C., returning time and again to play their distinctive blend of experimental electronic music and hip-hop to a devoted following of folks in the know. The music of Food For Animals is an acquired taste, but their first full-length LP Belly proves that the Maryland three piece (MCs Vulture V and HY and laptop guru Ricky Rabbit) can't easily be pigeonholed into any one movement, trend or scene. Rather, they pull sounds across genre lines, creating something cutting-edge and entirely original that evokes this city's proud tradition of pop iconoclasm. DCist caught up with founding member Vulture V to discuss politics in music, the differences between D.C. and Baltimore and the myth of the "post-Dischord" sound.

See them next: on February 13 at La Casa, 3166 Mt Pleasant St NW

Visit them online: on MySpace

Questions for Food For Animals:

Could you give us a short history of Food For Animals -- where you guys are all from, how the band came together, all that stuff?

We started in 2003; Nick [Ricky Rabbit] and I initially worked on a couple songs that would become songs off of Scavengers, our first EP thing. We met through a mutual friend. At that point it was just the two of us, with our friend Dan, who helped us record our songs. About a year and a half later, I met Sterling [HY] at a movie theater where we both started working. He loved the CD and eventually we wrote a song together and he turned out to be a pretty serious rapper. After the initial song, we just started writing more and more songs together, he started playing shows with us more and more and -- ever since 2006 or so -- he has been a full-fledged member of the group. And here we are.

You guys are originally from Silver Spring, right? You mentioned before that two of you had relocated to Baltimore recently.

Yeah, we were all from Silver Spring and recently Nick and I moved to Bmore.

How do you like Baltimore so far? Is the scene there any more or less supportive of what you guys do than D.C./Silver Spring?

The scene in Baltimore is just larger and more active at the moment. D.C. seems to be in a lull of sorts. So yes, the scene is more supportive in that there is more of a scene to be a part of. We still have great shows and get a lot of love in D.C. But yeah, we have a lot of friends and fellow musicians in Bmore.

Do you feel like there's anything up and coming in D.C. that could re-energize the scene a bit? I know you guys felt like there was something of a "post-Dischord" electronic scene here in D.C. a few years back but it seems like that sound never quite took hold.

I wonder... I was in Spain for the whole "Gold Leaf" warehouse party thing. And from what I heard, a ton of people were coming out and having a blast, watching bands, and then staying to boogie hard with DJs until the early morning. That sounds pretty energizing to me.

Yeah, the whole D.C. electronic scene thing was kind of just us and Manhunter, who were/are our best buddies. We were just talking shit though, there are definitely electronic acts in D.C. But yeah, no real "movement" to get behind. I'm not sure there needs to be a movement though, if there are just a whole bunch of great bands. Hopefully that is the next wave, a bunch of awesome bands pops up in D.C.

Yeah, that's really the kicker, it seems like whenever word of something like Gold Leaf starts to spread, it ends up being pretty short-lived. I'm sure something else like that will pop up again, though.

Shifting gears a bit, let's talk about your new LP, Belly. From what I understand, there were some issues getting it out on time. Can folks walk into a record store and pick it up now?

Yeah, we had issues with our manufacturers. They were basically just whack. So yes, things were delayed. You should be able to walk into a store and get it now. It has shipped to distributors and whatnot. And if its not available on iTunes now it will be very shortly.

Cool. Any plans for a vinyl release or just CD/digital for now?

Yes, we will be doing vinyl in the Spring, hopefully. Hoss will be doing the vinyl. It made more financial sense to come out with the CD/digital now and do a small press of vinyl a little bit later. But yeah, I'm a vinyl man myself, so I am very excited.

Yeah, I hear you. With regard to the actual content of the album, Belly seems quite a bit different to me from the Scavengers EP. For starters, the lyrical content of the record seems less overtly political.

That was something that grew over time. I personally feel that some of the older lyrics are cringe-worthy. I wanted to broaden my entire scope. And HY came in right off the bat with some great stuff, especially his verse on "Belly Kids."

After my mother died, I started paying a lot more attention to expressing personal shit. I just felt it was necessary. So that side of things got a lot more of my attention than overtly political stuff, although I do feel as though a more fine-tuned and stronger political current runs through the album. There is a lot about doing what you want to do and not being scared just because it's political, I think. Coming out of one's shell and dealing with bullshit in a positive way, that's political.

