From his Barcelona headquarters, intrepid musical adventurist James Barrie operates Audio Texture, a radio program and music consultantancy with its finger on the pulse of emerging artists and trends in global dance and electronic music. James serves much as a musical ambassador, presenting new artists and tracks from points across the globe. A recent Audio Textures program featured the emerging producers of Russia, for example. There are no borders with James and Audio Texture is known for its unbridled variety of styles, from heavy bass to jazz to soul. The common theme is quality and Audio Texture has gained an international reputation for exposing new sounds and talent such as Floating Points, Tropics and Prommer & Barck.
Audio Texture is James’s latest venture in a lengthy history in the music business which began in the late 90s with the establishment of Camden CDs, a long running Camden Market institution for dance music.
James also DJ’d all around London, with long running residencies at The Bug Bar, Brixton, The New Cross Inn and The Trafalgar. Other notable gigs included Plastic People and the long running promotion Here Comes The Sun at the legendary Brixton after hours venue The Comedy House. He was also involved with live music promotion organising jazz, funk and Brasilian music at the popular HEAVY Thursday sessions in South East London.
In 2004 James created Street Level Distribution, promoting US urban artists, labels and Djs in the UK. Clients included Def Jam, G-Unit, Federation Sound and DJ Ayres as well as many other artists and djs both commercial and underground. He was also a founding member of staff at IF Music, one of London’s top record emporiums and regular haunt of Gilles Peterson, Norman Jay, Jazzanova, Pete Heller, Mr. Scruff and many others and worked in various capacitites for the world famous BBE record label label.
Getting restless, James traveled to Colombia and Brasil in 2006 before resettling from England to Spain, a move that has allowed him to take in the daily sunshine as well as expanding on his vision of music. In Barcelona, with inspiration from the Future World Funk parties, he created The Cosmic Jam party which brought leading DJs and producers to the city. James introduced the likes of DJ Food, Bonobo, Drumagick, Nouvelle Vague, Seiji as well as local talent to Barcelona’s music scene.
King Cannibal & Wrongtom at the Cosmic Jam Party
At the same time he began broadcasting the Global Souljah radio program in association with BBE Records, programming adventurous dance and soul music. Broadcast on Scanner FM in Barcelona, BLN FM in Berlin and other stations as well as online, Global Souljah evolved into Audio Texture. Audio Texture gives James a solid platform from which he can promote the music he loves and to continue his role as a musical tour guide, so to speak.
MundoVibe caught up with James Barrie to discuss his life in music and his ambitious plans for Audio Texture.
MundoVibe: James, you have been involved in music for what seems to be most of your life. How did music become such an essential part of what you do?
James Barrie: Actually I came to music a bit late, when I was around 26. I was always a keen, eclectic music fan, veering towards the esoteric, from the age of 13. I was equally at home at a Pixies or Pop Will It Eat Itself gig as listening to rare groove at Club Sandino with Blue Boy DJing in Northampton, my home town. I then got my mind blown by the whole UK rave scene which I jumped into feet first in 1990. The atmosphere was so incredible I basically lived for the weekend for about 18 months before the drugs started to take their toll, prompting me to move to Amsterdam, which on reflection perhaps wasn’t the best idea at the time.
I then embarked on a period of travelling for the next 6 years, working in ski resorts, hitch hiking around Europe and travelling around the world before I decided to settle down, sort my life out and earn some money by working for my father’s finance business. I soon realised it wasn’t for me and money wasn’t everything, so instead of saving for a mortgage deposit I spent all my money on some record decks, a decent stereo and loads of music and then thought right, I’ve got to do something I enjoy for the next 40 years, music it is and I moved down to London to make my fortune in the music business.
You site BBC Radio’s John Peel as an influence and inspiration to begin acquiring records. What was it about him that so inspired you?
John Peel is a Don, firstly for his unrepentant eclecticism, support for new artists and also for his radio style, which made you feel connected to him, like a friend or a cool uncle. He had such a laid back style, he wasn’t polished or pretentious, the show wasn’t full of jingles and over production, he sometimes played records at the wrong speed or played the wrong side which just made him seem even more human and likable.
Then there was the music! I’ve still got Ted Chippington and Napalm Death records and it’s entirely his fault. Whilst everyone at school was listening to Duran Duran and Spandau Ballet, Peter Williamson, my partner in crime at the time and myself were tuning in religiously to John Peel’s shows and as a consequence were buying The Dead Kennedys, Peter and The Test Tube Babies, Steel Pulse, The Fall and Ivor Cutler. To this day I still know all the lyrics to ‘California Uber Alles’ and ‘Too Drunk To Fuck’ – my poor middle class parents must have been expecting the worse when I was blasting those early 7″ punk singles out and shouting along.
I have to say Charlie Gillett also made me feel the same way with his radio show he also had great knowledge, great tunes and a friendly, disarming radio manner. It’s tragic they both died quite early when they still had so much to offer. Gilles Peterson is my other radio hero, solely for his musical tastes rather than his presenting style though.
The roles you’ve played in the music industry are many: DJ, record shop owner, promoter, publicist and consultant. How have you adapted to these various roles — is this a natural evolution?
A lot of these jobs are intertwined. As a DJ you’ve got your finger on your particular music pulse and it’s a short step from playing those tunes in clubs to promoting artists who make that music, writing about them or selling them. Evolution is probably the key word. Once you have a bit of experience in one role, see what’s going on and talk to other industry bods you discover what opportunities are available and with experience comes educated decision making about what works for you, what you are good at and what you enjoy.
Of these roles, which do you prefer?
My present roll as a music consultant and radio show host suits me just fine. Coupled with this I DJ occasionally and promote the odd party. I enjoy everything I do and even through the financial ups and downs and the fact I work long hours, it never seems like work, that is priceless.
Since you’ve been involved in the music culture and business how has it changed with the advent of the internet and digital formats?
In the last 15 years I’ve witnessed the biggest shake up of the music industry in it’s history, which is still happening with no real end in sight to the upheaval and uncertainty, it’s an exciting and scary time in equal measures. I’m sitting here in my office surrounded by 5000 dusty old records a couple of thousand CDs but now I rarely reach much past iTunes and a web browser to listen to music, which I have to say for someone who relies on organising large amounts of music and finding particular tunes quickly is a life saver.
The fact I don’t have to pay €10 for a 12″ b-side dub remix and can now pick it up whilst sitting on my lazy arse for 99c is a result as well, although being of a certain age I still head to the last remaining independent stores that suit my tastes when I can and I’m still interested in collecting old classic vinyl.
I also benefit from having my radio show podcast downloaded 10,000+ times a month, whereas before those people that like what I do in Australia, America, Brazil or wherever would never have heard of me. Rather worryingly though industry success is increasingly being measured by hits and views rather than money in the bank which is a bit worrying for new artists and record labels trying to make a living and that’s the modern music alchemist’s dream – to turn those hits into gold.
I could go on at real length here: from the way artists can now market themselves and bypass the industry – even though most of them would prefer and benefit from a record label and manager doing that so they can get on with producing music, to the mobile revolution, streaming, Mp3 increasing portability but ironically decreasing sound quality to me being able to mobilise people for a party with my Facebook friends and mailing lists. For anyone wanting to make sense of what is going on in this brave new musical world then I would recommend checking out http://www.hypebot.com/.
Vinyl records have made a considerable comeback in recent years. Do you see this as a permanent trend that will continue to grow? Does this have any impact on the music you are involved with?
Percentage wise vinyl purchases have increased for the lasts couple of years but you have to take into account vinyl use fell by about 90% (I’m guessing) before it started to rise again! Now most record labels are doing runs of 300 copies, 1,000 if they are really popular whereas just 7 or 8 years ago those figures would have been 5 times that. There will always be a market for physical sales, if only to satisfy the geeks and collectors in the world and those with decent hi-fi set ups that can notice the difference between a well mastered digital file and a vinyl record (which isn’t as much as they would like you to think) but I don’t see a major resurgence happening, simply because vinyl is so expensive these days and most people don’t have a record player any more!
Personally I’m really into music, not formats, but I have to admit to still preferring a physical product although I do buy a lot of MP3’s as well. For new albums I prefer a CD (well packaged please) for convenience sake – I don’t have to turn it over and it’s easy to rip and it’s there when my hard drive crashes. I like vinyl for original vintage recordings. It’s so evocative being able to hold that slice of musical history in your hands including the artwork and the format used at the time, despite the odd crackle and pop.
You more of less serve as a global ambassador for emerging producers, artists and genres. What would you define as your “mission”?
My “mission” is pretty ill defined. I basically wander open-minded and fairly randomly around the world of music that interests me, it just so happens I’m pretty inquisitive and restless so I enjoy searching out new artists and sounds. I then present the music that I find to anyone that will listen, whether it’s a radio show listener, punter in a club or a brand or establishment that would like to sound a bit different to their competitors. Sharing is a big part of what I do and also wanting to present an alternative to the dire pop (and increasing mono) culture that is increasingly pervasive. Internet radio in all it’s forms is a really important tool in that particular fight.
One thing that’s emerged with the internet has been the globalization of music and the rapid spread of artists from cities like London. What are your feelings on this?
Great!! It really has helped expose loads of interesting new music to people that would never have heard it. The less artists are at the mercy of lazy journalism, commercial media concerns and narrow media channels the better. If you relied on most of the music press and radio for example in Barcelona you wouldn’t know much about bassline culture but if Kode 9 or Pearson Sound comes to town then the club will be rammed and you can thank the internet for that. The internet for all the woe it’s brought to the music industry, record sales in particular, definitely has it’s positive sides and instant communication and easy personalised search and discovery are amongst them. There has been a real interest in Russian beat producers like DZA, Long Arm and Pavel Dovgal in the last year helped by the internet and it has also helped spread the word about obscure regional music genres like Kuduro or Brega for instance in recent times.
You’ve hosted the long running radio program, Audio Texture (formerly Global Souljah) for several years. What was the inspiration for this program and how has it evolved?
The show is basically a vehicle for me to share some of the music I am passionate about to a wider audience. The idea behind the show hasn’t altered although I’d like to think my presenting style has grown more confident. It’s simply a trawl through my current musical interests, the latest acts worthy of the hype, music which I am fortunate to get sent and stumble across with a few classics thrown in.
Since Audio Textures is known for its eclecticism, how do you go about programming it?
I choose 60 minutes of the best tunes of that week, lightly research them to make me sound all knowledgable and clever. I then try and make the most coherent ‘mixtape’ from all the styles and tempos I can, before recording the show in one take. I try to make my presenting as unobtrusive as possible whilst at the same time imparting a bit of knowledge before unleashing it on the world for anyone who cares to listen.
Since you undoubtedly receive loads of music, do you see the quality going down with the ease of production? What makes a track or artist stand out and make it to Audio Texture?
There is undoubtedly an increasing amount of crap music out there aided by the advent of affordable technology and the ability to download expensive production software for free. Fortunately you can apply lots of filters to it all to help the task of tracking down the cream. Before I used to trawl expensive Soho record stores in London, now I mostly trawl loads of record lists from the likes of Boomkat, Vinyl Underground, Bleep, All City and Sounds Of The Universe and subscribe to lots of record label mail outs from labels that I like and trust. Bandcamp notifications are increasingly playing a part as artists start to take control and swap a free track for an email address. I wish I had spare time to listen to more radio shows and podcasts as a trusted selector is also an aid to sorting the wheat from the chaff.
As to what makes a track stand out and make it to the show well it just has to move me in some way. I try and stay immune from all the hype surrounding certain releases and just have a listen, if it makes me smile, dance, sing or nod my head then it’s in with a good chance.
You’ve recently made the move from London to Barcelona. What was the motivation for this move and how do you find living there? Are you tapped into the city’s music culture or inspired by it?
I’ve been in Barcelona for five years now. I first fell in love with the city when I came here to visit friends and for Sonar years ago and I’d been mulling a new life in a smaller city with some decent weather. After 9 years of living in London I was running out of energy to make the most of the city, which requires you to work hard, play hard and cover long distances in crowded public transport or slow moving traffic.
I have to say the reality has largely lived up to the dream. I’ve had to adjust certain expectations like not being able to earn a living from DJing which was my initial intention but it’s all good and I can safely say that I will be here for a while although I don’t rule out a further move sometime in the future. The more laid back culture here suits me nicely as well with more emphasis put on friends and family, less on money (maybe because it’s harder to earn here?) and you can’t put a price on decent weather on a regular basis.
The only downside here is the music culture but after living in London that is only to be expected. There is a real lack of variety here not helped by a lack of venues. The decent spaces have entrenched promoters and owners who are largely unimaginative and unreceptive to change,. The Ajuntamento (powers that be) also decided to crack down a few years ago, in an attempt to make the city more business like, on the largely unlicensed music scene here which was quite vibrant spawning acts like Ojos De Brujo and Macaco, without allowing any alternatives to develop. They now seem to have realised their mistake but I don’t see any movement at present to rectify things. Consequently the scene here is pretty dire and uninspiring despite all the Barcelona Mestizo hype from a few years ago.
Not being one just to complain though I launched the Contraflow parties here 3 years ago, bringing over people like Seiji, DJ Food, Bonobo, DJ Moneyshot, King Cannibal and it was one of the best parties in the city for about 18 months. The lack of venues was a problem though. After battling multiple gangster venue owners that were intent on relieving me of my money (there is a good reason those venues are empty on a weekend!) I finally found a home in an old heavy metal club with a crucifix on the back wall and a pentagram light shade. It had nice warehouse vibes, laid back security but the cost of installing decent sound and visuals coupled with international DJ fees meant it was hard to make a living despite organising Sonar parties for Ninja Tune and the Red Bull Music Academy when they were based here.
Once Audio Texture is up and running and making decently lolly and I don’t have to rely on the parties to pay the rent I will get back on the scene though. Barcelona is my home and I want to contribute to its musicality and vibrancy. The idea is eventually to develop the parties into a festival and even a new forward-thinking venue equipped with killer sound that this city so badly needs. I know it’s going to be an almighty battle with bureaucracy but I have some cunning plans to make it happen, all I need now is the money.
One of the services you now offer as part of Audio Textures is as a music consultant. What sort of consulting services could a client come to you for?
The main services I offer through Audio Texture at the moment are in-store music and music branding. People, businesses and organisations come to me if they want musical advice. It could be help in selecting the correct music to represent their brand values, creating some great playlists to enhance the atmosphere in an establishment, program some music for an event or recently for example to compile, license and manufacture a CD for sale in a chain of stores. I am also looking to push into the world of TV, film and advertising synch next year. Audio Texture is presently just me and I just focus on the music which I am passionate about, which luckily is quite a wide spectrum and which largely suits more sophisticated and progressive brands and spaces, so it’s quite a personal and hence unique selection that I offer. Don’t come to me if you want a country & western or greatest hits selection for your Irish bar, which has already happened and which got refused — my life is too short to work with music I’m not passionate about.
Do you still get that thrill with music that you had when you first started? What keeps it exciting for you?
The music buzz is still there. Music can get me singing out loud, dancing round the office or badly serenading my girlfriend much to her distress. I love music whether its digging into musical history or searching for and dropping the latest beats. It helps that I’m not growing old gracefully and will be the last one to be dragged off a dancefloor if the music is good. I try not to let my knowledge get in the way of a good new tune that wears it’s influences and samples on it’s sleeve, I try and see music through the eyes of a 19 year old without all the baggage of multiple references, though if you put a heavily auto-tuned vocal in your track I will switch it off immediately and delete it from all playlists.
What genres of music and what artists do you have your eye on at the moment? What trends do you see for the summer of 2011?
Personally I’m on a bit of a folk rock mission at the moment. I’ve ignored the rock side of music for a while now but I’m learning to love it again helped by great compilations like Americana from BBE, the Joel Martin & Mo Morris mix CDs, the Popo Vuh remix project and the likes of Paul White using obscure Swedish prog rock artists as sample source material, I’ve even dug out my old Bad Brains albums although I might have to train a bit more before I dust off the Extreme Noise Terror Peel Sessions again.
If you want the latest trends then head over to Hype Machine although personally I can sense that more electronic producers will be inspired by the likes of Flying Lotus and Fourtet and start working with live musicians and vocalists more. As studio projects and producers can’t now rely on recorded sales to survive and the synch market is becoming ultra competitive they need to take the show on the road and there is nothing more boring than some geeky studio bod stuck behind a lap top, nervously looking up occasionally- I want to see a bass player, percussionist, horns, singer and at least two dancing girls, though how the artists and labels will afford it with no money is another matter.
What can we expect from Audio Texture in the future?
Audio Texture will be many things in the future, expect to see the radio show continue and hopefully get picked up by some more cool independent stations and an increase in the podcast listener base. I’m looking for a lot more clients for Audio Texture which will then give me the means to develop club nights, a festival and a permanent club space and to be a general force for musical good in the Iberian peninsular and beyond. Check the blog and radio show to keep updated – http://www.audiotexture.blogspot.com
Growing up in two countries — Chad as children and France as teens — the women of Les Nubians, Hélène and Célia Faussart, were shaped by both cultures. On their third recording, Nü Revolution their pan-African vision remains as vibrant and clear as ever. Nü Revolution embodies, both through music and lyrics, a true sense of ‘World Citizenship.’ Featuring special guests ranging from African music legend Manu Dibango to indie soul icon Eric Roberson, with South African pop stars Freshly Ground, Ghanian-American MC Blitz The Ambassador and Polish MC John Banzaï along for the ride. Les Nubians manage to make the blend of so many diverse elements seem logical and organic; it flows quite naturally from their multicultural lives.
MundoVibe’s John C. Tripp spoke with Hélène and Célia on the Nü Revolution via telephone from their new home of Brooklyn just after their first performance ever in the Caribbean island of St. Maarten.
MundoVibe: Congratulations on your third full-length recording, I’ve been absorbing it and I love it. It’s got a great message to it, it’s really uptempo, very celebratory vibe and I think it’s going to blow up for you. So, this Nü Revolution, I want you to tell me about it because I want to be part of it.
Les Nubians: Well, Nu Revolution is a two year process to put together and Nu Revolution, why, I guess NU for “new universe” and we’re entering a new time, everything is kind of changing and no more types of frontiers because of the internet. I feel like because of the written histories we all went through, the recession crisis, all the wars and all the natural catastrophies we feel even more related to each other than ever. So, this is a new universe we’re living in. There’s finally worldwide citizenship that’s for real now.
Disco get a rebirthing by Scotland’s Prolific DJ and Producer, Al Kent. MundoVibe Interviews Al Kent on his long history in dance music and his groundbreaking disco recordings and his Disco Love series on BBE
Disco never died. Some 40 years after its ascent up the charts its DNA is all over the myriad of dance music genres that keep us grooving, bumping and grinding. Without disco there would be no dance music as we know it today. It is disco that fused soul music with a booty-inducing groove, so infectious that it reached the far corners of the planet with its life-affirming sound.
One person who felt the earth move under the disco groove was Scotland’s Al Kent who, at an early age, had begun collecting rare soul and disco records (thanks to a dad who’s eclectic record purchases influenced Kent in a profound way). With the Northern Soul scene in full swing, Kent found himself immersed in a fervent and vibrant music culture. With this as his foundation he ventured deep into collecting vinyl, amassing a collection of rare grooves that would serve as his inspiration and sound library for years to come.
With the explosive arrival of house music, Kent began to experiment with music production and launched his musical career producing house tracks alongside Darrell Banks and a young Milton Jackson, but the turn of the decade saw him refocus his attentions to one of his earlier musical loves: Disco.
Using his house production skills, Kent launched his Million Dollar Disco label, featuring his unique re-edits of classic disco, pulling sounds from his now enviable collection of vintage disco and obscurities. These nuggets were well received but Kent wanted more: he wanted to create real disco and not just sample it. Kent formed his own disco band — The Million Dollar Orchestra — and proceeded to record a disco record so convincing that purists thought it was a long lost treasure from the disco vaults. “Better Days” was recorded in the traditional way, mostly one take, in an analogue studio. The sound is rich, lush, string laden, beautiful disco music, full of joy with phenomenal musicianship.
Not one to rest, Kent followed up “Better Days” with the equally lush “Secret Sounds”, all mixed by engineer Marco Rea in his analogue throughout studio, The Barn, with final production done by Kent his home studio (christened “The Disco Room” by his 4-year-old daughter). The results are pure disco heaven.
In addition to Million Dollar Orchestra, Al Kent has numerous compilations of his mixes, edits and even the sleeve artwork to his credit. It seems a natural that Kent would connect with London’s disco-loving BBE Records and his two Disco Love compilations and mixes for the label are must haves for disco and dance music connoisseurs. On these releases Kent selects and mixes his favourite lesser known tracks from the heyday of disco, most of which are Kent’s own exclusive edits. Black Rock, Crosstown Traffic, Patricia White and Quinn Harris are amongst the artists that have gone under the knife.
Like such legendary DJs as John Morales and Producer/Remixers like Tom Moulton, Al Kent has kept the spirit of disco alive with his passion for the music. In this day of auto-tuning and instant dance tracks it’s rare to find someone so dedicated to staying true to its spirit and soul. Like that perennial disco classic, Al Kent is here to stay.
MundoVibe Editor John C. Tripp corresponded with Al Kent over two weeks for this in-depth and definitive interview on his musical journey and his love for all things disco and beyond.
MundoVibe: Here it is some 40 or so years since the advent of disco and it is still influencing and inspiring DJs, producers and listeners. What do you think it is about disco that has give it such staying power?
Al Kent: It’s just good music. If you asked a soul or rock or jazz fan the same question it would still be relevant to them, so I don’t think we can say only disco has staying power; good music transcends time. But from a dance music perspective, disco nailed it. There are so many elements in there that it’s hard for anyone to resist – if you like drums, or if you like percussion, or you’re into soul or whatever – you’ll surely find something that touches you in a decent disco record.
I believe music production peaked in the 1970s, again not just on disco records but in music generally. Cheap and easy took over in the ’80s and even more so in the ’90s. It feels like we’re at a point where no popular music is made in anything even resembling traditional ways. Maybe disco is still loved by people because it’s of a time when musicianship and production were so highly polished that it feels like something special. The biggest trend after disco was house and those records were being made almost solely for dance-floors. Obviously there are exceptions, but in general the producers weren’t making music to be listened to outside of clubs. Whereas disco was a progression from R&B and soul which was always danced to anyway. So I guess quality is a big factor. (It’s worth noting that the worst disco records are the ones that were clearly made just to make people dance and cash in on the craze.)
Having said all that, I’m not sure that disco always had this “staying power”. The big backlash at the end of the ’70s meant it was scorned by most people to the point where it was almost forgotten.. other than the kind of records people in afro wigs would dance to in ’70s theme bars. House producers sampling old disco records was probably the starting point of a revival, helping people to understand a bit more about the music. Then compilations like Dave Lee’s “Jumpin’” series or Nuphonic’s “Loft” albums were a real education, books like “Last Night a DJ Saved My Life” and especially “Love Saves The Day” opened a lot of people’s eyes to what disco music was really all about. I think it’s fair to say that a hell of a lot of people would still think “Boogie Wonderland” was the Epitome of disco if it wasn’t for these things.
MundoVibe: The musicianship of that era has definitely stood the test of time and sadly much of today’s productions values pale in comparison. There’s also something about this music that expresses an unbridled emotion and feeling. What song or moment do you remember where the music really connected with you? What was it about it that spoke to you instead of, say, rock music?
Al Kent: That’s quite a tough question to answer because I got into disco gradually through soul music. So my eureka moment would’ve been hearing Marvin Gaye for the first time or something. To this day I can’t put my finger on why. I’ve always had a bit of the maverick in me so it’s possible I wanted to like something none of my peers liked, but there was definitely something in soul music that really touched me. It was all about the voice in those days though; Otis Redding became my idol. Then I discovered northern soul and the music itself became as important as the song, so that would be where my passion for “soulful dance music” came from.
I was such a music snob though (probably still am to a certain degree) – records had to be from the 1960s, had to be by black artists. But through exposure to later releases at northern soul events I slowly started to appreciate more “disco” records. No one over here really knew they were disco records at the time though. Curtis “How Can I Tell Her”, Anthony White “Hey Baby” or Rare Pleasure “Let Me Down Easy” were typical records that were played by people who’d turn their noses up at disco. It’s likely that the books and stuff mentioned above have actually influenced the way a lot of people now understand those records.
You mentioned emotion and feeling and I think in essence that’s the answer to the question. All the music I love has that quality, whether it’s the Teddy’s voice and the polished strings on a Philly record, or the passion of some unknown singer giving it everything he’s got because he only has the money for one day in the studio and his bus fare home!
MundoVibe: It seems you’ve had this driving love for this music since your youth in Scotland. What were your experiences and impressions then that gave you such a strong desire to be part of the disco/soul culture?
Al Kent: I think I partly answered that in the previous question.. I have a strong independent streak, especially when it comes to music. I’ve always avoided the mainstream and northern soul is probably the ultimate underground scene. It took quite a bit of dedication to be part of it, certainly in the 1980s when I was around it. The records were obscure and generally expensive, you couldn’t find them in your high street record shops. The venues were all miles away, always involving quite a journey. Some places were so hard to reach it’s a wonder anyone actually showed up! And of course the music was amazing.
All these things appealed to me greatly; I never had any interest in the music played in local clubs, or the people who frequented them. There was never any trouble at all-nighters, very little alcohol was consumed and there wasn’t a drunken mad dash at the end of the night to desperately try your luck with a girl, followed by some sort of street brawl.. which was pretty much what was going on in regular night clubs around me. There was a real sense of camaraderie and I quickly made hundreds of friends through this shared obsession with soul music. I could pretty much go to any northern soul event anywhere in the country and know I’d meet at least one group of friends. And I regularly did!
There was never a disco culture here in Scotland, even in its heyday. I’m too young to have visited clubs back then, but I’d be surprised if my local DJs had ever heard of Tom Moulton or Walter Gibbons, or if they’d played anything they couldn’t pick up in their nearest record shop. The records I mentioned above were examples of northern (or “modern”) soul records I’d hear at all-nighters, but they were always the 7″ versions and were played more because the tempo and/or rarity fitted the scene.
MundoVibe: The Northern Soul scene had a great impact on you then. Was it a big step to then begin amassing records and DJing or was it just a natural thing to do then? What was in your mind at that time, was it a sort of rebellious thing to do?
Al Kent: I never planned to be a DJ, or even to collect records actually.. amassed is probably quite a good word. I just bought records because I liked them and wanted to own them, but have never seen myself as a collector – collecting things seems a bit too nerdy, even for me. I bought records from a really young age so it wasn’t anything new to buy northern soul stuff. Just a lot more expensive!
I think it’s natural for anyone with a passion for something to want to share that somehow. So I guess it was natural to want to play my records to an audience. The first time I did it was just in a local community hall a few of us hired for the night. I played some records but I don’t remember thinking of myself as a DJ but I did enjoy it and we put on quite a few other events in various places. Looking back it was probably more about the event itself, a desire to put on a party, than about me being a DJ.
I’m not sure there’s actually such a thing as a professional northern soul DJ, it’s really just guys with good records who play for beer money and travel expenses. So it would be rare to find someone who describes himself as a DJ.
MundoVibe: Since there were no self-identified DJs in the Northern Soul scene, was the DJ culture and loft scene in places like New York City something that you were aware of? Were there other scenes or tends going on that gave you inspiration and guidance as you moved forward?
Al Kent: I’ve possibly misled you slightly – there were actually “name” DJs on the northern circuit, but what I mean is it wasn’t so much a career as it would be for a club DJ or for a mobile DJ. Of all the DJs we booked I don’t remember ever negotiating fees, it was all very much “whatever you can offer”. Generally the bigger names were also record dealers so had access to the best records and playing them at events was all just part of the obsession.
But to answer your question: no, I had no knowledge whatsoever of what had gone on in the states at that time. I’ve always been a bit of a hoarder though so would pick up old magazines or books if they looked interesting and I learned a little about disco that way. Then I came across some 12″ singles and started seeing the same names as remixers, or recognising certain labels and seeing things like “special disco mix” on the sleeves. Very slowly I started to paint a picture in my mind. I don’t remember consciously looking for information on disco music, but it did get into my subconscious.
It wasn’t until the house explosion at the end of the ’80s/early ’90s that I really started to DJ semi-regularly and I sort of moved away completely from the soul scene. That was where I learned a bit about mixing and started to pick up bits of information about people like Ron Hardy and Frankie Knuckles and the roots of house music, which is obviously disco. That whole Chicago thing, and the NY scene that preceded it was something I was never aware of before house music.
MundoVibe: So how did the Northern Soul movement mesh with the house music scene in Scotland? Considering the production values of house music one might think there’d be a certain distaste for it from a purist perspective. What was your experience with house?
Al Kent: The crossover was minimal at that point.. not only based on the difference in music, but it was a completely different scene. As I’ve mentioned a couple of times, northern soul really is an obsession to most people on the scene, so nothing else matters when you’re involved. House music got so big though that a few people did either move away from the soul scene altogether or would go to house music parties as well as soul events, but they were in the minority.
One of the most important people as far as introducing house music to Scotland was Yogi Haughton who also came from a northern soul background. It was at one of his events I first heard house music, and saw the effect it was having on people. There were two rooms in this venue, one playing northern soul, the other house and I met a friend on the stairs between the two rooms who was there for the house music. She dragged me into her room and to be honest it kind of freaked me out a bit.. northern soul events were always quite basic affairs – community halls or decrepit old ballrooms, primitive sound systems, dimmed lights. This room was full of smoke with a full light show, booming sound and it was packed shoulder to shoulder with people basically going crazy! I didn’t particularly get it, but was intrigued nonetheless. My next experience was at Southport weekender which was always quite big for northern soul fans but had recently branched out into clubbier stuff. A few of us ventured out of the soul room and spent some time listening to house music and this time i was less freaked out and more intrigued.
I found myself at a few more parties, bought a few of the records and slowly started to move more into that scene.
MundoVibe: House music seems to have spread in an almost viral manner, since I remember how huge it was in New York City and other cities in the States. This was also long before the internet could have any role in its dissemination. What do you think it was about house music that connected with so many people in so many places?
Al Kent: Because I came to house from a totally different place I wasn’t aware of it as early as those who were around when it first arrived over here. The first people to embrace it would have been DJs from the warehouse scene, or maybe into electro and so on as the first imports were sold in the same places they did their record shopping. By the time I got wind of it the party was in full swing so I can’t honestly say why the music took off like it did.
From my own experience it was the parties that got me, and I’m sure a lot of people would say the same. The atmosphere was incredible, and I know it’s not cool to say so, but ecstasy played a big part in that. As a music lover though I started buying some of the better records I was hearing.
MundoVibe: So true, I can’t remember a house music party during that time where ecstasy wasn’t being consumed, it seems that drugs have always been a factor in music scenes. With the scene blossoming with these huge parties and with house and disco as the template how did your DJing and production path develop from that point? When did it become full fledged?
Al Kent: My first “professional” gigs, as in being hired and paid, were in a local club. I guess much like the NY disco scene, when house hit everyone wanted a house night and a friend of mine knew a couple of guys who were looking for a DJ. I had some records so pretty much got the job for no other reason. I had no idea what I was doing in that environment – I didn’t even know what the pitch control on a turntable was for! But I bluffed it as best I could and over the weeks, through trial and error and watching DJs at other parties, taught myself to mix. That was at a time when you could fill a club all weekend every weekend if the music was right and the management and door staff were tolerant. So I was quite lucky to find myself in that position. That was probably when I started to take DJing more seriously because I was getting some money. I didn’t have a job so being paid to play records meant I could buy more records and blow the rest partying the rest of the weekend! But I was playing 100% new releases then. I didn’t see a place for disco at that point.
Production-wise, I think everyone who’s into music must have the urge to make some themselves, especially at that time when every DJ seemed to be releasing records. So I was always keen to try. I had a few false starts, paying an old rock engineer who happened to own a sampler but had no idea what house music was, trying to work with people who had conflicting ideas to mine and so on. I did produce a few records that I’m certainly not proud of now, but they started the ball rolling. Eventually I started doing some work with Glasgow’s Solemusic who were very supportive and put me into a decent studio which is when I would say I got more enthused about producing music. Without Stevie Middleton from Solemusic I would probably have given up and looked for a job!
MundoVibe: It seems we take a lot for granted with technology now. Having access to decent equipment has always been part of the challenge of creating music. How has your production (thus your music) evolved then as technology and your own experiences have matured?
Al Kent: Well, back when I first started I didn’t know anything about anything.. literally nothing. I’d show up at a studio with a bag of records and little more than an idea in my head. So the end result was always a bit hit and miss, and very very basic. Quite often I’d leave the studio with a cassette of my track and just feel I’d wasted a whole day because it was rubbish. But time is money. Then I got a decent Mac and a copy of Cubase VST and slowly taught myself to use that. So I could spend as long as I wanted on recording and editing, meaning I could take a completed track to the studio and spend a day mixing it instead of most of the day arranging and a quick mix before time was up. That was still pretty basic stuff though – a couple of samples over house drums.
Now I have an even more powerful Mac, but still use Cubase. I’ve never upgraded from version 2 of SX because it does what I need it to do. People ask me which I use; Logic or Pro Tools and I blush when I tell them Cubase. But I don’t use any plug-ins or virtual instruments or whatever, so I don’t see the point in spending a ton of money on something I then need to learn to use just to do the same thing I use Cubase for anyway.
I’m actually going in the opposite direction to everyone else now – I’ve got an old analogue mixing desk, some old keyboards and little bits of outboard gear that I’m adding to slowly. Because all my influences are old 1970s records that’s the sound I’m hoping to achieve, so digital doesn’t do it for me. The Mac’s really only for editing and arrangement, or I suppose I’ll use plug-ins for speed when writing or for knocking up a demo. So, to answer the question, my music hasn’t really evolved through technology, other than the ability to work on my own without the need for an engineer until the final stages.
It’s probably evolved through my experiences though. But that’s just natural for anything you spend a lot of time doing – instead of a couple of samples over house drums it’s a few musicians, or instead of a few hours arranging it’s a few days. I guess experience has given me more confidence to do more than just the basic stuff I started with.
MundoVibe: What productions did you release that you are most satisfied with?
Al Kent: From back then? Probably the first one is a song called “Good Inside” which was the first time I’d used vocals. It was just an accapella over some samples, very simple stuff, but it all worked really well together. “Love is Freedom” which I produced with Milton Jackson before he went all deep house and successful was along the same lines. Those samples worked incredibly well together. Even now I smile when I hear that one! The other one from that era is “Come Back Home” which again is the same idea – a nice vocal over some disco samples.
I guess it’s the “songs” I got satisfaction from. I realise it’s not particularly creative to lay a few samples on top of each other though and thousands of people have made thousands of similar records. It’s usually by accident you come across things that work so well, but that’s part of what makes it so satisfying.
The project I’m most satisfied with is easily the Million Dollar Orchestra album. There’s not a sample on there at all and it took about two years to get that together.
MundoVibe: Well, with the Million Dollar Orchestra you went all out and hired all live musicians for a full fledged disco production. How did you put this together and what were the challenges in doing this? Are youpleased with the results?
Al Kent: The initial idea was never to take it so far – I’d got really bored with just using samples and hadn’t actually had any interest in the type of music I was making for a number of years. I hadn’t bought a new release, didn’t play any new releases as a DJ and didn’t enjoy going to clubs and hearing new music. I was really just going through the motions because it was how I’d become comfortable working. It was laziness. And it was pointless; I got no satisfaction from it and certainly wasn’t getting any money from it. So I started toying with the idea of making some disco tracks, something more from the heart. The first step was “writing” which consisted of me creating some backing tracks from samples; bits of percussion and drum loops from disco records. Then I got a couple of friends to play keys and bass, just emulating records I played to them. I got maybe twelve or so rough ideas together and spent a bit of time editing and getting something coherent out of the few bits I had. I still didn’t have a plan at that point though.
Mark Robb, a good friend of mine who’s very involved in a lot of soul and jazz things that go on in Glasgow got quite interested in what I was doing and asked if I could do a live show for him. I’ve never been known to turn down a gig so Mark and I put together a band to perform some of the tracks I was writing plus a couple of covers. We had a few loose rehearsals normally with only a few people at a time turning up but the show went really well. That was when I started to think about scrapping all the stuff I’d been working on and recording it all live. It seemed weird to have met all these amazing musicians then to sit back down at my computer and start chopping up samples again.
So we did some more rehearsals to let everyone get a feel for the tracks and I booked a studio…
The challenges were really just the sheer number of musicians we had to work with… that and the amount of channels we needed to use on the desk! Thankfully Marco Rea, whose studio we used, is a fantastic engineer so he handled everything perfectly. Without him I don’t think we could’ve got anywhere near as good a result as we did. Editing was very time consuming. We were doing it together in the studio initially, but once I realised how long it was taking I brought everything home and worked on it here. That was kind of hard work.. I went from the couple of samples over house drums I was used to, to something like 56 tracks of strings, horns, percussion and so on.. I think we got carried away! But I loved every minute of it.
I’m really pleased with the results. It’s unusual because normally when I listen to something I’ve made all I can hear is what could’ve been better. My only regret is that we didn’t record any songs. Well, we actually did, but they didn’t make it onto the album. We’d come so far down the road producing the tracks as instrumentals that when we added vocals as an afterthought they just didn’t gel. Still, it means we have some lyrics already written for the next album!
MundoVibe: The result of that first recording from Million Dollar Orchestra was “Better Days”, which came out on BBE Records. How did you connect with BBE? What was the response to the release? How did people react knowing out that you’d gone to such efforts to record it?
Al Kent: I still didn’t have any solid plans when I finished the album, I just sent copies round a load of labels I thought might be interested. The loose idea I had was to put it out myself if need be but it would obviously be better to get somebody more experienced behind it. BBE is a label I’d always admired so they were one of the ones I approached. A few labels got back to me but I really liked BBE’s attitude to the album, and business in general, so happily went with them.
The response was good – I didn’t expect to make a fortune from it, so it came as no surprise when I didn’t, but the feedback I got was all very positive. Which is really all you can ask for if you’re involved in anything creative; that people you admire, or people who share your tastes appreciate something you’ve done. It’s always really difficult to judge your own music – when I listen I can hear each element and listen a lot more closely than a casual listener would, so I really have no idea how they sound as complete tracks, and especially have no idea if I got the recording and mixing process right for what I was hoping to achieve. Thankfully a lot of people were fooled into thinking it was recorded in the 1970s, so I guess it worked out.
I think people who know me, or know of me, were most impressed with what I’d done.. I was asked about samples and things like that when it was released, so I’m sure there are plenty of people who had no idea the lengths I’d gone to. But through the MDD site, mailing list and various interviews I did there were a lot of people who knew early on what I was up to. It was great to get feedback from those people because it was partly based on their appreciation of the work involved. But at the end of the day, no matter how long it took or how much work we’d put into it, it’s the finished product that counts. The tracks could’ve been rubbish after all that so any positive critiques were good, whether the person knew the background or not.
There were a couple of negative things – someone didn’t like it because it wasn’t as good as Tom Moulton or Patrick Adams! (must remember to record MFSB in Sigma Sounds next time then!) And one guy on a forum called it the worst most boring fake record of the year! That was a bit weird.
Was Al Kent born with headphones on? The disco love started young.
MundoVibe: “Better Days” not only fooled many into thinking it was the real thing, it also received accolades for its authenticity and for its modern sound. How did this release shape your next projects, did you apply a different methodology to what you did?
Al Kent: The next project was “Secret Sounds” which was a lot simpler than the Orchestra thing because there was very little recording involved. I would imagine most people who produce music have hard discs full of unfinished and forgotten tracks; I had tons – rough ideas, tracks I’d gone off, MDO sessions we hadn’t used. Better Days had taken so long and been really costly (I had to sell a lot of records to finance it) so I couldn’t just simply do a follow up until I’d had a rest and recouped some money. But I also couldn’t see myself taking an actual break. So I worked with what I had. As far as my part in producing that project there wasn’t really any comparison to the Million Dollar Orchestra. But when it came to mixing I made sure I went back to Marco and we treated those sessions much the same as we did the other ones.. everything went through the desk and analogue outboard gear again, we bounced it to tape and so on.
I think we both learned a lot from the MDO sessions and I guess I do have a different way of working now thanks to that. I know now how I want things to sound and have a fair idea of how to get it right whereas there was a lot of trial and error before. And I find it quite difficult now to work on anything as simple as what I had been doing which is a bit of a hindrance as it slows everything down, but it’s hopefully worth it.
MundoVibe: Considering the work you put into learning this process and its genuine nod to classic disco let’s hope there’s more of this to come. Do you see any connections of what you are doing to other artists and studios? For example, in Brooklyn is Daptone Studios which treats soul music in a similar fashion as you to disco. Do you want to expand what you’re doing and bring other artists into it?
Al Kent: I have to be honest and admit that I don’t really keep up to date with who’s doing what. Of course I know of Daptone and a few other names are familiar, but my time is taken up so much doing my own thing that it’s difficult to investigate much else. But I suppose we’re all trying to do similar things.. make the music we’re influenced by in a respectful way and in a way that allows us to get an authentic sound. As I hinted at before, there’s no point in using old equipment and traditional method’s if your music sucks, so the recording process is only part of the puzzle.. but for me it’s a big part!
I’d love to work with other artists. Vocalists in particular. That’s the one thing that’s missing from my music and it’s something I’m very keen to rectify. I’ve spoken to a few people about it recently so that’ll be happening soon. I’d also love to work with other producers, just to bring some fresh ideas in. But it’s genuinely hard to find anyone who fits the way I want to work or who has the same influences, or complimentary influences.
MundoVibe: One would certainly think there’d be vocalists eager to work with you. If you could work with any vocalists from the classic disco era who might they be?
Al Kent: Without question Chaka Khan. But that’s a dream that’ll never come true! There are people who I’ve been in touch with who maybe sang on some obscure old 45, or people who I’ve run into on the dreaded facebook that I’d happily work with. The difficulty is they’re all in New York or Detroit so it’s not easy to record them, and I’d be terrified to do it without being present to oversee things.
MundoVibe: Maybe one day Chaka Khan will knock at your door, one never knows! Apart from your recording projects you have gained a solid reputation as a re-editor and compiler of rare disco and soul tracks, released as “Disco Love” by BBE. How did this project arise? Are these tracks culled from your own collection or do you seek them out? How do you go about the re-editing process?
Well I’d been doing these small run CDs of rare disco tracks for a while – “Disco Demands”- which I sold through the MDD site. I sent some of them to BBE around the time we were talking about the Million Dollar Orchestra. Peter said “Pity you didn’t let us put these out” or something like that, I said I had plenty more if he was genuinely interested and so we started planning the first Disco Love. I was really surprised because obviously there are some pretty serious people on that label and I’m just this guy from Glasgow who likes records.
The Disco Love tracks are all records I already have.. but I’ve noticed recently that I’ve been justifying a few purchases with the excuse that I can use them for a future compilation!
I don’t really have a particular set process when I’m editing. I think it’s the same with producing; half the time the initial idea you had won’t work and at some point you’ll go off on a tangent. Or give up. I’ve pretty much stopped trying to work things out in advance because it’s invariably a waste of time.
I’ll edit almost everything that I buy – either because there are parts I don’t like or other parts I particularly like, or just to give it a unique twist. I’ve bought so many records over the years though specifically because I thought I could make a good edit that have just been a complete waste of money!
Anyway, a rough idea of my editing process: Record the audio first, of course, then start chopping.. Usually I’ll hack away at the audio as it plays, deleting anything I don’t like straight off, highlighting anything I think will work particularly well. Then it’s usually a case of trial and error, looping certain parts, moving things around until I find a groove I like. Things have to feel natural, but also a bit unnatural if possible! Once all that’s out of the way it’s plain sailing.. it becomes quite organic.. just listening to the track you know what should happen at certain points so it’s only a matter of making sure these things happen when you sense they should.
MundoVibe: So, in a sense you are re-defining what disco is for modern ears with your edits. Can you pinpoint what is different now in terms of what is appealing to you and to the listener/dance-floor?
Al Kent: I don’t know if I’m necessarily doing it for modern ears – there’s a very long history of editing in disco and I feel like I’m really just keeping up that tradition.
I can’t speak for the dance-floor; I can only do what I like and hope that it works for them too. One thing I do know though is that I’m tired of hearing the same few disco records played again and again. So that’s mainly what drives me – trying to find records that maybe aren’t so well known or are underplayed or forgotten, but also sound great in a club (there are plenty of records that are unknown because they’re awful!). And then I try to make them sound even better! I love the classics too but for me it’s much better to play a new version instead of boring people with “I Know You I Live You” or “Do What You Wanna Do” for the zillionth time. And I guess that’s perhaps what I’m aiming for when I edit – I don’t want to play the same records that any other DJs play. Or at least not in the way they play them. That appeals to me and it’s probably refreshing for the dance-floor too.
