There's a place where underground rap and twee pop songs can peacefully co-

exist and it's Olympia, Wash.

That's where the sounds from Calvin Johnson's Dub Narcotic Studio emanate

and, more recently, it's where the rap and the pop have come together in the

upcoming compilation, Selector Dub Narcotic.

"Some of it is collaborations," said Johnson, owner of K Records, the label

behind the hip-hop-pop collection, "putting the people together to do what I

wanted to do."

The multi-toned set, due May 19, veers wildly from style to style, careening from

songs such as Nikki McClure's a cappella sex-ed lesson ("Procreate") to

No. 1's rap ("Verbigeration") with solid indie-rock tunes by better-known bands

such as the Bartlebees and the Make Up tossed into the mix.

What also makes this set unique is that the idea for a such a collection came

before the tracks were recorded, not after. In fact, the project was dreamed up

before there were any tracks to compile.

Johnson said he's wanted to release a collection of rap crews and bands that

he's recorded since beginning work on his Dub Narcotic Studio in 1993.

Whenever a group such as Versus recorded something for K, he said he'd tell

the band, "Hey, let's do extra songs and put it on our compilation." The Versus

track, a five-minute ethereal pop dirge called "Sunlight Flier," is the oldest,

recorded four and a half years ago.

Johnson makes several contributions himself, singing on the droll, poppy

"Ambulance Driver Blues," while his Dub Narcotic Sound System perform

spacey instrumentals like the three-part "Selector Dub Narcotic."

Though the songs by the most familiar artists (Beck's "Close To God" and Jon

Spencer Blues Explosion's "Blues Explosion Attack") are obviously studio cast-

offs, most of the 23 songs are standouts, such as Star Athena's "Hang 'Em

High."

Star Athena isn't a band's name, it's a woman's.

After moving to Olympia from San Francisco five years ago, Star Athena Seifert

said she was in a band called the Flying Tigers. They disbanded, and she

began writing songs on her own -- just her and a bass. She said she was

looking for a new band and didn't consider recording on her own until Johnson

encouraged her.

"He said, 'It never occurred to me that you were playing by yourself because

you couldn't find someone to play with. I thought that was what you were going

for,' " Seifert said. There are keyboards on "Hang 'Em High," to flesh out the

sound a little, she said, but she recently put on a successful local show with only

bass accompaniment.

Black Anger Movement is another act that's a welcome surprise on the

compilation. As Black Anger, these artists have been performing successfully for

years, but few have seen or heard the Tacoma, Wash., rappers outside the

Northwest. Kendu, 28, (a.k.a. Rami Kendu Shabazz); his brother DJ Sayeed

(a.k.a. Sayeed Oba Shabazz); E-Real, 24, (a.k.a. Eric Griffin); and Wicked D, 23,

(a.k.a. Damon Witcher) create a funkified form of consciousness-raising rap

equal to Brand Nubian or Black Sheep's finest moments.

"We try to kick self-consciousness and align that with straight old-school skills,"

Kendu said.

They attributed their cut on the set, "Ra-N-Untut," to Black Anger Movement

because they enlisted the help of fellow Washington rappers Soulstice,

Shapree and Nomad. They're also backed by the Dub Narcotic Sound

System's rhythm section. While the group usually works with samplers and

mics, the aid of underground pop artists is appropriate, Kendu said, because

Black Anger's audience is diverse. "We feel we could have folk audiences,

metal audiences, any kind of audiences," he said.

Black Anger also has two tracks on the upcoming Classic Elements album, a

Northwest underground rap collection to be released jointly by K and Input

Entertainment.

In the meantime, Kendu said he'll stick to the indie spirit shared by all the acts

on Selector Dub Narcotic. "There are similarities between us and these

other groups," he said. "We're representing an alternative sound from the

underground."