Âme: Love Is the Dance — Two Decades of Reinventing the Dance Floor

For more than two decades, the German electronic music duo Âme have occupied a distinctive position in contemporary dance music. Combining the rhythmic foundations of house and techno with sophisticated melodies and experimental arrangements, Frank Wiedemann and Kristian Beyer have helped expand the possibilities of electronic music. Their productions bridge the gap between the physical energy of the dance floor and more contemplative forms of musical expression.

Their new 13-track album, Love Is the Dance, brings together an international group of collaborators, including RY X, Henrik Schwarz, Trikk, Busiswa, Rhye, Curses and KÁRYYN. Released November 6, 2026, on their own Innervisions label, the recording draws on influences accumulated throughout their careers while exploring new directions in electronic production.

From Karlsruhe to the international dance scene

Although frequently associated with Berlin’s electronic music community, Âme originated in Karlsruhe, southwestern Germany. Wiedemann and Beyer met around 2000 at Plattentasche, a record shop owned by Beyer. Sharing an enthusiasm for underground dance music, particularly Chicago house and Detroit techno, they began producing together in 2001.

Their breakthrough arrived in 2005 with Rej, a track that became one of the defining recordings of the emerging European house movement. Built around a persistent rhythmic pulse and an insistent melodic sequence, the track demonstrated how repetition and subtle changes in arrangement could create tension without relying on conventional drops or breakdowns.

Its influence extended well beyond the clubs, becoming a reference point for producers interested in a more adventurous, emotionally expressive approach to house music.

Developing a distinctive sound

Âme’s music draws from a wide range of influences, including Chicago house, Detroit techno, German electronic experimentation, krautrock, jazz and Afrobeat. Detroit techno, particularly the work of Underground Resistance, provided an important conceptual influence, while Chicago house contributed the rhythmic energy and communal spirit of the dance floor.

What distinguishes their productions is an emphasis on composition. Rather than treating electronic music as a collection of loops and beats, Wiedemann and Beyer approach their recordings as evolving musical pieces, incorporating layered synthesizers, melodic passages and unconventional percussion.

Their creative partnership developed around complementary strengths. Beyer became the project’s principal DJ, known for marathon sets exploring different corners of house and techno, while Wiedemann emerged as its primary studio composer and the driving force behind its live performances.

Their first full-length album, Dream House, released in 2018, expanded this approach. Featuring contributions from musicians including Matthew Herbert, Gudrun Gut, Roedelius and Planningtorock, the recording moved beyond conventional club music into ambient textures, experimental arrangements and electronic songwriting.

The Innervisions influence

Âme’s impact extends beyond their recordings. In 2005, the duo joined forces with fellow German DJ and producer Dixon to establish Innervisions, which became one of the most influential labels in underground house and techno.

Its roster and extended creative community have included artists such as Henrik Schwarz, Marcus Worgull, Recondite, Rampa, Trikk and Culoe De Song. The label developed a reputation for releases that emphasized individuality and musical sophistication rather than following established club formulas.

Its Lost in a Moment events and international showcases also helped establish a broader cultural identity around the music, connecting electronic production with art, design and contemporary club culture.

Musically, Âme helped pave the way for the development of melodic house and melodic techno. Their emphasis on extended arrangements, distinctive melodies and carefully managed tension offered an alternative to the stripped-down minimalism that dominated portions of the scene during the early 2000s.

Records such as Rej and their collaboration with Australian musician RY X on Howling demonstrated that electronic music could be both introspective and powerful. Their influence encouraged subsequent generations of producers to approach dance music as an opportunity for musical exploration, placing composition and atmosphere alongside rhythm.

Love Is the Dance: Looking back while moving forward

With Love Is the Dance, Âme revisit the musical ideas that have shaped their careers while opening their studio to an international circle of collaborators. Among the influences associated with the project are Detroit’s Underground Resistance and the legendary Compass Point Studios in the Bahamas, known for its distinctive production work with artists including Grace Jones and Talking Heads.

The album’s extensive list of contributors is central to its musical identity. RY X, who previously collaborated with Wiedemann on Howling, provides vocals on the title track. His atmospheric delivery creates a compelling contrast with the duo’s electronic arrangements, building toward a composition that balances introspective songwriting with dance-floor momentum.

Other contributors include Portuguese producer Trikk, electronic musician Henrik Schwarz, South African vocalist Busiswa, and musicians Meredi, Jeannel, Curses, Rhye and KÁRYYN. Jens Kuross also appears among the collaborators.

The track list reflects the breadth of the project. Don’t Waste My Time, featuring Trikk and Jens Kuross, and Factor It, featuring Trikk and Henrik Schwarz, bring together different approaches to electronic composition. Pha Na Pha, featuring Busiswa, introduces an internationally influenced rhythmic dimension, while Shadow of Love, featuring Curses, and Raw, featuring Rhye, explore vocal-driven electronic songwriting.

The title track serves as the album’s central statement. Built around a steadily developing melodic structure, it places RY X’s voice at the emotional center of the arrangement. Rather than relying on an immediate club hook, the production unfolds gradually, allowing the vocal and instrumental elements to build together.

Across the recording, the production moves between synthesizers, bass lines, piano, acoustic instrumentation and carefully constructed electronic rhythms. Some tracks lean toward accessible electronic pop, while others retain the rhythmic precision and extended arrangements that have defined the duo’s club productions.

Ultimately, Love Is the Dance is more than a collection of new dance tracks. It reflects the continuing possibilities of electronic music and the value of remaining curious about its history. By bringing together musicians from different backgrounds and musical traditions, Âme demonstrate that the genre need not be confined to familiar club formulas.

For Wiedemann and Beyer, the dance floor remains the starting point, but it is no longer the only destination. With Love Is the Dance, they reaffirm a musical philosophy that has sustained their work for more than two decades: electronic music can be as rewarding to listen to as it is to dance to.

Jasmine Myra’s Releases tide/turn, an ambitious new four-track EP that sees her explore a more stripped-back, contemporary jazz sound

The first single reverie is out on 6th November, and available to do

Following the release of her third album Where Light Settles, saxophonist and composer Jasmine Myra returns with tide/turn, an ambitious new four-track EP that sees her explore a more stripped-back, contemporary jazz sound. Reflective and deeply immersive, the music draws on themes of contemplation, space and movement. Self-produced alongside contributing producer Matthew Halsall, the EP finds Myra embracing a more open and intimate approach to composition, placing a greater significance on the space between notes and the interplay between her band mates than ever before, tide/turn marks another compelling step in the evolution of Myra’s distinctive sound.

The title track unfolds around gently repeating piano and double bass figures, their hypnotic rhythms evoking the natural ebb and flow of the tide, while Myra’s expressive saxophone drifts above. Partly inspired by guitarist Fabiano do Nascimento, reverie moves between dreamlike harp and piano passages and a richer, more expansive ensemble sound, capturing the sensation of drifting in and out of thought. boundless as the sea, an ode to trumpeter, composer
Kenny Wheeler, embraces a smaller ensemble and an unhurried sense of space, allowing its delicate melodies to unfold with quiet beauty. Closing the EP, peace by peace takes inspiration from the Danish duo, Svaneborg Kardyb, growing organically from a simple piano melody into a richly textured arrangement that showcases Myra’s playful approach to instrumentation.

Together, these four pieces offer a thoughtful and quietly uplifting EP, balancing intimacy and expansiveness with warmth, and the standout melodies that have become hallmarks of Myra’s music

Strut Records to Release Ramachandra Borcar – The Melt Goes On Forever: The Art And Times of David Hammons

Releases January 29, 2027

Strut presents a major release for 2027 celebrating the expanded score from The Melt Goes On Forever, the acclaimed documentary exploring the life, art and times of American outsider artist David Hammons. The award winning original score by film composer and avid record collector Ramachandra Borcar features an extraordinary guest line up of jazz and avant-garde greats including Shabaka Hutchings, Marshall Allen (Sun Ra Arkestra), The Pyramids’ Idris Ackamoor, Ethio-jazz pioneer Mulatu Astatke, Umar Bin Hassan (The Last Poets), Kibrom Birhane, Jamael Dean and Richard White (The Besnard Lakes).

David Hammons, revered as a visionary artist of his time, spent his career exploring the Black American experience through an ever-evolving range of forms and techniques. Working across sculpture, performance, drawing, video and body prints, Hammons rose to prominence in the early 1970’s and has continued to the present day, all the while remaining one of America’s most distinctive and influential artists.

Deeply inspired by Hammons’ artistic process, Ramachandra created his score as a musical equivalent of the iconic work seen in the film. Drawing from Hammons’ love of jazz, his influences from across the African diaspora and his unconventional use of found objects, Ram reflects this approach by combining a hypnotic spiritual jazz sound with a variety of African musical instruments and styles. The inspiration was further tied together with a vast array of found objects used as both percussion and melodic instruments alongside amplified kalimbas, vintage synthesizers and dub-inspired effects. The curated roster of legendary musicians performing on the score are all veterans of the Afro-jazz landscape and represent both the rich musical legacy of the past, and today’s new wave of modern jazz voices.

This definitive soundtrack package presents expanded versions of the film cues alongside previously unreleased material in a fluid and expansive journey thru cross generational jazz, dub and global influences. The Melt Goes On Forever is available on gatefold Vinyl LP with download card (featuring bonus material), and on CD housed in a deluxe sleeve. Both formats are accompanied by a 28-page booklet tracing the career and unique work of David Hammons through extensive liner notes and rare photos. 

Jamz Supernova presents a new compilation Dance Around The World on Mr Bongo

BBC 6Music radio presenter, DJ and Future Bounce label head, Jamz Supernova presents a new compilation Dance Around The World on Mr Bongo. An evolution of her radio show, event series and Bandcamp community under the same name, this compilation plots a globe-spanning day into night voyage across 16 tracks, from artists, countries and scenes that have shaped Jamz’ musical worldview. Each track, many of which are exclusive to this comp, tells a story of heritage and roots, whilst pushing boundaries and pioneering new sounds in their respective regions. From the Réunion Island to Latin America, East Africa to the Caribbean and Pacific, it’s a 24-hour cycle moving from downtempo to dancefloor.

Brought to life through radio and live events, the concept of Dance Around The World began in the summer of 2025 but has ultimately been a part of Jamz’ journey in music since the beginning. At the centre of it is her 15-year career as radio presenter – her tastes evolving from the early days on Reprezent Radio, to a 1Xtra residency and now a Saturday daytime show on 6Music. There has always been a desire to highlight music from underrepresented scenes to new audiences.

Far removed from the algorithmic hands of AI, each scene, each artist is one that Jamz has a personal connection to. Split across two sides, marking two interconnected moods, the Day side features sun-soaked sounds rooted in activism, storytelling and heritage. Bringing together Equiknoxx founder Gavsborg and dub educator, Riddim Writer, Groundsound’s rhythmic yet deeply powerful track ‘Bittersweet’ kicks things off. It sets the scene and intention for the compilation whilst starting a percussive thread that runs through every track – the drums pattern an insight into the song’s origins. Elsewhere, the all-female Maloya group SIMANGAVOLE collaborate with SOA RAVELO for a hypnotic, communal song that hits the spirit.

Moving through the Day you’ll find a love letter to the sounds of Cape Town from London-based, South African DJ and producer Esa Williams, beats-heavy, garage rock courtesy of Rio’s Oruã, and a fusion of traditional Guadeloupean grooves with contemporary jazz and hip hop via Célia Wa. Venturing out to Tumaco on the Pacific side of Colombia, Verito Asprilla serves up a future-facing, reggaeton heater, ‘Quiero Ser Buena’.

Night falls, the rhythms get rowdier the basslines get heavier. Jako Maron’s electronic remix blends his Réunion Island roots with a chugging synth soundscape. Jus Now, the duo of Trinidadian percussionist Keshav and UK producer Sam Interface, showcase their club-driven global sound melding UK bass influences with a Caribbean drum-heavy flavour. Sam then joins Jamz for ‘Tan Toddy’ a fierce dancehall production seen through the lens of UK bashment, with Lateena on the mic and Moses Boyd on the drums.