House music obviously had a massive impact on the dance-floor which changed the way music was played in clubs. So I always think it’s a good idea to construct an edit with that in mind. All those edits you hear where someone’s looped the intro and then it’s just the song confuse me. What’s the point in that? It seems a lot of people just want to be able to say they did an edit. What appeals to me is creating a whole new track from something – sometimes even completely changing the feeling of something just by emphasising certain parts and losing others.
MundoVibe: So not only do you select rare tracks for the “Disco Love” releases, they are also stamped with your re-edited sound style. What tracks are you featuring in the new “Disco Love” release and how does it differ from the first?
Al Kent: I didn’t think I’d been too radical with the editing on Disco Love (I didn’t know I had a style either!). Although looking at the track-list now I actually did completely restructure quite a few of them.. I can’t help myself sometimes!
Disco Love 2 doesn’t differ so much from the first one in that it’s simply a bunch of records I really like. I didn’t have a set path for the first but from reviews I’ve seen it seems like there is some sort of theme I didn’t consciously plan. I just hope it isn’t ruined by part 2 as I didn’t have that in mind when I was choosing those tracks. But they’re both a reflection of my taste in music with records chosen for their quality rather than value or scarcity, so I’m sure the “theme” will carry on.
The songs on part two that are getting the best reactions are Sandy Barber “I Think I’ll Do Some Stepping On My Own” and Elijah John Group “Keep a Little Love For Yourself”, neither of which are particularly difficult to track down, but are great examples of the type of music I love.
Both albums have one track I submitted then regretted when it was too late though.. I always seem to do something stupid!
MundoVibe: With the compilations and Million Dollar Orchestra you have a lot to handle. What can we expect for the future? A live tour perhaps or a reunion with some of disco’s best DJs? What do you have planned?
Al Kent: The comps and so on are only part of it.. I keep a lot of balls in the air!
Million Dollar Orchestra live is something I would love to do at some point. We had quite a few offers after the first album, but obviously with that giant band and everyone having other commitments etc., it was very difficult to get anything together. The next time we record I’ll make sure there are some songs that can easily be played live without having 20 people on stage.. unless of course anyone has the budget for the full band, then I’ll gladly do a full show!
I don’t really make plans.. I just do what I can from day to day. Right now I’m working on a latin-ish disco project with a few guys, running a monthly party in a warehouse in Glasgow, re-editing like crazy, negotiating a tour of Australia, possibly Japan, possibly USA and working on some remixes for Blue Note and Clone.
Sidi Touré made his first guitar as a child, constructing it from his wooden writing slate in the ancient town of Gao, Mali. Once the heart of the Songhaï empire and burial place of its Askia kings, the town rests between the Niger and the encroaching ocean of sand known as the Sahara Desert. The Songhai empire was the last of the great empires of the Sahel, reaching its zenith under Soni Alibert (Sunni Ali) in the mid 400’s. Sidi Touré was born here in 1959, but to be born a Touré, a noble family who trace their lineage directly from the Askia kings, carried a significance and onus of a past that reaches directly into the present. Like another Malian noble turned singer, Salif Keita, Sidi Touré faced a conflict between the inexorable pull of music and the expectations of family and society. Touré’s family had been sung about, and sung to, by traditional griots for centuries, but until a small boy challenged the rules, the Touré’s did not sing!
Velanche is the host and producer of Urban Landscapes, the weekly radio broadcast showcasing jazzy and soulful club culture from around the world. The show dives into nu-jazz, broken beat, rare funk, soul, house, downtempo, and related variants thereof.
Launched in January 1998, the show has evolved from its humble beginnings of ambient, downtempo and trip-hop sounds, evolving into its current form.
Velanche has been with KCPR, the college radio station of California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo, since September 1997. He was also the RPM Director for the station for four years, as well as the alumni director. He has hosted other shows, and is currently co-host of Club 91, a weekly live dance mix show.
Velanche’s work with Urban Landscapes has earned a respectable following. He has profiled and/or interviewed a number of artists and producers, including Jonathan Moore from Coldcut, Jason Swinscoe from the Cinematic Orchestra, Martin Iveson aka Atjazz, Gilb’r of Chateau Flight (and founder of Versatile Records), Chris Vogodo from Zero dB (and co-founder of Fluid Ounce Records), The Angel, members of Bugz in the Attic, members of the Gonkyburg crew (Swell Session, Ernesto, Mimi Terris, and others), and Magnus Zingmark from Koop among others.
There’s a gentle, organic and soulful spirit to Nostalgia 77’s fourth studio album “The Sleepwalking Society”. With vocalist Josa Peit giving a wistful and heartfelt voice to the band leader Benedic Lamdin’s organic compositions it’s an album that exhibits tremendous song writing and musicianship.
Nostalgia 77 has masterfully crafted an album of introspective, personal and timeless music on “The Sleepwalking Society.” It’s a sound that delicately fits amongst various genres of jazz, folk, blues and soul, all the while being highly enjoyable and rewarding listening.
Les Nubians, consisting of Paris-born sisters Hélène and Célia Faussart, return to the world stage with the release of their third album, Nü Revolution, on April 19th via Shanachie Entertainment.
The Grammy nominated duo fully delivers on the promise of their breakthrough efforts with a relentlessly enchanting and energized mix of R&B, hip-hop, African music and other world elements.
“The main difference between this album and the others,” muses Hélène, “is that Nü Revolution is more uptempo. This album is a celebration of life! We wanted to bring and spread this energy, this joy in a time of uncertainty.”
Indeed Nü Revolution may be the most impressive representation of Les Nubians’ Afropean Soul to date. Featuring special guests ranging from African music legend Manu Dibango, whose “Soul Makossa” crossover classic gets a politically charged make-over, to indie soul icon Eric Roberson, with South African pop stars Freshly Ground, Ghanian-American MC Blitz The Ambassador and Polish MC John Banzaï along for the ride. Somehow, Les Nubians manage to make the blend of so many diverse elements seem logical and organic; it flows quite naturally from their multicultural lives.
TALKING WITH PHILLY SOUL POETESS URSULA RUCKER ON HER FIFTH ALBUM “SHE SAID”
As a poet and performance artist, Ursula Rucker has enchanted critics and fans across the globe with her diverse repertoire, captivating vocals and accessible poetic verse.
Born and raised in Philadelphia, she began documenting her observations of the world when she was just a girl. A graduate of Temple University’s journalism program, Ursula kept her creative writing as a prized, personal possession until she was prepared to share with the world. In 1994, she introduced an open-mic night audience at Philadelphia’s Zanzibar Blue to the beauty and urgency of her poetry.
Word quickly spread throughout the city of Ursula’s poetry and stage performance, which has been described as “strong, vulnerable, wounded and raging.” Producer King Britt invited her to create her first recording, the 1994 single, “Supernatural” (Ovum/Slip N Slide UK).
It has been four years since ground-breaking DJ Nick Luscombe began hosting the Sunday evening XFM radio show, “Flo-Motion” a focus for cutting edge electronic music from around the world. His programme and DJ sets, including a residency at London’s ICA and appearances at Big Chill, vary from minimal house and techno to textural grooves. In addition to DJing Luscombe also runs the London- and Tokyo-based record label Bambola.
Flo-Motion is a focus for atmospheric and leftfield club sounds across a wide musical spectrum including deep house, jazz, dub and techno. Airing for more than four years it has gained a loyal and increasing listenership from London, the UK and around the world via its webcast. Flo-Motion has since spawned its own regular club nights at respected venues such as London’s Cargo, 93 Ft East and the Institute of Contemporary Arts. Guests at these nights have included Manitoba, Murcof, Pilote, Seelenluft and Tom Middleton. Luscombe is also a regular DJ/presenter on a number of in-flight radio channels including Swiss International, British Midland and Singapore Airlines.
During the last few years Luscombe has DJd at various parties and regular nights in London, Europe and Japan. Equally at home playing to large outdoor crowds (such as during his DJ support for Royksopp on the main stage of last year’s Big Chill), or at smaller more leftfield club events, Nick’s DJ sets manage to totally lift an audience with his mix of deep house, techno, drum and bass and jazz.
Luscombe has compiled and produced a number of albums of modern electronica including the popular “Flo-Motion” CD and has recently created the Bambola Recordings imprint. Nick also writes music articles for various British and Japanese magazines, and is increasing asked to contribute record sleeve comments and sleeve notes.
MundoVibes: What were your early musical influences? How have your tastes in music evolved?
Nick Luscombe: When I was very young I would enjoy playing my parent’s records – mainly 60’s pop 7″ singles.The record that had the biggest effect on me at the time was “Wichita Lineman” by Glen Campbell. Those strings just got me hooked!
When I was old enough to buy my own records the very first single I bought was “From Here to Eternity” by Giorgio Moroder. I still have it, and still like it! I went on to develop a taste in all things electronic, whilst also getting into records such as Love’s “Forever Changes”, the Byrds and the Velvet Underground. As I grew older my musical horizons kept on growing wider to take in jazz, drum n bass and funk.
MV: At what point did you become interested in radio and how did you become involved?
NL: I always loved radio, and would avidly tape my favourite shows from a young age. I started working in radio for the BBC as a sound engineer, whilst at the same time being in bands and djing. I had no idea that one day I would actually be presenting radio! I started by presenting a show for one of Swissair’s audio channels, playing a fusion of electronic downtempo sounds, jazz and techno. After a few years I was given the opportunity to do the same show for the London based FM station XFM. My show, Flo-Motion, has been on air live every Sunday for the past 4 years.
MV: What are some of the radio shows or radio hosts that have influenced you?
NL: Without doubt John Peel was my biggest influence. He totally opened up my mind at quite a yound age. before that, when I was very young, I loved the sound of the BBC Radio 2 Orchestra – the lushest strings playing pop songs of the day.
MV: What is your opinion of radio today — what is its role now as new technologies have emerged?
NL: I think radio has become a very powerful and positive force, generally for good. It’s future looks very good I think, and can only be better for the moves into new technology like Digital radio and via the internet. There is still a lot to be said for people to actually programme and present music shows – it’s kind of an old fashioned concept, in the age of i-tunes, but I think it’s that human touch that will always draw people in.
MV: Your radio program, Flo-Motion, is known for its open-minded approach to programming. What is the philosophy that ties the music together?
NL: I am so lucky to be able to have chosen all the music that I play on the show since it started back in 2000. As my musical directions have developed and subtly changed since the beginning, the radio show has had to go with it! I think because my tastes are so wide ranging that it helps for an open minded policy to the show’s programming.
MV: What types of music do you program for Flo-Motion and how do you find it?
NL: The music on Flo-Motion varies from Detriot techno to jazz, from broken beats to more experimental forms of club music. I find a lot through the internet, going to record shops and via my letter box!
MV: There are a lot of DJs that could never be radio progammers. What makes a good radio show?
NL: For me a good radio show is one that draws you in, giving a totally immersive audio experience, with real human qualities like humour and warmth.
MV: Does having any international listenership via the web change how you program music?
NL: I always assume that there is just one listener and that he or she could be anywhere on the planet! It doesn’t affect what I program at all, but mostly the music on the shows is very international anyway.
MV: How do you forsee radio in the future?
NL: I think it will become more important thanks to technology. Digital radio is starting to pick up strongly in the UK which means that so called specialist shows like Flo-Motion are nationally available. That will cause other networks to compete with similar programming, which would in turn help to further support artists and labels working in that particular field.
MV: What is your approach to DJing in a club environment, as opposed to radio?
NL: I try to combine some of the elements of the radio show in my club DJ sets, but tend to focus more on music that makes people dance, so will play a lot more latin, jazz funk, disco and occasionally, a little grime and drum n bass too too!!
MV: Are there any types of music that you avoid — that we will never hear you spin?
NL: Hmmm….. possibly I won’t be playing Heavy Metal, although I did see some pretty amazing Death Metal act in Norway earlier this year that was amazing!! (so you never know!!)
MV: Do you feel that people are more open-minded in their listening habits today or are their very narrow in what they listen to?
NL: Generally people are very open minded I think, much more than before. I think this is partly due to the availablity and ease of sourcing all kinds of music, with things like internet shopping for example.
MV: How do people react to the music that you play?
NL: It’s very encouraging for me that when I do get feedback from listeners that it is pretty much always positive! I guess if people don’t like it, they don’t listen…..
MV: Do you feel that you have a responsibility as a DJ and radio programmer to push the limits and open people’s ears to new sounds?
NL: Yes for sure. But gradually and with subtlety. I like the idea of playing new music in an environment of familiar sounds rather than a sonic assault! Again it’s about being drawn in and being taken to places that you weren’t expecting you’d like.
MV: How do you select the music for your compilations? Please tell us about the compilations you have worked on so far.
NL: I have selected for 4 compilations so far. One was a compilation of Japanese club music for Swissair called “Desination Tokyo”. This involved spending a week in Tokyo and Kyoto, meeting with labels and artists and then sitting down with hundreds of CDs on my return, and sifting to find the bext tracks! The next was another Japanese collection for my label Bambola Recordings. I used the same methods to choose tracks. I have also released Flo-Motion Volume 1 via Kudos Records, and The Sky Diaries on Exceptional, which was a mix CD featuring the music from the now deleted 12″ series.
I am currently working on Flo-Motion Volume 2, to be released April 2005.
MV: What are some of the trends in music that are most interesting to you?
NL: I love the fact that the live element is very important again. I love the way that electronic music makers have become much more about live shows with full bands.
MV: What do you enjoy most about programming music? What are the greatest challenges?
NL: It’s amazing to me to be able to hear so much great music on a daily basis. I feel very honoured to be in that position. The challenge is to try and listen to everything I get sent – I don’t wanna miss that classic, great track hidden away as track 5 on an unmarked CD-R!!!
MV: What plans do you have for future projects?
NL: Lot’s more records coming out on my Bambola Recordings label in 2005 from Maki Mannami, Isa and Lopp vs Sista Widey.
Working on Flo-Motion Volume 2 as I mentioned. Also producing and recording with my band which I wanna see playing gigs in 2005!
XFM Flo-motion Sundays 9pm to Midnight in London on 104.9FM, throughout the UK via Sky Digital 864 and worldwide on the internet at www.xfm.co.uk.
Ursula Rucker Speaks with MundoVibe’s John C. Tripp on Her Fifth Recording, “She Said”
As a poet and performance artist, Ursula Rucker has enchanted critics and fans across the globe with her diverse repertoire, captivating vocals and accessible poetic verse. Her fifth live studio album, She Said, is an organic live recording with a full band showcasing Ursula’s diverse and complex artistry across many styles. This is Ursula’s first recording to feature a live in the studio session and focuses on Ursula’s well-honed skill and prowess as an improv vocalist. MundoVibe.com’s John C. Tripp interviewed Ursula from her Philly base.
Any serious underground beat junkie of the past decade has heard Moonstarr’s now-classic “Dupont” as well as his long list of remixes for such labels as Compost, Sonar Kollektiv, Jazzanova, Do Right! Music. The fact is, even though his demeanor is completely low-key, Moonstarr is one busy and prolific cat. While maintaining a full-time job as a technician, he’s holding things down on the business end for his Public Transit Recordings (PTR) record label, breaking beats live on the P.A. and hunkering down with synths, drum machines, and samplers to bang out mind-melding beats for his appreciative global audience.
Moonstarr’s “Dupont”
Moonstarr’s musical history encompasses the entire recent history of modern urban music, stretching from hip hop to drum’n’bass to broken beat and also including some goofball humor. Citing musical influences as diverse as Underground Resistance, DJ Premier, Baden Powell, Zakhir Hussein and Sun Ra, Moonstarr’s sound has continuously evolved as he’s journeyed both literally and figuratively. His collaborations reflect his diverse influences: projects for indie soul, electronic, and jazz heavyweights such as Jazzanova, Recloose, and 4Hero. In the process, Moonstarr has gained worldwide acclaim for his music.
Besides running Public Transit Recordings, the label he co-founded with Dialect (Mano Narayanan) in 1998, Moonstarr is busy playing shows and rocking dancefloors in Berlin to Tokyo to Puerto Rico to all points in between. His trademark live performances have graced London UK’s legendary CO-OP club night, Montreal’s MUTEK Fest, San Francisco’s BetaLounge, and the Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh.
In 2010 Moonstarr is back with a vengeance. After a long minute making beats for other peeps like Voice, LAL, Daedelus, DJ Kentaro, Zero DB and scoring music for film (cult hit film Next: A Primer On Urban Painting), our man heeded the calls and poured energies into his latest album, Instrumentals Forever, his second full-length release on Public Transit Recordings. To say this is a highly anticipated record is an understatement, given the worldwide rounds and critical acclaim that followed his bossabreakbeat and synth-infused debut album Dupont earlier this century. On this latest outing, Moonstarr effortlessly melds the sonic spaces between hiphop, techno and bossa-jazz with that classic Moonstarr drumbreak swing programming. Not one to shy away from being a bit cheeky, Instrumentals Forever is a slight play on words with tracks featuring vocal collaborations with bossa soul crooner Sarah Linhares, political dub soul collective LAL, Montreal hip hop luminary Lotus Jai Nitai and jazz-inflected Toronto hip hop fams Fineprint. In addition to this full length, Moonstarr release a 7″ called Farfisa 45, featuring Tony Ezzy on the Farfisa Organ. The songs pay homage to great Brazilian organists like Walter Wanderley and Ed Lincon. Featuring dirty drum breaks and samples played by Moonstarr and jazzy Farfisa Organ work by Tony Ezzy. So, if you’ve been sleeping on Moonstarr it’s time to time to tune back in: he may take his time but at 33 this cat has a few years ahead of him.
Mundovibe spoke with Moonstarr on his past, present and future:
MV: I’ve been listening to your music and your remixes for a number of years and you’re clearly somebody who I respect and I enjoy following. Let’s go back to the beginnings: what scene did you tap into or come out of? Give me some history on the Toronto scene.
KM: When I was growing up I was hugely influenced by college radio. Stations like CKLN, CIUT in Toronto, even commercial radio back then was really great to listen to as a kid growing up. There was a lot of stuff going on at that time on the radio. I’m 33 so my golden years were early 90s: early hip hop but also going to raves at the same time and a really solid house scene in Toronto was going on back then. So, I was just influenced by all of these angles. Radio in particular had a huge force in determining my future, in shaping my future. Because not only the music, I was also getting into news, politics and just hearing really far out ideas and radio art, radio news and all different types of musical genres too.
“It was really amazing to follow those guys into a whole new musical genre. They were taking all of the elements of house and techno and all of the drum programming from drum & bass and bringing that into broken beat.”
So, it was natural for me when I started to DJ to be interested in trying to find all different types. But I kind of was limiting myself to drum’n’bass and hip hop and also techno. Those are the three main genres that I kept sticking to but there’s so many sub-genres in those musical cultures that kicked off. I was really into the drum’n’bass community in the early ‘90s: Reinforced records had a huge influence on me and then later on to follow all those producers as they started making broken beat, people like Dego and Marc Mac (4 Hero), Somatic. It was really amazing to follow those guys into a whole new musical genre. They were taking all of the elements of house and techno and all of the drum programming from drum & bass and bringing that into broken beat.
So, in the late ‘90s my sound started to mature more and I had circulated enough demo tapes to my friends to build the confidence to release my own stuff I started a label called Public Transit Recordings. That was in 1998 and at that time too we were living in an area of Toronto that was close to the University of Toronto and I was rooming with some friends that were going to university and we were throwing parties at our house and we got tired of cleaning up after, so we decided to throw a party at a venue and we invited all our friends and all our DJ friends. It was a huge mix of genres: we had house DJs on the top floor and MC performances in the basement and we called our friends up, from the Elemental crew in Columbus (Ohio): Charles Monochrome, Arktyp and they brought this mid-Western American thing into the mix. We also started the label with that first party and we released a compilation called “Code 416” that featured some of the artists that were performing. After that we started to grow outside of Toronto by promoting ourselves through the DJs that were coming into the city. And also connecting with old friends like people are Reinforced. We would send promos and they would help distribute them around.
MV: The community from that era was so tight and so into helping each other.
KM: You really had to rely on other people because the internet was just coming up. In the ‘90s it was all about passing tapes and CDs around. I remember the first CD burner I bought was 400 bucks and it only burned at 8X so you’d have to start planning on Monday or Tuesday how many CDs you were going to get rid of on the weekend to all of the DJs that were coming in from out of town and start burning then. So, you really had to rely on people to help you out and it still happens today but it’s just in a different context. Today you can do a lot more yourself, in terms of online promotion. You still have to rely on other people to “retweet”, you know what I mean? But back then it was really physical, you had to hope that the five CDs that you gave to a friend in another country would be distributed to the five other people, you know? Where nowadays it’s easier to forward five retweets then five real CDs or tapes.
MV: You essentially got into music and production as a teenager?
KM: Yeah. I was the youngest of four so there was music in the house in the ‘80s for sure, like Billy Idol, Michael Jackson, there was always music there and I think that helped me when it came to wanting to get my own music. I remember my sisters driving to the mall to get records when I was eleven and twelve and I was buying INXS records and shit like that. So, when it came to the point where I was able to take the bus and go downtown in Toronto and go to the record stores, I was ready to start buying every single hip hop record that came out and we used to fight for records on Thursdays at this store called Play de Record in Toronto. It was the spot where everyone would get together and the newest releases would come out. There was DJs playing the music in the store and there was just a great atmosphere to grow up around and meet people. So, as a teenager I really got into it. I was driven to try and figure out how DJ Premiere chopped and sampled jazz records. I was really interested in what drum machines they were using. I’m an electronic technician, I was taking apart radios at the same time and electrocuting myself, so the technical side of the music really grabbed me. I was driven to try and figure out how they did that, and also to get my own gear as well.
“But it just built over time, over the next two years people just got into it and then other DJs started playing it and then big name DJs started playing it, people like Rainer Truby. And DJ Spinna called up my house like out of the blue and I was like ‘who is this?’ “
MV: Once you did those two things, figuring out how they did it and what their techniques were and got they gear, where did your signature sound come out of that, your sound?
KM: Shit, I still try and define it today like ‘what is my sound’ but people tend to hear it in music I put out and I think it has to do with a really lo-fi aesthetic and also a DIY aesthetic, just making do with the gear that you have, whether it’s a lot of the early stuff that we did on tape so if there’s hiss or if your sampler only had 5 seconds of memory and you’re stretching it by sampling at 45 and doing all sorts of crazy shit, I think that really defines my sound and what I’m about. But also pushing the limits with that technology, I think that plays a big part in defining who I am.
MV: It’s pretty much beat driven music wouldn’t you say? Is that the core of it?
KM: I think so, I make a lot of other types of music too, ambient music and weird fucked up electronic music but I don’t think I’m at a point yet where I can put that stuff out on a commercial level. I might start leaking a bit more of that stuff out on a commercial scale. I might start leaking a bit more of that stuff through the new communication channels we have now like Facebook and Soundcloud. And in the past I’ve actually put those weirder tracks on demos I’ve passed around to people.Mainly,when it comes down to it, when I’m in the studio the majority of what I do is beat driven and it’s for the dancefloor, it’s for people. Because I’m a DJ at heart, I grew up DJing and I love to see my tracks in the club and being played and seeing the reactions on the dancefloor. I just enjoy that music, it’s part of who I am so it’s really easy for me to make that shit in the studio.
MV: Nice. Tell me about your first full-length, “Dupont”. What went into that?
KM: That was around 2000-2001 but there’s some songs on there that go back to 1996 I think. Tracks like ‘Dust’, very older tracks.I had gotten to a point where when we started the label it wasn’t about me, it was about the community that was happening at that time and it was about my friends. It was about me, I put four of my tracks on the first compilation and it’s a bit self-centered but I paid for the whole thing (laughs). But I waited a while before I actually focused on my own material and really pushed myself. So, “Dupont” was really the first big push where I could showcase my sound. It was a mix of musical genres, I wanted to highlight all the things I was into not just the one sound, the ‘dust’ sound. I was into the broken (beat) scene that was going on at the time but mixed with a bit of the techo elements. I connected with these guys in Colombus, Ohio – the Elemental Crew that I mentioned before – and there’s Dave Cooper in Toronto who introduced me to Detroit.
And we would go to Detroit a lot and I went to Submerge and I met Mike Banks and a lot of people down there and was hugely influenced by that sound. So, it came through on “Dupont” – I wanted to showcase that. But I also wanted to keep it light hearted hence all of the funny messages I was getting on my phone. And I wanted to put Toronto on the map too. I really wanted to showcase the Toronto transit system in particular like Dupont Station and the forward thinking architecture that went behind the actual building of that station. It was a mix of ideas but I think it came together pretty well. Originally we just put it out on 12”, it was a double vinyl and the initial sales were really low, like 100 copies. But it just built over time, over the next two years people just got into it and then other DJs started playing it and then big name DJs started playing it, people like Rainer Truby. And DJ Spinna called up my house like out of the blue and I was like ‘who is this?’ you know? Weird shit started happening like that – Gilles Peterson started playing it. So, it was fun man. That record, you just made it with an idea, a concept, and hoped that it would go somewhere and it did, it helped me out a lot.
MV: So that put you on the international map?
KM: Yeah, at that time I was working with Dave Cooper in Toronto, who started a community-based distribution company and the idea was he was going to get all of the hottest labels in Toronto. And there were a couple other labels outside of Toronto involved too. And he was going to distribute them to other distributors. And one of the distributors that picked up on our stuff was Goya in the UK and they took a couple boxes and that helped out a lot because Goya at that time was really hot. A lot of people were checking out Goya for all the broken shit that was coming out and some people picked up on our stuff and we ended up re-pressing that record twice. I think we did probably 3,500 copies of that 12”. And it was a double 12”, there’s no way in hell we could do that these days. Nobody’s buying vinyl like that anymore. It was a lot of fun, it still is. We just cut my first 45 and I don’t know why it’s taken so long to do this but to put it on the turntable and watch it spin is an unbelievable feeling.
MV: Vinyl’s back or what?
KM: It’s always going to be there. It is dieing off for sure. If it’s coming back, I don’t know if there’s a big regurgence, I think it’s just people are realizing – for instance Kevin Beedle, a UK DJ does a show called Mind Fluid – I’ve been listening to his show for a while and he’s started playing more and more vinyl and he talks about ‘man, I totally forgot about how this feels’. It’s a different experience when you dig through a crate and you look at the covers and stuff. I think people in the next couple of years are going to get reacquainted with that nostalgia of vinyl.
Moonstarr collaborator Sarah Linhares
MV: Who do you regularly collaborate with?
KM: I’ve been working a lot with a vocalist named Sarah Linhares in Montreal, we’re working on her full length album that’s coming out on PTR, it’s called “Messages From the Future”. I tend to collaborate with people close to me, I’m working on stuff with my girlfriend here in the studio. Stuff with friends around town , people like Tony Ezzy, he collaborated with me on my 45. So it’s pretty tightknit. I do collaborate and reach out to people over long distances, for instance Voice. I linked up with Voice, who’s from New Orleans and we ended up doing a whole record together. I didn’t produce all of the beats on her record but I kind of executive produced it and arranged other producers – people like Charles Noel who’s in New York now but whenever we can we’ll collaborate on something if we’re visiting eachother or over the net. We did called ‘Poppa Large’ that’s kind of floating around the internet. It’s a mashup of Two Man Sound, a Brazilian track that we sampled and we used Kool Keith’s ‘Poppa Large’ and put the vocals over top. So, I tend to collaborate with people close but the remixing is funny because I remember when I put out “Dupont” and maybe even earlier I called up Reinforced Records a lot in the early ‘90s and spoke to Marc Mac and Dego. I was constantly quizzing them on the gear they had and how they were chopping breaks and they gave me some crazy advice in terms of the remixing because they were doing a lot of remixes in the ‘90s and I asked them how did they get there to that point. Because remixes are a great way to generate cash to keep you going, you know? And they said ‘it just happens. People just call you up.’ It’s simply that easy, once you have your music out there people that are into your sound are going to want to feature your productions on their releases. And the remixes, you never choose to do a remix, they always ask you right? In some situations you can remix and hopefully they’ll enjoy it but the really good relationships are when people approach you and ask you to work for them. And that’s kind of how the remix thing happened for me, a lot of people just started asking me. It has slowed down a lot in the past couple of years but 2003-05 Iwas really busy.
MV: A lot with Compost records and Do Right!, right?
KM: Yeah, well John Kong, the guy that’s behind Do Right! Was based in Toronto and we were actually working together in the studio on some collaborative projects. I did a track called ‘Future Visions’ with him and a keyboardist, Jason Kenemy so when it came time for remixes for his label he asked me for somehelp and I hooked him up for a remix. But, yeah, I did a release on Compost, it was a 12” called ‘The Greed Remixes’ andit was a remix I did of one of my own tracks. But that really helped me out a lot, it was a really big 12” for me back then. And because they’re in Europe a lot of the DJs picked up on that in Europe. And then I got calls from Rush Hour to do a remix, Raw Fusion, Sonar Kollektiv. I did a release on Sonar Kollektiv as a result of the 12” on Compost.One thing led to the next. And by putting our names and contact info on the records it allowed a lot of people to get in touch with us – small record labels. There’s a lot of remixes that I’ve done that I need to put in a volume two because they never made it on volume one. Ianeq (‘The Light’) for instance is a remix I did for a small label in Switzerland (Mental Groove) and I did some work for Groovement in Portugal. They’re all in my discography but people might not hav heard of them or there’s only a limited release originally.
MV: In naming some of the projects that you were involved with, it’s really international: Portugal, Berlin, Detroit, Switzerland, Montreal. What’s next?
KM: I haven’t cracked into South America yet and the only Asian country I’ve gone into is Japan and maybe Korea, but there’s a whole other world out there that I would love to tap into and get involved with. But, in time, I’m not in a rush.
MV: Are you solidly based in Toronto, would you ever pick up like Quantic did and go down to Colombia if you had the opportunity?
KM: You know, when I was on the road in Japan and also in Europe I did some production work on the road but, I mean, Quantic’s ability to just pick up and move to Colombia and do a collaboration like that – it’s amazing. I have a bit of that bug in me but I actually haven’t been as financially rewarded as much as people may think, in terms of this. I still work, I still have a 9-to-5 and that’s a big chunk of my income you know? Being in North America I think a of of Europeans not have it easier but especially in England there’s so many more people per capita, there’s so many more people you can play to and there’s so many more people buying your stuff. I think it’s easier to be an underground musician in more condensed cities obviously. So, it’s kind of worked against me a bit but I’m not complaining at all it’s just the reality: I haven’t been afforded the luxury to take three months off and record in the jungle. (laughter). So, I guess my priorities are working with artists that are closer to me that need assistance. I really don’t mind helping people like Sarah, for example, get her full length together or Voice – she really needed to get put on the map and we wanted to get behind her album. So, it’s a very little effort that I can put to helping these people get up to where they should be, you know? And that’s kind of where my priorities are at.
New Orlean’s based hiphop artist Voice
MV: You’ve got another full-length that came out in 2009, which is “Instrumentals Forever”.
KM: That’s again another something that maybe should have come out a couple of years earlier but I got it out nonetheless and a lot of people were really happy with it. We didn’t get to distribute it as much in North America as we would have like to but we did do some vinyl and we did a lot of CDs in Japan and Europe, so hopefully people will be able to pick it up. It’s available on iTunes too and digitally at dancetracks and juno. It’s kind of an extension of “Dupont”, it was an idea I had in my mind for a while of songs in partiulcar like ‘Broken Bossa’ and ‘Clappy’ and there’s some songs I just wanted to get out. And there were other songs that just kind of fit with the mold of the record and I wanted to give something really good for out Japanese distributor to sell becaue they did a lot of great work for us in the past. I have a new record I’m working on called “Ill Harmonics” and it features more of the techier sounds thatI’m into. Hopefully we’ll be able to get that out by the summer of this year. I also just released a mix tape of more unreleased stuff called ‘Beats From the Vaults’, I wanted to do something just to show that I’m still busy in the studio and I’m trying not to covet my beats—I’m up for sharing.
Moonstarr’s “Instrumentals Forever”
MV: Do you find that your base has shifted?We’ve all aged, our tastes evolve. How do you evolve and how do you relate to your people that appreciate your music?
KM: I can definitely hear a change just in terms of my sound because of my age. I used to make beats ona Mac Plus and a Korg DSS1 – it’s like pulling teeth you know? Now I’m doing a lot of stuff with Ableton Live soothe process is completely different I’m not spending three or four hours a day on beats. I’ll do half or one hour at least. So, a lot of the kids coming up today – I don’t know if you heard about Domu but he recently quit and he talks about the fight because when you grow up listening to really forward thinking music and you feel like you’re slipping or you’re losing your edge or something it can be really hard. I’m not saying that’s why he quit but he did mention it in his blog, talking about giving up the fight. But I’m realy comfortable with what I do and if I’m not doing the crazy shit I was doing in 1996 that’s alright because Idid it and I don’t need to do it again, right? So I don’t feel really pressured to recreate things I’ve done. I really feel like I’ve set up myself for the next 10 years to do what I want to do. I think I’ve played my cards right and I feel like I’m in a new phase you know? With my next record I really want to showcase that and I’m really curious to see how people react. Once we got our comments up on the web page then I’ll be happy.
MV: Will you be sneaking out some early tracks?
KM: We’ll be doing some stuff in lead up to that through the regular channels. The “Beats From the Vault” is three-part series so the next mix is going to feature a lot of those tracks. We’re talking about doing an early 12” release for that album as well as some digital releases. We’re going to be giving lots of stuff away for free this year – it’s the nature of the business now. People are giving back to us so it’s working out lovely.
MV: I’m sure that ties into getting out there and DJing. You seem to be pretty busy.
KM: I tend to hit the road once or twice a year. I missed out on a tour that voice did in November of last year to Europe. So, I’m due for a trip back to Europe. I did a trip to the Midwest in the U.S. in 2004 and I really want to do that trip again, I want to hit Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Philly, New York. I’m trying to get on the road again, that’s my modus operandi for the new year.
MV: I had noticed that you’d done a podcast with Resident Advisor which seemed to get quite a number of responses.
KM: Wow, I really didn’t think that it was going to be like that and in hindsight I think maybe I should have put a bit more effort into it? Not to say I didn’t put effort into it but maybe it was better that I didn’t get myself freaked out about it but that was amazing. It was really a highlight for me last year – all the feedback I got and there were some solid critiques of my mix and I really appreciated that too. It was a nice surprise for me because the tracks that I put on there are not stuff you hear every day, you know? When you play that stuff out and to have people appreciate it, that really hard broken stuff or really weird hip hop it’ always a great feeling – that the heads are still out there. The people are there and I’m always looking forward to reconnect with the heads.
ILL Harmonics Vol.1 by Moonstarr
ILL Harmonics Vol.1
On this latest release, Moonstarr embarked on a series of late-night studio missions to explore the deep, moody regions of sound. Chopped breaks and dirty jazz loops are eschewed for synthesizers and drum machines to program the exploration into dark emotion and dissonance. Built upon the foundation created by steadfast pioneers like Mike Banks, Larry Heard, Shawn Rudiman, Purpose Maker and Drexcyia, and inspired by a conversation between Abacus and Marc Mac years earlier in which they discussed the need for vocals to permeate more techno music. Moonstarr continues the tradition and searches for the elusive ‘C-Minus Particles’ that disperse as quickly as they are created. On ‘Monopoly’, guest vocalist Tash sounds out a determined call for working-class justice overtop soaring synth lines, warm bass pulses and insistent rhythms. ILL Harmonics is part one in a series that will continue to travel the soundways in a complementary style to this release.
MV CONNECTIONS
Public Transit Recordings
FREE MOONSTARR TRACKS
Instrumentals ForeverMoonstarr
from “Instrumentals Forever”
(Public Transit Recordings)
Climax
“Tiger Funk (feat. LAL and Guests)”
“Planets Collide (feat. Lotus Jai Nitai)”
More On This Album
FREE MOONSTARR MIX
Moonstarr Beats from the Vault Vol 1
All you beat heads will enjoy this one. Featuring a mashup of Moonstar’s beats from the past, present and future. Featuring tracks from Instrumentals Forever, Mathology, Montreal ILL Harmonics, guests, unreleased remixes and works in progress.
A couple of years ago, a tune on Gilles Peterson’s Worldwide show made me happy whenever it appeared. The tune was called “Perfect Season,” by Break Reform. Now granted, I wasn’t familiar with the group but I knew was that I was looking forward to hearing what goodies were to come. “Fractures,” the debut album from the London-based trio, has upped the ante in a big way. Some would undoubtedly make immediate comparisons to Portishead, and I suppose to some degree that may be valid. But to make that easy comparison would be to simplify things, for at the essence of it all is a deeper shade of soul. It’s a very modern take on old-school-soul with a touch of jazz, complete with nice musical arrangements as well as compelling vocals and lyrics from Nanar. Simon S. & J. J. Webster are the main producers behind Break Reform, with Hahar rounding out the trio. Simon S. was gracious enough to answer a few questions about the band…and then some.
Most of us haven’t heard of Break Reform until one of your tunes found its way into Gilles Peterson’s record bag and, ultimately, his radio show. What was your reaction when you’ve found out that he was playing the tune “Perfect Season”?
We were amazed. Gilles is someone we always looked to for fresh and exciting new music, and all of a sudden he’s playing our stuff. It just blew our minds!
How did Break Reform come about?
We all knew each other from being involved in other music projects, and decided to see what we would come up with together. We found almost immediately that it would be the start of a very productive and unique project.
The music from Break Reform seems rooted in soul and jazz…very much like old-school soul with a modern downbeat flavor.
We have various influences musically, the main ones being hip-hop, jazz and soul; so it stands to reason that our music would have these flavours. Modern downbeat stuff or current jazz and beats are stuff that I play djing and listen to generally so there are elements of that in there too.
How long did it took the group to record “Fractures”?
About 2 years in total to write and record and eventually release.
Tell me about the challenge of putting out the album. It was released in Japan in September 2002 but it took until March 2003 for the album to get a release in Europe. What obstacles, if any, did you had to overcome to ensure that “Fractures” finds its audience?
The initial problems were the obvious financial ones, but we found a good independent distributor at the right time to handle the album on CD and LP. Also we felt we should release the album in early 2003 to ensure more of an impact because 2002 was full of great albums which at the time we thought we could not compete with.
You’ve been very involved with both production and DJing for well over 15 years. Looking back over that period, what are some of the most profound things that you have seen as a DJ and producer?
As a dj, it has to be my recent spots at the Jazz Rooms in Brighton with Russ Dewbury, seeing a mass of people getting down to hard core jazz and funk. I usually dj in London and believe me, this is a rare sight. As a producer, it’s no one thing. But being able to work with such an array of talented people is very profound and inspirational.
What was your reaction when “Fractures” was received with critical acclaim.
We were overjoyed and also relieved, as you never know if people will actually like what you work so hard to do.It also inspires you to keep at it and produce more music.
Describe the label’s Abstract Blue & Furious Styles.
Abstract Blue is all about soulful, honest music that people make because they want to, not because they have to; ie, not using music as a fashion accessory but as a geniune expression.
We are surrounded by a lot of talented people and want to have a way of presenting what they do to the world, ensuring that the records are produced, manufactured and designed with quality, which is what good music deserves.
Furious Styles is the label responsible for the excellent D’nell. They have the same outlook as we do, so we thought we’d join forces to release their records too.
Break Reform has been touring during the summer and fall, yes?
We did some gigs in London at the Spitz, Rubylo and the Notting Hill Arts Club. We had a great time, the people involved were all fantastic.
The band has released new material since the summer. Tell us about it.
We released a new 12″ of unreleased material, which included ‘Ghosts’, ‘What Do You Do’ and a remix of ‘Metropolis’. These are all from the forthcoming Fractures remix album called ‘New Perspectives’ released in January ’04.
Will Break Reform embark on a tour beyond Europe soon?
We will hopefully be touring the US, Canada and Japan in the new year,
but we’ll probably do some of the festivals in Europe first.
Reflect, if you would, on all of the attention that Break Reform has received this year, and what you hope will be coming in 2004.
Well, 2003 was a great year for us, we released the Fractures album which received great reviews from the press and dj’s and went on to become very successful. It’s still selling!! We managed to collect some great remixes for the New Perspectives album by some excellent artists for which we are very thankfull. Also, we had the opportunity to release music by the excellent D’nell and Low Budget Soul through our label, Abstract Blue Recordings.
The support and encouragement has been our motivation and without it, things may have turned out very differently.
2004 will hopefully see a debut album by D’nell, a second studio album from Break Reform and a debut album from Low Budget Soul, as well as a whole bunch of 12″s from the above artists plus Aztec Productions, Julie Dexter + more.
As Ocote Soul Sounds, Adrian Quesada and Martin Perna, respective bandleaders of famed ensembles Grupo Fantasma and Antibalas create desert- and sun-soaked psychedelic funk that entwines the grit and funk of the gridlocked NYC streets, with the voices and rhythms of the dusty streets of Latin America.
On “Coconut Rock” their third album, the slipped effortlessly into their trademark psychedelic afro-latin funk groove. From the Latin breakbeat rhythms of album lead-off ‘The Revolt of the Cockroach People’ to the cumbia bounce of ‘Tu Fin, Mi Comienzo’ to the easy guitar soundscapes of ‘Vendendo Saude e Fe’ featuring Brazilian songstress Tita Lima, ‘Coconut Rock’ is the third chapter in Ocote Soul Sounds’ unparalleled journey through sonic realms beyond.
The duo of Perna and Quesada developed their musical paths in eerily similar parallel universes. Though Quesada grew up in the Texas border-town of Laredo, and Perna came up in Philadelphia (later New York), both musicians straddled borders literally and artistically. Growing up on hip hop and the jazz and funk it was built on; both taught themselves to play multiple instruments; both had founded game-changing, booty-shaking big bands; and both were deeply moved by a powerful spirit of social and political activism, the spirit that was to become Ocote.
A chance biodiesel breakdown, which left Martin stranded in Austin, led to the two playing around with some song ideas together, hitting the studio and ultimately resulted in their 2005 debut ‘El Nino Y El Sol’. Four years and three albums down the line, they have evolved into a seven-piece live outfit.
Three Londoners met in the market one fateful day: Kathrin deBoer (vocals), Ricky Fabulous (guitar) and DJ Modest (decks) struck up a conversation and soon realized they had similar musical tastes. Ricky and Modest, who played experimental turntable and guitar sets in London bars, auditioned deBoer over a cup of tea and Belleruche was born. Now with numerous singles, three albums and non-stop touring behind them, Belleruche are well-established in Europe, Australia, New Zealand and are poised to take on America.
Things began humbly enough for the band. Initially, they released a handful of extremely limited 7” records on their own Hippoflex label, including the ‘Four Songs EP’. These individually numbered 45’s (with hand-printed sleeves) quickly sold out in the UK’s independent record stores and attracted a cult following in the UK and Europe.
With the buzz generated by these singles, in 2007 Belleruche signed to Tru Thoughts Recordings and their debut album ‘Turntable Soul Music’ was released in July of that year to great enthusiasm from fans and the media alike, garnering admiring reviews both at home and abroad. Belleruche’s second, more bluesy sophomore album “The Express” thrilled its fanbase while also bringing them to the wider world’s attention and garnering many listeners. The first single “Anything You Want (Not That)” was awarded the coveted Single Of The Week spot on iTunes and the album hit Number One in the iTunes electronic album chart.
With their third full length now reaching audiences new and old, ‘270 Stories’ sees the trio hitting their stride with style, tying together all that is distinctive about their off-kilter mix-up of scratchy beats, bluesy guitar and soulful, honeycomb vocals that we know and love, with the unmistakable vibe of a band pushing forward without pretension, letting their ideas roam free and lead them to a new place. In their own words it is “layered, tougher, more aggressive and possibly at the same time more introspective” than their previous, highly acclaimed, long players.
Kathrin deBoer ups the ante with multi-layered harmonies that see her skirting the line between sugary and spiky, with a distinctly doo-wop style making an appearance on some tracks. In addition to his unique, bluesy lead stylings, guitarist Ricky Fabulous plays a lot more bass on this album, which makes for a dynamic and irresistible melodic interplay between basslines and vocals. More new and exciting sonic surprises include tougher edged beats from turntablist DJ Modest, exploring darker, contemporary influences; all this alongside more rigorous attention to song arrangements and form, harnessing the beautifully dishevelled, charmingly chaotic energy of their music for a powerful result.
Belleruche have played a range of festival dates at home and abroad, including Glastonbury and the Montreux Jazz Festival, where they struck up an impromptu jam with The Raconteurs and Vampire Weekend that was reportedly one of the highlights of the festival. The trio have developed a new live show to match the new developments of “270 Stories”: “We’re playing new stuff in new ways: Ricky is playing bass on stage now for some songs, Kathrin’s using loopers and guitar delay pedals and Modest is using Abelton and loads of new things he doesn’t really understand.” With a great reputation already for their live performances, these new developments – described in characteristic self-effacing style – are set to add another level of intrigue. Look out for headline album tours of the UK, Europe and North America later this year, but first you can catch them at a host of major festivals this summer, including the Secret Garden Party, Bestival and the Big Chill.
