Captain Ahab was an American

electronic music Electronic music is a genre of music that employs electronic musical instruments, digital instruments, or circuitry-based music technology in its creation. It includes both music made using electronic and electromechanical means ( electroa ...

duo based in Los Angeles, California. They referred to their DIY take on

jumpstyle Jumpstyle is an electronic dance style and music genre popular in Western Europe, originally in Belgium. Jumpstyling is often referred to as "Jumpen": a combination of the English word 'Jump' and the Dutch and German suffix '-en' (meaning "to j ...

and electropop music as "ravesploitation". The band was made up of producer/vocalist Jonathan Snipes and

hype man A hype man, in hip hop music and rapping, is a backup rapper and/or singer who supports the primary rappers with exclamations and interjections and who attempts to increase the audience's excitement with call-and-response chants. The hype man's ...

Jim Merson. They were known for their provocative lyrics and high-energy shows where a sweaty, half-dressed Merson would descend into the crowd to dance and

grind A blade's grind is its cross-sectional shape in a plane normal to the edge. Grind differs from blade profile, which is the blade's cross-sectional shape in the plane containing the blade's edge and the centre contour of the blade's back ( ...

on audience members. In June 2006, Captain Ahab won a contest to have their song "Snakes on the Brain" included on the enhanced CD portion of the soundtrack to the film ''

Snakes on a Plane ''Snakes on a Plane'' is a 2006 American action film directed by David R. Ellis and starring Samuel L. Jackson. It was released by New Line Cinema on August 18, 2006, in North America. The film was written by David Dalessandro, John Heffernan ...

''. On September 28, 2006, their song "Girls Gone Wild" was played briefly in " The Convention", the second episode of the third season of ''

The Office ''The Office'' is a mockumentary sitcom created by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, first made in the United Kingdom, then Germany, and subsequently the United States. It has since been remade in ten other countries. The original series o ...

''. Their single "Was Love" was written for and played in the first-season episode "Gravedancing" on the Syfy series '' Caprica'', as well as the remix of Maxfemm's "Weak Condition" They played their final show at

The Smell The Smell is an all-ages, alcohol and drug-free, punk rock and experimental music venue in Downtown Los Angeles, California. The Smell, notable for its DIY ethic, is home to many of the area's avant-garde performers and artists. The venue is m ...

, in Los Angeles, California on Friday, November 2, 2012, to a sold-out crowd. Also performing that evening were Toxic Lipstick,

Foot Village Foot Village is a tribal noise rock band based in Los Angeles, California. The band consists of members Brian Miller, Grace Lee, Gregory Witscher, and Josh Taylor. The band has been described as a "drum-n-shout assembly". In a review of their 200 ...

, and

Books on Tape A book is a medium for recording information in the form of writing or images, typically composed of many pages (made of papyrus, parchment, vellum, or paper) bound together and protected by a cover. The technical term for this physical ...

. The final show was announced via a music video on

Vimeo Vimeo, Inc. () is an American video hosting, sharing, and services platform provider headquartered in New York City. Vimeo focuses on the delivery of high-definition video across a range of devices. Vimeo's business model is through software a ...

on September 16, 2012. Snipes is now a member of the

experimental An experiment is a procedure carried out to support or refute a hypothesis, or determine the efficacy or likelihood of something previously untried. Experiments provide insight into cause-and-effect by demonstrating what outcome occurs when a ...

and

industrial hip hop Industrial hip hop is a fusion genre of industrial music and hip hop. History 1980s The origins of industrial hip hop are in the work of Mark Stewart, Bill Laswell, and Adrian Sherwood. In 1985, former The Pop Group singer Mark Stewart relea ...

trio clipping., alongside fellow producer William Hutson and rapper

Daveed Diggs Daveed Daniele Diggs (born January 24, 1982) is an American actor, rapper, and singer-songwriter. He is the vocalist of the experimental hip hop group Clipping, and in 2015, he originated the dual roles of Marquis de Lafayette and Thomas Jeffer ...

Discography

* ''The End of Irony'' (2010) (on Deathbomb Arc Records) * Split 12" with Copy ave002_ Ravesploitation Records (Deathbomb Arc Records)* ''Captain

Jumpstyle Jumpstyle is an electronic dance style and music genre popular in Western Europe, originally in Belgium. Jumpstyling is often referred to as "Jumpen": a combination of the English word 'Jump' and the Dutch and German suffix '-en' (meaning "to j ...

'' (2007) * ''The Great Disappointment'' (2006) (on Hatestate Records) * ''Snakes on the Brain'' CD EP (2006) (on Deathbomb Arc Records) * ''After the Rain My Heart Still Dreams'' (2006) (on Deathbomb Arc Records) * ''I Can't Believe It's Not Booty'' 12" (2005) (on Deathbomb Arc Records) * ''I Am Become Ass'' tour CD-R (2005) * Split 7" with KIT (as "Bodahab" with Rose for Bohdan; 2005 on Hug Life Records) * ''Captain Ahab & Rose for Bohdan – No More Hot Carls'' VHS (2004 on Deathbomb Arc) * ''The Sex is Next'' (2004 on A2 Audio) * ''Nintendoclash'' tour EP with Swimming is Floating (2003) * ''Bot Pirate'' 12" (2002 on Irritant Records)

References

External links

Captain Ahab's website

Captain Ahab on Soundcloud

Reversion, a feature film scored by Jonathan Snipes
Musical groups from Los Angeles {{US-pop-band-stub