‘Sin Africa’ is another highlight and one Jamz was trusted to A&R. Brenda’s pumping, heads-down Latin club sound marrying with a deeper message to Diva Cruz’s lyrics. This thread permeates many of the tracks. “Almost everybody on this compilation has been touched or altered in some ways by colonisation. We choose joy and we choose to celebrate what we have and what we’ve done, but we can’t ignore that there has been a colonised existence”, Jamz mentions. It’s a theme that reverberates through Mokotron’s poignant closing track that rounds off the release.

More than a compilation, this is a sonic celebration connecting cultures, scenes and perspectives. Each artist and each track expanding boundaries and borders whilst honouring what has come before them. 

Tracklist: 1. Groundsound – Bittersweet / 2. SIMANGAVOLE & SOA RAVELO – NY AMPELA / 3. Esa Williams – Vanguard Drive (Kwaai Dub) / 4. Oruã – Capoeira Demo / 5. Verito Asprilla – Quiero Ser Buena / 6. Lenna Bahule – Tulamiê / 7. Célia Wa – Broke / 8. 15 15 – WIPIP / 9. Lo Rwa Kaf – Daou Minm (Jako Maron Remix) / 10. Brenda x Diva Cruz – Sin Africa / 11. Surreal Sessions – Corona / 12. Catu Diosis & Neana – Delulu / 13. Jus Now – Yalode (Feat. As Ganhadeiras de Itapuã) / 14. EVEHIVE & Clementaum – Vulgo Kebradera (ft MC VICKY) / 15. Jamz Supernova x Sam Interface – Tan Toddy (Feat. Lateena) / 16. Mokotron – Colonised Existence

released October 16, 2026

Zeb “The Spy From Cairo” Interview

Your involvement with fusing rhythm, roots and electronics stretches back many years, from the East Village’s Organic Grooves and Turntables on the Hudson to many parties and albums and beyond. How did you first become involved with this influential music scene in New York?

I was here (in New York) mainly because i played guitar with a band called The indians signed to Polydor back in 89 . The indians had a very short life mostly because in the early 90s many on the major labels went through a lot of infrastructure issues and many people lost their jobs including the chairman
themselves which led to the dropping of many bands including us….The indians had a minute or two of “glory” though because our tunes were used for the soundtracks of the movies Kalifornia and Reality bites .
After we got dropped we soon split and I found myself pretty much broke and kind of lost not knowing what to do next. I then took a job in a place called Bar 16 making espressos and it was then that i met Sasha Crnobrnja ( yes the name is spelled right…hehehe ) and we started talking about music which led to the great late 70s and early 80s of the Italian club scene and names like the clubs Baia degli angeli , Cosmic , Le cigalle , Typhoon started to come up…
Obviously DJ names were next … Baldelli, Loda , TBC , Mozart etc . so… we started thinking ” hey! that stuff would be just great in New York these days uh?”
Next thing you know we spoke to Bar 16 owner and asked if we could do a weekly party involving DJ and live musicians promoting what we called Cosmic Music. Bar 16 happened to have a basement (only used for storage space ) which was actually an old Persian Hooka smoking lounge ( great uh? ).
we cleaned it up and started a party in it called : Organic Grooves .
The rest is pretty much history as far as the underground music scene in NY is about…..we lasted over a decade and became a bit of a cult for many poeople.
Organic grooves kind of died out ( actually WE let it die … ) after 9-11 . many things were changing in NY around that time and we felt it all too well, mostly because most people in the collective were not from the US and we all had some kind of trouble with immigration and the fact that we had an interest with the East ( middle east in my case…. ) made us like some kind of terrorist supporters …you remember Bush’s words ? You are either with us or against us !
Thats what we had to deal with back then….. sad uh? Anyway I was happy to have left a mark in the NY scene and 5 organic Grooves albums by then!
It was at that point that the “natives” ( Nickodemus ) took over and started Turntables on the Hudson .
TOTH was similar to Organic Grooves but a bit more tailored for the US to my opinion.
Nickodemus taste for the eclectic ( and mastering of the turntables ) kept it fresh ( Mariano was more of a straight ahead party ” monster” ..hehehe ).
last but not least people like Nappy G and me , provided that live feel that people liked and missed so much from the defunkt Organic Grooves.
Having said that , I wanna give Giant Steps their credit too for doing that DJ/live musician thing even though Giant Steps was more of a jazz funk thing and we had a lot more styles involved in the mix.

What are some of the projects you’ve been involved in over the years that are most important to you?

Frankly every project is important to me….I must say that I work alone most of the time so, the only collaboration I’ve been involved with is Nickodemus .
Together we remixed some pretty big names like Billy Holiday , Natasha Atlas , Omar Faruk and a bunch of others I can’t even remember…
Actually more recently Nick and I had the honor of making a tune with Afrika bambaataa which ended up on Nick new album Moon people ( I still have to to another remix of that tune though…hehehe ) .
I have also kept close contacts with Sasha ( now Inflagranti ) and we put together an album called OBLIO which pays homage yet again to the Cosmic era we miss and respect so much.
Sasha own label Kodek will be releasing that sometimes in the near future.

With this long history in music, what has been your vision or trajectory over these years?

This could take me forever to answer so I’ll keep it relatively short…
Mainly, my object was to learn how to play more instruments ( i play 5 now ) and to be self sufficient as much as i could.
That’s why i pretty much do everything in my tunes ,including the mastering and sometimes even the artwork.
As I’ve shown in the last couple of albums, i decided to focus almost exclusively on Middle Eastern music and specially on the OUD . The arabic lute which i love in ways that i can’t even describe…I believe that the eastern culture has been grossly misunderstood and I am there to make things straight if i can with music …hehehe. Reggae and specially Dub is ALWAYS in the agenda for me too, because i like it and it has the spiritual element that marries so well with the middle eastern sounds.
My goal as a musician has and always will be to make music with hope and beauty which we need so much these days to get over all the problems which this World seem to be so full of.

You have a longstanding relationship with DJ Nickodemus, first with Turntables on the Hudson and second being on the Wonderwheel Label. How has that friendship enabled your musical journey?

Nick probably knows me better than i know myself by now… =)
I know he is a big fan of mine and he totally supports EVERYTING i do…. I have always been happy to donate my music to his label
Wonderwheel has definitely helped me a lot to reach more and more people. I just wish it will become bigger soon though because it is still relatively underground and it deserves better….i deserve better too…hehehe

Is what you are doing reflective or globalism or the polyglot culture of New York City?

I guess it is….I am so used to live in multicultural places , i guess i don’t even notice it anymore…hehehe

How did your upbringing influence your music?

Actually my father used to wake me up when i was 8 in the middle of the night with a bunch of friends and made me play guitar for them while my mum was cooking and they were singing ( that at about 5 am ! )
Then my mum would join in and sing beautifully , harmonizing with my fathers voice….( after serving that food of course =).
this is just an example of what music was to my parents ( way to go Gypsies uh? ).
I don’t think i need to add anything to this ….I’m just a “product” of that lifestyle i guess.

Your second solo album, “Arabadub” has a very catchy and suggestive title. So first, the obvious question: why dub? And why “Arabadub”?

My second solo album?? this is probably my 6th solo album …let me see…
I did -Jesterized- as Zeb in 96 then always as Zeb i did -The end of the beginnings- in 2000 , then came -An eye on the World- as The spy from Cairo in 2002 , after that was -Stop the earth i want to get off- (spy from cairo 2007) then -Secretly famous- ( spy from cairo 2009 ).
Arabadub ( my 6th album ) simply means Arabic Dub, I think that the music pretty much explains it .

You programmed and performed everything on “Arabadub”, what was your desire to create on this album?

I love arabic music and love dub !
I’ve wanted to do a record like this for a long time but i wanted to master all the instruments i play on it so i took my time….
I really wanted it to sound EXACTLY like i envisioned it….actually i din’t play ALL the instruments on it though ( i wish…. sigh! ).
The orchestra parts were offered by Sultan strings ( turkey ) and the few Nay parts ( the bamboo flute ) played by a Tunisian friend of mine.
Everyting else i played myself : The oud , The saz, The cifltelly, most of the darbouka ( some are samples..oops! ) and I programmed ALL drums and played the bass and the few synths parts.
I am very happy of the outcome and it seems that people who hear this record get it instantly .
It is exactly what the title says and i believe i did it respectfully to both worlds ; the Jamaican and the Middle Eastern.

There are no samples on the album, was this a challenge to avoid? Why no samples?

actually there are a few samples but VERY few to even mention.
I’ve been working with samples for so damn long ….i just had enough…hehehe
this is why i keep, learning new instruments …after all..I am a musician uh?

How did you go about arranging the music? What came first and was there a lot of improvisation before laying down a track?

First of all i had to come out with a melodic idea which was obviously the arabic music so i’d look for traditional and classic arab tunes and “make them mine” by rearranging them with the Oud ( which i wanted to keep prominent in every track ) and the other instrumets like the Saz and Ciftelli.
Then the orchestra parts had to be recorded and dulcis in fundo i laid down the reggae drums and bass line .
When i had a strong foundation of the song I would make spaces for the Oud solos and the dubbed out parts ( let the tape delay do it’s thing…hehehe ).
I just made all of this sound easy but BELIEVE ME it was NOT.
Arabic music notation is very different from western and it is great challenge to mix reggae 4/4 to a typical 1/5 or 1/7 arabic rhythm.
That’s also why i had to play all the stuff live ( samples simply wouldn’t cut it … ).
I also pretty much re/wrote all the tunes in different keys to match the simplicity of the reggae sounds.
All the tunes melodies came from traditional middle eastern music but by the time i was done they were MY tunes you can believe that!

If there’s an overall mood to “Arabadub” it’s pensive and expansive. The beats are very heavy and deep and the accompanying instrumentation of strings and your oud playing create a counterbalance that is wistful. How did you go about balancing the heavy bass with your instrumentation?

It pretty much came normal as i know Dub and heavy bass very well by now…
The Oud is a very deep sounding instrument and it was a time difficult to mix with the dub bass though …also the strings arrangements have a lot of depth
so, i had my challenges here and there but i’m very happy of the outcome and as i answered previously i think i got the right balance .
I think that i honored the Oud pretty well throughout the record which was my intention all together.

Your principle instrument is the oud, a traditional instrument. Yet you have a deep involvement in digital music production as well. This is something you’ve been doing for sometime so what was the inspiration to fuse the two?
There are certain producers that have worked with Arabic music in a dub context, most notably to met Bill Laswell. Where you influenced by his productions or others?

I simply believe that there are NOT enough people doing what i do.
I like and respect Bill Laswell and people like DuoOud or Jeff Stott but we are all different and i believe that there is plenty of room for more producers/musicians with an interest in The OUD.
This instrument has been ignored for a long time and it has a great past!! why not give it a great future??

Where did you learn the oud? Did you study under anyone?
I picked it up by myself by listening to countless hours of Oud Taksims ( improvisations ) from the best players like Farid al Atrache and Ryad Alsunbaty
to more recent players like Naseer Shamma and Simon Shaheen ( His brother Najib actually help me out a lot with picking the right style of playing ! ).
The Oud has always been around in my life for one or another reason… there was one hanging on a wall in my house when i was little but it was unplayable and all beat up so i played guitar in the earlier years … i started to focus exclusively on the Oud 7 years ago and i abandoned the guitar all together to just focus on this amazing and honorable instrument!

Clearly rhythm is a major part of what you do. How do you weave your instrumentation into the beats? What comes first?

I think i explained this before 😉

Do you find yourself having to defend your music to traditionalists or are they understanding of what you are doing?

Interesting question indeed!! Well… Classically trained arabic musician will NEVER go for what i do which is good so i don’t have too much competition…hahaha .
The fact that I’m not really an arab is enough reason to turn off enough people but I also have big admirers from the Middle East JUST BECAUSE i’m not one of them but have so much respect for the Oud and their music.
All in all, whatever people think isn’t gonna make me quit with my explorations in music …..Real musicians from the west and the east understand that!
The best music always came from those who were not afraid to mix things up after all right?
One example was Mohamed Abdel Wahab , a great composer and innovator of arabic music which actually wrote music for none less than the great Um Kalthoum…. nuff said!