Mundovibe Editor John C. Tripp caught up with the extremely affable and good humored Kathrin deBoer over Skype and a cup of tea to discuss the band’s influences, inspirations and what to expect from their tour for “270 Stories”.
MundoVibe: You’ve been compared to, to some degree, Portishead or the like. I don’t want to start by drawing comparisons; I’m talking more about traditions. Your music taps into the blues but it’s also modern, so you’re carrying forth a certain state of mind and music. It’s interesting how you’ve done that.
Kathrin deBoer: I think it probably helps that all of us have come from very different backgrounds. DJ Modest comes very much from a hip hop background and soul and funk. Ricky Fabulous is definitely involved in hip hop but not to the degree of DJ Modest. He was into all kinds of music, a lot of gypsy jazz—Django Reindhart’s his idol. And then I came from a jazz background, so it’s inevitable just because of the setup that comparisons would be drawn to trip hop artists. But, out of all of us we didn’t actually get into the era when it was popular in 2002. It just wasn’t our thing, we were listening to funk and soul and obscure hip hop records, so it’s interesting and I don’t think it’s actually such a bad thing drawing comparisons, it’s an entry point to understand what you’re trying to do. But then they need to keep an open mind to what’s actually there as well. Because I don’t think we sound like Portishead at all. Yes, there’s some heavy beats and there’s a female vocalist but I think that’s where the comparisons should be left and move onto something a little bit more open. It’s very hard for us to be able to describe our music because we’re just playing or creating or making what we feel we enjoy or what feels good to us. So, there isn’t this “oh, we need to make it a certain style of music, or we need to make trip hop or blues music”, it’s just what we feel, we quite hedonistic that way it seems.
MV: You’re onto your third album so you’re quite seasoned. You’ve been on the live circuit and you’re very much an established band as opposed to just a project.
KD: Oh gosh yeah. Our live show started off being a jam session in a bar in Islington and from there it just grew. It’s just a natural progression and evolution that we’ve come from that place to doing full shows. And for our album launch, which is here in London, we’ve invited some other musicians to come and join us. Which is the first time we’ve felt we needed to because everything grew in the studio: our music and the sounds grew so to do some of those tunes live it’s a perfect opportunity to bring some other people in.
MV: I’ve noticed in “Clockwatching”, your first single, it’s got that driving bassline and from the press release you’ve got a bass guitarist that’s joining you.
KD: Well, we were meant to have a double bass player come and join us but the lady that we were hoping to get, she got double booked so she won’t be able to do ours. It turned out that I needed to learn the bass pretty quick so we went and bought one last week, I’d been using Ricki’s bass, so I’ve been learning for a month. So, one of the tracks I’ll be able to play.
MV: That should be interesting.
KD: (laughs). It should be very interesting. Ricky’s been very kind and he’s arranged the track quite easily for me because I’ve never played bass but it should be fun.
MV: Well, you know Tina Weymouth of the Talking Heads didn’t know how to play the bass and they were a band.
KD: Hmm, I’m sure those comparisons will be made straight away because we’ve been learning for three weeks. But it’s fun, it’s great that music makes you do things that you never thought you would do and it just makes you a bit more adventurous.
MV: And you clearly have fun with it.
KD: Yeah, it’s got to be. Otherwise it’s not really what you should be doing. I think music is one of those things that needs to be fun, otherwise what’s the point? You’re making music to make other people feel good as well as yourself so if one of those things don’t really work I don’t really see the point. It needs to be enjoyable, the creative process needs to be enjoyable.
MV: Talking about how your music might affect people, a lot of your lyrics and your subject matter seem to be around personal or human issues. There’s a lot of “we” or “me” in there or “I” and of course the question would be are these your experiences or observations and where does this material come from?
KD: I think it’s both really, it’s from personal experience but also from observations. Perhaps I’m a little bit lazy but I’ll make something first person if it’s, say, something happening to a friend. Yeah, I’ve tried to get out of that “you” and “we” and “me” and all of that kind of vocabulary, which I think I’ve achieved a few times but I must say that I find it easier to write things in first person. But things like “Ginger Wine”, I do think I mention “we” in there – “I’m the stranger one can trust” – but it’s more metaphorical really. There’s a musician called Mulatu Astatke who I got to know last summer and we went out for dinner and he told me these wonderfull ridiculous stories about him playing all over the world and travelling by ship to all of these cities and him playing with Duke Ellington and these sorts of things. Somehow I felt very poetic, so ‘Ginger Wine’ was a product of just meeting and getting to know Mulatu.
MV: Yeah, he’s a legend.
KD: He’s a bit of a legend (laughs). He’s a lovely human being and he’s very enthusiastic and he’s not the youngest of musicians that is touring but he manages just so well and I think it is just because he enjoys it so much and he still enjoys the creative process. I don’t think in any way he’s become complacent or he says “I’ve done what I needed to do”. He just continues to try and do something different and I think that’s admirable. He’s been in the industry for a good part of his life.
So, lyrically, I suppose a lot of it’s personal but inspiration comes from many different things, it could be just observations or watching people on a bus or in a café but they’re all different.
MV: The three of you have quite an interplay in your music, it’s a completely unified sound. How on earth do you all come together to do this?
KD: I think that comes down to the amount of time we spend together and starting from the basics, starting from the bottom. Ricky always knew how to play the guitar but all of us kind of understanding our roles and I think all of us respecting each other and what each of us bring into the group. That underpins the fact that there’s always room for each of us to say something or do something and that comes out musically I suppose.
MV: Let’s go into “270 Stories” and you’ve got 11 tracks on there, everything from ‘Clockwatching’ the first single to a song called ‘Churro’ which is a delicious little dessert.
KD: (laughs) We eat them in France a lot, tastey and fatty. Yes, churros have got us through many a good gig.
MV: How would you describe “270 Stories”?
KD: Oh God, that’s really hard. Turntable soul music, and it’s just a progression from what we’ve done before. It’s just a bit harder and better, as in better produced. And we’ve all learned how to use certain bits and pieces that make music (laughs). Yeah, we’ve all gotten better at it. So, to describe it I’d say it’s still turntable soul music and within that it’s too hard for me to deconstruct it and define it as blues, soul, funk, jazz, hip hop: it’s all in there.
MV: Again, you’re probably taking your backgrounds and coming together. The Django Rheinhart of Ricky and the hip hop of DJ Modest and your jazz background. You know, I’m quite amazed at how you all met, it seems quite fateful, I’m sure you look back on it in that way.
KD: Yeah, theres’s these small things that happen that change your life and direct you in certain ways but it’s always about choices isn’t it? You make a choice every day to do certain things or to be in certain places, which you get to meet certain people. That’s the fun of it.
MV: Have you performed in the United States or is this going to be the next touring area?
KD: Belleruche hasn’t performed in the United States yet but we’re just hoping the visas will get through and then we’ve already got some shows booked in but of course that’s pending on the visa issue. But I came there a couple years ago and played with the Giant Step people, with Nickodemus and Nappy G on the 4th of July and at Water Taxi Beach.
MV: Turntables on the Hudson?
KD: That’s the one, yeah.
MV: I know Nickodemus, he’s a good guy.
KD: Yeah, he’s lovely. But that was pretty much off the record. But we’re really looking forward to it, it will be so interesting because people have made comments that sometimes our music sounds a little American, as in inspiration.
MV: I read that you have a new studio that you recorded “270 Stories” in, is that right? Called the basement.
KD: Yeah, well it was a basement and now it’s been all packed up because DJ Modest has left that place. It was kind of a massive space where you could ride your bicycle in the front, and that was their living room. And then in the front underneath the street and there was the studio and it was brilliant and I think it really shaped the sound of the album because we had a specific space which was just for writing music and a space where when we went there was like ‘now I’ve got to get to work’. Because beforehand we just recorded wherever we could, which had been people’s spare rooms. That definitely wasn’t set up for recording music. We did our best, trying to make rooms sound quite dead and put blankets up and DJ Modest did construct a few wooden, kind of strange looking apparatuses to hang things over to try and work but that part was really, really fun but not sustainable. We wanted to step up the sound and we wanted to do the best thing we could. So, having that setup, that subterranean studio was fantastic, it really helped.
MV: And you’re still in control of everything, in terms of the production and the final mixing?
KD: Yeah, we’ve kept that always in-house and that’s always been ours. DJ Modest does a lot of the production work but we all agree on the final sound. He has a lot of patience with these sorts of things – I have to say that I don’t have that much patience for tuning a kettle drum over a couple of hours, that sounds like torture (laughs). But unfortunately we don’t have that studio anymore, but we’re all geared up for touring anyhow.
MV: You certainly have a busy schedule.
KD: Yeah, it is! You get a spare moment and you think ‘Oh, I should be doing something’. Yeah, we’ve got a great tour in France, the U.K. and coming to America, I think that works out nicely with the visas as I said and after that we’ll take a month off for Christmas and family stuff and then start again in Australia and New Zealand and then America, hopefully for South by Southwest. And then, yeah, Switzerland, Germany and back to France.
MV: The three of you must have a good understanding of one another to tour so much, and create music . What’s the dynamic of the three of you?
KD: The dynamic (laughs), I think that would be different for each of us. I think we all give each other enough space and we know the signs when someone’s a bit either pissed off or needs their space. So, that’s easy to do, because there’s three of us you know? That one person can go off and do whatever they want for a bit and the other two don’t get lonely or whatever (laughs). With three people I think the dynamic is I suppose quite easy.
MV: That’s good.
KD: But we genuinely like each other as people as well and that helps as well.
MV: And you’re kind of in a good family with the Tru Thoughts people. They have clearly embraced you and you’re growing with them, which these days is kind of rare.
KD: I think so because a lot of record companies want you to do certain things or they have their vision of what you should be. When we started up I think we were quite strong in defining who we were, which as just us you know? We’ve had people say, ‘why don’t you get a drummer?’ and a bass player and ‘you need a string section’ or whatever. But that’s not the point, the point is we have a sort of do it yourself kind of sound. And Tru Thoughts, they were quite happy to endulge us in that. So, we’ve been very very lucky that when we’ve given them music they’ve like it and we’ve not had to go back and change anything. I don’t think that’s how they operate either. So, yeah, we’ve had freedom to do what we’ve wanted to do musically and I think that’s quite lucky. But I think that’s also why we chose an independent label to sign to because you do have a relationship with the people putting your music out and getting it around the world.
MV: Now, you’re already at a certain level of success and of course there’s always that “next”. What would be that next that would be something you’d shoot for?
KD: (laughs) Oh yeah, those plans. I think we’ve been in the business long enough to realize that it doesn’t matter what you plan or which you think, you’ve just got to take what comes. So, on a short term I’d love to be invited to play at the Montreux Jazz Festival again just because it’s an amazing institution and they invited us previously and we thought ‘oh, maybe they got the wrong band?’ but apparently they hadn’t. I think being invited back to a place like Montreux Jazz Festival, that would be really really cool. I think being able to get to a point where you have a few more choices as in, you want to do a tour and you can do that sustainably and so we would be able to dictate ‘well we’ll be taking the train instead of airplanes’ so we’ll need to have a day off there. And for that to be economically feasible so we could do it the way we like to do it. That would be a great luxury. But to keep making music – we’ll just see how it goes. I don’t like to put money into the equation but it is a fact of life that you need to be able to live and with digital down loads and the movement of music I think touring is the way that you need to be able to secure that.
MV: You know who comes here to the States on tour quite frequently is the New Mastersounds. Are you familiar with their music? It seems like they’re here touring constantly.
KD: Working hard (laughs).
MV: Yeah, getting out there with their music and they’ve been embraced here. I guess the reason I brought them up is because I would hope that you would be touring here in the States on a regular basis in the future.
KD: That would be amazing, it’s such an enormous country, that would be brilliant. I’d love that. It’s an enormous country and the States are so different and people are so different. It’d just be amazing if we could.
MV: But as of now I know that you’re very popular in Europe and particularly in France.
KD: Yeah, France it’s key for us. I think it’s grown that way because early on we had radio support. National radio like FIP and NOVA. I think it’s still very powerful being on the radio. We had some radio play, we’ve had a lot more radio play for this album already – we’ve had early support in the UK again in France and Switzerland. I think that’s still very much a key part of being able to tour in places if you have that radio support.
MV: You actually had support here in the States with public radio with a Song, I think, of the Week?
MV: You mentioned the digital downloads and the fact that everything is so digital and online – is that something you are actively involved in? Because you’ve got podcasts that I listened to – and that’s cool to listen to and it sort of brings people into your mindset.
KD: Into our little world.
MV: Yeah, the chocolate and beer and podcasts.
KD: (laughs) Our favorite things, yeah. Digital communication is fantastic. To be able to hear music that someone’s made in their bedroom, you know, a couple days after it’s been made and for that to have the potential distribution around the world – that’s awesome.
MV: Do you ever feel that you always have to be on it – on Facebook – or are you all kind of distanced from all that to some degree?
KD: To some degree we’re not as proactive as a lot of bands. It’s just because we like to do other things like make music. We self manage at the moment so there’s a lot of other things to deal with. So, we try to keep on top of it with Facebook and Twitter. And, as anybody who follows us on these knows, we’re not that good at it (laughs), because we’re just busy doing other things. We do try but we’re definitely not that active. We have been told we should be more but it’s all of that balancing of stuff. I just think it’s a brilliant resource and it’s available to everyone – it’s a good thing to be involved in.
MV: You live in London and London is clearly a big inspiration for you, a big part of your lives. How does that filter into what you’re doing with your music?
KD: There’s always something to do in London and there’s always something to hear. If you feel – I don’t get bored but if you do feel ‘oh, I want to be inspired’ all you have to do is leave your front door and just go wander about and meet up with some friends and go to the pub and it’s more than likely that you’ve got a band playing in the corner of that pub that’s starting out or they could well be people like Kit Downes you know, just playing in the pub with some mates (laughs). It’s just a constant source of inspiration that way, it’s quite humbling as well that people that have won enormous prizes are just at the pub with their mates and playing for the pleasure of playing and experimentation. London does encompass experimental music and because it’s so populated, there’s just so many people that live here the concentration of musicians that are ‘just hanging around’ (laughs) is quite big. I suppose it’s the same in New York that way.
MV: Yeah, it is to some degree. Although I think London’s more of that. You know I’ve never been to London (any sponsors out there? –Ed.) so I can’t draw too many comparisons but I have lived in New York. I was just in New York for a month and it seems like New York is more commercially oriented – everything is about paying the ‘cover charge’.
KD: Ahh, OK, I suppose that does creep in. In London no one really feels as though they want to pay for music, to hear live music so for the artists it’s not a very lucrative place to be but for the punter they rule (laughs).
MV: Are you looking forward to performing in, say, New Orleans? I can see you at some smoky bar there.
KD: Yeah, that would be amazing (laughs). If we were invited to New Orleans we probably wouldn’t say no. Would love to, there and New York. Over the last few months we’ve gotten to know a few people and I’m very much looking forward to meeting the people we’ve been working with to make the tour happen. And just to understand why they’re so lovely to work with. I think it’s all about people at the end of the day isn’t it – the people of the city. We’re very much looking forward to getting out and seeing as much as we can and experience as much as we can on the road.
Join Belleruche on an intriguing guided tour of the London bars, venues and other locations that informed the creation of ’270 Stories’, interspersed with music from the record.
FREE SONGS BY BELLERUCHE
Download a free track from Belleruche’s forthcoming album at http://amzn.to/auHvX5 (USA only)
This affair began with Weston’s role as a DJ back in his teens, almost by default: as any record collector knows, if you’ve got the biggest collection, you are the DJ. It was in 1995 with the monthly jazz/hip-hop event “Phony” at Ormonds in West London that Weston’s professional career gained steam. From there he and partners Mikkel Togsverd and Marlon Celestine, along with guest DJs from Japan, launched “Mukatsuku”, a highly regarded jazz and hip hop night at the Clinic which ran for 18 months. Until May of this year Weston held a weekly residence at “Bite Your Granny” and currently spins monthly at Russ Dewbury’s Brighton Jazz Rooms. Weston has also toured extensively, with gigs in Russia, across Europe, Australia and regular appearances in Japan including a full tour with Victor Davies in September 2001. DJing is hat one—hat two is Weston’s role as a publicist and compiler of underground sounds. Weston’s involvement in this realm includes a five year stint a Island Blue, and for the past 3 years he’s been principle at Mukatsuku PR, as well as being the A&R man for Exceptional Records. Weston’s compilations of music, with a bent towards Japan, includes Jazztronik’s ‘Inner Flight’, ‘Moshi Moshi – Nu sounds from Japan’ and and his latest, “Sakura Aural Bliss” an excursion into jazz, ambient, and deep house from artists like U.F.O., Calm and Takayuki Shiraishi.
A recent project of is the radio program “FORWARDSBACKWARDS” on milkaudio.com, co-hosted with Nigel Prankster.The twice monthly show features a broad spectrum of music from cutting edge nu jazz to brazilian, funk and jazz. We recently caught up with Nik, who took some time to give Mundovibes a peep at what keeps him running…
You wear many hats: DJ, publicist, radio show host, journalist. How do you manage to do all of this?
Well…in a former life i was an octopus! I think the main thing is that is that it’s my first love of music that drives me on, gets me out of bed in the morning and having an actual office rather than working from home and its obvious distractions is a help.There’s a domino effect in this business and so all my jobs in some way are loosely connected.You do one thing and it tends to lead onto something else. I also work long hours which helps me fit it in. I have a very undertstanding girlfriend which also helps.
Music is clearly your inspiration…
i think there’s nothing really like it. Someone I know was talking about his realtionship with his girlfriend; she was saying ‘you love music more than you love me!’ And he was like, girlfriends come and go but I’ll always have Stevie Wonder! Music has a great ability to seep into your pores and set off all kinds of emotions, flashbacks and feelings. Live music as well affects you like no other medium. I went to see Da Lata’s awesome live show at the Jazz Cafe in London a few weeks ago and they did a live version of ‘Pra Manha’. I turned around to my girlfriend and she had tears streaming down her face. I was like you okay? And she said ‘yeah, I’m just so happy !!’ I was buzzing because of the gig but to see music affecting my girlfriend like that brought home that there really is nothing like it and especially a live performance of a great gig. No drugs, no alcohol, just great music.
Is music the most important thing for you?
Well, it’s been my occupation for the last 8 years and all my time is spent in some way related to music. Most of my friends are in the industry and any free time is seeing djs, bands or djing myself. I think it’s important to have other interests as well but I’m the first to admit I’m a tad slack in this area. I do enjoy good food and travelling.Being lucky enough to dj overseas helps me do this—visit other countries, go exploring before the dj gigs albeit for short amounts of time. I hate turning up somewhere, djing and then getting the next flight home. If I can I’ll go early so I can chill out a bit in the local surroundings.
You’ve been DJing for some two decades. How has this evolved over the years in terms of how you choose music, the venues in which you spin and the audiences?
Well I think the audiences before were much more specialised.You had venues just playing one kind of music. But nowadays people get bored (and rightly so) with one style all night. I try and find out a little about the venue—what works, what doesn’t from the resident dj and then pack my box accordingly. I think what we have to remember first and foremost is that we are entertainers—we are paid to entertain. If people aren’t dancing then I’m not going to have a good time and neither are the crowd and the promoter isnt gonna be happy ! We can get all pretentious about it by bragging we’ve got all the latest tunes, but at the end of the day if there’s an empty dancefloor then it’s obviously not gonna work.Primarily I’d say 70% of the music should be entertaining and maybe 30% a gentle education into things that the crowd might not have heard before but still works in this context.
What is your typical DJ set like?
Depends really on many factors, but it would incorporate hip hop, jazz, brazilian and going into newer stuff as the set progresses and maybe into boogie and nu jazz.Throwing a few ‘oo i love this’ classics alongside some electronic nu jazz curve balls.
How do “old-school” DJs differ from today’s young crop?
Personally im not into djs who mix seamlessly but their sets are uninspired because they have to maintain a like for like tempo. I read a piece by Ashley Beadle (x press 2) recently who said he’d rather listen to someone DJ as a selector (playing solid good tunes than someone who was technically
brilliant). I’d like to see myself as a tune selector. A set of mine would comprise many different styles and tempo’s for example.
You host an international radio program, ForwardsBackwards. What is the concept behind it?
Well the feedback so far has been really great—quite overwhelming actually. The idea of the show is to not feel constraints from music styles or time zones.We might play a rare jazz track from early 60’s alongside a broken beat track made that day from an ‘up & coming’ producer, hence the name ‘Forwardsbackwards’. The show is very varied musically. Both myself and Nigel Prankster (co-host)have stupidly large record collections and obviously you can play stuff on a radio show which you wouldnt neccessarily be able to play in a club setting. I also have a section in the show where I play music only traditionally available in Japan. That could be productions from western artists that only came out there to home grown japanese talent.Because of the many reasons Japanese music is often only ever heard within Japan. We try to redress this (if only slightly) imbalance.
You seem to have a strong connection with the Japanese music scene. What is the scene like in Japan and how are you involved with it?
Well, I’ve released 5 compilations for various labels so far,four of which have been exclusively japanese only material with the fifth one having 5 Japanese tracks on it. I got into it in 1995 running club nights with regular Japanese dj guests. I’m involved with the scene nowadays in as much as I do consultancy for japanese labels and promote japanese music in europe. I run the uk office by Osaka based Especial Records (run by Yoshihiro Okino from Kyoto Jazz Massive )and I A&R for Exceptional records, where we’ve released music for the label from Japanese artists such as Ken Ishii, Calm, Force of Nature, United Future Organisation, Takkyu Ishino, and dj Krush.The scene is very difficult in Japan at the moment: hip hop and r & b are very popular, as is progressive house and sales of brazilian music and nu jazz are falling which is not a good thing.
What are your favorite things about Japan?
Food for a starters. I was djing with Gilles Peterson in France last month and he’d just come back from japan. He told me he had had dinner with Tosio Matsuura and they had together the best meal they’d ever had in Japan. Food culture there is very different to any other culture I’ve ever come across.people get very excited there about food.its a national obsession like the weather is with us English ! Other than that I find Japan facinating. I’m going to visit my future inlaws in January and her parents are from a place called Kumamoto in the countryside. Her mum has never met anyone who wasn’t from Japan so that’s gonna be kind of mad.
What is the ideal setting for your DJ sets? Any events in particular that you hold in high regard?
I did a Brazil night tour with Compost artist Victor Davies in Japan three years ago. Every gig was wicked: the crowds very responsive and the sound systems in the clubs was great. There’s a great night called “Wahoo” in Finland which is always great. The firsttime I played there, it was full by 9pm and 90% were girls! Saying that the Jazz Rooms in Brighton is always killer—crowd goes bonkers cheering after every track. I love playing there.
What is your opinion on the current state of music? Where is it all going?
We need to find ways of geting the young kids into music (whatever style—all styles! ) as these kids will be our audience for the next 10 years or so.
Do you have any favorite clubs in London and elsewhere and what makes them special?
PLASTIC PEOPLE: great system, nice size (200) and great music.
What impact has the internet had on promoting music? Is it more global now?
You betcha. The internet has opened up so many doors. I only hope it helps sales rather than kill it.
What is your advice to new labels on how to promote a recording?
Give it 110%. Promote it properly, exhaust all possibilities and all mediums in its promotion oportunities.It’s no good putting out music which is ”just alright”—people aren’t stupid. Only put music out you believe in that you would buy yourself.
You’ve selected the music for number of great compilations, including ‘Music & Movement Vol 1’, ‘Moshi Moshi’, and your latest ‘Sakura Aural Bliss’. How do you go about selecting tracks and is what is the common thread with these compilations?
When I put the compilations together they all tend to start off slow, build, peak and then come down again rather like a dj set from the beginning of a night to ends end, but obviously compressed. I’ve not regretted putting any track on a compilation so far and I’ve been lucky to have worked with great people who have believed in what I was doing and supported me in this and letting me keep certain tracks in which may have not been so well known. All the compilations have had very good reviews and I regularly get e-mails from people who’ve just recently discovered them or gone back to them with positive comments. It’s things like that that make me know that hopefully I’m doing something right. I’m realistic to know that the credit should actually go to the producers. I have a very small part to play—without the producers you wouldn’t have these compilations. Respects to them.
Who are some artists we should be looking out for?
Swell Session from Sweden is doing some awe inspired productions. He’s just finished a mix for me on Fat Jon for exceptional that’s killer! There’s a great project from Neo Groove from Leroy and Marcus Begg which should come out early next year. There’s actually tonnes of great music coming out: check Raw Deal’s new lp on Straight Ahead (Switzerland) next year too.
What is the best thing about what you do?
Hoping that with my involvement that artists and certain types of music gets better exposure which helps us all in the future. I still get extremely excited about music.
What is on the horizon—new projects, places you want to DJ, etc.
I’m back to Japan in January to DJ and do promotion and interviews around the “Sakura Aural Bliss” album with the Japanese distributor. In february I’m playing in France, Sweden and Denmark and then my first proper tour in Australia looks like to happen in the spring.
Ten records everyone should have in their collection?
1.stevie wonder – songs in the key of life
2.dj mitsu the beats -new awakening-planet groove
3.calm -ancient future -lastrum/music conception
4.context – if i had a band -sonny b
5.sleepwalker -sleepwalker -especial
6.various -sakura aural bliss-kriztal
7.fat jon -lightweight heavy -exceptional
8.calm – introducing the shadow of the earth -exceptional
9.various -an intruduction to contempory nordic music -nordic lounge 2 -dnm
10.anything with marvin gaye/curtis mayfield/yukimi nagano/bless/swell session on it.
An exclusive Mundovibe interview with Tortured Soul
Interview by J.C. Tripp
Rose and violet lights fall on three musicians decked out sleekly in skinny ties, pressed slacks, and starched white shirts. The mass of bodies gathered before them pulsates with a unified enthusiasm. Sweet soulful vocals rise from the man in the middle, an effect rendered all the more captivating by the fact that he is concurrently beating out an unrelenting backbeat on the drums. Flanking him on either side are a bassist who jumps up and down to the rhythm as he generates the throbbing low-end, and a keyboardist whose cool composure belies the fire in his fingers. This is Tortured Soul.
Born of the simple yet adventurous belief that modern dance music can be performed completely live, Brooklyn’s Tortured Soul packs dance floors with their unique live performances, while their recorded oeuvre pushes the genre boundaries of soul, dance, and pop. Born from the rhythm section of jazz-funk band Topaz, Tortured Soul began touring in 2003, and have become one of the premier live dance acts of this generation. While touring every continent, they have played venues as diverse as the Montreal Jazz Festival, Zouk Singapore, Bonnaroo in Tennessee, Fabric in London, and The Capetown International Jazz Festival in South Africa. They have shared the stage with world renowned DJ’s like Carl Cox, Miguel Migs, Jazzanova, and Louie Vega. They have also performed with many legendary live acts such as Chaka Kahn, The Wailers, The Brand New Heavies, and Pharcyde.
Tortured Soul has blazed an amazingly uncommon trail through the world of modern music. Following the early success of their now-classic dance singles “I Might Do Something Wrong,” “Fall In Love” and “How’s Your Life” in 2001 and 2002, Tortured Soul formed officially as a live band and booked their first nationwide tour in 2003, often playing in club settings that had never before seen a live act perform dance music so seamlessly. With the devotion of club-goers and DJs cemented as their foundation. Today, after 5 years of touring and a reputation for a live show nothing short of legendary, they are perhaps the only band in the world that can rock the main room at Fabric (London) at peak hour, as well as a 15,000+ festival crowd at the Montreal International Jazz Festival.
Combining elements of old soul and funk with a modern dancefloor sensibility, Tortured Soul’s style is both an echo of the past and a challenge to the future. This blend of sounds has won them praise from palettes as diverse as Lenny Kravitz and Barry Manilow, and made them a fave pick of DJ’s across many genres. Their tracks have received remix treatment from such luminaries as Osunlade, DJ Spinna, Alix Alvarez, Quentin Harris and Dimitri from Paris among others, and have appeared on over 25 compilations by the most prominent dance labels, from Hed Kandi to Defected – a testament to the impact they’ve had on current dance music.
2006 saw the release of their highly lauded first full-length album “Introducing Tortured Soul,” (Purpose Records / R2 Records) which collected their early 12” singles with some new studio gems, and fans around the world have been waiting with baited breath for the sophomore effort ever since. In early 2009 Tortured Soul released their new album “Did You Miss Me” on the band’s own newly formed TSTC Records (Dome UK/Europe, Columbia Japan). Previewed for fans with the 3-song/1-remix “In Transit EP” in Spring ’08, “Did You Miss Me” picks right up where “Introducing” left off. As it winds its way through infectious disco grooves, heartfelt raw soul, and lyrical themes that range from melancholic love, infidelity, and party-going mirth, the album coheres as the group’s most accessibly diverse effort to date.
Since Ashley and Simone Beedle founded Afro Art in the Nineties, the label’s had its fair share of ups and downs. However, in 1999 it sailed out of the doldrums that followed their split with two Black Science Orchestra smashes, “Keep on Keeping On” and Allison David’s “Sunshine”. Beedle also draughted in his old friend Murphy as captain after he left to rejoin X-Press 2 in the wake of their huge anthem, “Lazy”. Greatest Hits (2001) covers the first period; This is Afro Art (2004) covers the second, with Murphy at the helm, and despite a recent distribution catastrophe his vessel sure is shipshape now.
“Apart from a couple of tracks, this compilation is about what I’ve been doing myself – my own A&Ring – so it’s more of a piece than the first one,” explains Murphy. Many of the artists featured, including Frogsnatcher, Ashen & Walker and The Mindset, were discovered simply by keeping an ear to the ground – by word of mouth or even a CD in the post – all very much in the spirit of Murphy-era Afro Art, the label with no “label”.
“I’ve tried to make our character as elusive as possible,” he says. “Everybody’s so tied in with this idea that you must have a logo, and you must have this image so that you can say to people, ‘I am this’. But that’s something I’m trying to get away from. So I’ve kept everything very low key. I haven’t worried about creating a lot of hype. It does make it very difficult to make money, but it’s enabled me to go musically in any direction. If I hear a good record I can say, ‘Right, let’s put it out’ and now people are really noticing what we’re doing. I mean, some of the tracks on this CD are still so current, like the Neon Hights and Black Science Orchestra. Sometimes I think we’re almost a bit too ahead of the game. I mean, if we put them out now, everybody’d go, wow.”
In fact, a lot of people did go ‘wow’ the first time round. “Jazz Room”, Murphy and Marc Woolford’s jazz-with-teeth opener has been charted by more than a hundred DJs. “It’s not just big…it’s HUGE!” said the godfather of all things jazzy, Gilles Peterson, while Spiritual South’s “Green Gold” was voted Single of the Year on his BBC Radio 1 show, Worldwide. “Soul Call” (also the first single from Murphy’s forthcoming solo album) is a big Groove Armada favourite and provided the theme tune to The Clothes Show Live 2004 (“Great! Some royalties!”). If you didn’t catch these or any of the other tracks drawn from right across the deep and wide Afro Art spectrum, either you have no turntable (most were vinyl-only releases) or you’ve had your head in a box since the Millennium.
Even when it comes to where to play, which audience to cultivate or who’s “worth” sending promos to there’s a totally fresh attitude at work here. The point for Murphy is to get the music heard, which is why the post-soviet East – that inconceivably vast area, marooned for so many years and now probably the most enthusiastic fan-base for new music on the planet – is such a big focus.
“I’ve been working constantly out there over the last year,” he says [check the links for some Eastern Block parties]. “I’ve been to Lithuania, Slovakia, Estonia – I must have done all of them, except the big one: you know, Russia – the Empire formerly known as Evil. I’m going out to Belgrade at New Year’s just to do some guy’s party! There’s not much money in it, but it’s going to be such a laugh. They’re holding it in a Turkish Bath – whether it’s in use or derelict I don’t know, but I did a similar thing in Budapest three years ago and they had it in a swimming pool filled with water and they just swam to music! The hotel rooms, god, they’re like something out of Tinker, Taylor, Soldier Spy. Honestly, I was looking for bugs. But you go to somewhere like Sarajevo and it’s such a big thing out there. You think to yourself, nobody’s going to like this stuff – and they know every record! They’re so into it. They’re like, ‘Wow! This stuff is amazing.’ It’s just that they don’t have any money.”
For many it would end there: no cash, no sales, no point. But in addition to tracking down and sending promos to dozens of clued-up radio stations in places like Bishkek (capital of Kyrgystan, former Soviet republic sandwiched between Kazakhstan and China) Murphy has pre-empted the inevitable rip’n’burn chaos by negotiating a deal with Czech, Serbian, Slovakian and Hungarian magazines to give away a free one-hour mix of the compilation.
“We’re never going to sell any CDs out there because it’s just too expensive. We’re talking the equivalent of £25 just for a 12-inch single; a CD would be like £60, so all that happens is someone gets hold of one and then copies it ad infinitem,” he explains. “This way, at least we’ll get something out of it, and being a one-hour mix makes it a bit harder to chop up. The only people who are really against downloads anyway are the big companies because they’re going to lose millions of sales on Britney Spears and Madonna. I don’t really give a toss – what’s am I losing? A hundred? And anyway, how can I say to a guy in Russia, ‘don’t download my records’? How can I ask him for a week’s wages for a 12-inch single? That would be cruel!”
It may be breaking new ground both musically and geographically, but think about this compilation’s significance a bit too hard and it starts to reflect Murphy’s history in reverse. On the B-side you’ve got the “jazz, Latin and funky soul element”, which is exactly the bug that bit him back in (“Oh god. It was such a horrible place!”) 1970s Essex. The A-side is the housier side, something that for him came (ahem) a bit later:
“At the beginning when I started out, house music came along SO later that it was like science fiction,” he says, remembering the old Mecca Dance Halls (“Fucking horrible…that’s real life-on-Mars stuff in there.”) “If you’d have said to anyone back then, ‘Yeah, house music’s going to be major!’ They’d have said, ‘Yeah yeah yeah and we’re all going to have, like, personal communicators and everybody’s going to have one on their desk and we’re going to be able to communicate with, like, anyone in the world! Go away.’ And, well, here we are.”
As soon as he was able, Murphy got the hell out of Essex and pitched up in the Smoke to cut his musical teeth at a series of groundbreaking clubs (including Jaffas at The Horseshoe, the Wag, The 100 Club and, obviously, Jazz Room at the Electric Ballroom). He opened a record shop, Fusion Records, ran the Palladin Records label for two years, became WIRE Magazine’s first DJ of the Year in 1985 and generally saw the Eighties through acid jazz and the beginnings of house. Then he disappeared, to be rescued from oblivion after a 10-year sojourn in Ireland by Mod hero Eddie Piller (to whom The Mindset’s track, “Get Set” is dedicated) and returned in 1999 to a residency at the Blue Note in Hoxton just as house music looked like giving up the ghost.
“It was a strange period,” he remembers. “That whole, huge club Ibiza scene which had been dominant for the whole of the Nineties just went. One minute people were selling 10,000 12-inch singles and all of a sudden they’re lucky to do a thousand. You’d be watching Ibiza on Sky or ITV and there’d be all these football yobbos kicking the shit out of each other. It just took that veneer of coolness off it – and once you do that the dream is gone. And also, all those people – they got old! Everyone that was doing a Balearic jobby in 1987, they’re all in their late 30s and they’re mums and dads and stuff. So I came in going, ‘Oh no! Why did I come back now, it’s all ending!’ But at the same time, that just put a whole different dynamic on everything. It’s great now, clubs have definitely gone back to the way they were, small clubs. There’s loads of little splintered scenes and it’s more interesting – a lot more interesting.”
As for the solo album, it’s scheduled for release in April 2005 and is, we’re told, “very jazz”. Inspired by getting stuck on a train in India for three days, The Trip (think “journey” not “microdot”) features the aforementioned “dub-reggae crossed with Don Drummond/The Skatalites version of the music from Seven Samurai” – to be released in Spring as the first single (apart from “Soul Call”) with a Latin jazz cover of the theme from Withnail & I on the flip. “I can’t really say that I have a method,” manages Murphy, grappling with laughter. “It’s more just playing around and seeing what happens. But I’m really pleased with it; it’s exciting. Music – I wouldn’t say it’s the most lucrative profession in the world, but it’s good fun. Beats the call centre any day of the week.”
Medellín Colombia’s Mélodie Lounge sets the trends for the city’s international crowd
BY JOHN C. TRIPP
Medellín Colombia’s upscale “El Poblado” district is not unlike any other trendy tropical “zona rosa” neighborhood. Green abounds, with plants and trees sprouting like an exotic salad, matched by a multitude of trendy shops and cafes lining its avenues and sidestreets. And then there’s the continuous buzz of street traffic, both vehicular and human, creating a continuous sonic and visual canvas. It’s a chaotic and stimulating South American neighorhood where the city’s beautiful people and the occasional tourist group gather to shop, socialize and show off.
At the center of Poblado’s scene is parque Lleras, a sloped, tree- and people-packed park lined by outdoor cafes and bars. For anyone seeking a central meeting in the and hangout place this would be it. It’s all fun and fabulous — for a while anyway. But soon the continuous stream of blaring vallenato, ranchero and top 40 music grades the nerves of any musical purist. And the chattering groups of teens and twenty-somethings (not to mention the drunk Israeli guys on the hunt for Latin chicas) adds to the sense that maybe it’s time to move on. Surely there must be something other than this, something that more discerning tastes can appreciate. It’s time to explore…
Walking the side streets of any city always reaps rewards. It’s where the off-beat boutiques, shops and cafes are typically found. And the formula certainly applies to Poblado. As the maddening noise of parque Lleras fades the neighborhood’s quieter streets reveal a more subdued side to the district. And it’s here where one finds the oasis of sound, cuisine and downtempo vibes known as Mélodie Lounge.
A few years ago one might have walked from one end of Medellín’s long valley to the other in search of a place like Mélodie Lounge and come up empty. This is a city more prone to tradition, which in social terms means a bottle of Aquardiente, (an anise flavored clear alcohol that is better left to locals) and some vallenato music at a corner bar. But Medellín is growing and changed drastically since the dark days of Pablo, finding itself landing on the other side of chaos with a new lease on life. And with small steps a forward-thinking, modern and cutting-edge Medellín is revealing itself.
Amongst those with the vision of the new Medellín are Mélodie Lounge’s three partners, along with the team of architects, interior designers, chefs, musicians-Djs and other creatives that put the lounge concept to action. Mélodie Lounge, with its sleek, tropical-modernist aesthetic has become an oasis of all things cool in Medellín. With a musical selection that encomposses both tropical and downtempo sounds, a worldly menu of wraps and vegetarian entrees, delicious drinks and a mellow but fun environment it is a place to call home.
With a concept that was considered radical by Medellín standards, Mélodie Lounge has proven that the city is ready for cutting-edge nightlife. To add to the lounge’s list of accomplishments are recent promotional and media ventures, including appearances by France’s Rhinocerose, Argentina’s Bajofondo Tango Club, a radio program on Medellín’s Cámera FM station and a CD compilation of Colombian electronic artists entitled “Lounge.Co”. Much more is on the horizon for Mélodie Lounge and Mundovibes spoke with the similarly named and equally amicable partners Carlos H. Estrada and Carlos E. Estrada on the making of Mélodie Lounge and what lies ahead.
Mundovibes: How long has Melodie Lounge been open?
Carlos E Estrada: It’s been 18 months now.
Mundovibes: How did you get into the club and lounge business? How did you start working together?
Carlos H Estrada: Well, we were friends a long time ago. Maybe 15 years. We are three partners and we worked together in different kinds of businesses. Carlos and Daniel had a couple of bars in the ‘90s. Then he had a café with a friend. In the meantime Daniel and me had a house club two years ago. And later we got together once again with the idea of doing something together and that’s when Mélodie Lounge took form. It was basically like an interest, being involved with the nightlife and after all it has become a good way of putting into practice what we have learned somewhere else. And building this new company and making it work.
Mundovibes: Can you just give me a little background on you two and your inspiration to start it?
Carlos E: And the reason why we opened Mélodie Lounge was because there were not really a place with this environment, to visit. Because it’s a quiet environment, but it’s not the kind of quiet environment that you can find in the city, which are not really into fashion.
Carlos H: And the thing is, we had different businesses before. But they were very upbeat, almost dancing bars. Now we thought there was a need in the city for a comfortable place to have a good meal and a couple of drinks without too much. A quiet place, there was a need. So, we decided to open Mélodie Lounge with a lot of sofas, and a good selection of music that could make a good environment. Then we started working with several friends, which was a great thing about it. It was a good opportunity to work with many friends.
Mundovibes: From different fields?
Carlos H: Exactly. Architects, chefs, graphic designers, industrial designers. Each one of them were able to contribute their experience and their expertise to the project.
Mundovibes: What influenced you the most in terms of how it developed? The style is very modern, very colorful, very contemporary. And the music reflects that as well. Were there places in your travels that you’ve said ‘wow, I’d love to do this type of thing’.
Carlos E : Maybe. We wanted to have a lounge and this was our version of it. It was like a mix of ideas from all the team. So, that was what made it so interesting.
Mundovibes: And how did the music programming develop?
Carlos H: One of the reasons why we opened Mélodie Lounge was because even if here you can find good places to have a beer, they don’t really think that music is important. They don’t really pay enough attention to the music. They don’t really think that this is an important part of the place. We disagree with that, we think that when you think of a place you have several things to take care of. And one of the most ones is the music. Of course, the menu is important, the drinks, the design, and the prices are important in Medellín. The important thing is to put all of them together. And to put it together you know there has to be some harmony. And to at the end see the result and say ‘OK, this is the place I was dreaming of.’
Mundovibes: And from the point when you opened to now, how has it evolved? Have you stayed with the same plan?
Carlos H: Pretty much. The three of us are engineers, so we tried to plan ahead as much as we could. And we could say that what we have now is what we wanted to accomplish. Of course, in 18 months there have been too many things happening. The good surprise has been the response from the public. Because at the beginning it was a big challenge and risk for us. Everyone was telling us that we were crazy trying to open such a unique kind of place in Colombia. And after all this time working, we have been surprised of the good response. Everyone is happy and thank us for being visionary, taking the chance.
Mundovibes: So, would you say the market was just waiting for you to bring this to them or did you have to educate people and explain the whole concept.
Carlos H: Very much.
Carlos E: When we opened, we were the first lounge to open in the city. Because of the results a lot of people started to open places calling them “lounge”. And they were more with house music. So, it’s difficult to explain to people that here or anywhere in the world lounges are more quiet and for chilling out. Not really like a dance place, it’s a lounge. In that way we can say there was some work done about educating people.
Mundovibes: You’ve had some good press coverage too.
Carlos H: We have been lucky in that field because of the success of the place, the media has been getting more and more interested in our work. And it has been for us because it gave us the opportunity to talk about our work. And to open the scope of the project. Because nowadays people look for us and for catering different events. They look for us when they need music. When they want new ideas about anything they come to Mélodie looking for our advice and things like that.
Carlos E: The other thing is I think everyone goes to Mélodie Lounge thinking about one special attraction and for some people the attraction is the music that we play, for others the food, for others the cocktails. If you are thinking about going to the States or Europe to buy a couple of Cds, they will come and ask for some advice. But if you are an architect and you like the design, you will ask ‘OK, I want to know how you come up with this idea’.
Mundovibes: So, like you said, having that collaborative team brought the best of everything out with the food, the style, the music.
Carlos H: Yes, and I think the key of the success of Mélodie Lounge. Because at the beginning all of the people were really afraid of the results that we were expecting. They were all thinking ‘is there really a market for this kind of idea?’ Here, most of the people go to drink aguardiente, to listen to tropical music, and there are not really good, good restaurants here. There are just a few good restaurants. So, they were always asking us ‘OK, tell me once again what kind of place do you really want to open? As I understand it’s not really like a bar because you are telling me there is a menu. But, on the other hand, you are telling me that this is more like a sofa place. So, this is not a restaurant.’
Carlos E: It was unique, so no one really understood it right away.
Carlos H: On the other hand they were saying ‘OK, here there’s not really an electronic music culture.’ We were explaining what kind of music we were using for the place and at the end they were saying ‘you can call it whatever you want, but for me this is electronic music. And for me electronic music is for dancing.’ So, at the end you are opening a restaurant without tables, you’re saying that you are going to sell cocktails but you have a menu. And the kind of music you are going to play is dance music and you don’t have the space for dancing.
Mundovibes: It probably feels good now that you are successful and have introduced the concept to Medellín.
Carlos E: Yes, that’s what we were talking about, because now people are like ‘now I understand.’
Mundovibes: Can you give an overview of the way the design came together?
Carlos H: That’s a good question and what we did wasn’t very premeditated. When we got together with this team we wanted to put together a place that could transmit well-being and peace and a comfortable ambience. And that was our starting point. So, after all we did was put together pieces that could work to transmit that overall result.
