Hosted by Thomas Fucaloro

Part of a weekly series of ten minute readings hosted by great weather for MEDIA. https://www.greatweatherformedia.com/events

Darius VanSluytman and No Surrender are often one-in-the-same. Darius is a writer, musician and performer active on New York’s underground and indie scene since the late 90s. He began performing as a spoken word artist during his years at Columbia University, where he also contributed to the Columbia Spectator as a regular op-ed columnist. By 2000, he was a music Freelance music writer for defunct alternative weekly The New York Press, and performing at open mics at storied spots around the city, where he befriended a number of young poets who were shaping what is known (sometimes sarcastically) as art rap.

By 2003, he was one of the directors at upstart urban culture magazine Complex, launched by Marc Ecko. He also solidified the group No Surrender with actor/rapper Eddie Steeples, and Patrick Donawa. Former Tricky singer and co-producer Costanza Francavilla would join later. The group began as an electronic group that straddled the alternative hip-hop, and trip-hop scenes of the early 2000s. It was one of the few electronic acts on the early Afropunk scene. They began performing and recording with upstarts like Honeychild Coleman (now of The 1865), Tunde Adebimpe (of TV on the Radio), and Martin Perna (founder of Antibalas).

Darius also did extensive work with celebrated poet Mike Ladd for Ninja Tune/Big Dada during this period. That work afforded him the opportunity to play fine arts venues including The Whitney Museum, Il Teatro Manzoni in Milan, and The Kitchen with a range of creatives across disciplines.

His persona and growing notoriety, led to a small part in the feature film Lifted, pairing him on screen with unlikely cohorts including Dash Mihok (Ray Donovan) and country star Trace Adkins in 2010. He both co-wrote, and performed some of the songs used in the film with celebrated TV/film composer Kurt Furquhar. By the end of 2010, he had taken part in film, making records, and theatrical performance on a pretty large scale. But, like most things that go up…

No Surrender’s 2011 album Medicine Babies, received international acclaim from SPIN, Time Out London, Dazed + Confused, Rolling Stone, Vogue, MTV, and other outlets. The notoriety couldn’t, however, keep the group from entering a very long hiatus.

Luckily, the hiatus ended when Darius began reading at DIY lit salons and venues like The Glove and Gamba Forest, using the name. In 2018, award-winning sculptor Afruz Amighi commissioned thirty minutes of original music (electronic score with harp, violin and cello) and spoken word performance for her opening at The Frist Museum of Art in Nashville, TN.

In 2019, he self-published his first book, Father & Sun, with his father, a Brownsville native who dreamed of being a writer himself since he was a boy. Presently, Darius has begun working on new No Surrender material, and putting the finishing touches on a collection of poetry and short stories. Most recently, he has released music under the No Surrender banner with Brooklyn rocker Zach Ellis of Dead Tooth, and indie darlings WIVES, and vows to live up to the No Surrender name and one day hopes to reunite the entire group for at least one last spin.

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Darius VanSluytman / No Surrender - Ten Minute Live Reading