What was your exposure to music like growing up? It seems that you must have had a wide exposure to various rhythmic and experimental genres of music.

I grew up in Brixton and Portobello road in London ( in the early 80s ) and was exposed to West indian ,Idian, Arabic music .
The Brits were always keen on mashings things up, so to hear a hip hop beat with a sitar loop was quite common even back than to me.
I think i grew up in the best country as far as experimental music goes…. thats why we had Transglobal Underground , Loop Guru, Talvin Singh etc.
The US are a bit more conservative about music to my opinion but don’t worry …I’m here now…hahaha

Have you always had it in your mind to release solo records and what was the process in getting to that point?

I ALWAYS wanted to do solo records …I know what I want and have little patience explaining to others so I just go ahead and make the music that speaks for itselfs .

On your first solo release “Secretly Famous” you featured vocal tracks yet other than “Thicker Than Hooka Smoke” and “Haboob” there are no vocals on “Arabadub”. Why the change to limited vocals?

I think that vocals can alienate some people ( not everyone speaks arabic … ) so i decided to let the music speak this time.
Thats why i tried to add more depth and cinematic effect to it .
I think there is enough melody in Arabadub to speak loud enough about -hope, love and beauty- the only 3 words i want people to hear in this record….

What does your current live performance consist of? How do you recreate the songs of “Arabadub” live?

Well… the old laptop and midi controller show with live Oud and darbouka ….and when i’m lucky i’m graced by some beautiful belly dancer flying around me like a butterfly……..

Beats Over Tweets: Teleseen Talks With Audio Texture on “Passages”

Courtesy of Audio Texture’s James Barrie.

Here at Audio Texture, one of our albums of the year, already, is “Passages” from Teleseen on 100% Silk, one of the most inventive, “dance music” albums of 2013, a unique mix of great beats and global sounds submerged in a world of reggae flavours. We were so taken by the music we wanted to find out more. Below is a little interview we conducted with Gabriel Cyr, man behind this project and many more, via email from his intended new home Rio De Janiero.

Audio Texture: So we first heard about you from your Mandrake EP, released on your own Percepts label, back at the start of 2011 which immediately sucked us in with it’s global musical outlook, dub flavors and fresh beats. What made it even more appealing was that it didn’t really sound like anyone else, “By Many Names” in particular was a massive track for us both on the radio show and in our dj sets. It was such a joy to hear you deliver an amazing album with Passages, released last month, as so often early EP promise doesn’t always translate into a good album, let alone a good “dance music” album (a very rare thing) so first of all congratulations on that achievement.

Could you tell us a bit about the album recording process and that two year period in-between the Mandrake EP and the album release. You mention you were living between New York and Brazil (with a view to a permanent move at the time) and we guess also recording the album, sounds like a hectic time.

Teleseen: Well probably the biggest change in that period which affected the pace of the production of the record was that I moved in mid 2011 from an apartment/studio that I had been in for 8 years, and thought I was moving into a new more professional studio space near my new apartment, but that fell through at the last minute and I was left without a work space for about 6 months, working only on headphones or the studios of friends and with no access to my equipment. Then I moved into a space that turned out to be a total disaster, leaks, rats, angry neighbors and million other problems, then I was without a space again for another 6 months. I have been in a reasonable functional space the last 8 months but that situation seems like it may be coming to end as well. Basically in this period I worked on headphones, recorded in other people’s studios both in NYC and Rio and was very transient in my working methods. It took me moving into a space where I could really mix in order to finish the record, which didn’t happen until the end of last summer, after about a year of exile.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Epfr2_JY7kI&w=640&h=360]

One of the things that immediately appealed to us was the live musical element to your work, could you tell us a bit about your musical collaborators on the album and a bit more about your musical background. Are you coming at things as a musically inclined electronic producer or as a musician discovering the joys of electronic production?
Mainly on this record I am working with one guy, Morgan Price from the group Ikekebe Shakedown. He’s been on my last three releases, he plays on Mandrake and one of the tunes on Fear of the Forest. I tried to make broader use of horns on this album. Also on the record are Jay Moherginer and Kevin Thompson, session musicians from NYC, playing trombone and trumpet respectively. Morgan plays, bass clarinet, alto and tenor sax on the record. Most of the keyboards and percussion that isn’t sequenced is me playing. I have a background in jazz and composition and with the last couple of releases have been trying to draw on that more in composing and arranging tunes.

Audio Texture: What does you studio set up look like are you surrounded by boxes, synths and instruments or have you stripped things down using today’s software options and plug ins?

Teleseen: I do have a lot of boxes and synths and instruments as you put it, but I do avail myself of software as well. I like to work with hardware whenever possible. I’ve been mixing a band record that I produced the last few weeks and we’ve been using some great hardware in a nice studio and it has reminded me what a difference it makes.

Audio Texture: You have so many influences in your music but the music of Jamaica seems to be a constant theme and almost a thread that makes it all hang together. Would you like to tell us a bit more about your Jamaican love affair.
Jamaican music has been a presence in my life since a young age, I heard Black Uhuru’s album RED at a young age and it strongly affected me, though I didn’t really know how to process it at the time in relation to all the other music I was absorbing at the time, jazz, fusion, and avant rock, other things I was hearing in the context of my musical education. It wasn’t until I went to college and had my horizons really expanded musically, by living in LA, playing in bunch of bands and finally being in an environment rich in many types of music that I began to understand what was happening in those productions. By the time I left school i was fully obsessed with dancehall and reggae and dub. In NYC it is really the soundtrack to everything, coming out of cars, people’s apartments, clubs, the constant background, much in the way it is in London too.

Audio Texture: We can’t even start to list the various global musical influences in the album, how did you get turned onto these global sounds, was it the New York melting pot or just the product of an inquisitive mind? Tell us how you work with all these influences to make your own unique sound.

Teleseen: I definitely have a highly inquisitive mind, but I have also traveled pretty constantly the last 8 or ten years, both for what used to be my day job, recording location sound for films, and for music, and just out of curiosity. I spent three or four years traveling extensively in the mid east and Africa and absorbed a great deal of music influence in that time which still has a strong presence in the music. The best part of a lot of these travels was not the listening part, but the opportunity to see how other people work and compose and produce and utilize the tools at their disposal. The last few years, having been in Brazil more, that influence has very much crept into my work as well.

Audio Texture: We weren’t aware you were a location sound recordist. That sounds like an interesting job, could you tell us a little bit more about what that entailed and I guess you must have one or two amusing stories regarding that work – prey tell? Does that mean you are now relying on production for others and yourself for your livelihood?

Teleseen: I still do it a little bit but I am in the process of shifting over to working as a producer solely and mixing albums for other people and post production work and so on. After 10 years of working on all types of projects in 20 or 30 different countries I am feeling the need for a change. By far the most interesting stuff I have done is when I have had the opportunity to work on nature programs. I have a few great experiences going to jungles in various places and recording ambiences and sound effects for different projects. Definitely the best results you get are when you set the microphones up somewhere and the recorder somewhere else, so the recording is not disturbed by your presence. If you do that and leave it for many hours you get the best results. I’ve got some wonderful stuff doing that technique in early mornings in jungles and rivers in places like Trinidad, Costa Rica, Tanzania, and Rwanda…

Audio Texture: Do you have plans to take the Teleseen project live, if so what will the group look like?

Teleseen: TI would really love to do that but I haven’t made any moves to just yet, mainly because I have been very itinerant the last year, but it is something I dream of. I think it would consist of me on electronics and keyboards, two sax players and a percussionist. I have been hoping to but together a a Rio version of the band and an NYC version.

Audio Texture: So after living between Brazil and New York for a year you’ve finally decided to make the move to Brazil. Why choose Brazil – is it because of the music, for love or did you just need a change of scene. Do you intend to stay?

Teleseen: There are many factors informing the decision, mainly they are personal, just feeling like it might be time for me to truly live away from my home country and not just be a traveller but a true migrant. But also I feel very captivated by what is going on down here musically and I want to be a part of it. I’m in Rio, but haven’t made the permanent move just yet, that will be happening at the end of the year hopefully, I’m still between the two places at the moment.

Audio Texture: Are you starting to hook up with Brazilian producers and musicians and if so have any new projects that are starting to hatch?

Teleseen: I just produced the record of a Brazilian band called Dorgas, and in talks about a few other projects. I have been blessed to meet amazing people here and I feel like I am at the nexus of a lot of potential here. Here’s a video for a song from the album I produced, it’ll be out next month on Vice Brazil.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bHwfjCleIEM]

Audio Texture: Have you discovered any new musicians or groups since arriving in Brazil that the world ought to know a bit more about?

Teleseen: One of the best things about being here is that I didn’t really know that much about Brazilian music when I came here so it has been like being a teenager again in terms of musical discoveries. As far as new groups there’s Holger, who are an indie band from Sao Paulo who mix a lot of Axé and samba styles in their work. I just finished a remix for them that should be out next week. There’s a long list of other music I’m excited about down here, B Negão, Lucas Santana, Jovens do Cristo, Baiana System, Maga Bo, Do Amor, and on and on….

Audio Texture: Will you miss anything about New York?

Teleseen: The list of things I will miss about New York is surprising short. Mainly they are food related. NYC has the best food options in the world I think. Bagels, trinidadian food, Lebanese food, indian food, good coffee…

Audio Texture: We’re hoping to head over to New York later in the year perhaps you could give us a tip or two in your old neighborhood that a hapless tourist would overlook and perhaps a couple of record spots for a bit of digging. Is it still possible to get a vinyl bargain in New York?

Teleseen: Definitely still possible to find a vinyl bargain in NYC. Probably the real digger’s paradise in NYC is a store in greenpoint, bk, called the Thing, a giant dusty room full of disorganized records where everything is under $5.

Audio Texture: Are you much of a record collector, if so let us in on some of the details of your collection and record buying habits. Will you take your records to Brazil with you?

Teleseen: I’m a huge record collector, but I have had to dial it back in recent years since my collection is about 4000 pieces at the moment, not including CDs and tapes and that’s about as much I can manage not living in a big house. I have not figured out yet what I am gonna do with my records, probably my mother is going to end up with them in her basement, alas. My collection is about a third reggae/dancehall/dub, a lot of african music and jazz, and a lot of rock and folk and country too.

Audio Texture: How do you feel about digital music, is it something you’ve embraced or do you still prefer to physically hold your music?

Teleseen: I have embraced digital music as a consumer, a little bit less so as a producer. There’s still really nothing quite like records, I still really like to make physical objects and wish that art options were better for digital. I really don’t understand why they aren’t, mainly a lack of imagination on the part of apple. Though it seems to me that most of the digital music platforms are made by people who’s focus is business and not music, though they have certainly bungled the business part as well for many of us. More and more the changes in digital music seem to be aimed at killing independent music and not nurturing it. That is certainly what streaming services like Spotify and Rdio are doing.

Audio Texture: One thing we are trying to get to the bottom of with our interviews is how the changing nature of the music industry over the last 15 years has affected the independent music sector. Technology has given todays music consumers the options to increasingly use Youtube, stream, buy digitally or rather worrying freeload on a massive scale. Perhaps you could tell us a bit about your experience of people’s changing methods of getting hold of Teleseen/Percepts music. I know this is a bit personal but if you could throw in a few figures for records sales and income generated to highlight these changes that would be great.

Teleseen: Well, my first record, War, which I released in 2007 is my highest grossing release, and the one that sold by far the most physically. I can’t remember exactly how many but close to 1000. But that was back at the end of the age when people still bought CDs and mp3 didn’t sound as good. (Even so that album was produced to be consumed on CD and didn’t translate very well to mp3, it had a lot of very high and very low frequencies that didn’t translate very well to mp3.) It’s pretty much been downhill since then. There was a time when the label was making some money off of digital sales but that pretty much went away when spotify came around. And even when I released Fear of The Forest, two days after the record release half of the first few searches in google where free download links, the same is unfortunately true for Passages. I’m not really sure why people do that. Is it a compliment?