Mundovibes: Is your regular crowd people that are in the fashion industry or people that have traveled and they understand having seen it elsewhere.
Carlos H: People ask us that question often and I think Mélodie Lounge is a place where it can be easy to understand for someone that has been traveling a lot, that is open minded, that receives a lot of information. So, you can say that designers, architects, or people in the fashion industry, they understand it very well and they feel comfortable here. For some other people, sometimes it’s interesting because it’s something really different from what they are used to. So, it’s a bit shocking but being such a quiet place and at the end of the day they begin to love it.
Carlos E: Because of all the different things that you can find in Mélodie Lounge, it’s so difficult to define a target. People say asked us this when Mélodie Lounge started. And it’s so difficult because when you say ‘this is the place to talk, to have a chat without screaming because the volume of the music is not very loud.I think that there is always time for a place like Mélodie Lounge. Because sometimes you feel like having a cocktail and talking for a while. Sometimes you have to wake up early.
Carlos H: Most of the time people try to segment the market just by age. And that doesn’t happen with Mélodie because we are not in a specific segment for the age group. We are aiming just for any kind of people who want to spend a nice evening chatting and relaxing. So, that could be from the youngest to the oldest. As long as they want to have a nice quiet evening. And, you cannot say that is just for relaxed people, or whatever. Because sometimes you can be an extreme party-goer but any time in the week you feel like going out, it depends on what you want to do that specific moment. And that’s why we open every day from five in the afternoon. That way we are available for anyone at anytime.
Mundovibes: What’s the biggest thrill you get out of running Mélodie Lounge?
Carlos H: It’s been good to be able to express ourselves, to show the people in this city our work. And that was our main objective, and when we saw the good response it was twice as good. Of course, it’s great to be in touch with people, to see their reaction, to listen to their ideas. It’s really rewarding for us.
Carlos E: I think one of the biggest satisfactions has been to be able to prove that there is space for these kind of places, even if you are in a tropical country. It’s good to be able to show a good place in a different. And that’s very interesting because a lot of people that come to Colombia think that all people here are the same thing, you know? In big cities you always find so many different people that go out to different kind of places…to try to change the culture a lot bit is a big satisfaction.
Carlos H: It has been good to break stereotypes for all kinds of people. For local people as well as outsiders that think that Colombia is a very basic place where you cannot find options or people with different ideas.
Mundovibes: Where will you be taking things — what are your plans for the future?
Carlos E: Well, so far we have found that the concept or the work we have done with Mélodie is quite unique, at least in Colombia. So, we would like to see if we can take this to some other cities. Of course, it’s a wish. We are still studying the idea, thinking whether it’s feasible or not. But we’d like to let the thing grow and see what happens.
J.C. Tripp was a guest DJ at Mélodie Lounge while living in Colombia. He can’t wait to return.
Since Deee-Lite split in ’95 Dmitry has given full justification to his “Supa DJ” prefix, awarded DJ of the Year in 1998 for his pioneering mix of techno, electro, funk and new wave and remixing tracks for a numerous and unlikely collection of artists including Sinead O’Connor, Ultra Naté, The Jungle Brothers, Karen Finley and Q-Tip. He’s also been producing material for soundtracks including one song for the film Scream and released a solo mix album, Scream of Consciousness, including tracks co-written with Julee Cruise (of Twin Peaks theme tune fame).
“I’m looking forward,” he said in 2000 when Scream of Consciousness came out. “I am very proud of the past, but it can be a barrier. People have certain expectations, and when they think Deee-Lite, they think melodic house and vocals. That’s not where I am now at all. Music has evolved with time and so have I.”
Dmitry was born in the Ukraine, then part of the USSR. When his parents upped sticks to New York in 1981 Dmitry touched down in the midst of dance culture’s Big Bang as live and electronic music touched wires and exploded to create, over the next few years, the prototypes of hip hop, house, techno, electro and much else. Playing keyboards and guitar – a gift from his mother, a classical pianist, who enrolled him, aged nine in an experimental music programme for children – and with technical skill inherited from his father, an engineer and studying computers at NYU, Dmitry was made for it.
From checking coats at Pyramid, operating the lift at Danceteria, frequenting other ground- breaking clubs like the Paradise Garage and NASA and playing in a good few crazy NYC bands (Four Dicks and a Bone, The Hello Strangers, Blue Sand, That Greek Design, Raging Slab and SHAZORK!) it wasn’t long before Dmitry took the big step and got himself a set of decks. “It was pretty funny because when I started DJing, for the first year, I didn’t have a table for my turntables,” he says. “I’d put them on the floor and spin lying down. One of the decks had pitch control and one didn’t.”
In his box, early East Coast hip-hop brushed sleeves with the electronic sounds of Kraftwerk and Yellow Magic Orchestra and Dmitry soon had regular spots at places like Afrosheen, Pyramid, The Red Zone, NASA at The Shelter and The World, one of New York’s first house music clubs.
Then came Deee-Lite, the self-described “holographic house groove band” responsible for many of the audio-visual trends that characterised the 1990s. The ‘70s fashion revival, for example, can be traced back to the profound love affair between Deee-lite’s frontwoman and former go-go dancer Lady Miss Kier and Fluevog platform shoes. Deee-Lite’s massive crossover hit, “Groove is in the Heart”, with its almost indecently catchy bassline (courtesy of one Bootsy Collins) was club anthem of the decade. And – born as the group was to the deafening sound of monumental historical change as the Berlin Wall, the Iron Curtain and the Cold War fell apart virtually simultaneously – Deee-Lite, with its international make-up and outrageous retro-futuristic, sexually-unspecific image, epitomised a new (sadly short-lived) sense of politically liberated cultural harmony.
“They’re a mini-version of the United Nations, with one young man from the Soviet Union, another from Japan and a young woman from the United States. All three are brave or outrageous enough to wear dorky-looking clothes, designed to look like the worst of everything from the 1960s and ’70s,” wrote the Chicago Sun-Times somewhat stuffily in 1990, giving some indication of just how outrageous Deee-Lite seemed at the time.
By a strange twist of fate, Dmitry made his Glasgow debut hot on the heels of Lady Miss Kier. The two, however, are very definitely no longer on speaking terms, and since Deee-lite’s demise, Dmitry has striven to distance himself from its endearing but indisputably naff brand of funky dance vocals, moving towards an altogether heavier mix – mix being the operative word.
“I am just as inspired by Aphex Twin and Senor Coconut as I am by P-Funk and Louis Armstrong,” he says. “The biggest inspiration has always been the dance floor and some of my favourite producers are Laurent Garnier, Luke Slater, John Selway and Green Velvet.”
Mundovibes caught up with Dmitry at home in Manhattan and found him raging at the official offensive against New York clubland, perplexed by the ‘80s revival, horrified by the film Party Monster and itching to get over to Scotland.
Did you know that Lady Miss Kier was over in Glasgow a couple of weeks ago? Oh yeah? [stony silence]
So you two aren’t friends any more then?
Nope.
Right. You must be pretty fed up of people asking you about Deee-Lite…
Yeah well, you know, it’s happening less and less because I have kind of a good DJing career happening now, and people know me as a DJ as this point and they don’t have the same type of expectations. A few years ago it was a little more difficult, but now it’s good.
What are you up to at the moment?
I have a new group that I have just put together, and I have a couple of licensing things that I’m doing. I’m doing some advertising and television work. And just mixing.
Do you like to DJ in to massive audiences in huge venues or do you prefer smaller clubs with a more intimate atmosphere?
Really I can’t say that I have a preference. Personally I like to be able to be near the crowd that’s dancing; I don’t like to be too far removed, too high up on a pedestal, you know what I mean? I like to really feel the vibe from the people. So whether its 50 people or 10,000 people it doesn’t matter to me so long as I can feel ‘em.
You came from the Ukraine originally – have you been back to DJ there?
Not in the Ukraine but I’ve been to Russia a few times.
What’s it like there?
Interesting… fascinating…scary…great. All of the above, you know? It was definitely interesting to see how things have changed, because I hadn’t been back for about 17 years and then I went back and everything was…really different. And some things were really the same. So, the general inefficiency and things like that remains. But kids were really open to music, and interested. I DJed for a really big party in Siberia – I hadn’t expected anything like that! But it was really quite interesting because 3,000 kids showed up for that event and they were all really dressed up! Like Dolce & Gabbana, Versace and all this stuff! And I was like wow – where do the young people get the money to buy this crap?! So it was kind of pretentious and it was funny, but they were really trying to impress others, impress themselves et cetera et cetera. And they were very open minded when it came to the music, they definitely were very happy to hear electronic music. You know, it’s still not really promoted on the radio over there, it’s not really promoted in any way except at the parties. People were really responding to very underground music. It’s not that they wanted to hear commercial crap. They really were real listeners, you know, people that kind of look for music, that really go out of their way to try to find it. Especially more underground things. But as far as any kind of overground production goes, they don’t have that kind of thing in Russia yet. There’s a couple of radio stations in Russia and all that, but it’s in its infancy, electronic music over there.
When you and your parents came over to the States did you actually defect?
Yeah, we were refugees, political refugees, we asked for political asylum in the United States. I spent a year living in Italy and another half a year living in Austria before finally getting an American visa.
It must have been amazing, moving to New York at that time and finding yourself in the birthplace of dance music…
Yeah there was a lot of great music coming from New York in the ‘80s, and in the ‘90s, actually. It’s just now that the flood of music from New York has slowed down to a trickle. It’s partly because of the draconian dance policies of the city government that’s really basically been harassing dance clubs and dance culture as such. I mean, New York has some very old laws that go back to prohibition time when there were speak-easies and they were trying to control the flow of liquor. So they have these dance cabaret licences that you have to have. And the process is very riddled with corruption and so the city basically sends out people, under-cover officers, to bust people for dancing. A friend of mine who was running a club this weekend, they got closed down because six people were dancing! Isn’t that the stupidest thing you ever heard? Oh yeah, I mean between that and the ban on smoking I mean it really has hurt New York’s nightlife in general. I mean I’m all for health and everything, and the whole reasoning behind it was so that club workers could have a better health environment, healthy environment. Well how about providing health insurance for nightclub workers, if you really concerned about their health. But of course no-body’s interested in that.
What do you think about dance music at the moment? You said it’s slowed down in New York but what about in general?
I feel that it’s a bit of standstill right now. We have this back to the 80s trend, which is actually a little disturbing to me. But, you know, I just don’t like records that sound so retro and there are just so many records that are just doing…like, they’ll take the 80s sound and instead of expanding with it and making something new with it they’re just sticking to the same old formula. The whole electroclash movement is being fed by that new wave 80s throwdown, which is…old. For me. Maybe because when I was younger I was living through that time, and so maybe the kids today they hear if for the very first time. So get excited for it but I cant really have the same sort of excitement for it. I like electro a whole lot; I’m a huge electro fan. It’s just that I’m iffy about electro and new wave mixtures. If you have a little dose of funk in there that can work very well with electro and new wave but what I don’t like is music that’s too white. You know? I’m kind of more into the multi-culti approach, to use the trendy term. (…You gotta take the piss a little bit…) It’s a bit boring; we already lived through that. Whereas for instance if you’re talking about the first half of the 1990s you had all these future musics developing, you had big ambient, you had drum’n’bass you had techno, you had all these new languages that were really being expanded on and perfected and being very creative. And now I mean there’s still techno and there’s still drum’n’bass and there’s still ambient, and experimental stuff but what’s popular is the ‘80s. And I mean to me it can be very tongue-in-cheek and that could be fun, just to play a couple of funny things…but as a whole sound for your set it just bores me to tears.
Do you think its because it’s a safe option, you know, one that’s been tried and tested?
Yeah, but electronic music is not about safety. It’s about innovation and moving forward and the future.
I heard you used to be elevator operator at Danceteria – have you heard about this film, Party Monster, that’s about to come out?
Oh yeah, the Michael Alig story? I’m sorry to hear that. I haven’t seen the film but I’ve known Michael Aleg for quite some time and didn’t like the guy much, to tell you the truth. The guy is like a paedophile and a pervert. I mean I don’t care about how perverted he is but the paedophile I do care about. You know, and I never really cared for the guy for that reason, mainly that reason more than anything else. But I mean not to mention pissing into the ecstasy punch and then making everybody drink it, you know, things like that. It doesn’t make you want to be friends with a person, right?
It’s a weird one to make a film about it with Macaulay Culkin starring, of all people.
Well, you know, it’s a story that can sell. The thing about it, the guy that was killed was a friend of mine and he worked for me for a number of years. Yeah, so I know all the players in this scene and, I mean, it’s an ugly scene. It was an ugly scene then; and it certainly hasn’t improved much.
Is he still about then? I thought he was in prison…
Michael Alig’s in prison, yeah. But the other guy, unfortunately there was a second guy, Frieze, who was a part of it with Michael. And he’s the one that confessed. And he killed himself in jail. He couldn’t face going to jail, I guess. He felt very guilty about it.
Right, I think that’s about it…
Okay, just make sure that you convey that I’m super excited about coming to Scotland. I’ve been wanting to go to Scotland for as long as I can remember, to visit it, you know, ’cause I have this very romantic notion, which I’m sure is going to be blown to bits once I get there! But still, you now, I’m very excited and my girlfriend who’s coming with me is very excited. So we hope to do a bit of sightseeing as well as pleasing the Scottish public.
We’re done, right? So can I ask you on a different note, we’ve got to fly from London to Ibiza – what’s the best way of getting there from Glasgow? …
Known for remixing hip hop and electronic artists like The Pharcyde, Spearhead, Towa Tei and jazz players like Donald Byrd and Urban Knights, Los Angeles based producer The Angel recorded the 1998, 60 Channels album “Tuned In Turned On” to brand her new sound, a mix of electronic dub, drum and bass and live instrumentation. Her desire to explore other sonic textures outside of her urban downtempo roots fuelled this new direction. 60 Channels became the umbrella for an eclectic group of MCs and vocalists brought in to voice the songs Angel was creating. Angel toured extensively as a DJ throughout ’98/’99, often accompanied by members of the 60 Channels crew and sometimes by such varied guests as Divine Styler, Mystic and Jody Watley.
Though The Angel veered into film scoring, outside production and the culmination of her urban alternative release, “No Gravity,” as The Angel in 2001, the plan was always to follow up with further 60 Channels releases. In 2000, The Angel composed the film score for the provocative hit, “Boiler Room,” starring Giovanni Ribisi and Vin Diesel. Having produced songs for Mystic, The Angel was also instrumental in getting the Bay Area MC/songstress, her first record deal.
All the while, the return of 60 Channels was brewing as the direction and feel for a new album started to form. More of a concept album than any of her previous records, the March ’04 release, “Covert Movements,” was written and produced entirely by The Angel. “The whole time I was recording this album, I felt like I was surrounded by some impending chaos… it was out there in the ether, part of the unknown, but I could feel it. Travel became the central theme,” Angel relays, “the journey through life and what we deal with in terms of love, loss and death…the spiritual versus the chemical, tangible realm.” Choosing the messengers to help her illuminate these themes led Angel to work with guest vocalists, Angie Hart (Frente), Navigator (The Freestylers/Asian Dub Foundation), Karen Grant (Andrew Tosh/The Wailer’s Junior Marvin), DJ Collage (Meat Beat Manifesto), Rain Phoenix (papercranes) and Monday Michiru, blending harmonies over a mix of shadowy melodies, pulsing instrumentation and frantic beats.
60 Channels is the collective consciousness of a talented, multi-dimensional crew channeled through one artists’ coherent vision. It’s a frequency that bends from the abstract to the structured in the course of one song, and encompasses a myriad of beats, sounds, and transitions, all the while maintaining a truly organic feel.
JC: I’ve been intrigued by your music for at least a few years. I remember when you were on Delicious Vinyl.
Sixty Channels : Wow, that’s going back.
JC: And I have a lot of respect for what you’re doing, especially considering that you’re doing this independently.
SC: Right on, thank you
JC: It’s been a while for you since your last 60 Channels recording.
SC: Yes, it’s been about five years, but in between I put out an album as The Angel called “No Gravity”. And it was almost going back to my roots, almost back to the Delicious Vinyl sound in a way, where it was a lot more urban and a lot more down tempo and featuring vocalists like Mystic and Divine Styler, Tre Hardson from the Pharcyde: rappers who also rhyme and sing. So it was a different flavor. I’ve been kind of spreading myself a little bit thin, but trying to just keep up in all of the different areas that I’ve been working in over the years. So, that didn’t help me in terms of getting a second 60 Channels album done. And then, of course, getting snagged into the film world and doing film scoring, which I have no complaints about but it does take me away from making records.
JC: That’s probably got to be the biggest challenge since there’s so many things you can do.
SC: Oh, it is and I work in a really unusual way too because most people have a team. Often producers won’t do their own programming, or they’ll have engineers come in and whatever, but I work alone and it’s pretty masochistic really. I’ve got a really clear vision of what I want to do.
JC: Is that a control issue for you or is it because you just like to do everything?
SC: It’s a mixture of things. On the one hand I have my own set-up and I know my way around. And I don’t really have a lot of patience to kind of bring somebody else in and teach them things. Explaining the idea means I could have just done it already. And maybe I got into this way of working because I never had budgets to play with. You know, it was always a struggle, so in a way I had to learn how to do it all. And then I just go into the habit of doing it. So, at this point I’m just comfortable working this way. I have worked, you know, in outside studios where I’ve worked with other engineers. But for the programming that’s something I doubt I will ever delegate, mainly because I think the flavor of what I do comes from the way that I program. So, if I did delegate that job it just wouldn’t sound like me anymore and that’s the thing I get the biggest kick out of is organizing the sound of something or orchestrating that sound, more so than singing or performing or doing all of the other stuff.
JC: So, would that mean that your creative is heavily influenced by the technical side?
SC: It’s just that I have a great affinity for embracing the tools and the tools have gotten over the years just more sophisticated and better and faster. And I’m just not afraid of it. And they just facilitate my ability to do the things I really want to do. So, it’s just a necessary part of the set-up.
JC: In terms of your music and also your use of technolgy, you’ve been ahead of the curve. And I’m just curious if you have ever seen things catching up to you.
SC: Oh, definitely. I can remember having conversations with the owner of Delicious Vinyl, almost ten years ago. And he was saying, ‘you know, you’re just a head of the game. Your sound is progressive and I know the audience, I know the markets going to catch up with you. But, I don’t think it’s there yet.’ And, of course, that’s a really frustrating thing to hear because it doesn’t help to be ahead of the curve. In a lot of respects you’re better of just following it but I don’t really follow anything. You know, even though there are certain musical genres I am much more taken with than others I don’t fit neatly into any of them because I don’t really want to. I’m just kind of in my own space with the sound I create. And I don’t sit around and think about how I can achieve that; that’s just what happens naturally. It can be a real double-edged sword to be ahead of whatever sound or the next thing. It definitely can work against you at times. But things have definitely caught up, and I think the fact that music making tools have become so accessible and so inexpensive now that pretty much anyone can make music. I mean, no anyone can make music you would want to listen to but it’s just become so much easier to do it and and so much more affordable. So, years ago when I was struggling to get stuff done on my own and borrowing equipment. It was just really tough, to get the budget to get into a studio.
JC: Now you just need a desktop computer and some plug-ins.
SC: Yep, and away you go.
JC: Of course, that goes back to the whole principle, which is ‘if anybody can do it, it’s ultimately the idea that matters.’
SC: Yes, it’s the carpenter not the tools.
JC: I’m sure you’ve heard that already.
SC: Yeah, but it’s true. I mean, you can give the same set-up to 10 different people and you may only get something really worthwhile out of 1 of them. But everyone will do something different, even with the same set of samples to work with, the same sounds to work with. But, not all of it is going to do anything for you.
JC: You have had a lot of people that you’ve collaborated with, so obviously that’s very important to what you are doing. In particular you have worked with Mystic and on this recording a diverse range of people. How do they come into your “world”?
SC: Well, it’s an interesting story with Mystic because even back in the Delicious Vinyl days there was a college radio DJ called Rhyme Scheme from the Bay area who introduced me to her and her music. He kept saying ‘man, this girl’s dope, you’ve got to check her out, she’s incredible. She battles with every body up here and she really holds her own’. So, it just took a while and eventually I did meet her and she gave me a cassette of a couple of things that she recorded and one of them was a spoken word piece. And I was really taken with her writing, I thought ‘wow, she is quite a lyricist’. And, then I got the opportunity to do something for Bluenote records. This is going back to ‘95 or so, I was remixing a Donald Byrd track for a compilation called “The New Groove”. And they said, ‘look you can do anything you want with the track.’ And I said ‘I’d really like to put a vocalist on it’. I thought about it, the piece was really beautiful and I thought this would be a good chance for me to work with her, find out how far I can go with her, give her a shot at something and see what can be done. So, they said ‘look, whatever you want to do. You want to put a vocalist on it, cool, do what you like.’ So, I brought her in to write lyrics and perform them over this remix and it was really well done and I got her singing on it, and that was pretty much the first time she sang. And, of course, now it’s a whole different ballgame. She was kind of like, ‘oh, I like singing. This is kind of cool.’ So, it was one of those interesting situations. I will file information away in my brain, I probably knew about her for a couple of years before I had the opportunity to do something specific with her. And, of course, since then I recorded many tracks with her. I actually shopped her deal, got her the deal with Good Vibes, helped her get up and rocking on her own basically.
JC: So, that’s another role you enjoy.
SC: Oh, I totally dig that. I’m really into helping people around me and anything I can do because I work in such a non-mainstream area that I’m not in a position to “take them and propel them to the heights”. But I can at least try to hook the right people up like-minded other people in the industry. And for Mystic she was way too smart and way too driven as an artist and not as someone who was looking for fame and money. She was looking to really be an artist and that’s why I was really happy to hook her up with Good Vibe because I knew that they would respect her and they would let her do something artistically satisfying. So, that was one of those great moments where it worked. But, I like finding new talent, I like taking people for instance like Karen Grant on this new album. She’s a very seasoned vocalist, she’s toured with many different reggae bands, she’s never really been out front and she’s got some voice. But she’s never been given the opportunity to be the lead vocalist. So, when I was looking for someone and I got a good recommendation from another friend, I didn’t realize that she had never really been a lead vocalist at that point. But it didn’t matter to me because I could hear it in her. So, that kind of gives me a kick too, I love being able to do that. And she’s brilliant, she’s a great performer and a great vocalist.
There’s more, and I’m very happy to talk about the people that I’ve brung in, because they all deserve to be spoken about, they all deserve to shine. Navigator, I’ve worked with many times over the years. And he’s another interesting one because he’s known for all of those ragga vocals that he’s done for many different drum & bass DJs. He’s been out there touring constantly over the years. And he’s also known for the ragga vocals he did for the Freestylers and for Asian Dub Foundation. But he has quite an interesting vocal range that not many people have tapped into. Which is why on this album I really wanted him to sing in a different style. And luckily he’s really open-minded, so I wrote ‘Beyond the Chemical Domain’ for him, because he’s half-Jamaican, so he’s got both things and he grew up in England but he has very strong Jamaican ties. So, he can be completely credible in both areas. And I said, ‘well, look, would you be up for doing a kind of straight-up English, very evocative vocal’. And he said ‘yeah, I’ll give it a shot’. And it worked, and everyone liked the flavor of what he did on “Covert Movements”, which is very different from what he has done with me before and most other people.
JC: You know, a lot of your music has a certain “atmosphere” to it, an ambiance. Is that the number one priority when you are creating your music?
SC: I think it is. I’ve always wanted to do something that is evocative and if somebody doesn’t feel something from it, then in a way that’s more of a failure than anything else. If someone should go ‘oh, that’s nice’ it’s so nothing-y. And it makes you feel like, ‘it didn’t do anything’. It is a very subjective arena, so you could love a song and it could be the song you dance around the house to and sing along with. And I could listen to it and go ‘yeah, I know it’s cool but it’s just not for me’. And that’s fair enough but I feel that for my own personal taste I like my stuff to have flavor and to have some kind of an evocative angle. So atmosphere is really important for me. I something I consciously infuse.
JC: That probably plays into what you’re doing with soundtracks and in the sense, that atmosphere is very imporant.
SC: Absolutely. You know in the film industry they call it “sound design” and there really are people who do just sound design for films. It’s not really part of the musical realm but it’s still applied to the music too. And sometimes they’ll add sound effects as part of the sound designing for a film, over the music to give it an extra kind of edge. It’s really important to develop, and what I usually do is develop a library for each project of sounds that relate just to that. It gives the film a certain vibe.
JC: I know you’ve done a couple film soundtracks and then songs for “Six Feet Under”. What are you up to right now with that?
SC: Just to backtrack into that question, for “Six Feet Under” we licensed to them. And we’ve done that with “Twenty-Four” and “Street Time” and tons of other shows. But that’s where they’ve come to us and said ‘hey, we like this song and can we use it and can we make a deal for it to put in our show’. That’s totally cool, but it’s completely different from when I’m hired as a composer for something like “Boiler Room”, where I have to create all of the original music for the film. And believe me, it seems kind of obvious but it’s a subtle thing to most people. I recently worked on a couple of projects, one was for a PBS short film, and that I really loved doing because it took me completely away from anything that was beat driven, groove driven, electronic. In fact, it was none of those things, it was just really tasteful, it needed proper underscore, it needed to be very evocative because it had a supernatural edge to it but it was organically shot. It was like a latino Twilight Zone, in a way, but it wasn’t cheesy. It was very beautifully done and it had an interesting twist. So, it needed to have a little bit of an edge in the atmosphere. It just had a completely different feel as far as what I do. I was just really happy to work on that because it showed another whole area of what I could do.
JC: That’s probably the best thing about being creative, is opening up these new doors.
SC: Yes, definitely. It makes a big difference and that’s why I like working in both areas because, you know, when I’m making records I can pretty much do whatever I want. Because we do it independently and I don’t have to answer to someone else. Then I can do my thing, but with film it’s such a different ballgame. You are so part of the team and you really have to spend the time getting inside the director’s head and trying to help them see their vision come to fruition somehow. So, it’s a whole different discipline but I like it. It helps me, it helps me to not burn out on anything as well.
JC: Let’s talk about “Covert Movements”. Obviously I could read into the title, in the sense that there’s a lot of very shadowy things going on these days in the world.
SC: It definitely felt like that. It’s funny, the title of this came up when I needed a title for the song. And, at first I was going to call the album “Beyond the Chemical Domain” but it’s so wordy and in the end I’m really glad that I didn’t, for lots of reasons. But, it seemed to sum up not only what was going on globally, but also what I felt was going on around me personally when I was making the record. It just felt like there was all of this “stuff” going on, not all of it particularly positive. And I just really had to kind of protect myself from a lot of just weird stuff that was going on and effecting family and friends and all kinds of strange things. And it’s funny, because when I came up with the title it wasn’t that I was thinking constantly about that stuff. And that’s often how it works for me, even when I’m writing lyrics I’ll write stuff and then later I will be able to understand why or what is the deeper meaning behind it. Because it generally has some kind of commentary on my life, or something that’s obviously important but I may not know exactly what that connection is until I’ve gotten away from it a little bit.
JC: Just a subconscious thing coming out.
SC: It kind of comes along that stream-of-consciousness way that I work anyway.
JC: And you don’t have any problems with the technology, letting yourself just flow into being that way.
SC: No, not at all. I just follow whatever vibe is going on at the time. Even though it’s very heady, the way I put things together at some point I have to organize it into something that makes sense but writing it, both lyrically and musically just kind of flows. I let one thing lead me to the next thing and let it be really organic.
JC: One thing about your tracks in “Covert Movements” is they do have pretty strong melodies and hooks in there. A lot of times with dub or with ragga it sounds great but it doesn’t really sink in. Your music is something that will latch on to your brain. For example, I keep hearing ‘Riddim Superstar’ in my head.
SC: I think the reason why is because I employ the dub ethics but I am not making dub music. And dub is really all about stripping things down and using lots of delays and just making something more sparse and vibey. And it’s not so much about melodies and lyrics. In fact, it’s usually taking something that was once a whole piece and stripping it down. So, I like to use some of those effects and employ that ethic to what I do but I wouldn’t consider myself a dub artist in any way. In the same way I wouldn’t consider myself a drum & bass artist. Those influences are there, definitely, but at the base of it I guess is the fact that I know how to write a song. It’s funny because I didn’t come to this album thinking ‘whoa, I’m going to write a bunch of really strong songs’ I really wasn’t sure what I was going to do. Again, I just followed my nose and ‘Superstar’ was one of those where I had Navigator’s hook in it, and it was essentially an instrumental. And, I liked the vibe of it so much and I thought ‘this would be crazy if we just leave it so wide open. I just think there’s so much potential for this to be a really strong vocal track’. And I started singing out some ideas and I knew that I did not want to be the vocalist on the track. As much as I loved the track, it’s not for that reason, I just felt that there was a better, more credible vocalist to be had for that song. So, when I found Karen and we tried it out, it just worked. She could feel it and take it to another whole dimension.
As I started doing the first few tracks for the record, it just felt more natural to have more vocal tracks. At one point I was thinking I’d do mostly instrumentals with a couple of vocal tracks — it just kind of happened that way. Because I wrote everything, and that’s another big process. Sometimes I’ll shy away from having to write lyrics and vocals just because it’s a lot more work. I must have had something to say here because I would sit down to write lyrics and within 20 minutes it was written. And then I’d go back and go, ‘oh, wow. That’s what I was trying to say’. I trusted the process and everything just worked. Rather than stressing about it and trying to strategize, because I don’t approach making records the way a major label would where they torture their artists, like ‘oh no, you don’t have enough singles here, you don’t have enough radio tracks, go back in’. And it drives artists completely out of their mind doing that. But I just went with the flow and then I wound up with all of these songs and then I was concerned because I had 6 vocalists plus myself on there. But then when I started listening to them together it made sense and I stopped worrying about it. I didn’t want it to seem like a compilation, I wanted it to sound like an album that stuck together. It’s funny, even as different as we are somehow it works. Of course, I was very happily not going to be singing on this record.
JC: Are you uneasy about your vocals (laughter)?
SC: I can deal with it, I just know that my forté is production and putting it together, writing and doing the backroom stuff. I don’t think of myself as being a brilliant vocalist. I know I can sing, but I often get much more excited about other people’s vocals. I’m just very humble about my vocals and sometimes a bit shy.
JC: Well, I don’t know if you would take this as a criticism, but the vocals are often back in the mix on your music. I wonder if you brought the vocals more forward how it would sound.
SC: It depends, I just mix things so the vocal sounds like a part of the track, whether it’s mine of anybody elses. I’m not really into that kind of Whitney Houston thing of doing ballads or anthems. You know, where the vocal has to fit right on top of the song. The kind of music that I think everybody is making in the electronic genre, the voice, even in the most brilliant cases where someone has got an exceptional voice, it just works better when the vocal is part of the track and it’s not sitting on top of everything, dominating. That’s just my personal taste for mixing, I’m not trying to bury anything because if I don’t like I’ll just not put it in there at all. If I’m worried about something not sounding good enough I just won’t use it. But I like effecting vocals, making them into some other kind of instrument. It’s not my job to degrade what any vocalist is doing, but to just give it another edge so that it fits with the music.
JC: Does anyone ever say anything like ‘what are you doing to my voice?’
SC: No, it’s amazing. Everyone I worked with, from all of the vocalist to the musicians they’re usually just so excited about the context in which their performance winds up being. Especially the musicians, because I often do very odd ball things with some of their performances. We’ll record things in a particular way and I’ll say ‘look, I’ve got this melody in my head, can you do this? Let’s do that, let’s build up some harmonies’ Whether it be horns or bass or flutes or whatever it might be. And usually they’re like ‘oh, shit I remember doing that, wow! You did it in a completely different kind of way’. They get excited by it because it’s such a different way of working and I think for a lot of musicians, you know most are working on their own stuff all of the time. When they’re brought in to do session work it can be really stifling for them and most don’t get a chance to have fun, it’s playing by numbers after a while and it’s never like that when we work together. Either when they’re there or even later after I’ve messed around with their performances. It’s usually a fun thing, and the vocalists are usually just really excited about a context in which they are now heard. A lot of them come from different genres, like Angie Hart for instance who is best known for a much more rock-acoustic arena. I think for her it’s like ‘oh, wow, listen to that’. And she’s great, she’s really wonderful to work with and we’ve done a lot of work together over the years. I just saw her, she and Simon from Frente did an acoutic set for the first time in eight years. And I just watched her sing live, no effects no thing, and she sounded unbelievably brilliant. But it’s a completely different thing. It’s a nice contrast and I think that’s why she enjoys doing this. It’s another are to play and try things out.
JC: It seems like a lot of the music you are grouped within comes from Europe. I know you lived in London, but what’s going on in Los Angeles that interests you?
SC: After ten years I’m still trying to find the scene here. It’s a very fragmented scene and to me Los Angeles is a following city, it’s not a leading city in terms of what’s coming out of this place. And I’m used to being at the forefront, not following. So, thank goodness my environment doesn’t seem to get in the way, but my sensibilities are much closer to an east coast and European vibe. And I tend to not isolate but I definitely am in my own kind of space, doing my own thing and I don’t really feed off anything that’s going on here. I’m not aware of anything that’s so cutting-edge and different. It’s not really enouraged in America, not just L.A. American are not enouraged to go that route, it’s all about being homogenous and formatting music and that comes from the top. That comes from the major record companies, they don’t know how to market something unless you look and sound like somebody else. And they have these broad marketing plans that they literally just cross you name off once they’ve done it and put the next person’s name on there. It’s pretty sad, but that’s why you get these genres that after a while you can’t even distinguish between the artists. It’s lame, it doesn’t inspire me at all. But everybody’s in it for a different reason and I understand the pressures that artists have on them when they sign big deals. They have to then play that game or they’ll get dropped and then they languish in obscurity. And doing it independently really isn’t for everybody. There’s huge prices to pay both ways. You just have to figure out what you want out of it, to figure out the best route to take.
JC: It seems you wanted to be independent from the get-go?
SC: As soon as I left Delicious Vinyl, and they were a good-sized indie, and they did some really cool things. But I learned a lot about how not to do things from them. It was really my introduction to how the independent label operates in America because I came to them from London. And I didn’t have much experience with the American record label system at that point. Once we went through the frustrating process of watching my label lose distribution several times from the time I signed to them to the time that we never got the album out. And I watched a lot of my label mates suffering right in the middle of their album campaign, like the Pharcyde. You know, right in the middle of their first album, Delicious changed distribution and it was a nightmare. That’s the greatest way to kill an album, you cannot change distributors in the middle of a campaign. I just kind of watched all of this stuff like ‘oh, my God. I can mess this up for myself, I don’t really need someone else to do this.’ By the end of my short stay with them I was just like ‘as tough as it’s going to be, I’d rather learn it, figure it out and either fail or succeed of my own efforts’. You know, whatever happens happens, and if it can’t be as big as I’d like, oh well, at least I will always know where we really stand. And that peace of mind counts for a lot.
JC: Especially now, with the way things are in the industry.
SC: Now it’s so amazing, because I was thinking this way eight to ten years ago when the industry was in a much better place and majors still ruled and artists still really wanted those deals. Now, everything I was doing back in ‘94 has become much more acceptable and understandable. But for a producer to be the artist was kind of unheard of, it was just something in the early ‘90s. People were starting to get that as a concept, but now it’s perfectly understandable and acceptable.
JC: It’s like the norm now, in a lot of cases.
SC: Definitely. Back in the early ‘90s nobody even knew what a producer did. It’s like ‘yeah, there’s a producer on that record but I don’t know what they do’. It was like a rock and roll thing and nobody understood it. Things have definitely changed and I think partially for the better. It’s certainly better for the artist, for the artist who truly wants to be creative, I think this is a much better place. But it’s a tough place to put out records because retailers are all suffering terribly and that trickles down and hurts everybody.
JC: I guess the music will live on but it’s tough.
SC: That’s the bottom line is that getting it out to people, really getting the exposure has always been the hardest part. But I think it’s twice as hard now as it’s ever been. So, I guess the idea is you keep doing what you do and keep your head down and try not to think about it too much. And try to be more creative. And keep your fingers crossed.
Known for remixing hip hop and electronic artists like The Pharcyde, Spearhead, Towa Tei and jazz players like Donald Byrd and Urban Knights, Los Angeles based producer The Angel recorded the 1998, 60 Channels album “Tuned In Turned On” to brand her new sound, a mix of electronic dub, drum and bass and live instrumentation. Her desire to explore other sonic textures outside of her urban downtempo roots fuelled this new direction. 60 Channels became the umbrella for an eclectic group of MCs and vocalists brought in to voice the songs Angel was creating. Angel toured extensively as a DJ throughout ’98/’99, often accompanied by members of the 60 Channels crew and sometimes by such varied guests as Divine Styler, Mystic and Jody Watley.Though The Angel veered into film scoring, outside production and the culmination of her urban alternative release, “No Gravity,” as The Angel in 2001, the plan was always to follow up with further 60 Channels releases. In 2000, The Angel composed the film score for the provocative hit, “Boiler Room,” starring Giovanni Ribisi and Vin Diesel. Having produced songs for Mystic, The Angel was also instrumental in getting the Bay Area MC/songstress, her first record deal.All the while, the return of 60 Channels was brewing as the direction and feel for a new album started to form. More of a concept album than any of her previous records, the March ’04 release, “Covert Movements,” was written and produced entirely by The Angel. “The whole time I was recording this album, I felt like I was surrounded by some impending chaos… it was out there in the ether, part of the unknown, but I could feel it. Travel became the central theme,” Angel relays, “the journey through life and what we deal with in terms of love, loss and death…the spiritual versus the chemical, tangible realm.” Choosing the messengers to help her illuminate these themes led Angel to work with guest vocalists, Angie Hart (Frente), Navigator (The Freestylers/Asian Dub Foundation), Karen Grant (Andrew Tosh/The Wailer’s Junior Marvin), DJ Collage (Meat Beat Manifesto), Rain Phoenix (papercranes) and Monday Michiru, blending harmonies over a mix of shadowy melodies, pulsing instrumentation and frantic beats.
60 Channels is the collective consciousness of a talented, multi-dimensional crew channeled through one artists’ coherent vision. It’s a frequency that bends from the abstract to the structured in the course of one song, and encompasses a myriad of beats, sounds, and transitions, all the while maintaining a truly organic feel.
JC: I’ve been intrigued by your music for at least a few years. I remember when you were on Delicious Vinyl.
Sixty Channels : Wow, that’s going back.
JC: And I have a lot of respect for what you’re doing, especially considering that you’re doing this independently.
SC: Right on, thank you
JC: It’s been a while for you since your last 60 Channels recording.
SC: Yes, it’s been about five years, but in between I put out an album as The Angel called “No Gravity”. And it was almost going back to my roots, almost back to the Delicious Vinyl sound in a way, where it was a lot more urban and a lot more down tempo and featuring vocalists like Mystic and Divine Styler, Tre Hardson from the Pharcyde: rappers who also rhyme and sing. So it was a different flavor. I’ve been kind of spreading myself a little bit thin, but trying to just keep up in all of the different areas that I’ve been working in over the years. So, that didn’t help me in terms of getting a second 60 Channels album done. And then, of course, getting snagged into the film world and doing film scoring, which I have no complaints about but it does take me away from making records.
JC: That’s probably got to be the biggest challenge since there’s so many things you can do.
SC: Oh, it is and I work in a really unusual way too because most people have a team. Often producers won’t do their own programming, or they’ll have engineers come in and whatever, but I work alone and it’s pretty masochistic really. I’ve got a really clear vision of what I want to do.
JC: Is that a control issue for you or is it because you just like to do everything?
SC: It’s a mixture of things. On the one hand I have my own set-up and I know my way around. And I don’t really have a lot of patience to kind of bring somebody else in and teach them things. Explaining the idea means I could have just done it already. And maybe I got into this way of working because I never had budgets to play with. You know, it was always a struggle, so in a way I had to learn how to do it all. And then I just go into the habit of doing it. So, at this point I’m just comfortable working this way. I have worked, you know, in outside studios where I’ve worked with other engineers. But for the programming that’s something I doubt I will ever delegate, mainly because I think the flavor of what I do comes from the way that I program. So, if I did delegate that job it just wouldn’t sound like me anymore and that’s the thing I get the biggest kick out of is organizing the sound of something or orchestrating that sound, more so than singing or performing or doing all of the other stuff.
JC: So, would that mean that your creative is heavily influenced by the technical side?
SC: It’s just that I have a great affinity for embracing the tools and the tools have gotten over the years just more sophisticated and better and faster. And I’m just not afraid of it. And they just facilitate my ability to do the things I really want to do. So, it’s just a necessary part of the set-up.
JC: In terms of your music and also your use of technolgy, you’ve been ahead of the curve. And I’m just curious if you have ever seen things catching up to you.
SC: Oh, definitely. I can remember having conversations with the owner of Delicious Vinyl, almost ten years ago. And he was saying, ‘you know, you’re just a head of the game. Your sound is progressive and I know the audience, I know the markets going to catch up with you. But, I don’t think it’s there yet.’ And, of course, that’s a really frustrating thing to hear because it doesn’t help to be ahead of the curve. In a lot of respects you’re better of just following it but I don’t really follow anything. You know, even though there are certain musical genres I am much more taken with than others I don’t fit neatly into any of them because I don’t really want to. I’m just kind of in my own space with the sound I create. And I don’t sit around and think about how I can achieve that; that’s just what happens naturally. It can be a real double-edged sword to be ahead of whatever sound or the next thing. It definitely can work against you at times. But things have definitely caught up, and I think the fact that music making tools have become so accessible and so inexpensive now that pretty much anyone can make music. I mean, no anyone can make music you would want to listen to but it’s just become so much easier to do it and and so much more affordable. So, years ago when I was struggling to get stuff done on my own and borrowing equipment. It was just really tough, to get the budget to get into a studio.
JC: Now you just need a desktop computer and some plug-ins.
SC: Yep, and away you go.
JC: Of course, that goes back to the whole principle, which is ‘if anybody can do it, it’s ultimately the idea that matters.’
SC: Yes, it’s the carpenter not the tools.
JC: I’m sure you’ve heard that already.
SC: Yeah, but it’s true. I mean, you can give the same set-up to 10 different people and you may only get something really worthwhile out of 1 of them. But everyone will do something different, even with the same set of samples to work with, the same sounds to work with. But, not all of it is going to do anything for you.
JC: You have had a lot of people that you’ve collaborated with, so obviously that’s very important to what you are doing. In particular you have worked with Mystic and on this recording a diverse range of people. How do they come into your “world”?
SC: Well, it’s an interesting story with Mystic because even back in the Delicious Vinyl days there was a college radio DJ called Rhyme Scheme from the Bay area who introduced me to her and her music. He kept saying ‘man, this girl’s dope, you’ve got to check her out, she’s incredible. She battles with every body up here and she really holds her own’. So, it just took a while and eventually I did meet her and she gave me a cassette of a couple of things that she recorded and one of them was a spoken word piece. And I was really taken with her writing, I thought ‘wow, she is quite a lyricist’. And, then I got the opportunity to do something for Bluenote records. This is going back to ‘95 or so, I was remixing a Donald Byrd track for a compilation called “The New Groove”. And they said, ‘look you can do anything you want with the track.’ And I said ‘I’d really like to put a vocalist on it’. I thought about it, the piece was really beautiful and I thought this would be a good chance for me to work with her, find out how far I can go with her, give her a shot at something and see what can be done. So, they said ‘look, whatever you want to do. You want to put a vocalist on it, cool, do what you like.’ So, I brought her in to write lyrics and perform them over this remix and it was really well done and I got her singing on it, and that was pretty much the first time she sang. And, of course, now it’s a whole different ballgame. She was kind of like, ‘oh, I like singing. This is kind of cool.’ So, it was one of those interesting situations. I will file information away in my brain, I probably knew about her for a couple of years before I had the opportunity to do something specific with her. And, of course, since then I recorded many tracks with her. I actually shopped her deal, got her the deal with Good Vibes, helped her get up and rocking on her own basically.
JC: So, that’s another role you enjoy.
SC: Oh, I totally dig that. I’m really into helping people around me and anything I can do because I work in such a non-mainstream area that I’m not in a position to “take them and propel them to the heights”. But I can at least try to hook the right people up like-minded other people in the industry. And for Mystic she was way too smart and way too driven as an artist and not as someone who was looking for fame and money. She was looking to really be an artist and that’s why I was really happy to hook her up with Good Vibe because I knew that they would respect her and they would let her do something artistically satisfying. So, that was one of those great moments where it worked. But, I like finding new talent, I like taking people for instance like Karen Grant on this new album. She’s a very seasoned vocalist, she’s toured with many different reggae bands, she’s never really been out front and she’s got some voice. But she’s never been given the opportunity to be the lead vocalist. So, when I was looking for someone and I got a good recommendation from another friend, I didn’t realize that she had never really been a lead vocalist at that point. But it didn’t matter to me because I could hear it in her. So, that kind of gives me a kick too, I love being able to do that. And she’s brilliant, she’s a great performer and a great vocalist.