Yeah, I think it's much easier to produce a simple piece of agit-prop than it is to explore the ways that the personal can also be political. The most successful political songwriters -- be they Chuck D. or Bob Dylan -- have always focused on people rather than politics, you know? I think that sort of approach allows songs to transcend whatever specific political context they address to become somewhat more universal. Do you feel like you were influenced by any specific political songwriters when you were writing Belly? Or did you arrive at this point solely through your own personal experiences?

I arrived at this point through personal experience, mostly. I did read "Howl" by Allen Ginsburg because there was a copy at my parents and I was staying there after my Mom died. As far as songwriters, I am constantly inspired by Andre and Big Boi from Outkast. The way they can make anything, be it political or personal, applicable in their own style is awesome. Stankonia is my favorite album of all time.

Yeah, that's a great album. Musically, however, you must be having very different influences, right? I know that you guys used to play in hardcore bands and the production on Belly seems to have more in common with noise or IDM than pretty much anything that's going on in hip-hop right now.

Yeah, Nick and I used to be in hardcore bands. But musically, especially for me and HY, albums like Stankonia and other Dungeon Family shit is a major influence. And Ricky just listens to a bunch of mixtapes and free jazz. I mean we like everything, Autechre and intense noise and shit. It's the combination of all that music together that we love. We definitely like interludes and instrumentals on our albums and stuff, but the full fledged songs are pretty "hip-hop" as far as I'm concerned. Just warped.

Yeah, Autechre is definitely a band that came to mind when I first started listening to Belly. In terms of how "hip-hop" the songs are, though, it seems to me like a lot of the tracks on Belly challenge the basic foundations of conventional hip-hop. For example, I notice that there aren't a lot of bass lines on the album. And the beats are so rhythmically complex, it often takes a few listens to figure out what's going on. Do you think the songs on Belly still have a sort of base appeal though, where you can hear a song for the first time and just start nodding along?

Definitely. Songs like "Shhhy," "Bulk Gummies" and "Swampy" are pretty straightforward, as far as we're concerned. We usually just make warped head nodders, or complete mindfucks, like "Mutumbo" and "Belly Kids." Yeah, so far we haven't delved too deep into basslines. There is a lot of low end from noise and shit, which does certain things for us.

Yeah, "Swampy" is definitely catchy and I can see myself putting "Shhhy" on some mixtapes in the near future. Speaking of "Belly Kids," what exactly is a "belly kid"? It seems like that's a recurring theme on the album.

A Belly Kid is someone from D.C., "the belly of the beast." Plus both HY and I got tummy action.

Haha. Speaking of D.C., you guys are playing here next month, which will be your first big show here in a while. Should folks who haven't seen you since last year expect anything new in terms of your live show?

We will always bring it super live, of course! I dunno, if people haven't seen us in a while, the lineup is now two MCs and Ricky Rabbit going apey on the laptop. I'm very excited about our current way of playing, it's very free but also real simple.

Yeah, I remember that Dan Helmer used to do some laptop stuff with you guys too. Has it been difficult re-creating any of the songs live now that you've only got one laptop on stage?

No, in fact, it makes everything way easier. We don't have to use a mixer on stage anymore, etc. Our sound is, in general, a lot easier to manage and to project in its perfect form now.

Speaking of the live show, it seems like you guys have done a lot more touring in Europe than in the U.S. so far. Has there been a greater response to FFA in Europe or did the tours just work out that way?

It's a combination of both, really. The tours have mostly worked out that way. We have a booking agent in the E.U. who contacted us and was really into FFA and it just grew from there. And we don't have one in the States, so it's a lot harder to tour here and not lose a ton of money. We have done a full U.S. tour though, in 2005, with Q And Not U and we are about to go out for two weeks in February with our friends Mi Ami.

Okay, last question: any bands in the D.C./Baltimore area that you're particularly excited about or want to give shout-outs to? I know you mentioned Manhunter already...

I really like Wzt Hearts, from Baltimore, we are doing a remix for them. I'm also looking forward to hearing this band WEALTH, with my friends Mike and Dan in it -- they're from D.C. and just played their first show, I missed it. I really like Ecstatic Sunshine from Bmore too.