Audio Texture: Youtube views, Facebook likes and Soundcloud listens are almost like a new currency to the young generation of artists and producers, with some people using bots to increase their hits and then trying to leverage these results into bookings. How do you feel about this strange new world and are you actively embracing the web 2.0 way of life.

Teleseen: I don’t feel good about it at all. I really couldn’t care less about the twitter feeds of most artists I like and this is one of the reasons I don’t really use twitter or update my pages unless it is about something to do with the music I’m producing and releasing or something I feel like I want to recommend. Artists are under immense pressure nowadays to keep up their social media presence and be constantly releasing music that the quality of work has really taken a major dive in the last 4 or 5 years. Rarely do you hear well thought out, well produced long players that are beyond 40 minutes. Not to sound like a cranky old man but people really need to focus more on music and less on the number of followers or plays the new flavor of the month has. I try to be apart from all this business, perhaps to the detriment of my career but… Less tweets more beats….

Audio Texture: So with your Percepts label you decided fairly early on to take business control of your musical creations. Could you tell us a bit more about that decision, was it just to have total control of your work, a distrust of working with labels or just entrepreneurial spirit?

Teleseen: At the time it was a combination of all of those factors, along with impatience.

Audio Texture: So after running your own label for a number of years what made you take the leap to work with 100% Silk on your third, and latest, album?

Teleseen: I’m at the point where I have a lot of finished products and I have been not releasing anything for two years and felt like it was time to try something new.

Audio Texture: With a good income from recorded sales harder to come by a lot of producers use the exposure their productions give them to get live gigs and/or DJ bookings. Is DJing something you do or have considered? What would a Teleseen DJ gig sound like?

Teleseen: I have DJ’d for years, but I haven’t so much DJ’d in connection with the Teleseen project, being that the sound of it is so unique its hard to make a dj set that connects perfectly to my releases. Historically when I have toured I have been doing a live PA set, and a few occassional dj sets on the side. My background as a dj is more in pirate radio than in party rocking, so I try to take a more left field approach, though I certainly have done my fair share of party rocking as well. I had a show on NYC’s free 103point9 pirate radio station for many years, and dj very regularly still.

Here is a promo mix I made for Passages, which is a little more dance music oriented.

[soundcloud url=”http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/79138288″]

Audio Texture: We are well aware of the London pirate radio scene with a couple of the old iconic dance stations Kiss FM and more recently Rinse FM both finally going overground and geting proper licences. The history of Pirate radio though is an ongoing battle, with the pirates, who could be playing everything from Zouk, Techno, Reggae, Hip Hop and Salsa, playing cat and mouse with the radio authorities, hidden attenaes on tower blocks, secret studios, raids and equipment and records getting confiscated. Could you tell us a bit more about the scene in New York and your personal experiences.

Teleseen: The pirate scene in New York has quieted a great deal in the last 7 or 8 years, but it still exists. Mostly its reggae and dancehall here. free103point9 went legal about 7 years ago I think, and now doesn’t even stream online anymore, the same with east village radio, but they still have online programming. What we used to have was the studio in one apartment and move the transmitter every week to a different apartment and connect them by internet streaming. Rumor has it that the big dancehall pirate station here operates out of a van.

Audio Texture: Have you started to develop any new revenue streams since starting out – synch or merchandising for instance?

Teleseen: No. Suggestions welcome!

Audio Texture: What is the reality of being a smaller independent musician these days – is it possible to survive and how do you see the future for yourself as an independent artist?

Teleseen: I will always be around because making music is a very essential, reflexive activity for me, its not something i have a choice about doing, its like breathing. I get horribly depressed if I don’t make music for a while. So I will always figure out a way. The last year or two I have been producing projects for other artists, both bands and individual artists, and its interesting to note how artists live much more in the short term than they used to, and this seems to me to be a by product of the increased rate of consumption we have for media. I notice myself tiring of things quicker, moving on to new subjects quicker, and have been trying to fight it.

http://boomkat.com/embed/662950/8B7BFF
Read full review of Passages – Teleseen on Boomkat.com ©

“Zeb” aka The Spy From Cairo Creates Music For Belly Dancing and Hookah Heads

An Interview with Zeb “The Spy From Cairo” on his Infectious Arabic groove

Zeb The Spy From Cairo. Photo by Derek Beres.
Zeb The Spy From Cairo. Photo by Derek Beres.

One of the amazing things about the deeply Jamaican music called Dub is its ability to act as a conduit. From its early days as stripped down versioning of popular Reggae tunes to its indoctrination into late 80 / early 90s UK Soundsystem & Dance Music culture, to its current massive mutation (with the “Step” planted firmly in its behind); Dub has shown itself to be not only a musical art form that stands strongly on its own, but also a vehicle of sorts that can transport and connect disparate musical universes.  And it’s at the unique nexus of Dub and Arabic music that the Spy From Cairo sits the most comfortably.

The Spy From Cairo aka Zeb is the kind of musician that fits perfectly in with the downtown NYC music scene – Italian by birth, Gypsy by heritage, and New Yorker by residence, he has been closely associated with the Turntables on the Hudson scene for close to 12 years – producing dozens of albums as Zeb, the Spy From Cairo and the Organic Grooves project, as well as remixing for everyone from Baba Maal to Tosca to Billie Holliday to Novalima, steadily garnering a worldwide collective of fans and followers.

The Spy’s new album, “Arabadub” is perhaps his most realized vision of deep Middle Eastern and Jamaican sounds coalescing into something that sounds right and natural – because it was conceived and produced in just that natural way. There are no samples used on the album, and Zeb has programmed everything, as well as playing traditional Middle Eastern stringed instruments called the Oud, Chifteli and the Saz himself. Check the opener “Alladin Dub”, with its echoed out skanks, pulsing bassline, and majestic strings – and the deepness that is “Taksim Square”, complete with swirling, psychedelic accordion.  Other highlights include the tense four-to-the-floor stomper “Desert Tears”, the rolling dub of “Sons of Hannibal” with it’s beautiful Middle Eastern vocal chants, the nostalgic “Egyptian Pulse” with its Steppers sound and melancholy vibes, and the dancehall vibes of “Prince Ahmed” – sounding like 3AM Kingston wrapped in a Bedouin Tent!

MundoVibe’s Editor, John C. Tripp, interviewed Zeb on his lenghty history in New York City’s ethnic dance underground and his trancendent Arabic dub that is rousing belly dancers worldwide.

MundoVibe: Your involvement with fusing rhythm, roots and electronics stretches back many years, from the East Village’s Organic Grooves and Turntables on the Hudson to many parties and albums and beyond. How did you first become involved with this influential music scene in New York?

Zeb: I was here (in New York) mainly because I played guitar with a band called The Indians which were signed to Polydor back in 89. The Indians had a very short life mostly because in the early 90s many on the major labels went through a lot of infrastructure issues and many people lost their jobs including the chairman themselves which led to the dropping of many bands including us.The eople had a minute or two of “glory” though because our tunes were used for the soundtracks of the movies Kalifornia and Reality bites.

After we got dropped we soon split and I found myself pretty much broke and kind of lost not knowing what to do next. I then took a job in a place called Bar 16 making espressos and it was then that i met Sasha Crnobrnja (yes the name is spelled right) and we started talking about music which led to the great late 70s and early 80s of the Italian club scene and names like the clubs Baia degli angeli, Cosmic, Le cigalle, Typhoon started to come up.Obviously DJ names were next – Baldelli, Loda , TBC , Mozart etc. So.. we started thinking “Hey! That stuff would be just great in New York these days huh?”

Next thing you know we spoke to Bar 16 owner and asked if we could do a weekly party involving DJ and live musicians promoting what we called Cosmic Music. Bar 16 happened to have a basement (only used for storage space ) which was actually an old Persian Hooka smoking lounge ( great uh? ). We cleaned it up and started a party in it called : Organic Grooves. The rest is pretty much history as far as the underground music scene in NY is about.we lasted over a decade and became a bit of a cult for many eople. Organic grooves kind of died out ( actually WE let it die) after 9-11. Many things were changing in NY around that time and we felt it all too well, mostly because most people in the collective were not from the US and we all had some kind of trouble with immigration and the fact that we had an interest with the East (middle east in my case) made us like some kind of terrorist supporters you remember Bush’s words ? “You are either with us or against us !” That’s what we had to deal with back then, sad huh?

Anyway I was happy to have left a mark in the NY scene and 5 organic Grooves albums by then! It was at that point that the “natives” (Nickodemus ) took over and started Turntables on the Hudson. TOTH was similar to Organic Grooves but a bit more tailored for the US. Nickodemus’ taste for the eclectic (and mastering of the turntables ) kept it fresh, Mariano was more of a straight ahead party “monster”. Last but not least people like Nappy G and me provided that live feel that people liked and missed so much from the defunct Organic Grooves. Having said that , I wanna give Giant Steps their credit too for doing that DJ/live musician thing even though Giant Step was more of a jazz funk thing and we had a lot more styles involved in the mix.

MV: What are some of the projects you’ve been involved in over the years that are most important to you?

Zeb: Frankly every project is important to me. I must say that I work alone most of the time so, the only collaboration I’ve been involved with is Nickodemus. Together we remixed some pretty big names like Billy Holiday , Natasha Atlas , Omar Faruk and a bunch of others I can’t even remember. Actually more recently Nick and I had the honor of making a tune with Afrika Bambaataa which ended up on Nick new album “Moon People” ( I still have to do another remix of that tune though). I have also kept close contacts with Sasha (now Inflagranti) and we put together an album called OBLIO which pays homage yet again to the Cosmic era we miss and respect so much. Sasha own label Kodek will be releasing that sometimes in the near future.

MV: With this long history in music, what has been your vision or trajectory over these years?

Zeb: This could take me forever to answer so I’ll keep it relatively short. Mainly, my object was to learn how to play more instruments (I play five now ) and to be self sufficient as much as I could. That’s why I pretty much do everything in my tunes ,including the mastering and sometimes even the artwork. As I’ve shown in the last couple of albums, I decided to focus almost exclusively on Middle Eastern music and especially on the Oud, the Arabic lute which I love in ways that I can’t even describe.

I believe that the eastern culture has been grossly misunderstood and I am there to make things straight if i can with music. Reggae and especially Dub is ALWAYS in the agenda for me too, because i like it and it has the spiritual element that marries so well with the middle eastern sounds. My goal as a musician has and always will be to make music with hope and beauty which we need so much these days to get over all the problems which this World seem to be so full of.

MV:P You have a longstanding relationship with DJ Nickodemus, first with Turntables on the Hudson and second being on the Wonderwheel Label. How has that friendship enabled your musical journey?

Zeb: Nick probably knows me better than i know myself by now.. =) I know he is a big fan of mine and he totally supports EVERYTING I do. I have always been happy to donate my music to his label Wonderwheel has definitely helped me a lot to reach more and more people. I just wish it will become bigger soon though because it is still relatively underground and it deserves better — I deserve better too..

MV: How did your upbringing influence your music?

Zeb: Actually my father used to wake me up when i was 8 in the middle of the night with a bunch of friends and made me play guitar for them while my mum was cooking and they were singing ( that at about 5 am ! ) Then my mum would join in and sing beautifully , harmonizing with my fathers voice.( after serving that food of course =). this is just an example of what music was to my parents ( way to go Gypsies uh? ). I don’t think i need to add anything to this.I’m just a “product” of that lifestyle i guess.

MV: For your album, “Arabadub” you programmed and performed everything on “Arabadub”, what was your desire to create on this album?

Zeb: I love arabic music and love dub ! I’ve wanted to do a record like this for a long time but i wanted to master all the instruments i play on it so i took my time. I really wanted it to sound EXACTLY like i envisioned it.actually i din’t play ALL the instruments on it though ( i wish. sigh! ). The orchestra parts were offered by Sultan strings ( turkey ) and the few Nay parts ( the bamboo flute ) played by a Tunisian friend of mine. Everyting else i played myself : The oud , The saz, The cifltelly, most of the darbouka ( some are samples.oops! ) and I programmed ALL drums and played the bass and the few synths parts. I am very happy of the outcome and it seems that people who hear this record get it instantly. It is exactly what the title says and i believe i did it respectfully to both worlds ; the Jamaican and the Middle Eastern.