There’s more, and I’m very happy to talk about the people that I’ve brung in, because they all deserve to be spoken about, they all deserve to shine. Navigator, I’ve worked with many times over the years. And he’s another interesting one because he’s known for all of those ragga vocals that he’s done for many different drum & bass DJs. He’s been out there touring constantly over the years. And he’s also known for the ragga vocals he did for the Freestylers and for Asian Dub Foundation. But he has quite an interesting vocal range that not many people have tapped into. Which is why on this album I really wanted him to sing in a different style. And luckily he’s really open-minded, so I wrote ‘Beyond the Chemical Domain’ for him, because he’s half-Jamaican, so he’s got both things and he grew up in England but he has very strong Jamaican ties. So, he can be completely credible in both areas. And I said, ‘well, look, would you be up for doing a kind of straight-up English, very evocative vocal’. And he said ‘yeah, I’ll give it a shot’. And it worked, and everyone liked the flavor of what he did on “Covert Movements”, which is very different from what he has done with me before and most other people.
JC: You know, a lot of your music has a certain “atmosphere” to it, an ambiance. Is that the number one priority when you are creating your music?
SC: I think it is. I’ve always wanted to do something that is evocative and if somebody doesn’t feel something from it, then in a way that’s more of a failure than anything else. If someone should go ‘oh, that’s nice’ it’s so nothing-y. And it makes you feel like, ‘it didn’t do anything’. It is a very subjective arena, so you could love a song and it could be the song you dance around the house to and sing along with. And I could listen to it and go ‘yeah, I know it’s cool but it’s just not for me’. And that’s fair enough but I feel that for my own personal taste I like my stuff to have flavor and to have some kind of an evocative angle. So atmosphere is really important for me. I something I consciously infuse.
JC: That probably plays into what you’re doing with soundtracks and in the sense, that atmosphere is very imporant.
SC: Absolutely. You know in the film industry they call it “sound design” and there really are people who do just sound design for films. It’s not really part of the musical realm but it’s still applied to the music too. And sometimes they’ll add sound effects as part of the sound designing for a film, over the music to give it an extra kind of edge. It’s really important to develop, and what I usually do is develop a library for each project of sounds that relate just to that. It gives the film a certain vibe.
JC: I know you’ve done a couple film soundtracks and then songs for “Six Feet Under”. What are you up to right now with that?
SC: Just to backtrack into that question, for “Six Feet Under” we licensed to them. And we’ve done that with “Twenty-Four” and “Street Time” and tons of other shows. But that’s where they’ve come to us and said ‘hey, we like this song and can we use it and can we make a deal for it to put in our show’. That’s totally cool, but it’s completely different from when I’m hired as a composer for something like “Boiler Room”, where I have to create all of the original music for the film. And believe me, it seems kind of obvious but it’s a subtle thing to most people. I recently worked on a couple of projects, one was for a PBS short film, and that I really loved doing because it took me completely away from anything that was beat driven, groove driven, electronic. In fact, it was none of those things, it was just really tasteful, it needed proper underscore, it needed to be very evocative because it had a supernatural edge to it but it was organically shot. It was like a latino Twilight Zone, in a way, but it wasn’t cheesy. It was very beautifully done and it had an interesting twist. So, it needed to have a little bit of an edge in the atmosphere. It just had a completely different feel as far as what I do. I was just really happy to work on that because it showed another whole area of what I could do.
JC: That’s probably the best thing about being creative, is opening up these new doors.
SC: Yes, definitely. It makes a big difference and that’s why I like working in both areas because, you know, when I’m making records I can pretty much do whatever I want. Because we do it independently and I don’t have to answer to someone else. Then I can do my thing, but with film it’s such a different ballgame. You are so part of the team and you really have to spend the time getting inside the director’s head and trying to help them see their vision come to fruition somehow. So, it’s a whole different discipline but I like it. It helps me, it helps me to not burn out on anything as well.
JC: Let’s talk about “Covert Movements”. Obviously I could read into the title, in the sense that there’s a lot of very shadowy things going on these days in the world.
SC: It definitely felt like that. It’s funny, the title of this came up when I needed a title for the song. And, at first I was going to call the album “Beyond the Chemical Domain” but it’s so wordy and in the end I’m really glad that I didn’t, for lots of reasons. But, it seemed to sum up not only what was going on globally, but also what I felt was going on around me personally when I was making the record. It just felt like there was all of this “stuff” going on, not all of it particularly positive. And I just really had to kind of protect myself from a lot of just weird stuff that was going on and effecting family and friends and all kinds of strange things. And it’s funny, because when I came up with the title it wasn’t that I was thinking constantly about that stuff. And that’s often how it works for me, even when I’m writing lyrics I’ll write stuff and then later I will be able to understand why or what is the deeper meaning behind it. Because it generally has some kind of commentary on my life, or something that’s obviously important but I may not know exactly what that connection is until I’ve gotten away from it a little bit.
JC: Just a subconscious thing coming out.
SC: It kind of comes along that stream-of-consciousness way that I work anyway.
JC: And you don’t have any problems with the technology, letting yourself just flow into being that way.
SC: No, not at all. I just follow whatever vibe is going on at the time. Even though it’s very heady, the way I put things together at some point I have to organize it into something that makes sense but writing it, both lyrically and musically just kind of flows. I let one thing lead me to the next thing and let it be really organic.
JC: One thing about your tracks in “Covert Movements” is they do have pretty strong melodies and hooks in there. A lot of times with dub or with ragga it sounds great but it doesn’t really sink in. Your music is something that will latch on to your brain. For example, I keep hearing ‘Riddim Superstar’ in my head.
SC: I think the reason why is because I employ the dub ethics but I am not making dub music. And dub is really all about stripping things down and using lots of delays and just making something more sparse and vibey. And it’s not so much about melodies and lyrics. In fact, it’s usually taking something that was once a whole piece and stripping it down. So, I like to use some of those effects and employ that ethic to what I do but I wouldn’t consider myself a dub artist in any way. In the same way I wouldn’t consider myself a drum & bass artist. Those influences are there, definitely, but at the base of it I guess is the fact that I know how to write a song. It’s funny because I didn’t come to this album thinking ‘whoa, I’m going to write a bunch of really strong songs’ I really wasn’t sure what I was going to do. Again, I just followed my nose and ‘Superstar’ was one of those where I had Navigator’s hook in it, and it was essentially an instrumental. And, I liked the vibe of it so much and I thought ‘this would be crazy if we just leave it so wide open. I just think there’s so much potential for this to be a really strong vocal track’. And I started singing out some ideas and I knew that I did not want to be the vocalist on the track. As much as I loved the track, it’s not for that reason, I just felt that there was a better, more credible vocalist to be had for that song. So, when I found Karen and we tried it out, it just worked. She could feel it and take it to another whole dimension.
As I started doing the first few tracks for the record, it just felt more natural to have more vocal tracks. At one point I was thinking I’d do mostly instrumentals with a couple of vocal tracks — it just kind of happened that way. Because I wrote everything, and that’s another big process. Sometimes I’ll shy away from having to write lyrics and vocals just because it’s a lot more work. I must have had something to say here because I would sit down to write lyrics and within 20 minutes it was written. And then I’d go back and go, ‘oh, wow. That’s what I was trying to say’. I trusted the process and everything just worked. Rather than stressing about it and trying to strategize, because I don’t approach making records the way a major label would where they torture their artists, like ‘oh no, you don’t have enough singles here, you don’t have enough radio tracks, go back in’. And it drives artists completely out of their mind doing that. But I just went with the flow and then I wound up with all of these songs and then I was concerned because I had 6 vocalists plus myself on there. But then when I started listening to them together it made sense and I stopped worrying about it. I didn’t want it to seem like a compilation, I wanted it to sound like an album that stuck together. It’s funny, even as different as we are somehow it works. Of course, I was very happily not going to be singing on this record.
JC: Are you uneasy about your vocals (laughter)?
SC: I can deal with it, I just know that my forté is production and putting it together, writing and doing the backroom stuff. I don’t think of myself as being a brilliant vocalist. I know I can sing, but I often get much more excited about other people’s vocals. I’m just very humble about my vocals and sometimes a bit shy.
JC: Well, I don’t know if you would take this as a criticism, but the vocals are often back in the mix on your music. I wonder if you brought the vocals more forward how it would sound.
SC: It depends, I just mix things so the vocal sounds like a part of the track, whether it’s mine of anybody elses. I’m not really into that kind of Whitney Houston thing of doing ballads or anthems. You know, where the vocal has to fit right on top of the song. The kind of music that I think everybody is making in the electronic genre, the voice, even in the most brilliant cases where someone has got an exceptional voice, it just works better when the vocal is part of the track and it’s not sitting on top of everything, dominating. That’s just my personal taste for mixing, I’m not trying to bury anything because if I don’t like I’ll just not put it in there at all. If I’m worried about something not sounding good enough I just won’t use it. But I like effecting vocals, making them into some other kind of instrument. It’s not my job to degrade what any vocalist is doing, but to just give it another edge so that it fits with the music.
JC: Does anyone ever say anything like ‘what are you doing to my voice?’
SC: No, it’s amazing. Everyone I worked with, from all of the vocalist to the musicians they’re usually just so excited about the context in which their performance winds up being. Especially the musicians, because I often do very odd ball things with some of their performances. We’ll record things in a particular way and I’ll say ‘look, I’ve got this melody in my head, can you do this? Let’s do that, let’s build up some harmonies’ Whether it be horns or bass or flutes or whatever it might be. And usually they’re like ‘oh, shit I remember doing that, wow! You did it in a completely different kind of way’. They get excited by it because it’s such a different way of working and I think for a lot of musicians, you know most are working on their own stuff all of the time. When they’re brought in to do session work it can be really stifling for them and most don’t get a chance to have fun, it’s playing by numbers after a while and it’s never like that when we work together. Either when they’re there or even later after I’ve messed around with their performances. It’s usually a fun thing, and the vocalists are usually just really excited about a context in which they are now heard. A lot of them come from different genres, like Angie Hart for instance who is best known for a much more rock-acoustic arena. I think for her it’s like ‘oh, wow, listen to that’. And she’s great, she’s really wonderful to work with and we’ve done a lot of work together over the years. I just saw her, she and Simon from Frente did an acoutic set for the first time in eight years. And I just watched her sing live, no effects no thing, and she sounded unbelievably brilliant. But it’s a completely different thing. It’s a nice contrast and I think that’s why she enjoys doing this. It’s another are to play and try things out.
JC: It seems like a lot of the music you are grouped within comes from Europe. I know you lived in London, but what’s going on in Los Angeles that interests you?
SC: After ten years I’m still trying to find the scene here. It’s a very fragmented scene and to me Los Angeles is a following city, it’s not a leading city in terms of what’s coming out of this place. And I’m used to being at the forefront, not following. So, thank goodness my environment doesn’t seem to get in the way, but my sensibilities are much closer to an east coast and European vibe. And I tend to not isolate but I definitely am in my own kind of space, doing my own thing and I don’t really feed off anything that’s going on here. I’m not aware of anything that’s so cutting-edge and different. It’s not really enouraged in America, not just L.A. American are not enouraged to go that route, it’s all about being homogenous and formatting music and that comes from the top. That comes from the major record companies, they don’t know how to market something unless you look and sound like somebody else. And they have these broad marketing plans that they literally just cross you name off once they’ve done it and put the next person’s name on there. It’s pretty sad, but that’s why you get these genres that after a while you can’t even distinguish between the artists. It’s lame, it doesn’t inspire me at all. But everybody’s in it for a different reason and I understand the pressures that artists have on them when they sign big deals. They have to then play that game or they’ll get dropped and then they languish in obscurity. And doing it independently really isn’t for everybody. There’s huge prices to pay both ways. You just have to figure out what you want out of it, to figure out the best route to take.
JC: It seems you wanted to be independent from the get-go?
SC: As soon as I left Delicious Vinyl, and they were a good-sized indie, and they did some really cool things. But I learned a lot about how not to do things from them. It was really my introduction to how the independent label operates in America because I came to them from London. And I didn’t have much experience with the American record label system at that point. Once we went through the frustrating process of watching my label lose distribution several times from the time I signed to them to the time that we never got the album out. And I watched a lot of my label mates suffering right in the middle of their album campaign, like the Pharcyde. You know, right in the middle of their first album, Delicious changed distribution and it was a nightmare. That’s the greatest way to kill an album, you cannot change distributors in the middle of a campaign. I just kind of watched all of this stuff like ‘oh, my God. I can mess this up for myself, I don’t really need someone else to do this.’ By the end of my short stay with them I was just like ‘as tough as it’s going to be, I’d rather learn it, figure it out and either fail or succeed of my own efforts’. You know, whatever happens happens, and if it can’t be as big as I’d like, oh well, at least I will always know where we really stand. And that peace of mind counts for a lot.
JC: Especially now, with the way things are in the industry.
SC: Now it’s so amazing, because I was thinking this way eight to ten years ago when the industry was in a much better place and majors still ruled and artists still really wanted those deals. Now, everything I was doing back in ‘94 has become much more acceptable and understandable. But for a producer to be the artist was kind of unheard of, it was just something in the early ‘90s. People were starting to get that as a concept, but now it’s perfectly understandable and acceptable.
JC: It’s like the norm now, in a lot of cases.
SC: Definitely. Back in the early ‘90s nobody even knew what a producer did. It’s like ‘yeah, there’s a producer on that record but I don’t know what they do’. It was like a rock and roll thing and nobody understood it. Things have definitely changed and I think partially for the better. It’s certainly better for the artist, for the artist who truly wants to be creative, I think this is a much better place. But it’s a tough place to put out records because retailers are all suffering terribly and that trickles down and hurts everybody.
JC: I guess the music will live on but it’s tough.
SC: That’s the bottom line is that getting it out to people, really getting the exposure has always been the hardest part. But I think it’s twice as hard now as it’s ever been. So, I guess the idea is you keep doing what you do and keep your head down and try not to think about it too much. And try to be more creative. And keep your fingers crossed.
Before there was dubstep (or whatever sound that encompasses dub), there was Producer Adrian Sherwood and his label ON-U Sound, one of the most influential labels of underground dance, dub and electronic music.
BY JOHN C. TRIPP
England has been a fertile breeding ground for reggae music since the late 1950s, when Jamaican music washed ashore alongside the many thousands of immigrants from the island who came for work. At the time it was strange music in a strange land, and was largely ignored by native British. That didn’t stop the music from prospering, fed by a legion of record importers, sound systems and promoters who mirrored the musical trends coming from Jamaica. In England’s West Indian and white working class neighborhoods the sounds of ska (known as ‘blue beat’), rocksteady and dancehall proliferated and became an essential part of the culture. Growing up in this environment would have an indelible impact on one’s musical tastes, as well as culture. And it’s in exactly this way that Adrian Sherwood was influenced.
Born in 1958, Sherwood’s youth paralleled the rise of Jamaican music. From the ’60s “rude boy” era to the ’70s merging of ska and punk, it was a period of intense creativity and cultural blending. Sherwood was transfixed by Jamaican music at an early age, swept up by its sounds and culture. In his teens he spent many a night outside the door of a local club listening to sound systems playing and attending the neighborhood blues and house parties that were an essential element of the scene. Pirate radio also played a big part in the culture and Sherwood listened to Radio Caroline for the latest sounds from Jamaica.
And so the imprint was made and Adrian Sherwood began his long and winding trek through the world of reggae music. Already a man ahead of his time, Sherwood worked with the Pama and Trojan roadshows, and school vacations were spent working for the legendary Pama and Vulcan labels. He also worked with now nostalgic sound systems like Emperor Rosko, Judge Dread, Johnny Walker and Steve Barnard and at age seventeen, co-founded the Carib Gems record label, importing music direct from Jamaica and issuing the first Black Uhuru sides and early dub work by Prince Far I including ÒMessage from the KingÓ. Carib Gems distributed to the records shops outside of London (where the competition was too stiff), going to Hansworth, Liverpool and Manchester and did well until HMV records skipped on a sizable bill and put them in a deep financial hole — a sign of the trials and tribulations Sherwood was face again.
As a producer, Sherwood cut his teeth on the fine “Dub From Creation” set from Creation Rebel on Hitrun Records, the label he formed in 1978. Hitrun issued a total of 34 twelve-inch singles; classics including Carol Kalphat’s “African Land” (with Eastwood & Dr. Pablo) and Prince Far I’s “Higher Field Marshall.” Hitrun also issued the first Roots Radics dub set “Dub To Africa” and the first chapter of the renowned “Crytuff Dub Encounter” by Prince Far I & The Arabs, mixed and co-produced by Sherwood.
Keeping track of Sherwood’s prolific career is next to impossible, especially with his output on On-U Sound records, which he founded in 1980 with photographer Kishi Yamamoto. Working with a crew of incredible talent including Keith LeBlanc, Doug Wimbish, Style Scott, Skip McDonald and Bonjo Iyabinghi Noah, Sherwood blended deep dub and roots with a punk sensibility, creating music that defied category. In this time Sherwood produced a vast army of reggae, funk and rock artists including New Age Steppers, Singers & Players, Creation Rebel, Bim Sherman, Mark Stewart & The Maffia, Judy Nylon, London Underground, African Head Charge and Dub Syndicate. Throughout the early 80’s Sherwood also turned the knobs on non-On-U Sound records such as the “Crytuff Dub Encounter Chapter III” on Daddy Kool, “Revenge of the Mozabites” by Suns of Arqa and “One Way System” by Dub Syndicate.
Sherwood’s accomplishments in fusing sounds and styles are unmatched. And after a four year hiatus, in which he again faced the financial woes of running an independent label and changes in his personal life, he’s returned in full with a brilliant debut on Real World records and the rebirth of On U Sound. Clearly a man who doesn’t look back too long, Sherwood may finally be getting his just due.
Mundovibes talked with Adrian Sherwood just before the release of “Never Trust a Hippy”
MV: Adrian, you dropped off the radar with On-U Sound for sometime, but now it seems you’re back in a big way.
AS: I’ve had four years where I haven’t had the label running. I got into a little trouble with like my personal life and I just wasn’t particularly functioning very well, so I’ve just had jobs to clear the debts I had from the On-U of old. And now I’ve regrouped myself and I’ve started to make a big effort to put a lot of records out again. But it’s all good. In the last four years it’s been quite interesting. I’ve been producing a lot of stuff for other people that you probably haven’t heard or don’t know I did. Everything from Primal Scream to Sinead O’Conner — all sorts of stuff. And I’ve just relaunched the label, basically. the first release was the Little Axe album, which I think came out in America on Fat Possum, which was called ‘Hard Grind’, which is a good record if you want to investiage that. The second release is ‘Chainstore Massacre’ which is a compilation. It’s very diverse, showing the intentions of what the label’s going to be doing in the next year or so. And the third things is my solo album on Virgin, “Never Trust a Hippy”.
MV: Is that your major launch, in terms of your name? AS: I don’t know, I’ve got lots of things and I think they’ve been really good and for one reason or another they haven’t had the promotion or the release. I mean, getting a release and some promotion in the states is really quite difficult, you know?
MV: Considering how prolific you’ve been in your output, do you ever feel like that’s almost against you?
AS: To a degree but that’s my own fault. I deliberately did that because I wasn’t attempting to make kind of pristine overproduced records. As I’ve got a bit older I’ve attempted to spend a bit more on them and they sound a bit more polished than a lot of the other stuff. But the early things, that’s how I chose to do it. And I’m proud of those old records. A lot of them sound a bit old now, but at the time they were good little records. And there’s quite a few classics in there in my mind that still stand up twenty years on.
MV: Absolutely. In fact, the re-releases that came out on EFA were a great refresher.
AS: Well, they’re fine. But I’ve got to concentrate on moving forward and what I’ve got to do next. The next release is a new artist called Ghetto Priest and that’s an album called ‘Vulture Culture’.
MV: It seems like a lot of your music is infused with a punk aesthetic and also a political perspective.
AS: Definitely. In the time when I started the whole situation in England. Thatcher was basically trying to destroy the unions, there was no work around, they had the SPG which was the police unit which was going around stopping young blacks in particular on the spot and then brutalizing them. We had the Brixton riots, we had the Handsworth riots, we had problems at Broadwater Farm. The late ’70s and early ’80s were interesting times in England, to put it mildly. And the Thatcher government deliberately eroded the powers of the trade unions. And this happened all over the world, but the ‘Rock Against Racism’ movement was born largely out of the death of Blair Peach in Southall and lots of musicians you wouldn’t expect to do a show on the same stage, and though musically they were very different and a lot of people wouldn’t have liked one or the other types of music. But the reggae actually was almost a bit like when ecstasy came in big with the football crowd. It calmed a lot of the tension and got a lot of people into a different headset than they were in. So the whole kind of ‘Punky Reggae Party’ thing, as they called it, was a very healthy time — we thought anything could happen.
MV: And, how important was the whole idea of the soundsystem in Britain?
AS: For me or for everybody? Because, nobody really, outside of Jamaica, have got their head around having speaker boxes made out of old boats and the volume, nobody had ever heard anything like that before.
MV: How were you introduced to it then?
AS: I grew up in an area where there were lots of black friends and black clubs. And we used to stand outside it when we were 12 and listen to this incredible bass noise rattling the door. And then when we were a little bit older, a year or two later we used to go in. And you just into it. And I used to go to a lot of funk clubs as well when I was young, like the Devil’s Den in Leeds and the California Ballroom, where a lot of people like Stevie Wonder and the Temptations; they all played there and we saw them all live. So, I was into a lot of black music to start with and then got completely immersed in reggae, basically. But the soundsystem was key to everything because everybody would go. If you were a big soundsystem, you’d play in a small club and if you were a big soundsystem you’d play in a big club. Or a little soundsystem playing in a blues party.
MV: You’ve got a lot of people collaborating on ‘Never Trust a Hippy’ and, firstly, how did this all come about.
AS: Basically, Real World offered me to do some remixing for them of Temple of Sound. And I did a couple of tracks and they said ‘we’ve already got a Temple of Sound’ album, we’d like you to do an Adrian Sherwood album of the Real World catalogue. That’s how it started and what happened was I kept requesting things that, for religious reasons or the fact that they didn’t want me to do a remix of their tracks, I seemed to get blocked on things that I chose. So, I said to the Realworld people ‘I’d like to make my own version.’ They are familiar with Headcharge, and things I’ve done which are vaguely world music, and I said ‘what would you think about me doing my own version of it and they said ‘yeah, let’s try it.’ So I cut some tunes and they loved everything. And that’s how it evolved. It’s a record that can reflect everybody, basically. But it’s not crap, and not for myself but sounding contemporary — that’s what I was trying to do.
MV: And how did you bring some of these other artists in? Like Sly & Robbie — was that an immediate choice?
AS: Well, we did that at my house. And I actually released Sly & Robbie’s stuff many years ago when I was in my teens, when I was licensing stuff. So, I’d my Sly a few times and they arrived in England and I gave them a ring and they cut two tunes for me, really really nice. The same with Lenky (drum patterns), Jazzwad and others. I was trying to use the best people that were available.
MV: And it’s been about a year of putting this project together?
AS: About a year-and-a-half to make the album. On and off, so it took about a year. It was really natural, it’s really good.
MV: You seem to work with Asian Dub Foundation a lot.
AS: I just produced their new album. They’re my friends. That’s coming out this month.
MV: Of course there’s a new whole new generation that have been influenced by the dub sound.
AS: Well, they grew up with all that stuff themselves.
MV: What else is new?
AS: We just launched a label as well, a new part of On-U, which is called Sound Boy. The first release on that is the Junior Delgado album, which is called ‘Original Guerilla Music’, which is kind of the best of all his Jamaica recordings. There’s going to be some great stuff coming out on that label.
MV: There seems to be a real interest in a lot of the older roots and rare recordings of Jamaica.
AS: That’s because it’s really good stuff.
MV: Does it bother you that a lot of it is older?
AS: If you listen to the new stuff coming from Jamaica — every week there’s a few brilliant tunes coming out. I just bought a new box of singles today from Jamaica and half of it is absolutely brilliant. It’s still very underground reggae. The problem with is people can’t get their heads around it.
MV: Much of your music seems to have a politics to it.
AS: What particular record?
MV: Well, in reflection of the affairs in the middle east.
AS: Well, I’ve got my opinions on them but they’re not exactly reflected in the record of mine currently. I’ve got very strong opinions on the war, yeah. I mean, what do you think?
MV: I think it’s outrageous what’s going on.
AS: It’s quite simple, what’s going on to me. But, if you start saying those things you end up getting squashed. The whole media is controlled, the whole record industry is controlled. If you start saying, you know, ‘Why have so many U.N. resolutions been disobeyed by Israel at the expense of 400,000 people to occupy Palestinian land. Why are the American troops in Saudi Arabia. You can’t say things. If you say things people think you’re anti-Jewish. Which I’m not. I’m completely anti-Israeli but I’m not certainly not anti-Jewish. But you can’t say those things. If you do, people suddenly say ‘Oh, you can’t say that.’ But my staff and my best friends are Jews and a lot of them feel the same way. You’ve got this horrible system supported by the United States, backed by the government of Great Britain. And you have to ask the question why people are angry and why they feel completely helpless, and why they blow themselves up and why they fly planes into buildings. Once you’ve done something like that, telling somebody else why, to a degree your justification seems to be blown out the window. But, it’s not a coward who does something like that, it’s a very very frustrated person like somebody who would set fire to himself in a Czech square. Do you agree?
MV: Absolutely.
AS: And you’re stuck in a situation — I’m not reflecting that in the records I make, but I’d love to make records completely anti-Israel at the moment. Emphasizing that I’m not anti-Jewish. The movements here in the education society — they’re completely boycotting Israeli academics. They won’t communicate with them because people feel like if they sit back and do nothing, and the Israeli people voted Sharon back in again. If you know what’s going on there — all these poor Palestinians are penned in. 400,000 settlers and it’s encouraging more settlers who aren’t even Jews to go to Israel from Russia just to irritate the Arabs even more and inflame the situation. You know, Bin Laden went on tape, as far as I can understand, and said ‘Look, if America leaves the holy land, which is Saudi Arabia, takes its troops out. That’s why they’re pissed off, more than anything, because the most holy shrines of the Muslim world are occupied by Americans, which is completely wrong. And the U.N. forces the Israelis to obey 54 resolutions or however many it is they’ve disobeyed. You know, Saddam Hussain is like an ant. They’re using him to steal the oil. And there’s fuck all we can do because if any musicians do bother to stand up and start trying to speak up and spill the truth: MTV is controlled by Jews. So is all the media in America. So is every record company and they’re not going to say, ‘Oh, yes, we agree.’ It’s a few very brave soldiers that have stood up in Israel and said ‘We’re not going in, this is appalling.’ Hundreds have stood up and said we are no longer going to be fighting. These are rank soldiers, completely oppressing these people because what we are doing is appalling. And lots of people are coming up, there’s some really good Jewish people who are fighting and saying look this is appalling. If you look from here from where you are, right across the globe, the interests that are being served are not the interests of the Muslim people, they’re not the interests for Palestinians. I think anyone who blows somebody else up is appalling, but my God, I kind of think it was me and I was hemmed in like that, what are you going to do? Anyway, is that what you were asking me? Well, I’m not reflecting that in my fucking records, you know?
MV: But, for example, I listen to a program here called ‘Democracy Now’, it’s a webcast. The host, Aimee Goodman, had Chumba Wumba on, for example. And Ani DiFranco’s an independent artist here. I guess my general question is, is it still possible to be political with music.
AS: I think at the moment you’re in a very dangerous position. Of course, it’s possible. You’ve got lots of bands, lots of bands speaking up for social things like Asian Dub Foundation. There are lots of voices and their voices do make a difference. So, I think very much it’s possible to make a difference. Turning to the issue we were just talking about, I think it needs some very very brave person to come and say, ‘listen, this is bordering on Nazi Germany. This is so disgusting that the United States and their allies are just basically — you know that book ‘Why the World Hates America’? I’m not making some big stand, I’m completely insignificant in the larger scope of things, but the bottom line is yes, I think people can make a difference. People need to start really, really thinking seriously about boycotting Israel. But saying that, I’ve got a large amount of Jewish friends and most of them feel the same way as well. But having said that, I believe that once you have blown up some kids or something, you’re whole argument is lost. What do you do? You can’t sit back and say these things are alright because they’re completely wrong.
MV: Well, now that I have touched upon the politics a little. How about the title, “Never Trust a Hippy”?
AS: Well, basically the stuff I’m doing is not political. It’s making a bit of a comment in the title. You’ve got a lot of Hippys who are really making a fucking mess of things if you think about it. I’m not preaching it on my records at all. You’re asking me. I just feel ashamed I can’t do anything. And the worst thing is the misinformation fed to most American people. It’s so gung-ho, like ‘let’s kill a towel head for Jesus or something.’ And I’ve not got a fucking clue. They think that everyone’s their enemy and it needn’t be like this. It’s just like if somebody completely disrespects someone for so long they’re going to lose it. I think it’s 400,000 people now illegally occupying the West Bank, completely against 50 odd U.N. resolutions. How do you re house them? They’re not going to re house them in some plush area of Tel Aviv are they?
MV: Switching gears, getting into your music, one thing that really interests me is the fact that you’ve had some long time collaborators and, in a sense, it’s similar to the Jamaican studio system, or am I wrong?
AS: No, we both worked off of rhythm sections so when I started working with people like Style Scott who was Roots Radics and obviously with the Sugar Hill Gang lads, which became Tackhead. They were like proper drum and bass — like proper musicians all working together. And I’ve kept those allegiances for a number of years, although I haven’t actually been recording as ‘my rhythm section’, like I probably should have done as much as I’d have liked. But I still know everybody.
MV: Have your techniques changed then?
AS: Somewhat, with the movement of technology but the last four years I haven’t been putting records out. I’m just restarting the label now.
MV: You touched upon your latest release, which is the compilation ‘Chainstore Massacre’. Is that a continuation of ‘Pay it All Back’ (On U Sound’s earlier compilation series)?
AS: It should be retailing for under ten dollars, that record. It’s five pounds in England. The idea is to promote the re launch of the label and to show some of the things I’ve got coming up.
MV: With your solo project, I know you have Keith LeBlanc on there. But, what do you do with some of these artists? Are they all different ideas. On ‘Never Trust a Hippy’, did each song come…
AS: With that, Keith is doing some percussion on that for me and he’s doing a couple of drum tracks as well.
MV: And each track, though. Did it sort of evolve based on a collaboration?
AS: No. I planned that record, so I had a lot of samples ready and the idea’s I designed that record so I could play it out at clubs because I’ve been doing lots of live dub shows, working with Ghetto Priest. And so I cut the whole record with a ‘modern world music’ kind of vibe but with dub influences and dancehall influences but always trying to make something that sounded kind of fresh and brand new. And it think we managed it, it sounds really, really fresh. But I had people like Sly and Robbie, Lenky and Jazzwad — some of the hottest Jamaica rhythm builders. I’ve worked with some great people on it, so obviously it helps it sound good.
MV: Yeah, of course. And that’s probably going to occupy a lot of your energy. Are you going to take this sound system on the road?
AS: I have been. I did a couple of gigs in America last year. I played in Seattle, I did the Palladium in Los Angeles and in San Francisco. And I’ll probably come back again if I get invited. I’m touring in Japan with Asian Dub Foundation, supporting them in April.
BY JOHN C. TRIPPEngland has been a fertile breeding ground for reggae music since the late 1950s, when Jamaican music washed ashore alongside the many thousands of immigrants from the island who came for work. At the time it was strange music in a strange land, and was largely ignored by native British. That didn’t stop the music from prospering, fed by a legion of record importers, sound systems and promoters who mirrored the musical trends coming from Jamaica. In England’s West Indian and white working class neighborhoods the sounds of ska (known as ‘blue beat’), rocksteady and dancehall proliferated and became an essential part of the culture. Growing up in this environment would have an indelible impact on one’s musical tastes, as well as culture. And it’s in exactly this way that Adrian Sherwood was influenced.
Born in 1958, Sherwood’s youth paralleled the rise of Jamaican music. From the ’60s “rude boy” era to the ’70s merging of ska and punk, it was a period of intense creativity and cultural blending. Sherwood was transfixed by Jamaican music at an early age, swept up by its sounds and culture. In his teens he spent many a night outside the door of a local club listening to sound systems playing and attending the neighborhood blues and house parties that were an essential element of the scene. Pirate radio also played a big part in the culture and Sherwood listened to Radio Caroline for the latest sounds from Jamaica.
And so the imprint was made and Adrian Sherwood began his long and winding trek through the world of reggae music. Already a man ahead of his time, Sherwood worked with the Pama and Trojan roadshows, and school vacations were spent working for the legendary Pama and Vulcan labels. He also worked with now nostalgic sound systems like Emperor Rosko, Judge Dread, Johnny Walker and Steve Barnard and at age seventeen, co-founded the Carib Gems record label, importing music direct from Jamaica and issuing the first Black Uhuru sides and early dub work by Prince Far I including ÒMessage from the KingÓ. Carib Gems distributed to the records shops outside of London (where the competition was too stiff), going to Hansworth, Liverpool and Manchester and did well until HMV records skipped on a sizable bill and put them in a deep financial hole — a sign of the trials and tribulations Sherwood was face again.
As a producer, Sherwood cut his teeth on the fine “Dub From Creation” set from Creation Rebel on Hitrun Records, the label he formed in 1978. Hitrun issued a total of 34 twelve-inch singles; classics including Carol Kalphat’s “African Land” (with Eastwood & Dr. Pablo) and Prince Far I’s “Higher Field Marshall.” Hitrun also issued the first Roots Radics dub set “Dub To Africa” and the first chapter of the renowned “Crytuff Dub Encounter” by Prince Far I & The Arabs, mixed and co-produced by Sherwood.
Keeping track of Sherwood’s prolific career is next to impossible, especially with his output on On-U Sound records, which he founded in 1980 with photographer Kishi Yamamoto. Working with a crew of incredible talent including Keith LeBlanc, Doug Wimbish, Style Scott, Skip McDonald and Bonjo Iyabinghi Noah, Sherwood blended deep dub and roots with a punk sensibility, creating music that defied category. In this time Sherwood produced a vast army of reggae, funk and rock artists including New Age Steppers, Singers & Players, Creation Rebel, Bim Sherman, Mark Stewart & The Maffia, Judy Nylon, London Underground, African Head Charge and Dub Syndicate. Throughout the early 80’s Sherwood also turned the knobs on non-On-U Sound records such as the “Crytuff Dub Encounter Chapter III” on Daddy Kool, “Revenge of the Mozabites” by Suns of Arqa and “One Way System” by Dub Syndicate.
Sherwood’s accomplishments in fusing sounds and styles are unmatched. And after a four year hiatus, in which he again faced the financial woes of running an independent label and changes in his personal life, he’s returned in full with a brilliant debut on Real World records and the rebirth of On U Sound. Clearly a man who doesn’t look back too long, Sherwood may finally be getting his just due.
Mundovibes talked with Adrian Sherwood just before the release of “Never Trust a Hippy”
MV: Adrian, you dropped off the radar with On-U Sound for sometime, but now it seems you’re back in a big way.
AS: I’ve had four years where I haven’t had the label running. I got into a little trouble with like my personal life and I just wasn’t particularly functioning very well, so I’ve just had jobs to clear the debts I had from the On-U of old. And now I’ve regrouped myself and I’ve started to make a big effort to put a lot of records out again. But it’s all good. In the last four years it’s been quite interesting. I’ve been producing a lot of stuff for other people that you probably haven’t heard or don’t know I did. Everything from Primal Scream to Sinead O’Conner — all sorts of stuff. And I’ve just relaunched the label, basically. the first release was the Little Axe album, which I think came out in America on Fat Possum, which was called ‘Hard Grind’, which is a good record if you want to investiage that. The second release is ‘Chainstore Massacre’ which is a compilation. It’s very diverse, showing the intentions of what the label’s going to be doing in the next year or so. And the third things is my solo album on Virgin, “Never Trust a Hippy”.BY JOHN C. TRIPP
England has been a fertile breeding ground for reggae music since the late 1950s, when Jamaican music washed ashore alongside the many thousands of immigrants from the island who came for work. At the time it was strange music in a strange land, and was largely ignored by native British. That didn’t stop the music from prospering, fed by a legion of record importers, sound systems and promoters who mirrored the musical trends coming from Jamaica. In England’s West Indian and white working class neighborhoods the sounds of ska (known as ‘blue beat’), rocksteady and dancehall proliferated and became an essential part of the culture. Growing up in this environment would have an indelible impact on one’s musical tastes, as well as culture. And it’s in exactly this way that Adrian Sherwood was influenced.
Born in 1958, Sherwood’s youth paralleled the rise of Jamaican music. From the ’60s “rude boy” era to the ’70s merging of ska and punk, it was a period of intense creativity and cultural blending. Sherwood was transfixed by Jamaican music at an early age, swept up by its sounds and culture. In his teens he spent many a night outside the door of a local club listening to sound systems playing and attending the neighborhood blues and house parties that were an essential element of the scene. Pirate radio also played a big part in the culture and Sherwood listened to Radio Caroline for the latest sounds from Jamaica.
And so the imprint was made and Adrian Sherwood began his long and winding trek through the world of reggae music. Already a man ahead of his time, Sherwood worked with the Pama and Trojan roadshows, and school vacations were spent working for the legendary Pama and Vulcan labels. He also worked with now nostalgic sound systems like Emperor Rosko, Judge Dread, Johnny Walker and Steve Barnard and at age seventeen, co-founded the Carib Gems record label, importing music direct from Jamaica and issuing the first Black Uhuru sides and early dub work by Prince Far I including ÒMessage from the KingÓ. Carib Gems distributed to the records shops outside of London (where the competition was too stiff), going to Hansworth, Liverpool and Manchester and did well until HMV records skipped on a sizable bill and put them in a deep financial hole — a sign of the trials and tribulations Sherwood was face again.
As a producer, Sherwood cut his teeth on the fine “Dub From Creation” set from Creation Rebel on Hitrun Records, the label he formed in 1978. Hitrun issued a total of 34 twelve-inch singles; classics including Carol Kalphat’s “African Land” (with Eastwood & Dr. Pablo) and Prince Far I’s “Higher Field Marshall.” Hitrun also issued the first Roots Radics dub set “Dub To Africa” and the first chapter of the renowned “Crytuff Dub Encounter” by Prince Far I & The Arabs, mixed and co-produced by Sherwood.
Keeping track of Sherwood’s prolific career is next to impossible, especially with his output on On-U Sound records, which he founded in 1980 with photographer Kishi Yamamoto. Working with a crew of incredible talent including Keith LeBlanc, Doug Wimbish, Style Scott, Skip McDonald and Bonjo Iyabinghi Noah, Sherwood blended deep dub and roots with a punk sensibility, creating music that defied category. In this time Sherwood produced a vast army of reggae, funk and rock artists including New Age Steppers, Singers & Players, Creation Rebel, Bim Sherman, Mark Stewart & The Maffia, Judy Nylon, London Underground, African Head Charge and Dub Syndicate. Throughout the early 80’s Sherwood also turned the knobs on non-On-U Sound records such as the “Crytuff Dub Encounter Chapter III” on Daddy Kool, “Revenge of the Mozabites” by Suns of Arqa and “One Way System” by Dub Syndicate.
Sherwood’s accomplishments in fusing sounds and styles are unmatched. And after a four year hiatus, in which he again faced the financial woes of running an independent label and changes in his personal life, he’s returned in full with a brilliant debut on Real World records and the rebirth of On U Sound. Clearly a man who doesn’t look back too long, Sherwood may finally be getting his just due.
Mundovibes talked with Adrian Sherwood just before the release of “Never Trust a Hippy”
MV: Adrian, you dropped off the radar with On-U Sound for sometime, but now it seems you’re back in a big way.
AS: I’ve had four years where I haven’t had the label running. I got into a little trouble with like my personal life and I just wasn’t particularly functioning very well, so I’ve just had jobs to clear the debts I had from the On-U of old. And now I’ve regrouped myself and I’ve started to make a big effort to put a lot of records out again. But it’s all good. In the last four years it’s been quite interesting. I’ve been producing a lot of stuff for other people that you probably haven’t heard or don’t know I did. Everything from Primal Scream to Sinead O’Conner — all sorts of stuff. And I’ve just relaunched the label, basically. the first release was the Little Axe album, which I think came out in America on Fat Possum, which was called ‘Hard Grind’, which is a good record if you want to investiage that. The second release is ‘Chainstore Massacre’ which is a compilation. It’s very diverse, showing the intentions of what the label’s going to be doing in the next year or so. And the third things is my solo album on Virgin, “Never Trust a Hippy”.
Talking With London’s Farout Records Founder Joe Davis
Joe Davis. Photograph by Pete Williams.
BY J.C. TRIPP
The only possible explanation for why we connect with music that is of other cultures and global regions is that music truly is a universal language. Or that deep inside us all is a curiosity and love for other cultures. What else would could explain young Joe Davis’ passion for Brazilian music—a passion that would take him at age 17 to Rio de Janeiro and lead to the founding of London’s far-reaching Far Out records.
Davis grew up at a crossroads in England, when ears were opened by Jamaican ska and reggae, American soul and Latin and Brazilian vibes. With his older brother leading the way, Davis was turned on to these sounds. This music of his youth would resurface in the ‘80s as London’s acid jazz and rare groove scene, in which his role as purveyor of Brazilain music was seminal. For without Davis’ journeys to Brazil there would have been no constant stream of rare Brazilian vinyl to fill the crates of London’s DJs and collectors.
It was Davis’ treks to Brazil that laid the foundation for today’s global Brazilian scene. Davis would return from Brazil, laiden with rare vinyl that had never been heard beyond the country due to its military dictatorship. At first Davis was treated in an almost flippant manner and the strange sounds he presented weren’t loved as they are today. But as ears opened people realized the significance of his discovery and soon the music was embraced by music tastemakers and London’s fashion crowd.
It was at about this time that Davis, tired of supplying the music to DJs and the like, with little credit, formed Far Out Recordings. What had started out as his desire to feed the UK jazz scene’s taste for rare Brazilian jazz, manifested into a label dedicated to all angles of Brazilian music: Jazz, electronica and beyond and which has arguably become one of the most essential Brazilian labels today.
But nothing comes without risk and prayers. Davis’ first projects for Far Out were leaps of faith and possibility. In the UK his reputation had solidified with all things Brazilian. So, in 1995 he made the plunge and hired a studio in Brazil for a month, recruiting some of the “dons” of Brazilian music, as well as some of Rio’s most exciting young musicians. They spent the time recording an album of new material and old classics called “Friends From Rio”, which featured Marcos Valle and Wanda de Sa. And, thus, Far Out was born.
With next project was a re-mixed album of ‘Friends from Rio’ called Misturada (Portuguese for ‘mixing’). The project was a great success, fusing Brazilian rhythms and melodies with dance beats, and re-mixers like Da Lata, Pressure Drop and APE. Once again, the feedback was massive, convincing Davis that there was a market for Brazilian music. For Davis this was like drinking a six-pack of Red Bull, and since then Far Out Recordings has become recognized as the most important Brazilian label outside of Brazil.
In addition to its original productions Far Out has also been responsible for making rare Brazilian classics available once again. Reissues of Joyce’s seminal ‘Tardes Cariocas’ and ‘Roberto Quartin’, the long-awaited compilation of 70s jazz from Rio based producer Roberto Quartin, featuring Victor Assis Brasil, Piri, Paulo Jobim, Danilo Caymmi and Jose Mauro. This release was launched with a party and a photographic exhibition at the Institute of Contemporary Art, London.
The dance side of the label has also flourished, with the Misturada project becoming an unreserved success and is now into the 4th Volume – the series has produced many underground and mainstream club classics, ‘Ponteio’ by Da Lata, ‘Jazz Carnival’ by Azymuth, Global Communications re-mix. These albums have given some of the most innovative dance producers a chance to reinterpret classic and contemporary Brazilian tunes, most recently Kenny Dope re-mixes Azymuth. And so the musical evolution continues.
Another notable Far Out release celebrated Brazil’s two favourite pastimes – samba and football. The spirit of both was captured on ‘Samba do Futebol’, analbum of kicking sambas and batucadas recorded live in Brazil during the Latin American cup. The record provided a soundtrack to 1998’s World Cup and featured some of Brazil’s percussive legends including Dom Um Romao, Wilson Das Neves and Dom Chacal. Batuques’ recent album ‘Africa Brazil’ is a step in the direction of Africa with its super charged percussion and is an exploration of the African roots of Brazilian music.
Far Out’s wide-ranging output reflects the richness and diversity of Brazil’s musical culture old and new. With 2004 being their official ten year anniversary, Far Out aren’t slowing down with releases from Milton Nascimento, Troubleman and the fifth in their compilation series “Brazilian Love Affair”.