MV: There are no samples on the album, was this a challenge to avoid? Why no samples?

Zeb: Actually there are a few samples but VERY few to even mention. I’ve been working with samples for so damn long.i just had enough..  this is why i keep, learning new instruments. After all.I am a musician uh?

MV: How did you go about arranging the music? What came first and was there a lot of improvisation before laying down a track?

Zeb: First of all i had to come out with a melodic idea which was obviously the arabic music so i’d look for traditional and classic arab tunes and “make them mine” by rearranging them with the Oud ( which i wanted to keep prominent in every track ) and the other instrumets like the Saz and Ciftelli. Then the orchestra parts had to be recorded and dulcis in fundo i laid down the reggae drums and bass line. When i had a strong foundation of the song I would make spaces for the Oud solos and the dubbed out parts ( let the tape delay do it’s thing..  ). I just made all of this sound easy but BELIEVE ME it was NOT. Arabic music notation is very different from western and it is great challenge to mix reggae 4/4 to a typical 1/5 or 1/7 arabic rhythm. That’s also why i had to play all the stuff live ( samples simply wouldn’t cut it.. ). I also pretty much re/wrote all the tunes in different keys to match the simplicity of the reggae sounds. All the tunes melodies came from traditional middle eastern music but by the time i was done they were MY tunes you can believe that!

MV: If there’s an overall mood to “Arabadub” it’s pensive and expansive. The beats are very heavy and deep and the accompanying instrumentation of strings and your oud playing create a counterbalance that is wistful. How did you go about balancing the heavy bass with your instrumentation?

Zeb: It pretty much came normal as i know Dub and heavy bass very well by now.. The Oud is a very deep sounding instrument and it was a time difficult to mix with the dub bass though..also the strings arrangements have a lot of depth so, i had my challenges here and there but i’m very happy of the outcome and as i answered previously i think i got the right balance. I think that i honored the Oud pretty well throughout the record which was my intention all together.

MV: Your principle instrument is the oud, a traditional instrument. Yet you have a deep involvement in digital music production as well. This is something you’ve been doing for sometime so what was the inspiration to fuse the two? There are certain producers that have worked with Arabic music in a dub context, most notably to met Bill Laswell. Where you influenced by his productions or others?

Zeb: I simply believe that there are NOT enough people doing what i do. I like and respect Bill Laswell and people like DuoOud or Jeff Stott but we are all different and i believe that there is plenty of room for more producers/musicians with an interest in The OUD. This instrument has been ignored for a long time and it has a great past!! why not give it a great future??

MV: Where did you learn the oud? Did you study under anyone?

Zeb: I picked it up by myself by listening to countless hours of Oud Taksims ( improvisations ) from the best players like Farid al Atrache and Ryad Alsunbaty to more recent players like Naseer Shamma and Simon Shaheen ( His brother Najib actually help me out a lot with picking the right style of playing ! ). The Oud has always been around in my life for one or another reason.. there was one hanging on a wall in my house when i was little but it was unplayable and all beat up so i played guitar in the earlier years.. i started to focus exclusively on the Oud 7 years ago and i abandoned the guitar all together to just focus on this amazing and honorable instrument!

MV: Do you find yourself having to defend your music to traditionalists or are they understanding of what you are doing?

Zeb: Interesting question indeed!! Well.. Classically trained arabic musician will NEVER go for what i do which is good so i don’t have too much competition..hahaha. The fact that I’m not really an arab is enough reason to turn off enough people but I also have big admirers from the Middle East JUST BECAUSE i’m not one of them but have so much respect for the Oud and their music. All in all, whatever people think isn’t gonna make me quit with my explorations in music.Real musicians from the west and the east understand that! The best music always came from those who were not afraid to mix things up after all right? One example was Mohamed Abdel Wahab , a great composer and innovator of arabic music which actually wrote music for none less than the great Um Kalthoum. nuff said!

MV: What was your exposure to music like growing up? It seems that you must have had a wide exposure to various rhythmic and experimental genres of music.

Zeb: I grew up in Brixton and Portobello road in London ( in the early 80s ) and was exposed to West indian ,Idian, Arabic music. The Brits were always keen on mashings things up, so to hear a hip hop beat with a sitar loop was quite common even back than to me. I think i grew up in the best country as far as experimental music goes. thats why we had Transglobal Underground , Loop Guru, Talvin Singh etc. The US are a bit more conservative about music to my opinion but don’t worry..I’m here now..hahaha

MV: Have you always had it in your mind to release solo records and what was the process in getting to that point?

Zeb: I ALWAYS wanted to do solo records..I know what I want and have little patience explaining to others so I just go ahead and make the music that speaks for itself.

MV: On your solo release “Secretly Famous” you featured vocal tracks yet other than “Thicker Than Hooka Smoke” and “Haboob” there are no vocals on “Arabadub”. Why the change to limited vocals?

Zeb: I think that vocals can alienate some people ( not everyone speaks arabic.. ) so i decided to let the music speak this time. Thats why i tried to add more depth and cinematic effect to it. I think there is enough melody in Arabadub to speak loud enough about -hope, love and beauty- the only 3 words i want people to hear in this record.

MV: What does your current live performance consist of? How do you recreate the songs of “Arabadub” live?

MV: Well.. the old laptop and midi controller show with live Oud and darbouka.and when i’m lucky i’m graced by some beautiful belly dancer flying around me like a butterfly.

LINKS

Beats of the World: An Interview with DJ Nickodemus

A Classic Interview with Global Beatmaster DJ Nickodemus on the Roots of New York City’s Underground Dance Scene

This interview originally appeared on Junkmedia.org.  John C. Tripp is the Editor of Mundovibes.com

By John C. Tripp

Within the rarefied group of DJs that cut their teeth at New York City’s weekly Giant Step parties of the mid-1990s is Brooklyn-based DJ and Producer Nickodemus. At Giant Step, Nickodemus proffered his eclectic mix of acid jazz, hip hop, house, reggae and abstract beats to an appreciative crowd that was as varied as his music: heads, hipsters, hippies and aficionados all together under one vibe. The Giant Step period was a unified and uplifting one for the New York City scene in the early 90s, before Giuliani made it a crime to dance. When Giant Step’s weekly parties came to an end (since rechristened to much acclaim with DJ Ron Trent), Nickodemus hooked up with the Organic Grooves crew and DJ’d many a one-off event. He also began producing music with collaborators Carol C, Jay B and Osiris.

At Organic Grooves, Nickodemus befriended Mariano, an Italian percussionist, forming a friendship and musical partnership that seems fateful. The two envisioned an event that would represent their musical sensibilities of mixing styles and chose the then-neglected banks of the Hudson River for “Turntables on the Hudson,” an outdoor summer party that vitalized the New York club scene with its uplifting and eclectic mix of house, Afrobeat, salsa, dub and hip-hop. “Turntables on the Hudson” has entered the pantheon of the must-attend parties, hosting an uplifting and joyous music selection by DJs and live music with a regular crew that includes DJ Nat Rahav, Mariano, percussionist Nappy G and special guests such as DJ Osiris and the Jinga Pura Samba Drum Troupe.

But “Turntables on the Hudson” is only half the picture; for Nickodemus, there’s also his work as a producer and label cofounder. In 1999, he founded Rhythm Love records with Nat Rahav, featuring their production work and as well as that of others who comprise the Rhythm Love family of DJs, producers and live musicians. The label launched “Turntables on the Hudson,” a compilation featuring the same uplifting, eclectic vibe as the party. There have been a select number of 12″ singles, an EP and two additional volumes of “Turntables on the Hudson,” the latest just released in November. The much anticipated compilation features songs by NYC artists who have contributed to the event, including Osiris, Ticklah, Zeb the pleb, BellHops remix of Groove Collective and new RhythmLove artists Little Jay, Metaprofessor and Puerto Rico-based band Local 12. The CD also features some of the party’s favorite anthems, including Carla Alexandars “Simba” and Raj Guptas remix of Robin Jones’ “Royal Marcha”.

Nickdemus also contributed to DJ Ron Trent’s debut mix CD on Giant Step records with the 12″ single, “Free Souls”, featuring the phenomenal talents of Mino Cinelu, Mitch Stein and Jay Rodriguez and the co-production of Osiris. Nickodemus and Osiris have also recently remixed the song “En Fuego”, featuring Marc Antoine with Troy Simms on guitar. On top of this, Nickodemus has been touring with Mino Cinelu to Europe and Africa as well as DJing a regular gig at Vienna’s Sunshine Club.

With all of this buzz of activity, I had a surprisingly casual meeting with Nickodemus at his home studio in Brooklyn’s Park Slope and then later at Bergen Street Beat, the cafe he is a partner in. Talking music with Nickodemus is a history lesson in New York City’s recent club culture, since he’s been active on the scene since the 1980s, when his sister snuck him into shows at the Roxy where she worked. Hip-hop is the cornerstone of Nickodemus’ musical tastes, and that’s where this interview began.

Mundovibe: I remember seeing you breakdancing last summer at “Turntables on the Hudson.” One night you had a bunch of old school stuff going on…

Nickodemus: Oh yeah, percussionists and we had some breakers. I tried to fuse all of these percussionists with B-Boys and breaks with world influence.

That’s what I like about what I heard. Would you say you came out of the old school in terms of your early influence?

Definitely. Hip-hop, old school. My sister was really inspirational for me. She used to work at these clubs like the Ritz, the Red Zone, all of these old school clubs, and used to sneak me in at like twelve years old. So I had an influence from reggae, house and hip-hop, everything really.

So, you went from being involved in the hip-hop culture in Long Island and hooking up with Giant Step as a DJ?

Yeah.

And you were one of their house DJs?

Yeah, from ’95 to ’99; whenever they stopped doing weeklies. It was nice, it was a good experience. I got to jam with a lot of good musicians and DJs. Really got to be out there and be able to think differently and not have to fit a format of hip-hop. They were really open to anything as party promoters. They never said a word to me, they were like “do whatever you want.”

Would you say that you are part of a crew now? Obviously you are not just a DJ. Is it a loose conglomeration?

Yeah. After years of being down with different people who were into the same thing, you sort of figure out who the real heads are and you go through a lot of different crews. I feel cool about the crew I’m with now. We go by the Rhythm Love Sound System. It started out of myself and Mariano, who’s cool cause I kind of mentored him as a DJ and it feels really cool to see him take it to this whole level and really do well. Everyone’s really good DJs and they have their own little specialties. When we throw parties, we just generally have some of these guys spin, depending on what type of party and what kind of vibe we want to throw down. So, Nat Rahav and me started the label, Rhythm Love records.

And, so far, you’ve had two releases?

Yeah. Two compilations and “Turntables on the Hudson”, our party on the River. We finally have our own forum. I was doing parties for years in all these little spaces. Just random, totally random, and then finally we found a spot where we could do it on a weekly basis, which was the first time for me since Giant Step. I did Organic Grooves for a while, but it was more sporadic. So it was great, we finally had our own thing to push and nurture. And it worked out nice. It blew up right away. Throughout the years people who’d always been kind of like-minded in music and in DJ style—we just hooked them up into the circle.

So, there’s a lot of sharing.

Yeah, and that’s how the compilation came out, because we tried to get tracks from these people. And a lot of people had never even produced before, but they were like “here,” and it just amazed me: ‘how’d that happen?

It’s amazing. If you actually say, “hey you can do this” and put someone up to it.

It was a platform for a lot of people, and they rose to the occasion. Like Nat, who never really DJ’d out, he never produced a lick in his life and now he’s spinning out, he has all the technology for making beats, and he’s flipping out really nice stuff. And that’s in two years.

How about yourself? When did you get into production?

I guess around ’94 I started getting my first exposure. I was with this group called Diversity, a very “Native Tongue” hip-hop group. They never really made it, but they were really, really fresh. I guess the market wasn’t ready for that, it was moving into the gangster shit, so they fell to the wayside. But those guys would bring me around the studio. That was my first exposure to it. And then I bought a sampler one year, around ’96 and just started messing around.

And, in terms of your tracks, you’ve been contributing to compilations, released your own stuff.

Yeah, I’ve done a little of everything. Depending on what kind of track it is, maybe we’ll put it out on [another] label, not our own. Or, maybe we’ll put it out on the label. It’s all mixed up, just spreading the vibes out.

One observation I’ve made is that it seems like now, in terms of hip-hop, the underground has shifted to Brooklyn, with all of the activity that’s going on. It’s a whole different vibe.

It seems that way, and I hope it stays that way. I see so many people that start like that, and they wind up selling their ass out quick. But, I like the scene, the way it’s been going. It’s nice, a lot of different, innovative things happening like more instrumentation or spoken word-influenced. All of these things are great.

Hip-hop has pretty much become a world phenomenon. So, it’s interesting now that it’s merging with other styles. How did that all happen for you?

Mariano and DJ Nickodemus

Mariano and Nickodemus

For me, since I’m a DJ, I guess that a lot of tracks that I was getting had that hip-hop element and it was right about the time I had turned hip-hop off in my head. Sort of the end of the native tongue era when all this gangster music got really commercial at one point. For example, Naz’s second album, if you compare it to his first. That time, right in between there something drastic happened. I can’t put my finger on it, because I’m not that heavy into it. I just know that I was like ‘OK, there’s very [little] hip-hop that I can deal with now, what else is out there?’ I started hearing all of these amazing hip-hop influenced beats, just instrumental, without all the words that really weren’t going anywhere. It was good, because it definitely opened my mind to a whole new style of hip-hop, or interpretation of it. And, sure enough, hip-hop was still doing it’s thing here, but you had to search a little harder to find it, or the right people were holding it down.

This was going on mainly in London?

Yeah, in London, in France, even Japan with DJ Krush who’s stuff was phenomenal to me. So, these things that fuse hip-hop with jazz and hip-hop [with] just straight instrumental stuff, so there was this whole acid jazz scene. I loved it; it had the elements of jazz and funk that I liked, and it also had the elements of hip-hop that I liked. And here they are together. You know, if you want to hear some lyrics and some content you can always check out hip-hop or you can check this out for a vibe. That’s when I started really getting into that whole vibe.

That was while you were with Giant Step?

Yeah, right before I started with Giant Step. A lot of my friends were jamming musicians, so we were always jamming it out as well. It all just started happening very naturally. It was cool.

It’s kind of going full circle in a way, cause a lot of this came out of this area anyway. It’s kind of ironic, ’cause that seems to be the circle, something comes out of New York or the States and it goes to Europe and gets recycled.

That’s the cool thing. I wish a lot more of the people here who were into hip-hop could hear this other stuff that’s happening, that really came from hip-hop in a lot of ways. And came from soul and jazz, where hip-hop came from. That’s why I like playing or producing; I love to catch those elements and educate in a way. I’ve always been into just opening people up into new styles of music and new things, as I learn and get into it. It’s fun because you see it go somewhere else in the world and transform into Indian hip-hop and then, ‘boom’, it’ll come back as a whole other thing.

It’s amazing how rapid it is now. I guess it has good and bad, because a lot of people are always onto the next thing.

Yeah, I hear what you are saying.

When you put your music together and you’re pulling from a lot of areas, that’s something that is personal for you.

Oh, definitely. I pull from hip-hop, I pull from jazz, I love Eastern music, from India from the Middle East, I love African music. All of these things, as you get older you just start feeding your soul with all of these sounds and when you start to make something it just comes out in the most true and natural way. And when it does, you’ll have, like, a very Afro Beat sound but then it’s a hip-hop beat, yet it’s like Eastern vocals. How did all of that happen, I don’t know, you don’t have to label it.

It’s funny, I’ll tell you a little story. We were just in Puerto Rico and we recorded these musicians. We made the beat here and we went down there with the 8-track. It’s kind of how we do it to record musicians, we just move around, like go to Cincinnati and record some jazz cats who are off the meter, and come home and reboot it, move things around. So, we went down there and we asked these legendary musicians, this guy Juancito Torres and Polito Huertas. They used to play with, like, Eddie Palmeri and all these cats. And we asked them to jam on our track, and we played the track for them and they were like ‘what the hell is this?’, we can’t play to a clave that’s like ‘dat, dat, dat, dat, dat’. That’s Brazilian, you can’t play to that. I’m like ‘I’m not trying to make a Latin track, I’m making a track’, you know?

They’re traditional, right?

Very traditional.

Was this an insult to them or was it like ‘what is up with this’?

Yeah, it came off at first like they were trying to say ‘hey you can’t do this, you need to educate yourself before you step to us.’ And I was like, ‘if you want to talk about it, I can tell you the rhythm, but this is a different rhythm I’m not trying to fit into a category and just because you are Latin and you play in a very Latin style doesn’t mean you can’t jam to, say, a reggae beat, you know?’

I guess it happens a lot more in, say, Brazil where there’s more of that going on. In Puerto Rico it seems like it’s really pop drabber.

More interesting. Beside the fact that he was like ‘hey, you can’t do that’, I think he just couldn’t really feel it. He wasn’t used to hearing stuff where the clave was anywhere else. And we had to be like ‘check this out’. I played him a couple other tracks trying to get him to feel the swing. And he got it, he’s a master so he was like ‘kabaam’ and he did it. But it was really interesting, because I thought he was insulting me, but he just couldn’t feel it.

But as a fellow musician he grabbed onto it.

Yeah, he grabbed it.

So, that’s your procedure, you lay down your beats and go live and improvisational with it.

Yeah and from there we may take parts of it and sample it and refreak it, or we’ll take the whole take, just the way it came, which is my favorite technique. I like, ‘OK, are you feeling this beat. What are you going to do over it, and then after you’re done, that’s it. I just like to do one take; what they feel over it, not what I want them feel. I can give them some guidance and then what happens, happens. That’s how I like to do it, but sometimes there’s no chemistry, so you’ve got to doctor it or chuck it.

You do this a lot?

Yeah. Almost all of the tracks I’ve done have had either vocalists or a percussionist or a horn player or a flute player. Generally, I like to try to get guys who are schooled in this type of music, so they can lock into the beat. There’s not too many chord progressions; it’s very lateral for them, but they understand it. It’s not traditional—eventually we’ll start making “electro salsa”, or who knows, but right now we’re doing straight-up dance tracks.

This is all stuff that you can then press or you can work into your mix or whatever?

Yeah. So, the last thing we just did. I’ve been on tour with Mino Cinelu. He’s a really sick percussionist; he used to play with Miles and Sting. So, we’ve been collaborating a lot. I’ve been doing beats and scratches on his music, and he’s doing vocals and percussion on my music. It’s a really nice exchange. He just did this really nice track called “Free Souls” to be released on Giant Step, and it’s the hip-hop beat, the funk bassline, the Afrobeat, he flipped a whole Eastern style cause he knows that’s what I love. It just came out nice, it’s a nice global fusion.

Where do you draw the line where it gets to the point where you’re just watering down too many genres? Do you ever get that kind of criticism?

I think I’m allowed to get away with it because I’m hip-hop (laughs). But if anyone wanted to really challenge me on it, I can represent. I know enough about a lot of the music that I could say ‘hey, this didn’t come out of, I had this record collection. I listen to this music.

That is conveyed in the final thing, because it’s not just slapped on.

Exactly, and if someone felt it isn’t, then they’re a true expert in that area and I humble myself to them but this is what I do. Eventually, I’ll hopefully be a master in a lot of different styles, extremely deep into everything. But, we’ll see (laughs).

Could you have done this in another city, or do you think that it’s the whole multicultural aspect of New York coming through?

I think there’s only a few cities where this can exist, you know? San Fran might pull it off, I wouldn’t even say LA. I mean, you can create a scene anywhere and people will get into it because it’s exotic to people or they just feel it. Let me try to think of a place that was totally out of the ordinary and it worked… Take Vienna, for example… Sunshine Club. That’s my other main place, besides New York. I go there plenty of times. Even now with all that stuff with Jˆrg Haider. There’s a huge Turkish flush in the workforce.

Look at the vibe over there, it’s not very multicultural like New York. Just the way they treat immigrants from Turkey, there was a big resistance to foreigners, and I’m glad that Europe blew up their spot. Europe boycotted and was like, ‘no way, this isn’t happening.’ I was there for a huge protest against Haider in the Heidenplatz, where Hitler gave his famous speeches and it was pretty intense—it was like a complete opposite thing coming out from the speakers from only sixty years ago. It was amazing, there was an amazing turnout to protest this guy. But what I was saying is that from a city that’s not nearly as diverse as this city, there’s actually more music coming out of there that’s world influenced than here. So, I don’t know if it’s really the population, it’s just a matter of what you expose yourself to.

I’ve found that it’s easier to get exposed to it via the Internet.

No doubt. Music shouldn’t be so limited, as long as you respect the traditions.

Have you ever just put out something that traditional. I was thinking Up, Bustle & Out, which is both traditional and has hip-hop beats.

Yeah, those guys are far out. They’re definitely a big influence. When I heard their first album, I was just stunned. They kicked it hard. They went all around South America and they funked it up.

Obviously you do a lot of gigs all over the place. You go to Europe more than the States?

Yeah. I’ve only been to a few places in the States, and they’ve been really small parties with little to no money. But Europe is the place. All of my music is selling in Europe. When I started DJing there in ’96 in Vienna, they loved me because I had that hip-hop sensibility of DJing: mixing and cutting it up, but using all of this current stuff that they were all into and there weren’t too many people doing it like that over there. And I just made a good mark and was able to return. I made some really tight connections with friends, and that’s it. Now, it’s like one of my favorite cities to spin. I’ve been in Paris—the Parisian scene is off the hook, it’s incredible. Almost all of the licensing for my tracks are in Paris, with random compilations like Buddha Bar. These guys are all hip to this world sound dance music.

Are there any people that you want to mention that you work with?

Yeah, sure. I work heavily now on production with Osirus. He’s a friend from growing up, and we just meet perfectly, our minds meet perfectly on the production tip. We just did a 12″ for Giant Step, we doing another 12″ on the hip-hop tip. For this latin project I brought him to Puerto Rico. We have a whole bunch of projects. He also has some solo stuff that’s going to be amazing on our label Rhythm Love.

John C. Tripp, November 2001

Free Music from DJ Nickodemus

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Kenny “Dope” Gonzalez

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BY JON FREER

Beatsmith par excellence, Kenny “Dope” has been making records since the late 80s. His distinctive style, both on the decks and in the studio, comes from the way he applies a Hip Hop-centric approach to both making and spinning music. He became a house hold name through his partnership with the diminutive Little Louie Vega. As MAW, the pair has provided a benchmark for producers around the world, in terms of their eagerness to push the creative envelope and embrace different styles of music. Their productions and remixes have propelled them to the top of the tree, and instead of resting on their laurels, MAW always look to take things one step further. Recently, the pair have spent time focussed on solo productions, which has given their audience a chance to re-familiarise themselves with the work of Kenny and Louie as separate musical entities.

On meeting Kenny Dope Gonzalez, it is easy to feel a little intimidated, due to his large frame and his tremendous musical achievements. However, on speaking to Mr. Dope, any initial fears are allayed. He is a relaxed guy, who, with reason, is confident of his own skills as a producer and DJ. At 13, he found music, after initially wanting to study art at school. He was born to parents of Puerto Rican origin and grew up in the working class district of Sunset Park, New York. Kenny believes that this Brooklyn suburb s musical melting pot and diverse cultural mix has had an important impact on his development.He has realised through travelling and studying the history of music that if I lived somewhere else, my music would be so different . The ethnic mix of the Sunset Park area exposed Kenny to many different styles of music from a young age.