JC Tripp: Congratulations for ten years of great music. As somebody who has been a fan of the label, let’s hope for many more. After ten years are you amazed at how far you have come?
Joe Davis: Yeah, it’s been quite funny actually because from my point of view, with the music, we’re getting to the point where we want to be, where we’re getting the right kind of tracks and getting the right material and there’s been a kind of explosion in the kind or world music and the acceptance of world music. The scene has become a lot better since we started ten years ago, in terms of being able to promote a Brazilian label and doing things like this. One of the biggest dilemmas that we’ve had to deal with these last ten years is where we ’ve just seen the market disintegrate, you know what I mean? So, while we’ve been going forward it’s become so hard not to go backward because the market is so depleted for CDs.
JC: I’d like to start with the foundations of Far Out, and the scene you came out of which was I suppose is early ‘80s London. That’s a long time ago at this point. And it seems like it has had such an influence.
JD: Yeah, basically there was always a healthy kind of jazz music scene in the U.K., which is where I came from, being a kind of soul boy growing up with black music all around me, which was quite a rare phenomenon in the U.K. at that time. You know, you had to travel pretty deep and far to hear good black music. The latest black music that was coming out in America and so forth. It was very hard to get access to that. Of course, we had Motown and all the big kind of R&B labels of the ‘70s and ‘60s, but good underground black music, deep soul music and jazz were really quite hard to come by. There were some hardcore black clubs that you really wouldn’t go to. And I’m 35 and I had a brother who was quite seriously into that. So, he was buying a lot of records so I kind of knew and had a grasp of decent music when I was very young and had it around me and as far as I can remember I can remember throwing around singles with a hole in them. These imports from America, James Brown, Bobby Byrd, and whatever.
So, I had black music growing up around me, as I was growing up I always had it around me. And in the early ‘80s when I started buying records, the disco movement was happening and there were some really cool radio shows dedicated to it: one in particular on national radio, kind of alternative black music really. I just remember that that was great and I was old enough to go to clubs and whatever and I was old enough to buy records because I was 13 or 14 years old. And it was just at the time that electro and a lot of the early B Boy stuff was out. This was ’82-’83 and the developments in production and chording and technology had become quite electronic. And there was almost a kind of revolution against this, you know? Lovers of soul and black music started to go to what was beginning to be the acid jazz scene. And there were clubs dedicated to jazz music. Literally playing hundred-mile-an-hour jazz fusion from the ‘70s and ‘80s. And then this whole kind of record collecting culture started then, more or less. Because even in the soul music scene people started referring backwards even then. And going backwards and collecting vinyl and collecting ‘70s grooves.
JC: How did this lead into Brazilian music?
So, that’s how the thing started and this jazz scene, even on the radio, there was a big movement to this. And then clubs started playing this and at the same time they’re playing latin fusion, because fusion had a lot of latin elements. The DJs were kind of researching latin music, Brazilian music, whatever. And when I was old enough to go out I was going to gigs which were totally dedicated to this scene and this music. And it just happened to be the same time Gilles Peterson was coming up, so I started going to a lot of his clubs and I got to know him around 1984. And because I’d already been buying records, I already had this thing for vinyl and I started going around the place buying records, buying old jazz stuff and researching the music. I just had a particular kind of dedication and love for Brazilian music somehow. Cause there was a lot of music recorded in America in the ‘60s and ‘70s by artists like Marcos Valle, and Airto and like that. And I already had these records, and had already become quite curious about Brazil. And meanwhile the whole thing was moving on, the whole acid jazz thing and the rare groove thing sort of kicked in. Again, the rare groove scene was very much a development of this kickback from this horrible fucking dance music coming from America.
JC: It was a reaction to that?
JD: Yeah, I guess so because I think the people somehow were more into that then what was coming out you know? When people started to make sense of it all was when the Detroit techno thing started, and Trax and Nu Groove labels started to have an impact. That’s when they understood it a bit more and started to appreciate the electronic thing. Myself, I didn’t appreciate the production of early ‘80s music. At the time it was very strange for a lot of people, I can promise you. They can say what they want now but there’s a big kickback, there’s only like the hardcore London black DJs playing that kind of stuff that was coming out then. Like, early hip hop and electro; there were very few people playing that. Although there was a kind of underground, it was a very urban thing. What I was involved in was very much a jazzier thing, and it was a kick-back of the soul boy kind of disco scene that happened in the ‘70s. So, I just had this love for Brazilian music somehow because I was connected to Brazil through growing up loving Brazilian football, looking at the girls and thinking ‘this is a fantastic country’ and listening to the music and stuff. It just seemed like a really cool, happy place that I was somehow connected to and curious about.
JC: And then you had some fortuitous connections that kind of led the way, right?
JD: Yeah, I met a guy at a record fair and I decided to go to Brazil and I went there in 1986 when I was 17 and I just discovered so many records there. I bought like 1,000 records and I was just seriously into them, since I’d been there and heard what I had heard. It just freaked me out.
JC: So, you first went to Brazil by yourself when you were just 17?
JD: Yeah, that was a very odd thing to do without experience, especially at that time.
JC: That must have been completely transformative for you then?
JD: Yeah, it kind of changed my life in a way, really. I mean, I basically bought records in Brazil and then I’d have to go back to England and I was in and out of college, and I was DJing. It was like three dimensions, you know? And my DJing always had a sort of Brazilian element, but I was still playing jazz music, acid jazz, rare groove, jazz funk, whatever. I was still playing a lot of Brazilian music in my sets. Then slowly and surely I started getting asked by other DJs about these records. So, I started to go to Brazil more frequently throughout the end of the ‘80s and early ‘90s. And, as I was going I was developing my knowledge and what I knew about Brazilian music and I was buying more and more records for myself all of the time. And eventually I started up the Far Out label in ’91. In the early ‘90s there was like five years of work of going to Brazil and giving records to DJs. I was selling to people all over the world, to DJs in New York, Italy, Japan, whatever.
JC: So, you were the filter or the connection for Brazilian music for the international crowd at that time?
JD: Yeah, exactly, up until about ’95 when I really dedicated myself to just doing the label. So, I was going backwards and forwards to Brazil, but during this time I still had a strong connection and links with the street music scene as well, which kind of explains why we work with people like 4 Hero and Jazzanova and people like that because some might find that a bit odd. But we work with these people, we get them in on production and for remixes because I have always had this connection with dance music and street music scene, whatever it may be at any given point. But I just kept going to Brazil and researching the music and there was a big boom about 1991 and then I started to get asked to do compilations, I started the Brazilica series with Gilles Peterson and Talkin’ Loud. Then a compilation called “Blue Brazil” with Blue Note and there were several others that I’d done in Japan. And by now I was DJing all over the world, and going around the world selling records.
JC: Were you surprised at the momentum at that point?
JD: Not really. My biggest problem was being seen as a record dealer but actually it was a lot more effort than selling records, you know? To go to Brazil and find records wasn’t play, it was a lot more effort than just selling records. It was selling records but with a lot of creativity and a lot of work put into finding records in the first place.
JC: How did the Farout Records get its start?
JD: I wanted to start up a record label working with Brazilian music but I wanted to initially do it with a major or get some funding and do it separately. Which I’m glad I didn’t do in the end. It’s partly getting sick of selling records and sick of this attitude with people. And this thing with the major record companies that I wanted to really set up a label with. It was those things that really drove me in the end, plus obviously my passion and love for the music, to set up a record company and see what would actually happen. Because as time went on, between ’91 and ’95 I had made quite serious contacts with producers and some of the artists that I now work with like Marcos Valle and Joyce. Actually, we’d done at party in ’93 with Joyce; we’d brought her in for the Talkin’ Loud 5th Anniversary. We really started doing things and then I’d gotten commissioned from a Japanese company to produce a few records in Brazil. And I got paid very well and I recorded my first album which was “Friends from Rio”. I actually went to Brazil and recorded this album, this was like my first major job as a producer. I’d recorded that with a view for settting up the label, and also I had a few links with U.K. producers that were already developing. Like, we set up Da Lata, their first single was on Far Out. So, we’d already put a network in place of people that we wanted to work with. Also, on one of my trips I’d met Azymuth and said ‘I want to sign you because I want to put you guys back together again and put you out on my label’. So, I’d already started putting the strings in place and everything around ’93 and the first releases came out in ’94.
JC: So, you had the vision at that time and you’re gradually realizing that vision of producing artists, of continuing with compilations.
JD: Yeah, sure. I must say that the label is pretty much artist-based. Eighty percent of the releases are artist-based, there’s only the ‘Brazilian Love Affair’ compilation. About twenty-percent of the releases have been compilations, so most have been artist based: Joyce, Marcos Valle, Azymuth, Grupo Batuque, and there’s been some electronic releases like Flytonix and Kirk Digiorgio, which was done with Azymuth so that had more of a connection with what is going on with the label. Ten years isn’t a great deal of time if you’re really seriously recording music and developing artists. Because in that time you can only do like one album every two to three years if you’re serious. And that’s all we’ve been able to do but we have had a consistent flow of releases from those artists. Also, I’d like to say when we started people weren’t at all kind of adventurous in their tastes. People were territorial in their tastes, in a sense, it was very hard to present our music to the general public and even to the kind of general music scene. People would almost laugh at us. Labels that are putting out Brazilian records now have it easy, you know, at the time just laughed at us.
JC: So, you had the public that was resistant, and then you had the Brazilians that were kind of wondering ‘what’s this guy up to?’
JD: Yeah. To be honest, a lot of the people that I was talking about, from where I came from, like the over 40s market. The people who were into jazz, funk, soul, they’re very much into our label. But I’m talking about the sort of fashion, kind of cool music scene which kind of accounts for nothing today but perhaps then like ten years ago, you had to really be in fashion to sell records. I don’t know if this works like that in America. And those people would kind of laugh at us, but those same people are probably making Brazilian compilations now. So, it was quite interesting and a lot of the relationships that I have with my artists like Marcos Valle, Os Ipanemas and Joyce – they’re not relationships that happen over night. They were things that developed over quite some time. I knew Joyce for five or six years before we ever got into a studio to record. The same thing with Marcos Valle. Going back to my initial point, ten years ago it was quite hard and we had to tailor the records for the European market. I’m talking about even the authentic Brazilian recordings that we make and release. They were always produced for a specific market and for a certain type of customer really and for the market in Europe. Because you couldn’t present what you could now where people are so much more open-minded about music, and about life really. You couldn’t do that ten years ago. I think a lot of our records, like the Grupo Batuque records stuff in particular was very ahead of its time. And if it was released today it would work a lot better, in particular this “Africa Brazil” album which is a really great record. We’re in a great position after ten years because now it’s easier for us to release records because we’re not the only Brazilian record company trying to release this stuff.
JC: People are more receptive to it.
JD: They’re so much more receptive now and in the UK we have a very good connection and really good friends in the press who are very receptive to the recordings that we’ve made.
JC: Well, you’re clearly a very serious label, you have got the packaging and quality that reflects vision, which I suppose goes back to you and your passion for the music.
JD: Thank you.
JC: You’ve played a pretty substantial role in revitalizing some careers. How do you feel about that role?
JD: I feel good about it, obviously it’s great to have done that. I don’t know if you know Brazil particularly well or I don’t know how people feel about Brazil because it’s kind of closer to the States. But people tend to think that everyone’s living in a shanty town, forgotten about. And my artists are very famous in Brazil, and they still work a lot. Even Azymuth, they’re always doing sessions, they’re always arranging things for other artists or performing, you know? Joyce, she presents a program on TV, she’s doing alright. They’ve always had this kind of steady connection and steady work. They’ve always been working in Brazil, as artists or in the entertainment business at quite a high level. So, people always think ‘oh, you found this guy blah blah blah’. But it’s not the case with my artists. Sure, there are artists like the Grupo Batuque guys, they’re a bit more earthy and not known or whatever. But, generally speaking, the people that I work with have had their careers going since the start in Brazil.
Internationally, for sure, you’ve got every right to thank us and we’ve been totally responsible for that success outside of Brazil. Because even the old music that they’ve put out, I was the main man responsible for promoting them and showing the records to people. Because they had a ban on vinyl in the ‘60s and ‘70s because of the dictatorship and people didn’t know the catalogues, they didn’t export outside of Brazil. It was so fresh to people, apart from being very new in terms of sound, language, whatever, musical language, people never heard anything like it before. So, my research was kind of important because it was possibly the first exposure for anyone that I knew. Everyone that I was selling records to were influential people, really important because it was the first time that they’d presented it. And there were a lot of DJs that I was selling records to.
JC: And this was far beyond, say, bossa nova or more popular forms of the music.
JD: Yeah, samba jazz, funky ‘70s, catchy club tunes, lyrically good, beat music, deep soulful music from Brazil, MPB, whatever you know? Even rock from Brazil, performed and arranged by really excellent artists. Even Milton Nascimento, who we just had a release from, people weren’t all that familiar with his work. The first couple of albums that came out on A&M sure but there’s so much great music that he made that only came out in Brazil.
JC: Let’s talk about some of your current releases. You just mentioned the Milton Nascimento and you’ve got the Trouble Man release and Brazilian Love Affair 5. Let’s talk about Trouble Man, that’s not Brazilian although it does have Brazilian elements. It’s very diverse, it’s a great recording.
JD: Like I said, I’ve always kept my connection with the dance music and the street music thing. And Mark Pritchard has worked with us and done several productions for us on other things, remixes and what not. And he’s always been very successful with the work that we’ve done with him. I just have a particular relationship with Mark and I’d say he’s one of the top five most respected people in the world for production in electronic music. We wanted to develop a record and it’s taken three years to finish. Kind of tailored for the label and also tailored for what he wanted to do, which is something slightly more live and electronic. And because our label has a kind of name within that business, that electronic side of the business, we put the album together with him and put the album out and backed him. Because I knew for sure it’s going to be good. I don’t know if you’ve heard it yet. To me, the album was made for me, if you know what I mean, because I wouldn’t sign ninety percent of the bands that make that kind of music.
But I had a chance to work with Mark, he’s a great friend of mine, I knew he could make a great record and we just wanted to try. It was a question of that, and I’ve got a lot of friends that want to work with the label, Nina Miranda and Eska the singer, and Spacek, they’re all great friends of mine. And I wanted to put a project together, so you’ve really got a top level electronic project on the label to make a statement. It’s really different and probably they’re going to fuck us really because it’s so different and diverse than the rest of the stuff we’ve got out. But I just felt that we really had to do it as a label and partly because there’s so much terrible music around within the electronic genre. So, we just did it to make a statement with that record more than anything else. And, for sure, we’ve had a brilliant response and people are really kind of opening their eyes. I thought this time, for sure, even in terms of what we’ve got coming out and what we’ve done this year. For sure, we’ve got the best record we’ve ever had in our hands. On the dance music side, on the remix side, and on the CD side.
JC: And your other releases?
JD: We’ve got another 4 or 5 records signed up and ready to go that are all fantastic. Those are more Brazilian, mind you. The Milton Nascimento is an absolute pleasure cause that’s a gem of a record, which contains some of his best work and certainly from his best period. And, again, it was just amazing to have the opportunity to release something like that. “Brazilian Love Affiar” is a kind of reflection on what is going to come on the label and what we’re preparing to put out. It includes some new cuts by Azymuth, Democustico, Trouble Man and a couple of other things that are new like Sabrina Malheiros. It serves as almost a taster for some of the new releases that are coming out later on in the year. And that’s it, we have got a vision and we are moving forward.
RIOVOLT AND THE SOUNDS OF BRAZIL — “DIGITAL AUDIO BOSSA” AND “SAMBARAMA”
By J.C. Tripp
Listening and enjoying “world” music is one thing — actually going to the source and involving oneself in the music requires a passion that transcends mere appreciation. One must be obsessed and that is exactly what led German-born Norbert Küpper, aka, Nobit to travel the world in search of inspiration and knowledge of music.
After studying drums and piano as a youth Nobit’s interest in world music led him first to study tablas in India, where he joined local musicians in jamming sessions. Next it was San Francisco, where Nobit dug into the local club circuit playing with latin and pop bands. Back in Cologne he founded the funky Brazilian band Agua na Boca , delving deeper into to hip hop and electronic music and meeting up with Zuco 103’s Lilian Vieira.
In 1999 Nobit took the big leap to live in Rio de Janeiro for several years. Diving into the Rio music scene, he joined local bands and produced a wide variety of artists in his studio. Taking the chance to work with Brazilian singers and musicians in his spare time Nobit worked on his “Riovolt” project which he later completed in Munich.
With his Brazilian-music creds firmly established, Nobit fused the country’s sounds and flavors with electronica, drum’n’bass, house and a touch of indian on Riovolt’s “Digital Audio Bossa”. The album, released by Irma Records La Douce in 2004, received acclaim for breaking borders with stylistic originality. The tracks ‘Sidewalk Samba’ and ‘O Ronco da Cuíca’ sung by Lilian Vieira, appeared on many compilations including “Sambass 2” and “Sister Bossa 5”.
Now Nobit has taken the next step with Riovolt re-arranging the album’s music for an electro-acoustic jazz-oriented line-up and now engages in live gigs as Riovolt and the group Bossa Três. Riovolt “live” is an unforgetable experience: five excellent musicians, perfectly performing with virtuosity, groove, hot solos and cool vibes. The centre of attention on stage is the Brasilian singer and piano player Jú Cassou, who enchants the audience with her voice and charme. Nobit handles percussion using fat electronic beats and hypnotic acoustic percussion to move the crowd. The two are backed by the Brasilian saxophone player Marcio Tubino, Christian Gall on Keyboards and Matthias Engelhardt on bass.
Now working steadily on the follow-up to “Digital Audio Bossa” to be released this spring, Mundovibes hooked up with Nobit to talk about his Brazilian love affair.
Mundovibes: There are many producer-Djs who have absorbed the Brazilian influence. What is your opinion of the plethora of Brazilian-styled productions in Europe?
Nobit: Brazilian music, ever since the bossa nova came up, has its place in the international music, and I think this is not going to change so soon. in every decade since the fifties you can find more or less exciting interpretaions of brasilian songs. and in a certain way I think it´s great that brazilian music has taken such an important place in todays european electronic music. for me, being a big fan of Brazilian music since my early teenage days, it´s interesting and sometimes inspiring to hear a lot of people mixing Brazilian music with other styles and coming up with realy good tracks. But the problem is, that not only in the music business, but in the whole “media-world” in general, there is too much bullshit being thrown on the market. Too many cheap and careless, badly elaborated productions, heartless quick-shots, attempting to follow a trend to make some money. And with a Brazilian-electronic mix there are two more problems: the one thing is to make Brazilian music really groove, you must really dig it, which is possible even for non-Brazilians, but you must study and listen and play it a lot. The other thing is that especialy in electronic, computer-based music, a lot of people, who don´t know anything about MAKING music, are making music.
MV: What was it that inspired you record an album of Brazilian music?
Nobit: As I said: I´ve been crazy for Brazilian music for a long time. Plus when I produced the first track for “digital audio bossa” I was living in brazil, where I of course had a lot of input. But I wouldn´t consider it an “album of Brazilian music”, but rather a mixture of (almost) every style I like. So along with the stong Brazilian touch you can find as well my “old-school-influences” like jazz, funk and fusion and of course modern electronic styes.
MV: How were you received in Brazil — were musicians open to your presence?
Nobit: Before I actualy moved to Rio I spent several times there and in other places in Brazil, so I knew quite a few people and musicians and the Brazilian people in general are quite open to other people. On the one hand I think it can be a certain advantage to be a “gringo” who lives and works there, on the other sometimes I first had to prove that I really knew how to play Brazilian music to get fully accepted, but this was not much of a problem.
MV: What were some of the highlights of your experience there?
Nobit: Besides producing and playing with a lot of different bands, I was playing in a very crazy band called “Regonguz”, which in a way reminded me almost of Frank Zappa, with three singers and a lot of people on stage. A real kind of flower-power thing. During a show, at a certain moment in one song they wanted me to go to the microphone and speak in German. I just said whatever came into my mind — we had lot´s of fun!
MV: What is it about Brazil that it creates such great music?
Nobit: That´s a very good question, because there are indeed many good musicians and especialy composers in Brazil. But frankly I don´t really know why. Maybe it´s the special mix of afro-indian-european influences or it´s the easyness of the lifestyle. Or it’s the abillity (as a result of pure necessity) to make something out of almost nothing, which most of the people face every day. Probably it´s a mix of these and other things.
MV: Why do you think Brazilian music lends itself so well to electronic reinterpretation?
Nobit: I think Brazilian music mixes great with many styles of music: choro and jazz turned into bossa nova. In the seventies brazilian musicians influenced by funk and soul music mixed it with samba and samba-funk is one of the hottest mixture ever heared. And Brazilian music is very rhythmic, so it blends well with electronic music, who´s most important element is rhythm. But Brazilian music has as well other sides, that are missing (for my personal taste) in pure electronic music: there is on the one side the softness, delicacy and smoothness and on the other hand a great harmonic richness.
MV: You worked with Lilian Vieira from Zuco 103 on a version of ‘O Ronco da Cuíca’. How was this experience?
Nobit: I know Lilian already quite some time: we met in munich in the nineties, performing on the same event. One year later i was living in Cologne, which is very close to Holland, where Lilian lives, and we started to work together. Me and my friend and prefered piano player Tobias Drentwett had a band called “agua na boca”, playing funky brasilian music, where Lilian sang whenever she could make it. So by the time I lived in Rio and worked on the first tracks of my album “digital audio bossa”, Lilian came for holidays and I took the chance to record some tracks with here. On my upcoming album there will be one of these tracks in a new version. It´s simply great to work with Lilian, because we have a great friendship, and, come on, Lilian blows your mind as soon as she starts singing. She is one of the best, most professional and most unique singer I ever worked with.
MV: How does Digital Audio Bossa reflect or interpret Brazilian music?
Nobit: “digital audio bossa”, as I mentioned earlier, for me is not an album of pure Brazilian music. It´s actually a very personal mix of the music styles that influenced me my whole life and Brazilian music is making quite a big part of it. I grew up with jazz, fusion, funk and soul music as well and now I ´m mixing all of this together. I don´t think I “interpret” Brazilian music, like someone who sings and interprets Brazilian songs.
MV: You are presently a member of Bossa Tres, which performs Brazilian standards as well as your music. Please tell us about the band.
Nobit: This band is basicly to have fun playing hand made music live. it´s me on drums, the fabulous paulo cardoso on double bass, who has the most exciting and outgoing way of playing bass, and a not fixed third member, which can be Jú Cassou, the singer of Riovolt, since she´s also a piano player, or Pedro Tagliani, another Brazilian “devil” on the accoustic guitar, or one of the other musicians, who know how to play brazilian music. it has a very free, jazz-like approach with a lot room for improvisation, and on the same time being very “classic” in terms of sound and instrumentation – all accoustic. For me it´s to contrast and compensate all the electronic, both in studio and with “Riovolt” live, where i use a lot of electronic as well.
MV: What plans do you have for the future?
Nobit: I´m busy working on my new album, which is going to be released before summer this year by irma records. We are planning to release a single first. Of course “Riovolt” will continue to perform live (as well as “Bossa Três). I´ve been asked to do some remixes and there is a singer called “Fouxi”, who is doing a very unique and cool kind of french electro pop. I will co-produce some of her tracks; keep an eye on her, she is kicking.
Since Ashley and Simone Beedle founded Afro Art in the Nineties, the label’ s had its fair share of ups and downs. However, in 1999 it sailed out of the doldrums that followed their split with two Black Science Orchestra smashes, Keep on Keeping On and Allison David’s Sunshine . Beedle also draughted in his old friend Murphy as captain after he left to rejoin X-Press 2 in the wake of their huge anthem, Lazy . Greatest Hits (2001) covers the first period; This is Afro Art (2004) covers the second, with Murphy at the helm, and despite a recent distribution catastrophe his vessel sure is shipshape now.
Apart from a couple of tracks, this compilation is about what I ve been doing myself my own A&Ring so it s more of a piece than the first one, explains Murphy. Many of the artists featured, including Frogsnatcher, Ashen & Walker and The Mindset, were discovered simply by keeping an ear to the ground by word of mouth or even a CD in the post all very much in the spirit of Murphy-era Afro Art, the label with no label .
I ve tried to make our character as elusive as possible, he says. Everybody s so tied in with this idea that you must have a logo, and you must have this image so that you can say to people, I am this . But that s something I m trying to get away from. So I ve kept everything very low key. I haven t worried about creating a lot of hype. It does make it very difficult to make money, but it s enabled me to go musically in any direction. If I hear a good record I can say, Right, let s put it out and now people are really noticing what we re doing. I mean, some of the tracks on this CD are still so current, like the Neon Hights and Black Science Orchestra. Sometimes I think we re almost a bit too ahead of the game. I mean, if we put them out now, everybody d go, wow.
In fact, a lot of people did go wow the first time round. Jazz Room , Murphy and Marc Woolford s jazz-with-teeth opener has been charted by more than a hundred DJs. It s not just big& it s HUGE! said the godfather of all things jazzy, Gilles Peterson, while Spiritual South s Green Gold was voted Single of the Year on his BBC Radio 1 show, Worldwide. Soul Call (also the first single from Murphy s forthcoming solo album) is a big Groove Armada favourite and provided the theme tune to The Clothes Show Live 2004 ( Great! Some royalties! ). If you didn t catch these or any of the other tracks drawn from right across the deep and wide Afro Art spectrum, either you have no turntable (most were vinyl-only releases) or you ve had your head in a box since the Millennium.
Even when it comes to where to play, which audience to cultivate or who s worth sending promos to there s a totally fresh attitude at work here. The point for Murphy is to get the music heard, which is why the post-soviet East that inconceivably vast area, marooned for so many years and now probably the most enthusiastic fan-base for new music on the planet is such a big focus.
I ve been working constantly out there over the last year, he says [check the links for some Eastern Block parties]. I ve been to Lithuania, Slovakia, Estonia I must have done all of them, except the big one: you know, Russia the Empire formerly known as Evil. I m going out to Belgrade at New Year s just to do some guy s party! There s not much money in it, but it s going to be such a laugh. They’re holding it in a Turkish Bath whether it’s in use or derelict I don’t know, but I did a similar thing in Budapest three years ago and they had it in a swimming pool filled with water and they just swam to music! The hotel rooms, god, they re like something out of Tinker, Taylor, Soldier Spy. Honestly, I was looking for bugs. But you go to somewhere like Sarajevo and it s such a big thing out there. You think to yourself, nobody s going to like this stuff and they know every record! They re so into it. They re like, Wow! This stuff is amazing. It s just that they don t have any money.
For many it would end there: no cash, no sales, no point. But in addition to tracking down and sending promos to dozens of clued-up radio stations in places like Bishkek (capital of Kyrgystan, former Soviet republic sandwiched between Kazakhstan and China) Murphy has pre-empted the inevitable rip n burn chaos by negotiating a deal with Czech, Serbian, Slovakian and Hungarian magazines to give away a free one-hour mix of the compilation.
We re never going to sell any CDs out there because it s just too expensive. We re talking the equivalent of £25 just for a 12-inch single; a CD would be like £60, so all that happens is someone gets hold of one and then copies it ad infinitem, he explains. This way, at least we ll get something out of it, and being a one-hour mix makes it a bit harder to chop up. The only people who are really against downloads anyway are the big companies because they re going to lose millions of sales on Britney Spears and Madonna. I don t really give a toss what s am I losing? A hundred? And anyway, how can I say to a guy in Russia, don t download my records ? How can I ask him for a week s wages for a 12-inch single? That would be cruel!
It may be breaking new ground both musically and geographically, but think about this compilation s significance a bit too hard and it starts to reflect Murphy s history in reverse. On the B-side you ve got the jazz, Latin and funky soul element , which is exactly the bug that bit him back in ( Oh god. It was such a horrible place! ) 1970s Essex. The A-side is the housier side, something that for him came (ahem) a bit later:
At the beginning when I started out, house music came along SO later that it was like science fiction, he says, remembering the old Mecca Dance Halls ( Fucking horrible& that s real life-on-Mars stuff in there. ) If you d have said to anyone back then, Yeah, house music s going to be major! They d have said, Yeah yeah yeah and we re all going to have, like, personal communicators and everybody s going to have one on their desk and we re going to be able to communicate with, like, anyone in the world! Go away. And, well, here we are.
As soon as he was able, Murphy got the hell out of Essex and pitched up in the Smoke to cut his musical teeth at a series of groundbreaking clubs (including Jaffas at The Horseshoe, the Wag, The 100 Club and, obviously, Jazz Room at the Electric Ballroom). He opened a record shop, Fusion Records, ran the Palladin Records label for two years, became WIRE Magazine s first DJ of the Year in 1985 and generally saw the Eighties through acid jazz and the beginnings of house. Then he disappeared, to be rescued from oblivion after a 10-year sojourn in Ireland by Mod hero Eddie Piller (to whom The Mindset s track, Get Set is dedicated) and returned in 1999 to a residency at the Blue Note in Hoxton just as house music looked like giving up the ghost.
It was a strange period, he remembers. That whole, huge club Ibiza scene which had been dominant for the whole of the Nineties just went. One minute people were selling 10,000 12-inch singles and all of a sudden they re lucky to do a thousand. You d be watching Ibiza on Sky or ITV and there d be all these football yobbos kicking the shit out of each other. It just took that veneer of coolness off it and once you do that the dream is gone. And also, all those people they got old! Everyone that was doing a Balearic jobby in 1987, they re all in their late 30s and they re mums and dads and stuff. So I came in going, Oh no! Why did I come back now, it s all ending! But at the same time, that just put a whole different dynamic on everything. It s great now, clubs have definitely gone back to the way they were, small clubs. There s loads of little splintered scenes and it s more interesting a lot more interesting.
As for the solo album, it s scheduled for release in April 2005 and is, we re told, very jazz . Inspired by getting stuck on a train in India for three days, The Trip (think journey not microdot ) features the aforementioned dub-reggae crossed with Don Drummond/The Skatalites version of the music from Seven Samurai to be released in Spring as the first single (apart from Soul Call ) with a Latin jazz cover of the theme from Withnail & I on the flip. I can t really say that I have a method, manages Murphy, grappling with laughter. It s more just playing around and seeing what happens. But I m really pleased with it; it s exciting. Music I wouldn t say it s the most lucrative profession in the world, but it s good fun. Beats the call centre any day of the week.
Afro Art CDs available from MundoVibes:
By Rose Parfitt
Since Ashley and Simone Beedle founded Afro Art in the Nineties, the label s had its fair share of ups and downs. However, in 1999 it sailed out of the doldrums that followed their split with two Black Science Orchestra smashes, Keep on Keeping On and Allison David s Sunshine . Beedle also draughted in his old friend Murphy as captain after he left to rejoin X-Press 2 in the wake of their huge anthem, Lazy . Greatest Hits (2001) covers the first period; This is Afro Art (2004) covers the second, with Murphy at the helm, and despite a recent distribution catastrophe his vessel sure is shipshape now.
Apart from a couple of tracks, this compilation is about what I ve been doing myself my own A&Ring so it s more of a piece than the first one, explains Murphy. Many of the artists featured, including Frogsnatcher, Ashen & Walker and The Mindset, were discovered simply by keeping an ear to the ground by word of mouth or even a CD in the post all very much in the spirit of Murphy-era Afro Art, the label with no label .
I ve tried to make our character as elusive as possible, he says. Everybody s so tied in with this idea that you must have a logo, and you must have this image so that you can say to people, I am this . But that s something I m trying to get away from. So I ve kept everything very low key. I haven t worried about creating a lot of hype. It does make it very difficult to make money, but it s enabled me to go musically in any direction. If I hear a good record I can say, Right, let s put it out and now people are really noticing what we re doing. I mean, some of the tracks on this CD are still so current, like the Neon Hights and Black Science Orchestra. Sometimes I think we re almost a bit too ahead of the game. I mean, if we put them out now, everybody d go, wow.
In fact, a lot of people did go wow the first time round. Jazz Room , Murphy and Marc Woolford s jazz-with-teeth opener has been charted by more than a hundred DJs. It s not just big& it s HUGE! said the godfather of all things jazzy, Gilles Peterson, while Spiritual South s Green Gold was voted Single of the Year on his BBC Radio 1 show, Worldwide. Soul Call (also the first single from Murphy s forthcoming solo album) is a big Groove Armada favourite and provided the theme tune to The Clothes Show Live 2004 ( Great! Some royalties! ). If you didn t catch these or any of the other tracks drawn from right across the deep and wide Afro Art spectrum, either you have no turntable (most were vinyl-only releases) or you ve had your head in a box since the Millennium.
Even when it comes to where to play, which audience to cultivate or who s worth sending promos to there s a totally fresh attitude at work here. The point for Murphy is to get the music heard, which is why the post-soviet East that inconceivably vast area, marooned for so many years and now probably the most enthusiastic fan-base for new music on the planet is such a big focus.
I ve been working constantly out there over the last year, he says [check the links for some Eastern Block parties]. I ve been to Lithuania, Slovakia, Estonia I must have done all of them, except the big one: you know, Russia the Empire formerly known as Evil. I m going out to Belgrade at New Year s just to do some guy s party! There s not much money in it, but it s going to be such a laugh. They’re holding it in a Turkish Bath whether it’s in use or derelict I don’t know, but I did a similar thing in Budapest three years ago and they had it in a swimming pool filled with water and they just swam to music! The hotel rooms, god, they re like something out of Tinker, Taylor, Soldier Spy. Honestly, I was looking for bugs. But you go to somewhere like Sarajevo and it s such a big thing out there. You think to yourself, nobody s going to like this stuff and they know every record! They re so into it. They re like, Wow! This stuff is amazing. It s just that they don t have any money.
For many it would end there: no cash, no sales, no point. But in addition to tracking down and sending promos to dozens of clued-up radio stations in places like Bishkek (capital of Kyrgystan, former Soviet republic sandwiched between Kazakhstan and China) Murphy has pre-empted the inevitable rip n burn chaos by negotiating a deal with Czech, Serbian, Slovakian and Hungarian magazines to give away a free one-hour mix of the compilation.
We re never going to sell any CDs out there because it s just too expensive. We re talking the equivalent of £25 just for a 12-inch single; a CD would be like £60, so all that happens is someone gets hold of one and then copies it ad infinitem, he explains. This way, at least we ll get something out of it, and being a one-hour mix makes it a bit harder to chop up. The only people who are really against downloads anyway are the big companies because they re going to lose millions of sales on Britney Spears and Madonna. I don t really give a toss what s am I losing? A hundred? And anyway, how can I say to a guy in Russia, don t download my records ? How can I ask him for a week s wages for a 12-inch single? That would be cruel!
It may be breaking new ground both musically and geographically, but think about this compilation s significance a bit too hard and it starts to reflect Murphy s history in reverse. On the B-side you ve got the jazz, Latin and funky soul element , which is exactly the bug that bit him back in ( Oh god. It was such a horrible place! ) 1970s Essex. The A-side is the housier side, something that for him came (ahem) a bit later:
At the beginning when I started out, house music came along SO later that it was like science fiction, he says, remembering the old Mecca Dance Halls ( Fucking horrible& that s real life-on-Mars stuff in there. ) If you d have said to anyone back then, Yeah, house music s going to be major! They d have said, Yeah yeah yeah and we re all going to have, like, personal communicators and everybody s going to have one on their desk and we re going to be able to communicate with, like, anyone in the world! Go away. And, well, here we are.
As soon as he was able, Murphy got the hell out of Essex and pitched up in the Smoke to cut his musical teeth at a series of groundbreaking clubs (including Jaffas at The Horseshoe, the Wag, The 100 Club and, obviously, Jazz Room at the Electric Ballroom). He opened a record shop, Fusion Records, ran the Palladin Records label for two years, became WIRE Magazine s first DJ of the Year in 1985 and generally saw the Eighties through acid jazz and the beginnings of house. Then he disappeared, to be rescued from oblivion after a 10-year sojourn in Ireland by Mod hero Eddie Piller (to whom The Mindset s track, Get Set is dedicated) and returned in 1999 to a residency at the Blue Note in Hoxton just as house music looked like giving up the ghost.
It was a strange period, he remembers. That whole, huge club Ibiza scene which had been dominant for the whole of the Nineties just went. One minute people were selling 10,000 12-inch singles and all of a sudden they re lucky to do a thousand. You d be watching Ibiza on Sky or ITV and there d be all these football yobbos kicking the shit out of each other. It just took that veneer of coolness off it and once you do that the dream is gone. And also, all those people they got old! Everyone that was doing a Balearic jobby in 1987, they re all in their late 30s and they re mums and dads and stuff. So I came in going, Oh no! Why did I come back now, it s all ending! But at the same time, that just put a whole different dynamic on everything. It s great now, clubs have definitely gone back to the way they were, small clubs. There s loads of little splintered scenes and it s more interesting a lot more interesting.
As for the solo album, it s scheduled for release in April 2005 and is, we re told, very jazz . Inspired by getting stuck on a train in India for three days, The Trip (think journey not microdot ) features the aforementioned dub-reggae crossed with Don Drummond/The Skatalites version of the music from Seven Samurai to be released in Spring as the first single (apart from Soul Call ) with a Latin jazz cover of the theme from Withnail & I on the flip. I can t really say that I have a method, manages Murphy, grappling with laughter. It s more just playing around and seeing what happens. But I m really pleased with it; it s exciting. Music I wouldn t say it s the most lucrative profession in the world, but it s good fun. Beats the call centre any day of the week.
Afro Art CDs available from MundoVibes:By Rose Parfitt
Since Ashley and Simone Beedle founded Afro Art in the Nineties, the label s had its fair share of ups and downs. However, in 1999 it sailed out of the doldrums that followed their split with two Black Science Orchestra smashes, Keep on Keeping On and Allison David s Sunshine . Beedle also draughted in his old friend Murphy as captain after he left to rejoin X-Press 2 in the wake of their huge anthem, Lazy . Greatest Hits (2001) covers the first period; This is Afro Art (2004) covers the second, with Murphy at the helm, and despite a recent distribution catastrophe his vessel sure is shipshape now.
Apart from a couple of tracks, this compilation is about what I ve been doing myself my own A&Ring so it s more of a piece than the first one, explains Murphy. Many of the artists featured, including Frogsnatcher, Ashen & Walker and The Mindset, were discovered simply by keeping an ear to the ground by word of mouth or even a CD in the post all very much in the spirit of Murphy-era Afro Art, the label with no label .
I ve tried to make our character as elusive as possible, he says. Everybody s so tied in with this idea that you must have a logo, and you must have this image so that you can say to people, I am this . But that s something I m trying to get away from. So I ve kept everything very low key. I haven t worried about creating a lot of hype. It does make it very difficult to make money, but it s enabled me to go musically in any direction. If I hear a good record I can say, Right, let s put it out and now people are really noticing what we re doing. I mean, some of the tracks on this CD are still so current, like the Neon Hights and Black Science Orchestra. Sometimes I think we re almost a bit too ahead of the game. I mean, if we put them out now, everybody d go, wow.
In fact, a lot of people did go wow the first time round. Jazz Room , Murphy and Marc Woolford s jazz-with-teeth opener has been charted by more than a hundred DJs. It s not just big& it s HUGE! said the godfather of all things jazzy, Gilles Peterson, while Spiritual South s Green Gold was voted Single of the Year on his BBC Radio 1 show, Worldwide. Soul Call (also the first single from Murphy s forthcoming solo album) is a big Groove Armada favourite and provided the theme tune to The Clothes Show Live 2004 ( Great! Some royalties! ). If you didn t catch these or any of the other tracks drawn from right across the deep and wide Afro Art spectrum, either you have no turntable (most were vinyl-only releases) or you ve had your head in a box since the Millennium.
Even when it comes to where to play, which audience to cultivate or who s worth sending promos to there s a totally fresh attitude at work here. The point for Murphy is to get the music heard, which is why the post-soviet East that inconceivably vast area, marooned for so many years and now probably the most enthusiastic fan-base for new music on the planet is such a big focus.
I ve been working constantly out there over the last year, he says [check the links for some Eastern Block parties]. I ve been to Lithuania, Slovakia, Estonia I must have done all of them, except the big one: you know, Russia the Empire formerly known as Evil. I m going out to Belgrade at New Year s just to do some guy s party! There s not much money in it, but it s going to be such a laugh. They’re holding it in a Turkish Bath whether it’s in use or derelict I don’t know, but I did a similar thing in Budapest three years ago and they had it in a swimming pool filled with water and they just swam to music! The hotel rooms, god, they re like something out of Tinker, Taylor, Soldier Spy. Honestly, I was looking for bugs. But you go to somewhere like Sarajevo and it s such a big thing out there. You think to yourself, nobody s going to like this stuff and they know every record! They re so into it. They re like, Wow! This stuff is amazing. It s just that they don t have any money.
For many it would end there: no cash, no sales, no point. But in addition to tracking down and sending promos to dozens of clued-up radio stations in places like Bishkek (capital of Kyrgystan, former Soviet republic sandwiched between Kazakhstan and China) Murphy has pre-empted the inevitable rip n burn chaos by negotiating a deal with Czech, Serbian, Slovakian and Hungarian magazines to give away a free one-hour mix of the compilation.
We re never going to sell any CDs out there because it s just too expensive. We re talking the equivalent of £25 just for a 12-inch single; a CD would be like £60, so all that happens is someone gets hold of one and then copies it ad infinitem, he explains. This way, at least we ll get something out of it, and being a one-hour mix makes it a bit harder to chop up. The only people who are really against downloads anyway are the big companies because they re going to lose millions of sales on Britney Spears and Madonna. I don t really give a toss what s am I losing? A hundred? And anyway, how can I say to a guy in Russia, don t download my records ? How can I ask him for a week s wages for a 12-inch single? That would be cruel!
It may be breaking new ground both musically and geographically, but think about this compilation s significance a bit too hard and it starts to reflect Murphy s history in reverse. On the B-side you ve got the jazz, Latin and funky soul element , which is exactly the bug that bit him back in ( Oh god. It was such a horrible place! ) 1970s Essex. The A-side is the housier side, something that for him came (ahem) a bit later:
At the beginning when I started out, house music came along SO later that it was like science fiction, he says, remembering the old Mecca Dance Halls ( Fucking horrible& that s real life-on-Mars stuff in there. ) If you d have said to anyone back then, Yeah, house music s going to be major! They d have said, Yeah yeah yeah and we re all going to have, like, personal communicators and everybody s going to have one on their desk and we re going to be able to communicate with, like, anyone in the world! Go away. And, well, here we are.
As soon as he was able, Murphy got the hell out of Essex and pitched up in the Smoke to cut his musical teeth at a series of groundbreaking clubs (including Jaffas at The Horseshoe, the Wag, The 100 Club and, obviously, Jazz Room at the Electric Ballroom). He opened a record shop, Fusion Records, ran the Palladin Records label for two years, became WIRE Magazine s first DJ of the Year in 1985 and generally saw the Eighties through acid jazz and the beginnings of house. Then he disappeared, to be rescued from oblivion after a 10-year sojourn in Ireland by Mod hero Eddie Piller (to whom The Mindset s track, Get Set is dedicated) and returned in 1999 to a residency at the Blue Note in Hoxton just as house music looked like giving up the ghost.
It was a strange period, he remembers. That whole, huge club Ibiza scene which had been dominant for the whole of the Nineties just went. One minute people were selling 10,000 12-inch singles and all of a sudden they re lucky to do a thousand. You d be watching Ibiza on Sky or ITV and there d be all these football yobbos kicking the shit out of each other. It just took that veneer of coolness off it and once you do that the dream is gone. And also, all those people they got old! Everyone that was doing a Balearic jobby in 1987, they re all in their late 30s and they re mums and dads and stuff. So I came in going, Oh no! Why did I come back now, it s all ending! But at the same time, that just put a whole different dynamic on everything. It s great now, clubs have definitely gone back to the way they were, small clubs. There s loads of little splintered scenes and it s more interesting a lot more interesting.
As for the solo album, it s scheduled for release in April 2005 and is, we re told, very jazz . Inspired by getting stuck on a train in India for three days, The Trip (think journey not microdot ) features the aforementioned dub-reggae crossed with Don Drummond/The Skatalites version of the music from Seven Samurai to be released in Spring as the first single (apart from Soul Call ) with a Latin jazz cover of the theme from Withnail & I on the flip. I can t really say that I have a method, manages Murphy, grappling with laughter. It s more just playing around and seeing what happens. But I m really pleased with it; it s exciting. Music I wouldn t say it s the most lucrative profession in the world, but it s good fun. Beats the call centre any day of the week.
He may love Baile Funk but DJ Sabo’s heart is in New York City. DJ Sabo has the city’s melting pot sensibility pulsing through his veins and his blood is the color of many cultures. Sabo has been serving up spicy beats for a decade, gaining international props and passport stamps from Brazil, Spain, Dominican Republic, Austria, Mexico, and Kosovo, as well as various cities in the US.
His productions include seven EP releases on his own label Sol*Selectas, two 12″ releases on Wonderwheel Recordings, and a full length album, “Global Warmbeats” with production partner Zeb. From Brazilian to Afrobeat, Disco to Reggae, Hip Hop to Dub, Miami Bass to House, Latin to Techno, Sabo flows seamlessly from one genre to the next.
If you haven’t caught him spinning around town you may need to step outside your box: He’s been a special guest at Turntables on the Hudson parties for the last 7 years, manages the Turntable Lab NY store, is an instructor at the Scratch DJ Academy, and has DJ residencies at Bembe, APY, and Nublu in NYC. He Dj’ed the infamous PS-1 Warmup Party in 2003, The Cooper Hewitt After Work Series in 2004 – 2006, and was nominated to URB magazine’s Annual ‘Next 100′ in 2006. He’s opened up for the bands Yerba Buena, Brazilian Girls, Antibalas, The Pimps of Joytime, and Si*Se, and has remixed tracks for Nickodemus, J-Boogie, El Guincho, DJ Sun, Nappy G, Kokolo Afrobeat Orhcestra, Los Monos, Pacha Massive Sound System, and Balkan Beat Box. Did we say this man is busy?
Mundovibe managed to track down DJ Sabo in his bassment lab (Turntable Lab that is) and make contact. In addition to his signature “funky music to make you feel good” style Sabo is also disarmingly nice and after his stint DJing for Huffpost’s inaugural party he was kind enough to be interviewed by Mundovibe via e-mail and to supply us with four hot mixes for our reader’s listening pleasure.
MV: DJ Sabo, congratulations on the release of “Global Warmbeats”, a truly worldly, mellifluous and deeply rhythmic recording. How did this full-length recording happen?
SABO: Gracias! This album started basically as me wanting to produce/remix tracks and having no clue how to do it. I started paying Zeb to come to my house and tutor me in Reason. I already had all the loops and samples and ideas ready to go, and Zeb would show me how to arrange and mix everything. After only a month or two we had like 4 tracks done. After that the songs were becoming more collaborations than tutor sessions, so we decided to just keep going and make a whole record.
From the day in 1945 when Lionel Hampton saw this ecstatic 5 year old jumpin’ with joy at what he had just heard, and handed him the gift of a lifetime, a set of his vibe mallets& his destiny was set. Today, Ayers continues to pack venues round the world, playing with the same energy and passion that he exhibited back in 1945.
With 2004’s release of Virgin Ubiquity: Unreleased Recordings 1976-1981 , Roy’s loyal and deserving fans were treated to a selection of unreleased gems. The second volume of the series, out in May, will feature more never-before released Ayer’s tracks. Ayer’s latest full-length “Mahogany Vibe” combines re-interpretations of his most memorable classic tracks with Erykah Badu on the classic Searching and Everybody Loves The Sunshine and Betty Wright on a stunning update of Long Time Ago . Philly newcomer, Kamilah and MC Sakoni add to the album’s rich flavor. This album once again proves that Roy’s ears are as much to the streets as to Jazz s lineage of sounds.
Roy s career maintains a timeless momentum; in the studio, on the stage, in the US or abroad, for Hip Hop and Jazz heads alike, for your mother and daughter, for slow dancing and serious funk aficionados, Roy s vibes are forever.
Mundovibes: It’s just an honor to speak with you and I think it’s incredible that you’re doing what you’re doing today. I’d lke to begin by talking about your new relationship with Rapster and BBE records and ask you how firstly that came about.
Roy Ayers: Well, you know, the relationship is good. I told Peter Adarkwah from BBE that I had some tapes from back in the day when I was recording. I had all of these tapes that I had recorded since I used to be a fanatic in the studio. I was always recording something, I always had something and set it aside. I’d almost finish something and I’d say ‘well, this is not good enough.’ Then, my mind’s so fast I’d go and change to another song right away. And, of course, I write very spontaneous anyway, that’s the way I am. So, I was doing all those songs in the ’70s and ’80s but as I was doing them I was doing other songs which represent most of the albums that I put out. Either the albums or other productions because I had a production company; all of the things I was doing was with the production company. So, I just kept doing things. I mean I’ve got a lot of things, even on this new album, that were meant for different people, like this group called Brood (sic) out of D.C. I did that and I just decided to put my voice on it because why not put Roy Ayers voice on it? It was a nice track, but the relationship between myself and Brood never got off the ground but we just started recording to see what we could have you know?
So, I told Peter had these tapes and he shot over here from London. We went into the studio and took them out, and we had to bake them because they were old, and then transferred them to Pro Tools. And he flipped out, he found one album and then he wanted to do another album and another after this. This is some nice stuff man, it’s all analogue, it’s all real groovy. As I listen to it I say ‘damn, I was a bad MF!’ When I listen I say, ‘damn, this was good!’ (laughter) It’s something that I did, and this is stuff that I had never even thought twice about but I had the tapes there. I wasn’t going to throw the tapes away and after we baked them we found that there’s some nice stuff, and we still have another 75 tapes that we haven’t even touched.
MV: You’re on volume two now of this “Virgin Ubiquity” series and this is going to be a series of how many?
RA: Well, it’s probably going to be a series of at least four. It gets better all the time so I’m excited about it and I’m glad that Peter and K7 and everybody’s into in whole heartedly. And I guess for them to have some quality Roy Ayers is like a rare opportunity for anybody to have. I’m doing it to get myself out, to get it released and to get it distributed.
MV: Right. And for anybody that loves your music this is another side to your musical history.
RA: Yeah, this one makes it 93 albums and or CDs under my name.
MV: You’re extra prolific!
RA: I’ve done that many and I’m not even talking about the one’s I’ve done with other people under their name. I have to count those, but the albums I’ve done under my name is 93 now.
MV: I’m sure you’re going to over 100 real soon.
RA: I think I will, just as long as I live long enough. Let’s see, Lionel Hampton did 134 in his lifetime albums, Dizzy Gillespie did about 101, and Tito Puente did over 100. It’s amazing how many albums these guys did, and then Whitney Houston has only done about 12. And she’s sold so many records it’s ridiculous. So, maybe in my 93 I’ve sold as many as Whitney (laughter). But I also recorded with her, which was nice.
MV: Well, on “Mahogany Vibe” you did some collaborations with Erykah Badu and Betty Wright. Tell us about “Mahogany Vibe”.
RA: That was nice, also is out on Rapster. It was a very nice recording, when I had talked to Erykah about doing it with me she said she couldn’t come to New York so I said I’ll come to Texas. So, we went to Dallas and we did it with her there. She did a very fine job, she’s very professional in the studio I admired the way she handled everything; she was real cool. It was interesting because we were recording and she said ‘You know Betty Wright is in town.’ And I said ‘Oh, she is. Is she playing somewhere?’ She said ‘No, she’s not playing, she’s my friend. She came to see me.’ And I said ‘Oh, that’s wonderful’. So, she called Betty on her cell phone, she gave me the phone and I said ‘Hey Betty how you doing, can you be on my album?’ Betty said yes and an hour later she came to the studio and recorded two more tracks with me. So, other than the fact that Erykah is a classy diva and a very talented woman, she also puts things together like that. Very nice. I was very surprised and happy with it.
MV: Yeah, she’s a very talented woman. You know, Erykah’s kind of at the lead of this newer generation they call the ‘neo-soul’.
RA: Yeah, she told me that, she said ‘you’re the neo-soul king’. I said, ‘what are you talking about, what’s neo-soul?’ (laughter). She said people like her and the Roots and Jill Scott, they like to emulate my sound in their music. And I thought ‘that’s beautiful, that makes me feel good’.
MV: Well, you’ve influenced so many people. Did you ever anticipate that happening?
RA: I never knew that it was going to happen. When it happened it was really wonderful because I never pursued it and I never went after anybody to record my music or sample it. And it’s been fantastic because it’s been economically rewarding, for me very rewarding. When you have people like Mary J. Blige who does your song and samples your songs and plays your songs and sells 3 million records, triple platinum. So, you get paid for that. And you got Tribe Called Quest and Brand Nubian and all these people. I’ve got more sampled hits than James Brown. James Brown has more samples, I’ve got more sampled hits. It’s a wonderful career I have had.
MV: Talking about your sound, you’re a fantastic vibes player and in a sense that leads to the energy of your music.
RA: Yeah, I think that’s probably the essence of my music, it really started out with my vibes because that’s my first instrument, that’s my first love. And of course I incorporated the singing. It probably pisses me off to some extent when people say ‘Roy Ayers, you mean the singer?’ Because I’m a vibist before I’m a singer, a better vibist. And some people know that but I’ve had a few hits with the vocals in my career. It always surprised me when it happened but I’d realized the importance of crossing over and being versitile.
MV: Well, there’s a younger generation that doesn’t realize you have a long jazz history.
RA: Yeah, I guess you’re right but I guess it comes through when you keep chugging along.
MV: Absolutely. I want to touch on your formative years because you started at such a young age and it seems like you were almost pre-destined to be a vibes and jazz musician. A lot of people today, they don’t necessarily have the schooling and the influence at an earrly age. I just wondered how important that was to you?
RA: Well, it was very important. As I reflect on it I think about my mother and father who instilled a lot of postive substance in me. They were very instrumental in creating a desire within me because of the enthusiasm, because of their approach. They gave me a lot of confidence and I think about that all the time. My mother used to say things like ‘one day I’m going to see your name in lights’. And she kind of put that in my brain. And that became a reality. My mother did see me before she passed, she did see me and my family saw me. It was a wonderful goal to try to reach because of their input, so it was a good thing. It was something that was wonderful and positive. I continue to try to tell as many young people as possible the same thing if I can. Motivation is an important factor that you can give a person. And that’s what my folks gave to me, they made me believe in myself and made me believe that I could do anything that I put my mind and time into.
MV: And the musicianship is so important too.
RA: That’s right, I can remember going to see and playing with older musicians, guys that I knew knew more than me, especially in the art of improvisation. And when I realized this, cause I had been playing with a lot of young cats and I realized ‘man, I’m going to start playing with them real musicians’. I played with giants like Bobby Hutcherson, Curtis Amy and Gerald Wilson’s Big Band. It was jut wonderful and I learned very fast, I was like 18 or 19 years old. I was with the pros man and it really paid off for me. That’s the reason why I’ve been able to be as versitle as I am: I’m open to not just bebop or jazz but I’m open to R&B and funk and blues and soul. I play it all and I feel good doing it all.
MV: How did you make a transition from a more traditional jazz artist to funk?
RA: I saw the need for it. I realized it was time, especially when I did my first album on Polydor, that was the first album I did with vocals in it. That was 1970 when I realized that it was important to incorporate vocals. I wasn’t that good a vocalist, but I realized that instrumental and vocal would work. And it’s been good for me, I’ve been working ever since.
MV: Well, you devoped your own style working with female vocals.
RA: That’s right, I was smart enough to use people like Dee dee Bridgewater, Edwin Birdsong, Carla Vaughan, Silvia Cox and Chicas and several other woman who have worked with me over the years. And I found in the quality of their voice, when I put mine with theirs I had no problem making myself sound as good as I could.
MV: It also creates a nice exchange. It’s sexy and nice and warm.
RA: Very true.
MV: You also worked with Fela Kuti, can you reflect on that?
RA: That was a unique experience for me to have been in Africa. For any musician to go to Africa is a wonderful experience. When I went to Africa it was wonderful because to meet Fela and to experience it. As Fela would say ‘this is the African way’. To meet this brother who was married to 27 women, who did alot of things because he wanted to rebel against the government because there was a lot of corruption in the government. And he spoke about it, he was very courageous, very instrumental in a lot of things. He even ran for president in Nigeria. But he was a brilliant man and he was a loving man, he loved Nigeria and he loved Africa. It was good to know him. In knowing him and having spent some time with him that stands out as one of my most unique experiences, in meeting him. A real warrior, a real fighter and a great talent. He was a great dancer, singer, performer and musician. He was all the things a musician wants to be and to have known him has been a great pleasure for me.
MV: So, where are you going in 2005? What’s up for the new year?
RA: Well, I’m going all over, doing a European tour. I just came from Australia, that was a long trip but it was a wonderful tour down there, it was a great experience for me again. I play there every two years, they want me back in two years from this. The remainder of this year I’m going to be touring the United States and of course I’ll be in Europe, doing a lot of things there. The next thing I’m working on is a video that we have of Fela and myself. It was something I filmed when I was over with Fela so you’ll be hearing about it. It’s “Music of Many Colors”, it’s a beautiful video.
MV: Well you’re a busy man, thanks for taking the time to speak with us. Please keep kicking out the great music.
On the fifth album of his career, appropriately titled Cinco De MOWO!, Adam Dorn a.k.a. Mocean Worker (pronounced Motion Worker) has assembled the quintessential feel-good summer record of 2007. The opening number, quite simply, says it best: Shake Ya Boogie. In what has become the incomparable Mocean Worker sound, Dorn mixes and matches the best of modern beat-making with live musicians like trumpeters Herb Alpert ( Changes ) and Steven Bernstein ( Shake Your Boogie ), bassist Marcus Miller ( Brown Liquor ), alto saxophonist Cochemea Gastelum ( Les & Eddie and Son of Sanford ) and vocalists Morley ( I Got You ) and Alana Da Fonseca ( Que Bom ). Cinco De MOWO! follows up Mocean Worker’s 2005 release Enter The MOWO!, where Dorn’s vision for the definitive Mocean Worker sound began to gel. Dorn began to more liberally embrace his jazz and funk influences, while keeping the focus on crafting songs with undeniable hooks. On Cinco De MOWO!, that vision has come into full focus. More than just funky break beats, tunes like Shake Ya Boogie, Tickle It and Sis Boom Bah find their way deep into the sub-conscious with melodies that reverberate long after the record has ended. Dorn also further explored sounds and flavors from different periods in music’s history, re-conceptualizing them for the 21st century. Les & Eddie and Changes are obvious nods to the late ’60s/early ’70s soul-jazz-funk gumbo of artists like Les McCann & Eddie Harris, while songs such as Tickle It, Son of Sanford and Brown Liquor draw from ’30s big band swing. Jump ahead to the late ’70s/early ’80s and Que Bom parlays elements of Nuyorican soul. Go even deeper and Pretty is a contemporary Bossa Nova. From the opening rumble of Shake Ya Boogie, it’s audibly apparent you’ve entered the world of Mocean Worker.
Mundovibes: Do you love the ocean or the motion of the ocean?
Adam Dorn: Um, never thought of it that way. I’m a terrible swimmer and actually I have great fear and respect for the ocean and so should you kids out there. Remember& .stay in school and SAY NO TO DRUGS!
Clearly you enjoy playing with meaning and context, both in your music and its titles. Did you study semiotics at Colombia (sic) or read lots of Derrida as a kid?
I ate lots of Doritos as a child yes, that’s quite obvious in my many works that have latin influence. I have an ex-girlfriend that went to Columbia University, does that count?
You have evolved quite a bit since your earlier recordings of dark, atmospheric drum’n’bass. What happened along the way to create this change?
I just got bored with drum and bass plain and simple. I once had a phone conversation with a DJ of some note from the UK and I knew I wasn’t long for that genre when this guy ( who started the conversation off by yelling at me for calling him in the first place since he was famous and didn’t want strangers calling his house ) asked me what tempo I wrote in. I was like. I don’t understand your question I knew right there and then I had sort of run the string out on my drum and bass interests. Besides what folks ( mainly media ) seem to forget is that half of my first three albums all had matrerial that was edging towards the sound that finally appeared on ENTER THE MOWO!, CINCO DE MOWO! Is an extension of that style and though and now the actual fully realized style and voice Ive been trying to find and convey with my writing.
You have said that you originally started producing music almost as a joke. At what point did it become apparent to you that you actually were a musician and your productions were “legit”.
I did a remix of SUMMERTIME by MAHALIA JACKSON on my first album. It was done live to dat and when I played it back the next morning after having slept on it. I knew I had something. I knew I wasn’ t fooling around with toys in a room anymore. I started focusing more and writing music and trying things and not thinking too much about the outcome but just going for it. That record alone was the starting point for all the Mocean Worker stuff. Intersting how it wasn t even remotely a drum and bass piece either.
“Cinco de Mowo!” is your fifth album, which is quite an accomplishment. How does it feel to have this many recordings under your belt?
It’s kind of wild. Since they are all kind of different from each other. In some ways it feels like it’s been a really long haul and tons of work and in other ways I’m just basically happy to be able to make music and not really have to worry about much else. I’m proud of each album for a different reason. They are all reflections of what has been going on in my life at the time.
What is the world of Mowo! like?
Pretty simple. I make my bed everyday. I like to eat pudding. Sometimes I like to watch futbol. Nothing much else on offer really.
How does “Cinco de Mowo” work as a follow up to “Enter the Mowo!”
I don’ t think that’s up to me to decide. I know that as I made CINCO DE MOWO! I did keep in my mind the thought that I would love for people who enjoyed ENTER THE MOWO! to totally dig this album. I was concerned with having made three totally different albums the last three times out. So there was a concentration and focus on continuity. I wanted the flow and style of ENTER THE MOWO! to act as the template for this record. Obviously I didn’t want to copy it vibe for vibe but I did want to have that feel again.
What would you say is the concept behind “Cinco de Mowo?”
Shake ya boogie, shake shake ya boogie, shake ya boogie, shake shake.
“Cinco de Mowo!” is climbing up the charts and seems destined to be a summer hit. Is this taking you by surprise?
We’ll see, the jury is still out on that. I’m not surprised by anything anymore in this business. Seriously, I just try to do stuff and get it heard by folks and that’s about all you can ask for. MY version of a hit is way different than, say, a major record label’ s version of a hit. A hit to me is Hey you get to make another album and tour without going completely into debt & hahha. Seriously, if I can get the music heard and sell some records in the process& great! I’LL TAKE IT!
What was it like growing up surrounded by the music your father produced?
It was incredible. My old man is my best friend. Never one moment of bull shit between us. I think I enjoy the humor we share and the honest relationship we share more than the time spent around studios and musicians and making music. I learned a lot by watching how he dealt with artists. Let’s face it, artists are demanding and annoying and nuts and afraid a lot of the time. He deals with that very well. I DON’ T. I learned I don’ t like being around it. Haha, but seriously. That’ s my man right there, my old man and I can easily sit around and watch a Yankees game and not one mention of anything related to work will come up. We’re buddies, that’s far more important to me than anything.
Were there any memorable moments that might have influenced you?
Playing a sound check with the Neville Brothers at like the age of 15, jamming on bass. I knew I had arrived and I knew I was gonna be a musician in some way shape or form from there on out.
Having a sense of fun and irony seems pretty key to getting your music. Clearly you don’t take yourself too seriously.
I don’t. Hey, wait a minute how dare you. I have studied at the best conservatories on earth and have worked& & .HOW DARE YOU& & & I’M VERY SERIOUS! ( ***calls lawyers*** )
You’ve become very skillful at matching jazz with beats and electronics. What is your methodology in creating your music?
Make a beat that gets their ass moving. Then couple it with a melody that is catchy to the point of being ALMOST annoying. DONE DEAL. Stimmer, reduce, garnish and serve (repeat if necessary).
“Cinco de Mowo” features music from Herb Alpert (“Changes”), Steven Bernstein (“Shake Your Boogie”), bassist Marcus Miller (“Brown Liquor”), alto saxophonist Cochemea Gastelum (“Les & Eddie” and “Son of Sanford”) and Rahsaan Roland Kirk joins the party from the great beyond. How did you go about incorporating their music into yours? Are these collaborations or did you sample passages of their music?
It’s quite easy actually. With Herb and Marcus I sent them files and said do what you want on top of this and then I’m going to slice and dice the results. They were very willing participants. With Steven Bernstein and Cochemea we worked in the studio and I usually had passages of a song that we would focus on and I would simply ask them to try out specific ideas. I’d then chop up the things they gave me and tried things. Rahsaan sadly passed away in 1977 so that s me manipulating a sample. A long sample ( 2 min.) I siced off phrases and pitched things up and down and assigned samples to notes on a keyboard and literally played back snippets in real time to get the part that I wanted. I literally played Rahsaan as an instrument of sorts. Was a lot of fun.
You also collaborated with vocalists Morley (“I Got You”) and Alana Da Fonseca (“Que Bom”). How did these tracks develop?
I first saw Morley perform at Joe’s Pub here in NYC. My good buddy Bill Bragin who books the club took me backstage to introduce me to her and we hit it off right away. I asked her on the spot to write a tune with me for the album. It took a bit to get it together, but it worked out really well. Morley is such a great artist in her own right and I know that doing this track was at first a bit strange for her as she doesn’t really make music like this. I think I gained her trust though and we just really hit it off as friends that she went along for the ride and I thank her for that. Really proud of the tune and so psyched to have her on the album.
Alana is a bit different. Mostly a creature of the studio. I met her actually on myspace through another friend ( sounds creepy but it wasn’t ) I sent her a stupid email being a wise ass and we just hit it off. We started talking about doing some work and I really didn’t have anything sitting at the time that I thought would be right. I then was messing around with some sort of Braziliant hing (that turned out becoming QUE BOM) and it dawned on me that she spoke fluent Portuguese. I think she wrote the melody in like 20 minutes and she sang me ideas over the phone. Working with her was a blast as she is one of the best pro tools engineers Ive ever worked with so for a change I didn’t have to do the vocals or any tech stuff myself! I had never really seen a vocalist not only write a melody but also track the vocals all at once. Was cool. She’s a bit insane though. DO NOT GET INTO ARGUMENTS WITH HER ABOUT BUBBLEGUM.
For “Cinco do Mowo” you have said “I really just want people, all kinds of people to put this record on and have a nice time, enjoy themselves, clean their houses, throw a party, whatever it takes, it’s all good.” How challenging was it to do this, knowing this was what you wanted?
Wasn’t at all. Wish I had a slick hip answer. I just know when something grooves and makes me smile that, well, I think it’s gonna also make other folks dig it. Also it’s important to know that I actually didn’t say that. The quote was changed and the way it should finish is “clean their houses, throw a party, DRINK THEMSELVES INTO A STUPOR, whatever it takes, its all good. Someone out there made it a bit too P.C for my tastes. Hahahha& just wanted to clear that up. There, I’m at peace with it now.
What do you think you’d be doing were you not producing music?
Something in sports. I love me some sports.
You recently have a live “residency” at the seminal New York City club NuBlu. Tell us about this.
We play every other Tuesday night (for the time being ). The band is a six piece unit. Trumpet, sax, bass (me), drums, piano, percussion. It’s a new thing for me. I have to say without being a braggard, this band kind of kicks ass. It gets right to the heart of it. No pretension or BS. We are there to groove. NUBLU is the perfect venue for us to play in. We play early too so for any folks who want to come down please keep in mind we play from 10-11pm every other Tuesday. We’re playing for hipsters but we keep bankers hours! Hahaha& just was the best time slot Ilhan the owner had for us and we’re more than happy to fill the place up and have a party each time out.
Where will the next six months take you?
Touring, touring, touring and hopefully more touring and possibly some film score work and some TV writing. Just want to keep the Mocean Worker b(r)and out there and get in the ears of as many people as possible. I think we have something nice that we are creating that will be something folks will look forward to coming to their town.
Nina Miranda and Dennis Wheatley come together as Shrift
Dennis Wheatley and Nina Miranda
BY JOHN C. TRIPP
Shrift are not just a group but a state of mind, where time melts and the subconscious is free to associate words and music. In recording their debut CD, the group’s two members, singer/songwriter Nina Miranda and multi-texturalist/producer Dennis Wheatley, let ideas float in on their own, allowing chance and improvisation shape their sound. The resulting recording, Lost in a Moment is a delicate, soothing and higly atmospheric blend of electronic, acoustic sounds that sooth the soul. The mood is dreamy and soft, almost mystical at times, but with a worldly and modern edge.
In forming Shrift Miranda and Wheatley brought successful and somewhat divergent musical backgrounds to the table. Miranda is vocalist for Smoke City, a British group which was one of the first to blend bossa nova, trip hop, jazz, reggae and funk. Additionally, Miranda has lent her unique voice and words to projects Bebel Gilberto, Nitin Sawhney, Arkestra One, Jah Wobble and Da Lata. Her singing style was formed by a variety of influences such as the childhood she spent between homes in Britain and Brazil. She is equally comfortable singing in English, Portuguese or French, and she shifts between those languages several times during the course of Lost in a Moment.
Wheatley is best known for his work with Atlas, a British electro band with a history of taking existing elements (Brazilian singers, string quartets, Randy Newman’s “Baltimore”) and whipping them up into delectably, danceably new ethno-electro mixtures. Miranda was familiar with his work, finding it cinematic and otherworldly, and not long after meeting the two were building songs together in a series of London recording spaces none of them conventional. Some tracks were recorded in a room overlooking the Thames river, some in a flat located directly over the Farringdon tube station, and some in Wheatley’s home studio. All of these environments affected the sound of Shrift s music and visuals, which played a large role in shaping Lost in a Moment .
Mundovibes spoke separately with Nina Miranda and Dennis Wheatley from London to get their take on being Shrift.
DENNIS WHEATLEY INTERVIEW
Mundovibes: It’s interesting how you and Nina have come up with a sound that is unlike either of you are associated with.
Dennis Wheatley: I think the thing that Nina and I have in common is we try to create another place, in a way. There’s times when you have that experience where you are somewhere else, and they’re usually in between places, funny enough. This is one thing we kept coming back to. It’s like that feeling you get when you get on a plane and you’re on a trans-atlantic trip or something. You just leave things behind you’re transformed from just being on the ground suddenly you’re above your life. I just love that feeling when you’re detached from it, your life abstracts into this state of mind where it’s just a lovely place to think and be. And the title track Lost in a Moment was kind of about that I suppose. At some point your lose touch with where you are and you could be anywhere.
MV: Right. Well that seems to be the case with Lost in a Moment . The vocals are very moody, I suppose, part of the atmosphere.
D: Yes, definitely. Nina is really amazingly unprecious about her voice, it’s just about capturing a feeling that you might have that day. She’s very open to the moment, so you never know what you’ll get. A lot of it was improvised.
MV: And a lot of the recording was done in various locations?
D: It wasn’t a conscious thing, more because of moving around a little bit with the studio. None of it was really recorded in what you’d recognize as a studio, it was kind of just in rooms that we had. Usually places that I was living, actually. For example, I had a studio space on the River Thames. It was amazing really that we had this you could literally feed the ducks out the window, this in the center of London. And it was really cheap amongst everything so expensive. So, it was a parallel life there as well. The first few recordings were done there. We literally used to open the windowso the sound of the river would come into the recording. We didn’t really have a sound proof studio to do it. And the next place we were in was a friend’s house, he lived above a railway station. The room literally did shake with the train like the line Nina sings in ‘Lost in a Moment’. And then I moved to another place which is kind of where we finished the record and actually built a studio room within a big space that I was living in.
MV: It’s interesting because there is a cohesiveness to it, even with various locations.
D: Well, I’m glad you say that because it was done over a period of time. At one point we kind of worried that maybe these things don’t all belong together. It’s funny, a lot of it has to do with sequencing as well. When we made the selection of songs it was amazing that they would come together just by putting them in a certain order.
One of several Shrift studio locations.
MV: You had a few tracks that you produced a few years ago. I was just curious if at that point you ever saw it becoming a full-length project and what the challenge of that was.
D: We did one song called ‘Airlock’. I was still with Atlas and Nina and I had a mutual friend. So, we just got together and suddenly we just found ourselves working really quickly on about two or three things and felt ‘hold on this is something different really, we need to find a way to make time for this.’ At the time Nina was quite busy with Smoke City as well and they were finishing an album. So, it took a little while but we just carried on when we could and gained momentum quite quickly. We both saw it as important and it seemed obvious early on that it could be interesting and experimental. We were doing things we hadn’t been able to do with other projects. We were like ‘we don’t know what it is, but we interested in knowing what it might be’.
MV: That’s the whole inspiration of creating, you don’t know where it will take you.
D: Yes, it’s like we wanted to get lost really, we wanted to get creatively lost somewhere and surprise outselves and be open to whatever. I found it really pushed me away from a comfortable place.
MV: And in terms of how you created each song, would it be you laying down some atmosphere first?
D: Yes, pretty much. It would be having basic progressions of quite simple ideas, in essence a mood of some sort and that’s when Nina just sang and we’d work on that and it would just develop. And then there’d be ones like ‘Yes I Love You’ where Nina just sung a melody to me and that developed into this mini-epic. So, there are quite a few different ways I suppose but mainly the first way.
MV: It’s probably very tempting to lay a lot of things in there or fill in the gaps, but you really kept it with plenty of space.
D: Well, I’m glad you think that because I thought it was still to over-stuffed with stuff. I mean, there’s a hell of a lot of stuff on the screen. There might be 150 tracks on the screen for some of them, but I really wanted to calm it down and tried to be relaxed about over-filling it.
MV: My observation is that it’s very acoustic and atmospheric. How did you combine the electronic with the acoustic?
D: It’s kind of a challenge really. Almost every time it was the case of the acoustic going into the song after. Even if we pared it right back to what was played in acousticly there was always something there initially. I guess the voice is the really obvious one where a lot of it is treated like an instrument as well. But some of the other sounds like the violins and the string sections, it’s hard sometimes to hear if they’re acoustic or if they’re electric or sampled. But generally they’re people who have played and then I’ve processed them. We worked with some really nice people on this like this really lovely Polish guy, Piotr Jordan, who played violins.
The other thing, like with the artwork, is letting things happen organically from what’s around you rather than trying too hard. And making something out of whatever you’ve got. I’ve never thought of that before but necessity being the mother of invention and all that I think I think it’s something to do with that really. A lot of the objects on the artwork are all just things we were kind of playing with in the studio that we brought together. We just scanned a lot of things. We were always bringing things for each other, visually. Like the lion on the cover, we see of him as like the guide through this sort of weird world. It’s quite heroic how he’s on Mt. Fuji, which was just one of Nina’s t-shirts.
MV: I like it when graphics are done this way, letting randomness play a role.
D: Yeah, it’s nice. I mean, you think of reasons why afterwards but it wasn’t very self-conscious at all, which is actually what we were trying to do with the music.
NINA MIRANDA INTERVIEW
MV: I wouldn’t call the Shrift recording Brazian-influenced but your work with Smoke City was very influenced by it.
NM: Yeah, I think the music was more influenced by Brazilian music. Dennis, before I met him, really didn’t know anything about Brazilian music but I would show him things I liked and then he got quite interested. And he realized, of course he’d heard some of it and liked it. It was quite interesting for me to work him. With Smoke City and Chris and Mark we very much had a similar record collection, although it was eclectic it was much more similar. Dennis had stuff I woud never listen to and some of it I was like ‘I don’t like it’. But then it meant that I had a very different kind of canvas to sing on, which was nice for me.
MV: And that was very appealing to you then?
NM: Definitely, because it brings out other parts and you’re going on a different adventure, a different journey, kind of unpredictable. Perhaps on a different side of my character.
MV: Right. How would you define Shrift?
NM: I’d say it was about taking away some of the harshness of life and just being a kind of soothing friend. The music is contemplative, very thoughtful. It’s kind of like musical poetry and very cinematic with a lot of space. And what I like about it’s very open, so you don’t have to worry about verses and choruses.
MV: Your voice works so well in that context.
NM: I think so. I’ve never been one for discipline. If something felt like it was a task or homework it was a real turn-off. And with this I could basically go where my imagination took me. And Dennis is very open about that.
MV: How did you develop your vocal style?
NM: I always liked playing around at home, singing to my mom and sister, just being really stupid. Or when I got drunk I really liked being loud and silly. But I was too shy to really take it further and I didn’t think it was practical or anything. But I had an audition with one band, they were really kind of funky and loud and I got too shy and my voice just turned into a mouses voice. So, it didn’t go very well. And then I met a guy who friends said ‘oh, he’s into Brazilian music, that’s what you’re into’. And that went really well and that was a project called Sweat Mouse. We actually put a couple of 12-inches out, that was like trip-hop in 1991. So, I sang in Portuguese then and they really liked that, and that was pefect because I didn’t have to be self-conscious about the lyrics. And I could sing in the Bossa-Nova way, which is very quiet and mellow. So, that’s how I realized I could do it, it was just natural. I’m still not very good at singing loudly, I feel like I’m shouting.
MV: I guess the bossa nova influence would be the quietness.
NM: Yeah, and the slight melancholyness, kind of that longing kind of searching thing.
MV: I know that you recorded in several locations, how important is travel and where you are?
NM: The last location we recorded in was Hackney and towards the end I was pregnant and that was kind of horrible because Hackney is quite rough. I used to get really paranoid that somebody was going to stab my tummy. It sounds a bit over the top, but there’s pockets of London, just like any big city where you have people that should be in institutions but because they can’t afford it they just leave them outside walking around. So you get these crazy people coming up to you. So, I’d be going there and to get to Hackney you have to get a bus, the tube and a train. So, that felt like this huge journey. But just having the backing tracks we were working on just made it all alright. I’d be listening to them and if I didn’t have experience that there’d be nothing to sing about. If it was all pleasant and easy and calm I wouldn’t need to make the musical antidote to my experience getting there. Then we had another studio where we met, which I think really helped me want to work with Dennis as well because it was right by the river and it had great pictures up on the wall and all of the photos were really beautiful and interesting. For me, the visual reference really helps when I’m singing.
MV: Would you consider this to be therapeutic music?
NM: Very. I listened to it before you called just to remind myself of where I was when I wrote it. And, now I’m back in winter, you know how in winter every one becomes quite hermit like, especialy in England. And you come to think ‘is this it?’ and you can start to think this is it, this is what life is like and you’ve just got to keep remembering that it changes. And in spring it’s mad how everyone calls, it’s just something in the air. All kinds of people will call you and turn up and they’ll have this spring in their step and life is so fertile again. So, there are little bits like that put in the songs.
MV: How did you come up with the titles and the lyrics?
NM: ‘Lost in a Moment’ came with (singing) ‘dodaladoom, dadladoom’. I just recorded the first thing that came to my head, which is that. I had this melody, as you heard and the next time I came was in another studio again which was above a train track. And then I just kind of looked out and imagined scenes going on in different houses and different places. And I just kind of made it up as I went along really. And then every now and again I’d wake up and say ‘the room shakes with the train because the train made the room shake’. And the other half, which became ‘Lost in Portuguese’, I actually went into Portuguese, it was this ridiculously long take. And we said, ‘OK, we’ll chop this into two songs’ and have the English one and the second one was about the idea of a brother looking for his brother and then he realizes that his brother is actually himself.
MV: I love hearing children’s voices like those on ‘Lost in a Moment’. How did that come about?
NM: What’s funny about those voices is that they’re really quite manic. How that works for me is how you can really go off in a dream and be in the busiest place. In fact, that was a really manic swimming pool with all the kids jumping around.
MV: So, how are you going to present this to the U.S.? Do you have any remixes now?
NM: Well, there’s a Da Lata remix of ‘As Far as I Can See’, Dennis has done another remix and he goes to this club where everyone will take their CD-Rs and stuff that they’re working on at home and they get to see straight away how the public reacts. And a lot of the public will be other people of the scene making music. And so, one of these nights he had a lot of people coming up and saying ‘oh, great track’. So, through that he’s got more people doing remixes. And Six Degrees records is very much a co-operative thing and they’re not into the big bucks being spent on remixes but it’s quite nice because then the people that really want to do it become involved.
MV: Well, it’s really a beautiful recording and it flows perfectly.
NM: We worked on it bit by bit but that was the whole thing, we wanted it to be a satisfying listen that you can put on and it not jarr you too much. I always worry if I sing on a whole album if it’s just my voice the whole time won’t it get boring so I was really happy that there’s nice intros and outros of just music and lots of space.
Hailing from Bristol, England, Up, Bustle and Out are producers Rupert Mould and ‘Clandestine Ein’ who met in 1989 while hosting the pirate radio show. ‘For the People’ radio boasted Bristol’s most inspiring DJs – Daddy G & The Massive Attack, Smith & Mighty. The pair produced an early single, “Une Amitie Africaine” (released on their own Forever Groove label in 1991) bringing early attention to their talents for fusing sounds.
The pair pursued other interests until 1993, when they reformed to produce material they eventually sent to Coldcut’s Ninja Tune label. Impressed with their work, Ninja Tune released Up, Bustle and Out’s debut, “The Breeze Was Mellow (As the Guns Cooled in the Cellar)” in 1994, catching the ears of American hip-hop DJs as well as the more eclectic British underground.
Getting an itch to disembark from their Bristol home, the duo travelled for two years, archiving source material for their follow-up, “One Colour Just Reflects Another”, utilizing field recordings from excursions to Mexico, Central America, the Middle East, and the Andalusian mountains, where Mould played with and recorded Gypsies, smugglers, thieves, and revolutionaries. Combining those source tapes with hip-hop beats, percussion and instrumental tracks recorded in the studio, and vocal and spoken snippets, the group fashioned a unique, signature blend attracting fans of Latin jazz and world music as well as hip hop heads.
From this point on the Up, Bustle & Out quest continued with 1997’s “Light ‘Em Up, Blow ‘Em Out” with more wordly flavoures with elements of the bands’ journeys as well as deleted and previously unavailable material. On October 8th 1997 the group released a timely EP single in memory of Che Guevara on the 30th anniversary since his death in combat, a sign of projects to come.
UBO’s Cuban connection and desire to combine music, text and film was fully realized on “Rebel Radio Master Sessions”, a Havana-meets-Bristol project that encompassed 2 CDs, a book (‘The Rebel Radio Diary’) and a 16mm film shot by Mr Jules ‘Shoes’ Elvins of ‘Waldo Films. Working with the renowned composer-arranger Richard Egües, the group alternated their trademark smokey-urban sound with Egües’s tropical arrangements. “Rebel Radio Master Sessions” was a groundbreaking moment for UBO, showing that traditional and more contemporary urban sounds can fit together just as generations can.
At this point UB&O departed from Ninja Tune and took some time out, releasing the “Urban Evacuation” album on Germany’s Unique Records. Fast forward to 2004 and the UB&O ship lands back in Bristol for “City Breakers” a hip hop-reggae crossover featuring the talents of MC Blaze (of Roni Size fame). Her powerful stage presence and delivery has projected UB&O’s Sound System into bigger performance halls. In addition to MC Blaze, Spiritual Rasta ‘Ras Jabulani’ from Black Roots adds his mystique and deep, earthy tones as does Rudeboy DJ ‘Mexican’ with his frank, witty and hard-hitting toasting. Spanish Guitar Maestro Cuffy ‘El Guapo’ adds his touch to the mix. The mix between vocal and instrumentals is equally thought-out with songs like ‘Bob Your Head’, ‘Everyday’, ‘Dance Your Troubles Away’, ‘500cc Revolutionary’, ‘Song For You, Soldier Boy’ are all experimentally funky productions.
City Breakers collaborators: Jabulani, Mexican & MC Blaze
“City Breakers” was met with overwhelming critical praise and UB&O have wisely followed up with 2 vinyl-only remix 12″s that have become must-plays for leading DJs and radio programmers. These two volumes bring together an impressive array of remixers from across the board, including Lightning Head (aka Biggabush) King Britt (“Dance Your Troubles Away”) GB (“Bob Your Head”), Beatfanatic “Tabla Talkin’ Dub”) and Butch Cassidy Soundsystem (“Everyday”). As if proof were needed, the City Breakers remixes shows that UB&O are not to be discounted and are clearly headed toward bigger horizons.
In addition to their work as Up, Bustle and Out, Ein and Mould are also involved in solo projects extending well beyond the boundaries of their combined effort. Mould performs with a traditional Andean flute group, while Ein is a studio producer and engineer, also recording club tracks under a number of different names.
Infused in all of their efforts is a political and social outlook that is both revolutionary in imagery concept and humanistic in tone and content. Up, Bustle & Out were there at the beginning of the whole urban music game and they will most definitely be there at the end when with music and cultural awareness minds open and social change becomes reality.
MUNDOVIBES: You have travelled a great deal and performed in many “exotic” locales. What are the roots of this? What got you into this way of life?
RUPERT MOULD: Principally I feel that music belongs to the world, is outside of its political boundaries and that the same time represents the many cultures of this world. It is important to remember that many cultures live around frontiers and are not often country specific. It is also the eccentricity that is created when meeting musicians with different perspectives to my own, and working on something together. What often happens is an unusual encounter where fusion becomes the root.
Literature also opens the world without necessarily travelling in it. I have learned a lot by reading, listening, seeing films — such as the great Eastern European film director Emir Kusturica, through his films I have learnt about Gypsy music. After we release “City Breakers, the Mexican Sessions”, we will be following with a new album set in eastern Europe. It will be called “Bohemia: Former Kingdoms Speak”. We already have done a 12-track production, what I need to do now is go over there, travel and see what the route throws up at me.
With portable recording equipment, professional at that, I am often lucky to capture moments of great magic, such as the Mexican sessions when I visited Catemaco, Veracruz, home to black and white magic, known as ‘la brujeria’. Here, just the geography and colours and strangeness of it all was sufficient for me to write 2 songs. What I found there were huge trees with roots that were divorced from the soil, a volcano that had blown its top, becoming a black crater full of black water, with black shoreline where strange birds chattered as if wanting to talk to you in their strange language. In the evening I was invited to communicate with such a strange world through percussion and dance. This is what I did and then read up on the mythology of catemaco, and began to make songs about surrealism, circumstances outside of our everyday lives, where there is a lot of confusion in what is principally a love song, where animals are converted into stranger creatures, muses, musicians, almost like a battle between nature, forces and characters. And finally out of this anarchy comes harmony.
I am grateful to the witches of Catemaco for allowing me into this unusual world and not only as a spectator rather as an artist to then reinterpret these experiences musically, painting a musical canvas full of imagery and this whole idea that sharing cultures, working together can create these magical fusions.
In Europe people have always crossed borders, looked beyond their continent, married. The distances have never seen too great, and adventure is a very prominent seed in our souls.
MUNDOVIBES: Your creative method seems to be based heavily on travel and you clearly have a “global” perspective. How much of your music comes from you and how much comes from the culture or place you are involved with? In other words, how you meld your ideas with your collaborators?
‘CLANDESTINE’ EIN: Up, Bustle & Out are firstly a Bristol, UK-based band and this is where our roots are to be found, the soul of UB&O if you like. The city has always had a rich and varied musical heritage, with all the influences of Jazz, Reggae, Asian, Latin and Hip Hop combining to create a great working environment for us. This means that we are never short of musical collaborators to inspire us; there is always a new perspective fresh musicians can give to our projects.
For example, our latest release “City Breakers”, is true to this way
of working. Rupert and myself work on a basic backing track with just a few beats, chords and basslines — we try to keep it simple. This gives room for the others to express themselves. Eugenia, our long serving percussionist from Argentina is usually the first to add her fluid and experimental beats that help to give the whole mix a human rhythm. Cuffy ‘El Guapo’ now adds an original Flamenco guitar to the mix along with Colombian Freddy’s authentic Latin-style trumpet playing. Lastly our resident Jamaicans ‘DJ Mexican’ and ‘Ras Jabulani’ come in to give it a realistic roots feel on vocals .
DJ Dave, Eugenia, Ein & Cuffy
However, once this is all done it’s up to the UB&O crew to give it our unique flavour on the mix ,this is what really gives us our ‘sound’. We have all the tracks up on the mixing desk and here we start to mix and mute the music, applying our own ideas and perspectives to create the sound we want. Radical use of eq and dub effects help to give it that special flavour in the time honoured tradition of Jamaica’s ‘King Tubby’ .
Past UB&O albums have featured a bewildering mix of so many cultures and styles from across the globe, but on ‘City Breakers’ we have moved on to experiment with a more home-grown style, but still based on the varied influences listed above. Having so many collaborators close at hand with their own cultural input into our projects has helped to keep our sound fresh and inspired, constantly moving in new directions, instead of being pigeon – holed into a standard dance/world category. Our upcoming “Mexican Sessions”‘ project will continue this theme but this time including contemporary Mexican influences and working with renowned artists from that country.
MUNDOVIBES: So, collaboration is an imporant element of Up, Bustle & Out concept. What other themes, ideas and concepts are central to what you are?
‘CLANDESTINE’ EIN: The most important concept for UB&O is that of experimental fusion of styles and influences, the creative freedom to mix in elements from Latin, Jazz, World and Dance genres . This means that there isn’t really a standard UB&O style, but people will always remember ‘Hand of Contraband’, ‘Y ahora Tu’ and ‘Carbine 744’ as our signature tunes, though these were all done some time ago. Since then we have branched out to encompass Flamenco, Dub Reggae, Ambient, and Hip Hop styles, as you can hear on ‘City Breakers’ .
This musical approach perhaps echo’s our own personal outlook of the world, that perhaps we should not allow ourselves to be guided by rules and convention and always apply our own set of values to what we do. Having said that, integrity, honesty and sharing should be the guiding principles and this is reflected in our creative output. We are, after all doing this because we want listeners to enjoy our sounds and receive something meaningful from our music.