Currently, Kenny spends two or three weeks in a month where he travels the world to DJ. He would prefer to cut this down to one or two weeks, but while I feel I want to go out and play, I must do it . As a DJ, Kenny feels his role is to both educate and give people a good party, where he likes to play a range of music. He feels it is his job to break music and play stuff that other people don t , for whatever reason. Kenny says I listen for sounds that the average person won t hear and he believes this gives him the edge over many of his

contemporaries. I asked Mr. Dope whom he respects in terms of other spinners. He says my little sister can mix and therefore there s only a select band of DJs who impress Kenny. He cites Gilles Peterson and Keb Darge as great selectors, and when it comes to technically gifted DJs, Louie Vega, Jazzy Jeff and Cash Money impress him.

The development of music technology is changing the way in which DJs work. Kenny feels he was forced to put vinyl down much against his wishes. However, as a jet-setting DJ, he was fed up with losing records or for them to turn up late. He believes you can t use the next man s records and therefore he was pushed into a corner to play CDs , but admits with CDJ s he can do just about anything he d want to do with vinyl. As a label boss, he feels the downloading culture is doing huge damage to the music industry. He s says it is a touchy subject , where kids are caught up with downloading new stuff and therefore won t want to buy the finished article. He feels there ll always be a market for vinyl collectors, but as far as CDs go, he thinks the situation is dire. As he puts it, Why buy a finished CD where you like one or two out of ten songs, when you could download ten tracks you really love for $10?

Kenny enjoys spinning in Japan, as the crowds are very knowledgeable and he feels he can play anything to them. He also has a lot of time for coming across the water to Europe, with particular favourites being England and Italy. He says you ve embraced us since the beginning, and I ve got mad love for England . When quizzed about the clubs over here, Mr. Dope says he s really impressed by how people are so open to soul music . He was surprised by that he found this a few years ago on early visits to the UK. In the US, he feels for a long time that soul music was for people of colour . Kenny admits there was one stage when he was spending so much time in London that he almost bought a house, I wish I had done, it would be worth a lot now !

With a record collection rumoured to be over the 30,000 mark, I asked Kenny about his favourite spots to pick up vinyl. He says he checks dustygroove.com every week, as they make it easy for him to keep up to date. He feels let down by many of the shops he s visited around the world, people who know the style of tracks I make should be able to sell me records , and he believes people don t sell you records in the way the used to anymore . Kenny served his musical apprenticeship behind the counter of WNR Music Centre aged 15, where you knew your 30 customers and so ordered records for them accordingly. However, Mr. Dope says he always checks out Vinyl Junkies when in London, as he normally finds something there, and being a music addict, Kenny admits I m always curious to find new records !

Kenny says that the records in his vast collection are an important inspiration. He is critical of young producers today who have not studied the music of the past, and make stuff that is so minimal . He says that just listening to stuff by Pete Rock, Marley Marl etc can inspire something different . When it comes to producers currently making House, there are only a few who are currently exciting Kenny. He is impressed by the likes of Kerri Chandler and Osunlade,who have good grasp of what works musically.

It is blatantly obvious from hearing a couple of bars of one Kenny s records, that he has made the beats. Programmed with an incredible vitality and strength, he believes they ve become his signature because he s very criticalwith the sound and that his Hip Hop background gives it the edge . He admits that originally, he used a different drumkit for every single production, down to even using a set of dissimilar beats on vocal and dub versions of remixes! When working in the studio with such luminaries such as Roy Ayers, George Benson and Jocelyn Brown, Kenny feels things work in the same way as when he just sits in the studio and manipulates samples. Incredibly, the vocals and musical parts for some of their most famous tracks such as You Can Do It (Baby) which featured George Benson, were recorded in one or two takes. Mr. Dope believes the reason why him and Louie were able to do this was because the artists they work with trust our musical judgement and realise that MAW want to capture their vibe and take it to the next level . Understandably, considering the array of talent that MAW have worked with in the past, the list of people that Kenny would still like to collaborate with is now very small. He wishes that they d been able to do something with Fela on the Nu Yorican Soul album before he passed away, and would love to work with Stevie Wonder, but feels Stevie is hard to touch .

As remix dons, Kenny and Louie have waived their magical production wand over tracks by a huge rang of artists. Kenny says every one was a challenge and as they wanted each remix to be better than the previous one, the more we progressed, the harder it got . They booked studios for weeks at a time in order to complete mixes, where Kenny would make beats in one room and Louie would then add more components in another. Tracks would then go back and forth, and they often had two or three remixes on the go at once. Kenny picks out remixes of Lisa Stansfield, Alison Limerick and their own revision of You Can Do It (Baby) as a trio of his personal favourites.

On the compilation front, Kenny has put out a few choice selections over the years. He enjoys compiling them because he feels it is just an extension of him playing records. He admits that his Lifestyles compilation caught a lot of people off guard , but he wanted to release it to show there is good music out there if you are willing to listen with an open ear .

Understandably, Kenny has a special relationship, with his long-term production partner and friend, Louie Vega. Kenny feels their partnership works because we are completely different types of people , this isn t just musically but also from food to women to clothes& . He believes that when they work alone we can hold our own , but when they link up, they have something special . Kenny cites scheduling as the biggest difficulty for them at the moment with regards to spending time in the studio together. He s not sure how we managed to do the amount of stuff we did together in the past , but crazy deadlines probably had something to do with their productivity.

Louie s Elements Of Life album has finally seen the light of day, and his Vega Records label has been very productive of late. Not to be outdone, Mr. Dope has one or two things up his sleeve. He wants to release between three and five albums this year, including a Broken beat styled album, a soulful house longplayer and a live-based soul and funk album for his Kay Dee label. Kenny now feels comfortable and so finds he spends a week chilling after touring , but he still has the zest to make new records a reality. He has achieved a great deal, but is still hungry for more.

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Kenny Dope Weekend House Mix October 2012 by Kenny Dope on Mixcloud

Philadelpia Underground Dance Culture: DJ Argo of Broken Beat Radio

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Argo’s passion for djing began back in the early 90’s in NYC while checking out the weekly Giant Step parties, Soul Kitchen, and assorted funky bizniz at S.O.B.’s. Around 1995 in Philly, the hands down favorite party and source of inspiration was King Britt’s Back to Basics. It was at these clubs that Argo was exposed to some of the initial phases of a worldwide improvisational jazz meets dancefloor phenomenon which was to be the major stepping stone for the sound currently known as “broken beat”. The amalgamation of sounds found in this music inspired his direction as a dj: to make musical mappings between disparate traditions, by exploring, innovating, educating, and experimenting.

In 1997 he hooked up with the a Philly crew called MilkToast and opened for various funk/groove bands including Brooklyn’s Justice League, Galactic, and the Jazzyfatnasties. He became a resident at a night called HomeCookin’ where he mixed and scratched live with the jazz and hip-hop group, Fathead. At Silk City, abstract trip-hop and downtempo jazz set the stage for a weekly party called Dippin’ where he dropped records along side of hip-hop icons, Schooly D, and dj Kid Swift. It was around this time that Argo was guesting at Crasta’s Nebula parties at Club 1415, Cozmic Cat’s Groove Lounge, Soul Samba, and had a weekly internet show which was broadcast live on Media Bureau Networks.

Argo has spun on radio stations WKDU, and WPRB, kept a Saturday residency at the long running Grass night at Silk City and has organized large outdoor summertime events in the park for the past 2 years in both West Philadelphia and Center City. He has been a recurring guest at Blake’s legendary Don’t Fake The Funk, NYCs weekly broken beat party, Royal Flush at Coz, and has opened up for artists such as Goldie, Fauna Flash, Mj Cole, and Titonton.

Argo was a co-founder of Mud People. These were packed, late-night, underground warehouse parties which took place in an intimate lounge setting, scattered with plush couches and filled with sound. Various multi-media was mixed realtime with live cameras which were fed into a video projector and multiple television sets. A graphic designer by trade, Argo was instrumental in the visual side of these events as well as the creation of all printed promotions.

Today Argo runs Broke & Beat Radio with dj 99. A weekly archived, online radio show which features the very latest in broken beat and neo-soul. As many as 400 listeners per day tune in from all over the world including the UK, Japan, France and the Netherlands and is ranked high in all the major search engines. Broke & Beat radio has received support from friends at Giant Step (NYC), Compost Records and IntoSomething (Munich,Germany), RythymLove Records (NYC), Freaked.co.uk, the Acid Jazz Listserve, Cosmic Sounds Records, and Soma Records, as well as receiving press in UK magazine, Straight No Chaser. The show has aired guest appearances by Rich Medina (Philly), Nik Westion (London), RhythmLove’s Nat Rahav (NYC), and is the home of King Britt’s Full Circle archive.

Mundovibes spoke with Argo on his DJing activities and the Philly scene.

Mundovibes: First, I want to give you big props on Broke & Beat radio. It’s been a source of great music for me, and I’m sure for a lot of people.

Argo: Well, thanks.

MV: You’ve got a strong presence on the web, so you’ve probably got an international crew that’s checking you out?

A: Yeah, we do. The traffic is constantly growing. We have a core group of users but it’s like anything: you toss the stuff out there and it’s really hard to get a specific read on exactly how it’s going over. We get occasional feed back, but that doesn’t necessarily give an accurate assessment of the big picture… then i’ll see people putting us at the top of their list, next to fuckin’ Gilles’ show or something. Thats a nice feeling.

MV: It’s definitley influencing a lot people’s listening habits.

A: Yeah, it seems like that.

MV: How do you get your guests to submit sets for Broke & Beat radio?

A: A lot of the people are people we’ve met, people we know. We don’t really take submissions from random people. It’s more like people we contact or know already. I have a list of people who’ve promised sets. It’s one of those things, like ‘the check’s in the mail.’ It’s tough to get onto the top of people’s priority list. I’m definitely on the lookout for getting more guests in there. Even when I run into people, and I touch down, it’s still difficult.

MV: Would you say it’s making an impact in the states or in Philadelphia. Do people check it out there too?

A: Most of our listeners are from the US. It fluctuates quite a bit, but there’s a lot of people coming from Japan. First the US, Japan, the UK then France. The “broken beat” thing is definitely an underdog over here though.

MV: It’s not even registering with a lot of people here.

A: Yeah. Even in New York. I short while ago i touched down with Hiro, who does a night called Royal Flush in New York and it surprised me to learn that his crew was one of the few acts in town that were focused on broken beat. I guess just because it’s the big apple i figured there would be more of a positive response to it but it doesn’t sound like that’s the case.

MV: Well, I’m here in Chicago and we have Groovedis, which is a big promoter ‘broken beat’ is here. Although, it doesn’t mean there’s a lot of people spinning it that much here.

A: It’s a different world: the nightclub world and the ‘home listening’ world are completely seperate for a lot of people. There’s this kind of fantasy PR land of names and personas that some people need in order to motivate them to show up. Jazzanova played here in Philly on a weekday and packed the place with a crowd that consisted mostly of people i had never seen before in my life… which was bizarre.

So trying to do nights that focus on lesser know genres or trying to bring lesser known artists to town is not a piece of cake. I get the impression that people think the broken beat scene in Philly must be amazing. There’s some great things happening and a huge amount of talent in this town: Ivan Ross just released a track on Skin Deep, Rob Paine of Worship throws the hot reggae party Solmonic Sound System, Alma Horton plays fairly regularly, the Black Lilly thing and Rich Medina’s night is pretty off-the-hook, and you have Vikter and King. But, as far as going out and hearing somebody drop a significant amount of broken beat: it aint’ gonna happen.

MV: It’s either hip hop or house, it seems.

A: Yeah. Rich’s nights are really good. He plays a lot of Fela (Kuti) and he’ll drop broken beat in his sets but it’s very house centered. I’m talking about his ‘Afro-Rican Vibes” night.

MV: The point is that broken beat is kind of a post-club vibe.

A: Yeah, but it doesn’t have to be and it shouldn’t be. Broken beat is so hot in a peak hour dancefloor setting and there is no reason why there shouldn’t be more of it here. I try and do as much as i can because I know it’s possible to blow the spot with it, and so few people are doing it. King Britt is one. He had a night called ‘Harmony’. The selection was dope: it was all over the place from classic acid jazz and trip hop tracks to house and the latest broken biz. We would all show up, lurk in the shadows, try to name the tracks, and he would drop the latest broken CD-R jammies for us music geeks.

MV: When was this?

A: This is the past six or seven months. But, the turnout wasn’t as big as you would expect. You would think, like ‘OK, King Britt has a weekly, of course that will blow up’. Not so. It’s a shame too because people around the globe would love to be able to go check him out on a weekly basis but for some reason the crowd wasn’t there. He’s a really tight dj — technically as well as from a taste standpoint.

MV: He represents, in so many ways, the new school of Philly soul.

A: And he’s been pushing that sound here for a long long time. Back to Basics was the jam. Anyone who was into acid jazz or into this stuff now looks back longingly on those parties, ’cause there really hasn’t been anything else quite like it. Like anything though, things kind of run their course and new crowds start to dominate and push the old out. I often wonder where all those back to basic acid jazz heads went.

MV: They stopped going out, and then the next generation just didn’t latch onto it.

A: It’s not like it’s been all downhill since then. There was a Saturday night called Grass in that same club, called ‘Silk City’ that i was lucky enough to be a part of. Grass had a three year run and it was a mix of drum’n’bass, trip-hop and assorted jazzy dancefloor stuff. That was one of the longest running parties in Philadelphia at that time.

MV: Well, let’s back up and get some background on you. You’ve been immersed in this scene for some time and how did you get turned on to it?

A: I’ve always been a big fan of music, jazz and soul mostly, but it was around ’95-96′ when I really started latching onto things like Metalheadz, UFO, Krush, Jamiroquai, Dego, 4 Hero. So, a lot of the influence came from that. Another inspiration was going to the Giant Step parties up in New York, seeing DJ Smash and Chillfreez, Groove Collective. And just really getting into that ‘live musician versus dancefloor DJ vibe’. Then it was probably around ’99, I went on a record quest with backpack to London, and that trip musically knocked me for a loop. This was right around when the Neon Phusion album had just hit the racks, and I was like ‘what the hell is this jazz stuff? It doesn’t sound like Acid Jazz.’ I just knew it sounded completely different from Acid Jazz — Uptempo techno tracks with live drum sounds. I picked up every Laws of Motion and Main Squeeze record I could find. And then I really started finding out about these guys: the I.G. (Culture) and the whole People crew. And I’ve just been on a mission since then.

MV: To expose the music?

A: Yeah, to find out more about it… see if i could turn people on to it. I can kind of understand why it didn’t blow up right away. A lot of that early Main Squeeze stuff can be hard to get your head around and really latch onto in a dance floor setting. That influences what DJs buy, the stock in stores, the amount able to be pressed and the availability which directly effects the popularity of the music. I did seem to notice a certain point that experimentation was kind of dulled down generally speaking.

MV: Did it become a formula?

A: No i wouldn’t say that, i don’t really have a negative take on it. But it seemed like there was a period of time where there was an effort to make things more dance floor accessible. It’s hard to make a blanket statement like that, but it definitely seemed to me like ‘Wow, they’ve taken these broken sensibilities and made something that people could dance to’. But the people still don’t want to dance to it! (laughter). That’s is so frustrating. This stuff is so bangin’, it’s so danceable, it’s like ‘they did you a favor, they cut out a few of the beats. What are you a fuckin’ moron?’ (laughter). But people seem to need the thumpy-thump or something they recognize, and this is every dj’s struggle — it’s just a universal dancefloor thing i guess and not really something to complain about. You have an obligation as the dj to make it happen so…

MV: So, you’re kind of on a mission here in a sense.

A: I guess the mission is more of a symptom of a passion for the music. I’ve definitely pushed this sound. We’ve done a number of things here. One was starting a series of free outdoor parties in the park in center city and west philly. We did a number of these events over the years: July 4, 2000 was our first one. It was really crowded, so many people came out and there were dogs running everywhere, frisbees, a drum circle and plenty of ice cold ones. We wanted to something of an outdoor jazz thing and it really took off.

MV: Do you go up to to New York to spin?

A: I went up not too long ago with the ‘Royal Flush’ cats. I got to play with Titonton when he played up there, which was very cool. I’m on that tweaky minimal Nu Era, techno tip right now.

MV: How do you contrast New York with Philadelphia since they’re so close.

A: In what way?

MV: Is New York more receptive?

A: Well, it’s definitely apples and oranges, because New York is so much bigger. All of the friendly peeps i met up there recently seem to have a certain amount of frustration and were itchin’ to come to Philly to see what was going on here. I didn’t notice the broken beat thing being all that different, as far as the crowd that comes out. You have a certain ratio between heads and people who don’t care that is pretty similar. The overall dynamic in Philly is different though. New York has got the borroughs happening, whereas in Philly the bulk of the nightlife is just Center City. There are lots of great little vibrant neighborhoods in areas of South and West Philly that are refreshingly different from Center City, but Center City is where the majority of the club life is. It’s tough to have a consistent venue and try to build a following anywhere else, in my experience. However a friend of ours takes over a dive bar in West Philly, brings in some self powered speakers and those parties are a blast! But unless you’re doing something in a warehouse space, or throwing a one-off renegade or something, it’s tough.

MV: And then you’re talking about a different kind of music.

A: Yeah, most of the North Philly warehouse parties are more of a rave or hip hop scene. I’ve been to some B Boy battles that have been pretty amazing. But it seems with broken beat you are stuck in the middle as a promoter: you can’t get the young raver warehouse kids out since a lot of them aren’t of age, and and older crowd may be less accepting of more experimental stuff. Our target audience always lies somewhere in the middle, so you really have to supplement it with house and variety. Its important to keep some education in your sets. Gotta give the people what they need, along with what they want.

MV: Well, with Broken Beat radio, that’s something where you don’t have to compromise?

A: That was actually the reason we started it. Stephanie 99 and I started a night called “Broke and Beat” which was a bit of a learning process. I don’t know why I didn’t see the signs sooner but you have to be a little flexible instead of trying to force your way into peoples’ heads saying, ‘Broken beat. It’s amazing. You need to get with this. We’re doing a whole night of it’. You have to present them with ‘There’s a really hot party. Everybody’s going’. and put a cool slant on it, get the right people involved, promote the hell out of it and then drop the broken beat on em’ at the end of the night. Gradually you pull people over to your side.

So, at any rate, when we started that night it was pretty slow. It was a Wednesday, and this place is just far enough from center city that you need a car or take a cab. And it rained. We had some Afro beat drummers come in and set up their drums. We did this broken-beat-slash-live-afro-beat thing a number of times, and it was hot, but it was a tough day of the week to make happen crowd-wise.

So the radio show motivation came out of the feeling ‘this sucks. I’m so over dealing with these fucking club owners, I don’t want to have to twist peoples’ arms to come out. There’s so much stuff that i’m buying every week that I want people to hear, and so what if we have 10 people listening to us on the web?’ So we just did our thing… and it turned into something a lot bigger than we imagined.

One other thing that I’m currently doing is are Mud People parties. That’s with a couple of different cats. One of the guys, Lorne, has been one of the group of us acid jazz pushers here in town and his taste is impeccible. You can hear his latest track on www.fromphillywithlove.com. Edwin you can catch on the radio show and his sets speak for themselves. So the Mud People plan was to give a moving party an abstract name, push the house thing a little bit but more geared toward organic and rootsy, and have no boundaries, don’t define it.

Mud People is probably the most successful thing that I’ve done to date. We started with Fauna Flash but the ownership of the club changed hands. So, we wound up setting up shop in this warehouse space that is called Media Bureau.

MV: I’ve heard of them.

A: They used to do online broadcasts and video streaming and now they do more web design. But it’s a huge warehouse, like half the block. So, they have an office area and then there’s a huge space that looks like a thrift store exploded. There’s couches everywhere and they have TV sets and a video projector and a huge soundsystem. We had a disco ball and funky lights and I made these looping video collages, since they have a video mixer where we could overlap different images. And we had our little lipstick cam on the DJ booth. It was kind of like a Ninja Tune kind of thing where we were playing with all the different video. The vibe in there was so thick and we’d go until 5AM.

MV: And this was an underground event?

A: Yes, this was all BYOB, just a house party but like a club. It’s the same place where Rope a Dope records is now. They moved above the space, so basically that whole area is for music: Rope a Dope, us doing Mudd People and then Rich Medina lives on the third floor in this amazing apartment. And then King Britt’s Five Six Media is there. We did a few parties with Rope a Dope records as well; they threw a party with the artist collective Heavyweight, with them painting live. But, the sad ending to that story is the cops showed up one night and we got raided. There were about 6 cops and a licensing inspector and they came in before the party started. They had some questions about the flyer: it said something about a ‘booming sound system’. It was all subjective, grey area bullshit but when the inspector came in and started shining his flashlight around saying, ‘if you’re charging a cover and opening it up to the public, you’re all of a sudden held to this other standard. So, they can’t do parties and charge a cover there. Since then they shot a DVD there for Charlie Hunter but it was invite only and no cover. But not any five in the morning, drunkin’, rockin’ out parties anymore. But it was really good for a while.We just moved to Fluid nightclub and it’s been a couple of months since the Media Bureau.

 

 

Argo’s Guide to Philadelphia’s Dance Music Culture

Cue Records
617 S. Fourth St.
215-413-3525
www.cuerecords.com
This is one place that is a must stop for all. Downstairs is one of the dopest hip-hop selections in the city. They have a used jazz and soul collection that rivals the best. Staff buyer Dj Botany 500 has impeccable taste and will dig you up that original Dom Um Romao on Muse if you buy him a cheesesteak.

Some of the other genres they carry include, Dub, Jungle, Breaks and a solid assortment of current nu-jazz. Another nice thing about Cue is their back stock. Records by Compost, Far Out, Laws of Motion, Schema, Stereo Deluxe etc that may be scarce in other places but are still here collecting dust. (I know they still have 2 copies of the Total Science remix of Vikter’s Messages)

One final note… Cue is going to be cleaning shop with a 5 year anniversary %50 off sale soon. So keep your ear to the grapevine, show up in the morning, and get ready to throw some elbows.

611 Records
611 S. 4th Street
215-413-9100
www.611records.com
Essential stop two doors down from Cue with a different vibe. They focus a bit more on house, techno, and jungle. You probably have more of a chance at finding that elusive Goya promo (and things of that nature) here, than anywhere else in the city. All the very latest deep and funky house. Plenty of four to the floor mixed in with bossa tres jazz, osunlade, guidance, afro art, theo parrish etc. Take your time in here….

About the Beat
1106 Pine St.
215-351-2328
Definitely a store to check out if you’re on a shopping spree for current dance tracks. No promises though because the shop just changed owners so go down there and steer them towards Archive and 2000 Black.

Armand Records
1102 Filbert St.
215-592-7003 or 215-592-7973
Great spot for everything from house and nu-jazz, to hip-hop and dusty reggae 45s. Joey Blanco, Paulie Paul and Kenny Meez are guaranteed to hook you up with the latest jamz. Make sure you wear earplugs for the loud booty music on the system if you want to stay any length of time though.

Sound of Market
15 S. 11th St.
215-925-3150
Great place to find domestic house, with an occasional broken piece that goes unnoticed. Really good prices on current and classic hip-hop.

Recordkingdom
813 North 5th Street
www.recordkingdom.com
A warehouse full of soul jazz goodies… i imagine a visit being similar to being invited into the wine cellars of Chateau Mouton Rothschild. Not open to the public however you can check them out online at the above url.

Philadelphia Jazz Record Exchange
608 S. Fifth St.
215-925-7892
A Philly institution with great prices on used jazz and soul. Pharoah Sanders to Lorez Alexandria to Cymande… you know the deal.

Princeton Record Exchange
20 S tulane st, Princeton NJ
One of the largest selections of 2nd hand vinyl around. Plenty of sweet jazz and soul nuggets hiding in there. Lots of pricey rare jazz if thats your bag. They do order current Ubiquity titles and other “dance” records, but it’s not their strong piont. No listening booths…

Plastic Fantastic
26 W. lancaster ave, ardmore PA
If you have time to sort through stacks and stacks of 2nd hand vinyl you may get lucky. My search for the 1st Dream Warriors LP ended here.