On the subject of sharing, file sharing in particular, I am excited by the way that new technology has helped people to hear our sounds, even though our record company may not agree with that. It’s pretty amazing that with the internet you can send music around the world in seconds and this has also helped us in our writing of songs. We have been able to collaborate on tracks with musicians thousands of miles away by sending demos and mixes between studios, and all without having to use jet airplanes and their contribution to global warming.
To draw another parallel with the real world, recycling has always been a creative tool near to my heart. Instead of relying on preprogrammed sounds in the studio, I find the search for unique elements on long-deleted vinyl a real labour of love, and my local car-boot sale every Sunday is a rich seam of ‘sonic gold’. There is no direct sampling of musical riffs or songs, just the minute clips that can be collated and assembled into unusual sounding backing tracks, all in our original UB&O style.
Politics, there’s no way of getting away from this one in our shrinking global world. We have tried to steer clear of any direct political message in our music, it makes more sense to let people work it out for themselves. However, I hope our experimental and diverse sounds will encourage free and forward thinking, not easy in today’s climate of total media saturation and political manipulation. But if there has to be a message it is that there is only one Earth and we had better take good care of it and one another.
MUNDOVIBES: The Up, Bustle & Out sound combines many seemingly disparate elements? What is the logic or philosophy behind this mix of sounds and music?
‘CLANDESTINE’ EIN: All music is a blend of all that has gone before, constantly combining and cross-pollinating styles to create new genres. What we are doing is simply continuing this concept, taking elements from many cultures from across the world and through time to make our own sound all within the framework of our trademark mixing philosophy. All musicians should be free to try out absolutely anything if it sounds good. There should be no conservative restrictions on what is ‘cool’ or what is ‘current’, the only arbiter should be if people enjoy hearing it. This follows a parallel with real life where those who are less confident endlessly follow the crowd here and there, whilst others are setting out on new journeys both physical and intellectual. Having said that we do have the greatest respect for those musicians who have excelled in established genres and further refined those art forms, I am thinking here of the Jazz masters and those working on the cutting edge of new music today.
A worrying modern development is that of the ‘tastemaker’ a job with disturbing Orwellian overtones, that is to say someone who tells other people what they ‘should’ be listening to, what they ‘must’ enjoy and what they should be thinking. I mean, isn’t musical taste supposed to be a reflection of your own personality, or is it just another way to blend in with the ‘in crowd’ to be unseen. Whatever, UB&O will be making music that challenges the influence of this insidious group, the so-called tastemakers.
MUNDOVIBES: How do you find or choose your collaborators?
‘CLANDESTINE’ EIN: Our collaborators a drawn from a wide circle of Jamaicans, Argentineans, Cubans, Mexicans, Indians and Europeans, in fact anyone who has something to contribute to our projects from far or near. We invited vocalists such as MC Blaze, DJ Mexican and Ras Jabulani to articulated their own thoughts, thus giving others on input into the philosophy of the whole “City Breakers” project .
Our percussionist Eugenia has been with us since the beginning and together with Flamenco guitar maestro Cuffy has added an essential live element to our music. Freddy who played trumpet on the album was actually in the UK with his band from Colombia when we asked him to contribute on the off chance. This idea of collaboration has become yet more important to our writing process, and our future projects will definitely be moving in this direction.
MUNDOVIBES: What was the concept behind the “City Breakers” release? How did this project come together?
‘CLANDESTINE’ EIN: Perhaps unlike many of our other projects ‘City Breakers’ is more urban based ,and more centred on one locality, less of the world and more of the city which is maybe a world in itself. Living as we do in a city with a rich multicultural heritage we wanted to do a project that said something about where we we from and about some of the local culture that has influenced us and this is why it has featured heavily the local musicians of Bristol. The atmosphere is certainly more smokey, just like the town, giving voice to some of the ups and downs of inner city life, but with also a positive note of hope for the future .
MUNDOVIBES: What role do visuals play in UBO?
RUPERT MOULD: Important. As mentioned above even instrumental tracks are sown with imagery, beginning with the title. I’ll give you an example, ‘the revolutionary woman of the windmill’ tells the story of an isolated woman working the land, her life has peace. However this is threatened when a man invades her world. The woman is represented by the flute, the man by the Spanish guitar. The music creates harmony, then becomes tenser until the music is halted and the sound of the guitar is heard. What follows is a chase between instruments, and various promotions are created throughout the song’s lifetime. So that is imaginary.
Also, many of our albums have been made with the inclusion of film, the Cuban master sessions have five films in total, they are filmed on super 8 and 16 mm film, both great mediums to capture imagery. It was important to film the Cuban master session series because we wished to show life on the island, the people, the colours, the nature and overall show to the public the effort and experience that had gone behind the making of this to album series. When we perform as a sound system we also project our films behind us, they are well liked.
MUNDOVIBES: You had a longstanding relationship with Ninjatune. What brought it an end?
RUPERT MOULD: Ninja Tune have done very well, worked hard to become successful. We have respect for this achievement. However, us being from Bristol always made us feel a little bit isolated, for me they felt like a London boys club. This was at odds with the hard work that we put in for the label, in fact it was our sound that brought the world to Ninja Tune as we were multicultural and attracted European, American listeners. Yet we didn’t really partake in their overall philosophy, and showcases. We made the most number of albums on their label, 5 and in a very short space of time. We currently are working on our tenth album, and still looking for a good home. At least though, we have the freedom of experimentation, the right to work in our own way and produce our own sound. This counts for a great deal, it keeps us in the vanguard, and responsible for the revolutionary sound.
‘CLANDESTINE’ EIN: We had a very rewarding relationship with Ninja and they gave us the freedom to develop our own ideas. As one reviewer said ‘only Ninja would back such a madcap project as this. Of course the label were proved right in the end as our records are still selling well. However, we wanted to move away from the monolithic Ninja tag and develop in ourselves in our own right as a band.This has also given us inspiration to experiment with musical styles that may not fit with the Ninja sound, however there’s no saying ‘never’ as far as the future is concerned.
MUNDOVIBES: You have worked in two musical regions, mixing urban beats with genres like cumbia and son. Is there a bridge between the urban music culture and the more rural music culture of places like Mexico, Cuba and Colombia. Can music create a common ground?
RUPERT MOULD: We often travel, explore not just geographically but musically, always looking for new fusion, and exciting combination of genres.
we must remember that Up, Bustle and Out are quirky by nature, a great fusion of musicians, producers, personalities – and all this we have brought to our sound. Some of us are more traditional in our views on the world and take our own inspiration from folkloric music, some of us are more rooted in the beginnings of hip-hop, funk and urban grooves. So we bring all this together, and make danceable music, often with a message, even trying to so imagery into instrumental songs. Of course music can create a common ground due to the fact that it can unite people in a musical language that talks even when they don’t share a common spoken language. working with people from different countries can be very rewarding and add progression to your overall musical capability.
MUNDOVIBES: You refer to important revolutionary figures and ideas in both your music and imagery, Che Guevara in particular. With the world more oppressed than ever by corporate rule as opposed to the former model of colonialism, is it time for a new “revolution” and if so, what kind? What can music do to help accomplish this?
RUPERT MOULD: I am now convinced having travelled the world, met the people in, fluent in many languages, travelled across hard and inaccessible lands that corporate rule will inevitably lead to a world of greed, a form of ‘take manufacture and throwaway’ society and beliefs, and yet what will destroy is quicker will be environmental issues. Of course, I am aware that corporate greed is fundamental in the destruction of the environment, yet also is overpopulation. I am convinced that the next revolution will be global, people-orientated, a united global cause where people will want corporate businesses, governments to listen to the environmentalists, anthropologists, scientists, botanists, etc. and take on issues that will affect every single one of those living here – overpopulation and destruction of the planet.
Of course through music we can send messages, all the great musicians who cared about their communities, the world they live in, immediate surroundings did so. I am talking about Juan Luis Guerra, Bob Marley, Peter Tosh, Gill Scot Heron, Last Poets on Environment etc… Up, Bustle & Out have always sent out messages of a social, political, environmental, fantastical, and reality vibe. There are levels to which this may be done, it is a good to preach to music, neither is a good to have a high moral tone. So you need a lightheartedness, and through music with rhythm and melody a good message is often effectively carried.
In Juan Luis Guerra’s music, for example ‘Ojala que llueva cafe’ – we have a song about one crop economies, about how the people of the Dominican Republic are suffering and poor, they need rain and they need it desperately, for only through rain will they be given the possibility of having a fruitful coffee harvest. the song opens with the title, the asking to Providence, to a god, to some other force or being that can possibly help them. The whole songs full of imagery of the countryside of the hard work of the dryness, and yet the song is light-hearted, and brings the real issues without a depressing, heavy musical tone. And who is singing for this change? The whole nation, United and hopeful.
‘CLANDESTINE’ EIN: No, is the answer to this as revolutions can be very messy affairs and afterwards it’s the same old faces in control. What we need is a slow revolution of our minds. It won’t happen over-night as we are all so addicted to our 21st Century lifestyle, but gradually people are beginning to see it will be in everyone’s interest to live a life of peace and respect in harmony with our world.
We must all realize we are individually responsible for everything that is done in our names, it’s no good blaming the politicians and businessmen, it is we who are buying their crazy schemes. Wishing for ‘strong leaders’ is no good, it’s up to everyone to make the difference themselves, the task is too great for one man or woman. However let the likes of Che and Mandela be an inspiration to us and show what can be done against the odds if there is the will.
MUNDOVIBES: Imagine Up, Bustle & Out is as popular as, say, Michael Jackson. What would you hope or imagine your impact might be?
RUPERT MOULD: I would want to use my influence in the most beneficial way to mankind and the world we live in. I would invest in education, and form an environmental group, bringing awareness to environmental disasters, depletion of natural habitat and animal life. This may sound unthought out, of course I would seek the influence and knowledge of some of the leaders in this field, such as university professors, and work with a group of like minded leaders in an informed and passionate way that would not isolate my audience through heavy jargon, rather make more aware of the challenges we face if we are to survive as people in a beautiful and complex world. education is fundamental and the youth must understand that in this world of quick access, purchase power – it is in fact that things that we study for, work towards, achieve that bring the greatest rewards and happiness. If I was on the world stage this is the message I would get across, however I will also look to home and invest in a department to my local university for those who want to study the issues of population, environmental concerns etc, for these people might go on to become the ones who revolutionise the way we think, live and reflect upon the world we live in.
Let’s face it, leaders like George Bush have no concerns about the environment, poverty, climate change, making changes…they are all just petty gestures that come as afterthoughts. The environment is the most important challenge we face, it is not an issue at the bottom of the pile. History will look back on leaders like George Bush and expose him for the short-term, money orientated individual that he is. When future generations are faced with major problems they may well ask how it is that in the years 2000, political leaders were so slow to take on the environmental challenge.
War for oil is so petty in comparison. It just keeps a few shareholders, arms traders feeling better about themselves. Murdering 120,000 people is nothing to be proud of, and it is no answer to the real issues of poverty and global concerns.
‘CLANDESTINE’ EIN: It is something I would not really want to imagine given the way that Michael is being treated at the moment, to be surrounded by parasites and yes men and hounded by an obsessive and biased media. I feel that his predicament is a clear statement of the values of our society, after all doesn’t everyone want to be ‘famous’? Think again.
However if our music was as widely listened to as Jackson’s we would feel as if we had achieved something really worthwhile on a personal level. I mean what musician could be happier knowing he/she is influencing so many people with their sound, and what a great legacy to leave behind.
Impact wise, I would hope it would encourage everyone to be more open minded about music, to know that experimentation is for everyone to explore. Music is for people, not for money making machines.
MUNDOVIBES: Rupert, your writing has been a separate creative outlet for you. How do you approach being both an autor and musician. Is your music and writing all part of one creative vision for you or do you separate the two in terms of themes?
RUPERT MOULD: literature is so important to me, you really have to feel what you are writing whether it be a song or a book. Such feeling can come easily, or be difficult to find, yet I love what I do, my music and my words live in me, and I cannot imagine my life without this creative tension, outlet. words are generated through the need to express feeling, as is music, for this they are closely linked and it is no surprise that so many musicians are also considered poets, and continue to publish books. Words have rhythm and are musical too. I often look in to a sentence, move it around, change it, chisel it so as to give it a good, solid flow and rhythm. I would like to be a successful writer, I am proud of my first two books and have more inside me waiting to be written. I just wish I could find an agent who would take me on. the approach is similar, first comes the feeling, the idea, what needs to be said and then you think, experiment about how you are going to get this across. I have studied music and read literature beyond a master’s level, I feel it is important to have a very good solid understanding of what great people in the world of literature music have had to say. music and words live in me, they have formed the person that I am, I cannot imagine another way of living, for me it would be like living and having nothing to say.
Now I am off to Turkey, and I hope to make it to the East and to the border with Iraq, my sister wishes to work with the Kurdish people, and I have agreed to accompany her.
MUNDOVIBES: Will we see an UBO tour anytime soon? What adventures are on the horizon for the group?
RUPERT MOULD: We are dying with enthusiasm to make a tour across Europe, the Americas – particularly Mexico. We are just waiting for the invitation, a record label to support us and then we shall be releasing three albums in succession, with videos, photography and literature.
Stood in a hot cave holding minty Mojitos we were thinking up sub-genres for Nicolette. A glass elevator moved up and down behind us emptying fresh crowds into the hollows of the Dom im Berg, Graz’s small but perfectly-formed mountain. Chrome and plasma gleamed in the UV lights; enormous screens flickered above our heads. Dr No would have pawned his pincers for a sweet pad like this.
My next song’ s called “Unconditional Love” ! (Nicolette, sounding like Mary Poppins) & because when you have fire in your heart you can love freely, like a butterfly! Yes! breathed the flower of central Europe’ s musically-minded youth. Their foreheads shone brightly in the multicoloured gloom. Some flapped wildly with inflatable guitars as her funky-eerie vocals took off, skimmed some heavy breakbeats and bounced smartly of the naked rock surface& Space-bass? Click cabaret?
It’ s like a fucking David Lynch film, this and Nicolette live: one of the bizarrest high points of this year’ s springfive festival and that’s just the beginning. Spread out over five days and twelve venues in Austria’s otherwise sleepy second city of Graz, uncountable genres of electronic music gathered to welcome in the summer with a complicated, bass-heavy fertility ritual for the future of European dancemusic.
At any given moment you might have been watching Spoonface outside the Parkhouse while eating speciality battered buds, as broken beats boomed round the treetrunks and scattered with the falling spores. Or at the end of a steep and chill passage through the bowels of the Dom you might have caught an Al Haca Soundsystem bassline so ripe and heavy drinks were jumping off the tables like glass apples in a gale. Or, on the other side of a river swollen with melted glacial snow, you might have found Michael Mayer towering over the PPC, sowing the dark, moist mass of twisting limbs with seeds of newborn Cologne techno.
Marky, Kilo, Tosca, Kissogramm, the Mad Professor, Fingathing, Roni Size, Quantic& a line-up this eclectic (see www.springfestival.at for the full register) is some serious achievement for any festival, especially for one so young. It s also a sure sign that, as springfestival veteran DJ Alan Brown put it, Austria is no longer the country of 70 beats per minute . Kruder & Dorfmeister, Austria s most successful musical export since Mozart, may still be going strong in various different guises, but the monumental downtempo style built ten years ago has cast a long shadow over their country’s dancemusic.
Alan "Cuki" Brown of Soul Seduction
I think one of the problems has been our success, says Alan. Having escaped London several years ago to head up both communications for G-Stone Recordings (K&D s home, along with Tosca, Peace Orchestra, Stereotyp& ) and exports for Viennese club legend turned distributor Soulseduction, this is a man who knows. Once you ve been very successful at something you re always known for that and it s very hard sometimes to break away, he continues. Kruder & Dorfmeister still sell a lot of records all over the world, but just as important is a new breed of artists like Stereotyp, Urbs, Megablast, Parov Steller, DSL that are not strictly lounge or triphop. And one of the reasons this change has happened is because of what they re doing here at springfestival. This festival is a fantastic opportunity for the people and the artists of Austria to experience what the artists of Germany, UK, France, all sorts of places are doing. So big up the springfive crew.
Springfestival is all about making connections, explains Daniela Andersen. As chairman of Graz-based label/culture and communication association Zeiger, responsible for more than 40 events and parties in the area annually, Daniela has been co-coordinating the festival with its organisers Stefan Auer and Pietro Masser since 2001 s very first springone. Eventually we want to become the meeting point between middle-Europe and Eastern Europe. Slovakia, Croatia, Hungary, Italy, they re all only a few hours drive away from Graz, and since the borders opened up there has been a lot more exchange between cities like Ljubljana, Zagreb and Trieste. For us those cities are closer than Vienna, she says.
In fact, a more-than-healthy rivalry between Austria s two major cities and an equally healthy sense of pride in Graz music as something unique and independent of Vienna s are two major forces shaping the character of springfestival. Thanks to Zeiger, a scene structured around groundbreaking labels including Houseverbot and Soundsilo, artists like Dr Nachtstrom or Binder & Krieglstein and innovative clubs like the PPC and Postgarage is being consolidated and celebrated every year. Springfestival has already made its presence felt outside Austria, and with international events like last year s Styrianststylez showcase at London s
Electrowerkz, the Graz sound is already on the map and giving Vienna a run for its money.
The music scene here in Graz is very creative, says Stefan Auer, Zeiger s deputy chairman. We have a strong breakbeat and drum & bass community as well as
an alternative techno and tech-house scene which is very different from Vienna s loungy, downtempo flavour. It will take time to create something special, but the whole Balkan-jazz and turbo-folk movement is a strong influence. I think this sound will become something typical for the region now that the club scene is getting more into it.
With all these elements thrown in the mix, the springfive vibe had a distinctive flavour of its own raw but sophisticated, home-made but hi-tech, a feast balancing all the major food groups against a hi-calorie techno base. A touch more jazz and Escoffier would have pinched the recipe. There s a lot going on here that s really different, says Spoonface, co-producer with Bugz in the Attic s Seiji of this year s massive dancehall gets bruk single Yin Yang . I ve met a lot of artists that I would never normally listen to, which is cool. But it needs a bit more vibes from some of the nu-jazz, broken beat heads; some of the more organic stuff. I m real to the fact that broken beats are still quite an underground form of music. I don t understand why though, cause it s so jazzy, and so fun. There s no hostility going on there, there s no attitude it s just straight hardcore dancemusic.
Spoonface on the controls
Straight and hardcore it may be, but maybe not enough for Austria just yet. (After two Spoonface sets dancing solo in a corner, Mundovibes can tell you that for free!) That said, springfestival is still in its infancy compared with events like Sonar, and the process is all part of the fun. When it came to extra-curricular activities it was untouchable, and not just in terms of crazy venues, scorching weather and mean Mojihos. The Red Bull Academy sessions, for example, had Michael Mayer, Cleveland Watkiss, DJ Patife and MC Stamina talking shop over two chilled afternoons in the Hotel Daniel. Opportunities like that for punters with a deeper interest in what they were dancing to and where it came from don t happen every day.
The visuals also came directly out of the top drawer with a line-up of VJs including Vienna s Fritz Fitzke, London s Mox and VJ Anyone and local Graz outfit Exclusive Lingerie, and a visuals workshop was running right through the festival, hosted by 4youreye (Vienna) and Headspace (London) with support from Graz s University of Applied Sciences. As VJs we re latecomers to the scene, and so in general the balance is not quite there yet with recognition, says Montreal-born Anyone, aka Olivier Sorrentino, DJ Magazine s 9th best VJ of 2004. But I got the impression that the audience was really quite cultured in visuals and I think this festival has had a lot to
do with that.
Music is a tree with many branches, Cleveland Watkiss told his Red Bull Academy audience a perfect pearl of eco-sonic wisdom for rounding up springfive. Some branches reach further than others but they all just keep on growing, and with events like this opening up fertile ground still untrampled by the festival establishment, we re in for a bumper crop.
For more on springfestival and Zeiger www.zeiger.com events that fall somewhere between art and commerce, at the intersection of subculture and mainstream, and on the cusp between the demands of passionate youth and those of the cultural establishment www.springfive.at for this year s line up. Keep an eye out for www.springfestival.com later on this year for future information and past line ups, which can presently be found at www.springone.at, www.springtwo.at, www.springthree.at and www.springfour.at
springsix
festival for electronic art and music
May 24-28
The 6th update of the spring-festival holds on to the philosophy of the previous festivals: International electronic pop acts, superstar-DJs, visual artists, clubculture-pioneers together with local hopeful electronic artits, offspring DJs and Graz based underground heroes will rock through distinctive venues in the city.
Belting out hot and saucy Afro-Cuban and Jazz rhythms has been the sole (or soul) mission of London’s fast-and-furious Mark ‘Snowboy’ Cotgrove for nearly two decades. His fierce interpretations of Afro-Latin music have gained him a global reputation for originality and authenticity. And with his 12th album, the aptly titled “New Beginnings” out now, Snowboy and his band, the Latin Section return in top form to keep the latin vibes flowing. Having been out of action as a conguero for nearly a year with an arm injury Snowboy is back with the band’s strongest album yet.
Snowboy’s history is a testamony of how far we’ve come and how things have changed in thirty years. His career stretches back to the ’70s when like many a soulboy of the time, he became immersed in U.K.’s Soul and Funk scene, of which he is still active as a DJ and journalist. Inspired by the legendary D.J’s Chris Hill and Bob Jones, he started as a D.J. when he was 17 years old. The young promoter would hire, monthly, the country’s most legendary black music club, the Goldmine. The Goldmine was voted the U.K’s No. 1 club for 12 years and was Snowboy’s grounding in Jazz, Funk and Soul. After doing 24 of these Wednesday events over the years, he found his collection was getting more biased towards the Latin Fusion that was prominent in the clubs in the late 70’s/early 80’s and Snowboy got interested in making all the ‘exotic’ sounds on these records (particularly by Brazilian percussionist Airto).
So after working a summer season as a pretigious ‘Redcoat’ at a Butlins holiday centre in 1982, with his bonus, the day he returned he went and bought his first set of Congas. After a year of trying to teach himself, Snowboy began lessons studying Afro-Cuban and Brazilian percussion with the U.K’s grandfather of Latin music, Robin Jones, whom he met at a Samba night at Londons WAG Club run by the legendary Jazz Dance D.J. Paul Murphy.
His first single “Bring On the Beat” was released in 1985 but it was the legendary Acid Jazz label that provided Snowboy with a platform for his first album “Ritmo Snowbo” in 1988. Acid Jazz released seven albums by Snowboy, and at the height of the so-called ‘Acid Jazz’ movement in 1993, he hit the U.K. Independent charts with the Latin Jazz album ‘Something’s Coming’, which nestled in the top ten right next to Depeche Mode and The Smiths!
Until recently, Snowboy was recording for the famous U.S. Latin Jazz label Cu-bop (a subsidiary of Ubiquity), and had three critically acclaimed albums with them. With Cu-bop he scored a world-wide club hit in 2000 with a version on Edu Lobo’s classic “Casa Forte” remixed by Joe Clausell. Snowboy is now proudly recording for the Chillifunk label. In 2003 he also had a joint Chillifunk-released single entitled It’s About Time’ with the Interns.
Unlike many of today’s overly polished Latin Jazz recordings , Snowboy’s album’s are non-stop Afro-Cuban jams and catchy Mambos reminiscent of the early works of Eddie and Charlie Palmieri and Tito Puente and show a firm understanding of the latin Jazz forefathers. In fact, Snowboy and the Palmieris are now good friends, sharing the tradition of great latin jazz.
The Latin Section are amongst the finest Latin and Jazz players. Various band members flex their skills as writers and arrangers on “New Beginnings” with vocals by the band’s unique drummer and timbalero Davide Giovannini. Also guesting on vocals on I’ve Got To Learn To Mambo is the legendary English Rhythm and Blues recording artist James Hunter. This a cover version of a big Rhythm and Blues tune from 1955 by Ivory Joe Hunter, and Snowboy’s version is the first single from this album.
Though it is becoming increasingly hard for Snowboy and the Latin Section to tour as a group, as they are all in such demand in their own right, the full power-house band will be joining Snowboy for a European tour with festivals in July and August. Mundovibes’ JC Tripp caught Snowboy (call me Mark), just before the release of “New Beginnings”.
JC Tripp: Hello Snowboy! It’s a pleasure to have this opportunity to talk to you. I guess the jump-off point would be in regards to your new recording. The title pretty much says it all. In what sense is it a “new beginning” for you?
Snowboy: Well, there’s many new beginnings because I wasn’t playing percussion for most of last year because of a wrist injury. I have osteoarthritis in my left wrist. And the hospital that did the test said that they didn’t feel there was anything they could do and as far as they were concerned that was it for my playing really. So, I saw some really kind of heavy-duty specialists in London and so I got to the bottom of the problem. I’m back to playing about 80% now, there are still a few things I can’t get back to doing.
It’s more to do with Brazilian percussion than Afro-Cuban percussion. I can’t really play pandera (a large Brazilian tambourine ed.) anymore, I can’t grip itproperly because where the arthritis it doesn’t allow me to grip it for too long. So, the fact is I’m back playing and I was very pleased that I was able to record the album and I was very pleased with my playing on it. So, that was a new beginning, so I’m back playing again. Also, I’ve got a new baby.
JC: Well, congratulations.
SB: Thank you. She’s only five months old and she’s beautiful. Also, a new record label, a new manager, a new publishing deal. So, there’s many reasons for it to be new beginnings, really.
JC: I had listened to your music here in the States through Ubiquity and I had great respect for all of your releases with them. And, you’ve really continued and upped the ante with “New Beginnings”. You always seem to grasp a certain energy. What is your primary objective with the music in terms of the energy?
SB: That’s a good point. I don’t quite know why and I guess as I get older it’s going to have to slow down. But, I didn’t come into this scene through the salsa scene. I wasn’t inspired to play percussion through listening to salsa records or Brazilian records. When I first started going to nightclubs in the 70s it was very common to hear next to the disco and the boogie stuff, the more up-front DJs would play jazz-funk stuff. And some of the more adventurous DJs started to play jazz-fusion tracks that were similar tempos to the jazz-funk things they were playing. And through that other DJs started being more and more adventurous with the jazz. And I found when I started going to clubs I was going to those clubs that were playing that kind of thing. And so I found that being an avid record buyer I found that my collection was swinging much more towards the latin jazz kinds of things. And particularly Tito Puente, Ray Barretto, Airto Moreira and Poncho Sanchez.
So, that kind of stuff was getting played next to disco, soul, funk and boogie. So, it was a very good scene to grow up in. Of course, people would choose different records to play to that kind of crowd rather than what would be played to a salsa audience. So, I guess with my albums I’ve never really made an album conscientiously for the couples dancing. Although a few of the tracks I’ve made have been picked up in the salsa scene like off the last album Para Puente with “Los Rumberos de la Habana y Matanzas”. I know that did very well in New York at least.
So, really I discovered latin music through jazz rather than the other way around. And, in fact, I don’t know whether it’s going to happen but my plan for the next album is to do an album just in tribute to Coltrane. Although, apparently I’ve been beaten to it. I think there was a latin jazz album last year that was released in America of a tribute to Coltrane’s stuff but I think there’s room for two on the shelf.
JC: You did another tribute, to Tito Puente on the “Para Puente” CD. You just mentioned him, he must have been a pretty major influence.
SB: There’s no one like him and there never will be anyone like him. I don’t know if you’ve ever read the book on Tito Puente, but it’s just staggering when you read his life story. He’s been everything from a tap dancer to stage dancing and a kick drummer. He studied orchestral arrangements at university and he just came up through the right era really. He’s just been there, he’s been at the top all the way through till he died and he still had that kind of fire in him. He just had that fire and I’m glad he never lost it. He was not having huge selling albums but it was almost like he was making records that he wanted to make, rather than worrying about what the market is for his albums. He knew his music was dance music, but as far as I’m concerned within Afro-Latin music I don’t think anyone ever made records as good as Tito. I think it was Tito Puente and perhaps the Palmieri brothers and then there’s everyone else after that. That’s my personal opinion, but I just hold those people above any other artist and musician, really.
JC: Well, another interesting thing about Tito is that he worked with La India, and did some crossover house music.
SB: He certainly did. I think he always kept young in his mind. He was always interested to see what was happening with club music, so that was very healthy.
JC: Getting into “New Beginnings” you Davide Giovanni on a number of tracks as vocalist. Can you give us some background on his involvement?
SB: He’s the drummer and timbalero in my band and he’s the lead singer in my band as well. Davide grew up in Trieste in Northern Italy. And he belonged to a group there that were interested in Afro-Cuban folkloric music and they used to spend as much as three months of every year in Cuba, just in schooling there or living with people to teach them things. So Davide moved to the U.K. about 14 years ago hoping to get more work as a drummer. I don’t know whether he was hoping to get more work in the pop scene or the rock scene or latin or whatever but I think that he felt that the U.K. was where the work was going to be. And it’s funny really because I still don’t think he’s as appreciated as he should be. A lot of the drum magazines don’t even know he exists and one day when they get a chance to see him they’re just going to be blown away. I think he’s one of the most innovative Latin kit drummers I’ve ever heard. You can just hear everything in there and everything is in its place and he doesn’t copy anyone else, he’s just got his own style.
JC: He’s definitely got a strong presence on the recording.
SB: Davide and also my bongosero Dave Pattman, they both really know the whole Santeria thing inside out, back to front. They both play to a ridiculous standard and know hundreds and hundreds of songs literally. So, that element to my band is very important and I’m glad they give that to me because I wouldn’t have the knowledge to be able to do that. I have the references for it but you have to spend ridiculous amounts of hours every day, really to get to that kind of standard just playing that.
JC: And you also have other roles: you’re the band leader and you’re an active DJ still. How do those all work together?
SB: They work well. I’ve actually been DJing longer than I’ve been a musician. I’ve been a DJ since 1979 and took up percussion in 1982. And I found that different times of the year and over the years, just different phases in my life, sometimes I’m busier as a musician and sometimes I’m busier as a DJ. And, last year if it hadn’t been for my DJing I would have had to get some help because I couldn’t make a living as a musician, just because of my arm injury. I’m more diverse musically as a DJ, because I write for a hip hop magazine over here which does some stuff on funk as well.
JC: Is that “Big Daddy”?
SB: Yeah, it’s now called “Grand Slam”, they changed their title. So, within those funk circles those people know me. They probably don’t even know that I’ve made any latin records they just know me for the funk side of things. It’s not often that I will do a club session DJing, where I would play latin all night. I certainly mix it up between latin and funk, jazz, soul. I think there’s a link and I just try and find that link between all of that music when I’m DJing.
JC: It’s a segmented thing, you rarely find a venue where people can appreciate a variety of music. Just being in New York, there may be a few places like Nell’s that people go for that. But if it’s a hardcore salsa crowd they’re just going to want to hear salsa.
SB: That’s right. I think it’s easier to some kind of salsa or latin jazz stuff, it’s easier these days, certainly in Europe, because whereas it’s totally natural in the U.S. because you’ve had salsa there forever. Obviously, in New York, Miami, Los Angeles, etc. Of course, we had this kind of salsa explosion about 10 years ago in Europe and all these dance classes and stuff. So, the average person on the street seems to have gone to a salsa class at some point or another. So it’s not so hard to play one or two of those records these days, just to an average crowd, as it would have been 10 years ago where as soon as they heard a Spanish vocal they clear the floor. But these days people have had a taste of it in the salsa clubs. Certainly over here, it’s the kind of thing that people might go their local bar after work and there’s a salsa dance class there. So, the secretaries and the office girls go down there and maybe some guys from the factory might go there just thinking that there’s load of women there. I think the average person on the street has heard a little bit of salsa at some point or another these days.
JC: Would you say it’s because there’s more latin culture in London or is it just an opening up of ears?
SB: I just think it’s down to the salsa dance explosion more than anything. The only thing that bothers me about the salsa explosion, not just in the U.K., is that a lot of the people that would go to salsa classes are the same kind that would go to line dancing class years before. People that like to do organized dancing and like to routines. They may do it once a week and not even think about the music until the following week when they go back to their class.
JC: It kind of degrades the music then, or it doesn’t necessarily elevate it.
SB: I’ve heard some shocking music played in some salsa dance classes. My God, how could they even dare dance to this? But there’s a very big Spanish speaking community in London particularly. There’s a lot of Colombians in London and there’s a very big Brazilian population as well.
JC: My wife is Colombian and I have spent a fair amount of time in Medellín. What surprised me is that salsa is not the most popular music, it’s vallenato. There’s an incredible diversity of music in that country.
SB: Oh, right, incredible. It seems to me sometimes in a lot of the latin American countries a lot of the people aren’t interested in their own folkloric music.
JC: Absolutely.
SB: People say that to me about Puerto Rico. But a lot of the youth just want to hear hip hop.
JC: Or reggaeton.
SB: Reggaeton, that’s really popular now isn’t it. But vallenato, I really love that stuff it’s really wild.
JC: Yeah, it’s basically country music now but it started on the coast.
SB: I’ve got an affinity with that because my first professional work was with playing with a Tex Mex artist from San Antonio called Flaco Jiménez. So, for about three years whenever he came to Europe I would do all of his European dates on percussion. You’d never dream of using a percussionist in San Antonio or certainly that part of Texas, but the guy who booked him also booked the musicians and he envisaged a percussionist in it. So, it was good for me because Flaco played on my second single back in ’86. And I’ve always got great memories of those days because of playing with Flaco. I loved it so much because of the accordian playing.
JC: In your career span there have been so many genres and movements. How do you feel about things in looking back in terms of the evolution and the changes?
SB: It’s funny because at the moment in this country there’s no kind of scene that I fit comfortably into. It’s got to the point where I just have to keep doing my thing. I think it’s going to be a while for my music to evolve into another style. I think it does it album by album, there’s no kind of perceivable difference from one album and the one before it. I just want the songs to get stronger and the musicians obviously their playing gets better all of the time, the song writing hopefully gets better. And we do more live gigs so hopefully that reflects in the albums.
A lot of the people who have been around in different club cultures over the years seem to have heard of me. So, a lot of different scenes check out my albums even if they wouldn’t necessarily play them in their clubs. And I’ve had all kinds of people, from drum and bass DJs to house artists or whatever. I’ve met most of the main people from all the different scenes and they all know of me or have heard my music at some point or have seen me live or even own one of my records, which is always quite amazing really.
JC: Would you say that you are bridging the divide between, say, classic Afro-Latin music and a jazz-dance sensibility?
SB: Definitely. I think my music is as much jazz-dance as it is Afro-Latin certainly. You know, sometimes people will say what about your music, do you think it’s different than other bands?’ I don’t think my music is different than any other latin-jazz group, although if it is it’s because I come from a different background really. As I said I haven’t come into it from the salsa scene.
JC: This is somewhat of a touchy issue, the whole legitimacy thing. Well here’s this English speaking guy’. As a conguero do you ever have people giving you a hard time about that?
SB: No, the only time I encountered it was when I was with Ubiquity because you get one or two reviews where people would pick up on that. All of that kind inverse racism in critical circles really makes me sick, you know? It’s now a small world. I’ll tell you this much, all through the 80s, when there’s was an embargo in the states with Cuba Irakere used to spend three months a year in London. They used to play Ronnie Scott’s twice a year, for three months every year. So, they would do workshops, give lessons. And Los Muñequitos de Matanzas came every single year. Los Papines, all of these people. We never missed out on that stuff, there was so much knowledge flowing around because people were just coming over and spending so long and giving lessons and having workshops. So I don’t think where you’re coming from has anything to do with it anymore, you know? You’ve only got to look at the Japanese salsa band, La Orquesta de la Luz. Their lead singer Nora has a fantastic voice, she sang it perfectly, but she couldn’t speak a word of Spanish, she didn’t understand what the hell it was. And yet for a few years they were possibly one of the biggest salsa bands in the world. An incredible band, I must say.
It’s weird to feel that you have to kind of justify yourself to do something that you love and that other people obviously like enough to want you to record it. And people like it enough to go and buy your records. And then you get some of these people saying how dare you, you’re not even latino’.
And I think the nicest thing of all is that I’ve become very, very good friends over the last five or six years with a Yale University professor, Robert Farris Thompson, one of the world’s most respected authorities on Afro-Cuban art history and music. Whenever there’s any new movement that’s Afro related he goes there he was the first person to document bossa nova. He’s in his 70s, he speaks Yoruban fluently and his books are the bibles of that music and yet for some reason he really really goes mad about my music. He’s gone out of his way to be friends with my family and at one point there was a club I was doing in London and he flew over monthly, so it was 12 in the year and he managed to make it to eleven of those. It was a Sunday night, he used to get there on Saturday evening, sleep, go to the club on Sunday and then he’d leave for the airport at 5 o’clock Monday morning.
JC: He’s pretty devoted!
SB: Yes. He said that he was getting bored of the same old thing in latin music and my music got him inspired again. I find that absolutely incredible that he would feel that way about my music.
JC: That’s a great testament of what you’re doing, really.
SB: Yes. He just finished a book about what is black about the tango, he actually found the black link in tango. And his next book is a history of mambo and the last chapter is just about me, which is just amazing to me.
JC: Well, you’ve been incredibly prolific and have developed a unique style.
SB: Well, people really love my music and that’s the best reason for doing it in the first place. It’s my career and I can’t do it any better than I’m doing at the moment.
Some things, like cocktails, food and music, are all about the mix of ingredients. And it´s the mix of its member´s musical histories, cultures and influences that makes Long Beach’s OO Soul (Double-O-Soul) the groovey outfit it is. Reflecting the cultural and racial mezcla of its Southern California home, the band’s members represent a broad range of experience, culture and age. The band´s 8 members have played in seminal funk, jazz, experimental and punk bands stretching as far back as the seventies–an era who´s influence on OO Soul´s sound is strong.
For anyone with a sense of underground music history OO Soul´s members have played a part in several recent movements. Drummer Troy Howell came out of the hardcore punk and paisley underground scene, playing in such bands as the Salvation Army and later the Three O´Clock. Bassist Steve Armstrong, from the seminal funk band Sol, joined the band early on. And sax-flautist Jack Fulks has played with the likes of Roy Porter, Billy Higgins and Garbo Szabo. Trumpetist Hank Ballard Jr. has worked with War, Lonnie Smith and Theodore Wilson, and the list goes on. Says Howell, in a recent phone chat, of this wide mix, “It´s a very diverse band. We come from all creeds and colors and age ranges. When the band first started we had some kids in the group, now we´re a bunch of old guys, but we still kick it.
That’s a wide gap for a group to bridge, but 00 Soul manage to put their diversity to work, combining tight musicianship, fresh ideas and funky arrangements into the perfect soul stew. There´s a strong nod to their influences in 00 Soul´s sound: a blend of soul, jazz, latin and soundtrack, without going too retro. As founding member, guitarist Ian Yater explained, “The hard part is not to be a retro band, you know? Even though it is, we try not to be. Our sound happens to be what everyone in our group likes and so it just comes out in that way. Its not like were trying to copy an old style or anything.”
It’s this diversity of influences and depth of experience that make 00 Soul one of the funkiest and tighest outfits playing out live. Like New York City´s Groove Collective, the band are in a category of their own making and are a big draw on the SoCal scene. Since forming in 1994 by DJ Gary Tesch and guitarist Yater, the band has been an innovative and popular force on the scene.
And whereas DJ-based bands are now common, combining loops with live instrumentation then was definitely a new thing. The genesis of 00 Soul was a humble attempt to make electronic music more organic, as Yater explained in a recent pre-rehearsal phone chat. “From the start it was trying to make dance music. We wanted to make music that you could dance to that wasn’t electronic. At the time there wasn’t anything I liked. Now there’s lots of stuff I like. But that’s why I started this thing: ‘I want to go dance but there’s nothing I like’. But, with all of our influences with Afro-beat, and Brazilian and a lot of latin and we just mixed it all together with all of our hip hop likes.”
The SoCal acid jazz “scene”, which blew up to give birth to 00 Soul as well as bands like the Galactic and Greyboy has since moved on. 00 Soul have evolved as well, growing from a three-member outfit to a full-fledged band. Gone is DJ Gary, who played a considerable role in forming the band’s early sound but who’s role seems to have stagnated as the “band” became a Band. Now technology isn’t such an important element in 00 Soul’s sound. “When it first started it was me and Gary with samplers. I was writing songs with samples because I couldn’t work the drum machine so I got a sampler to sample drum loops that I liked. And he would come up with loops and would write a song around a loop. And that went like that and some of the loops we would never use and some were just a noise that kept some kind of tempo. But that doesn’t happen anymore. Since he’s gone, especially, but even when he was here for the last few years of his time he wasn’t putting in any of the technology into it in the songwriting process. It was more of an after thought. We would write songs and he would put his stuff into it,” said Yater.
If technology is no longer a big part of their live show, it has certainly been useful in putting their self-released CDs out. The recordings, both done on low budgets and with home studios, have garnered them an international following–without ever having toured outside of their state. For their debut recording, “The Solid Sounds of the 8-Piece Brotherhood” the band hooked up with Chris Fuhrman, who was a big fan of the band. ”He really saw that he could do something with us. So, he cut us a nice deal but we really didn´t give him a chance to produce us because we had our own ideas about what we wanted. He was amazed, he said we were the first band that ever cared so much themselves for what they sounded like.” If the results were less than the band expected, nobody noticed. “The Solid Sounds of the 8-Piece Brotherhood” received stellar reviews and still sounds fresh.
For their second CD, the aptly titled “All Brothers, Different Mothers”, the band really took charge. “On the second CD we just did it ourselves. We just kept it low key and with friends equipment. We just recorded recorded the drum and bass tracks in our garage. We had one of those Roland digital recorders and everyone took it home and did their own part. I just did all my guitar parts at home on my own. Then we took that to a friend´s studio down the street and had him put it to tape, which warms it up.
And with 8 members contributing their opinions, how exactly does OO Soul create music? Well, democracy still exists somewhere, as Yater explained. “There´s probably three schools within our band and they all mesh together. There might be three of us that totally understand where ´someone is coming from and the other people dont even get it at all, even if you explain it. But they have their own vision and we we just give and take and what happens happens.”
Their songwriting process is basically jamming, which the do in twice weekly sessions. “I would say at least half of our songs are from us jamming and everyone in the band can tell that ít was cool. And we just keep working on it, you know?”, said Yater.
The process is exemplified by the standout song “Arroz Con Grandules”, an infectious latin groove from the second CD. “Well, that was just a jam. I don´t know if it was me doing that lick or Mike Vasquez coming up with the latin drum feel. But I had that guitar lick and it sounded somewhat latin so we just took it that way. And the song was pretty much done and Mike came up the lyrics. Every new song now has some lyrics to it and it is always an afterthought. After Mike listens to it and hears it he´s like ´I got an idea for some words to it.´
Samples also play a part in the process. “Sometimes we name a song after the sample that´s in it. We still call the song by the name of the main sample and we´ll have to change it to put it on the CD.”
With two CDs under their belt, one would think OO Soul would be touring heavily to promote them. With a strong international following and outlets like Dusty Groove and Amazon selling their releases, a tour would seem a must. But 00 Soul seem perfectly content with their SoCal presence, only occasionally venturing out of the hometown. ”We are not really pushing ourselves too hard because we have local shows and make good money,” said Yater.
“It is hard to get everybody in our band to go on the road and if you want to take a band further that´s what you have to do. And a lot of the members have families so we´ve accepted that we can´t do that. So, we just do what we can do, playing songs and doing our gigs.” A Southern California attitude if there ever was one.
IN FLAGRANTI + ORGANIC GROOVES + CODEK RECORDS SASHA CRNOBMJA
BY JOHN C. TRIPP
As a founding member of New York’s Organic Grooves, a stalwart of the city’s dance underground, and as a prolific producer, Sasha Crnobmja has explored the outer galaxy of dance and groove music since the ’80s. Growing up in Switzerland, Crnobmja’s globally attuned ear led him to drumming and DJ’ing. Studying drumming with master percussionist Cosimo Lampis of Brainticket, Crnobmja began a rhythmic quest which continues to this day. In 1993 he moved to New York, initially working in fashion. Then in 1995 he started Organic Grooves with partner Erica Lively. The travelling event started in an apartment building basement on the Lower East Side, where four musicians came together to create music beyond the usual confines of rhythmic music. The early events attracted a small but receptive group which steadily grew through word of mouth. From the start Organic Groove’s was a fluid event, landing in settings ranging from Tribeca rooftops to Brooklyn warehouses, always putting the music first. The band’s lineup evolves as people come and go and includes musicians playing turntables, trumpet, keyboard, melodica, kora and multitude of percussion instruments.The music is a melting pot of styles reflecting Crnobmja’s eclectic tastes, as well as the revolving crew of musicians.Various types of world music, deep house and Afrobeat all meld together to create a sound with its own distinct character. The fact that Organic Grooves is still going strong after seven years is testament of the collective’s dedication to its rhythmic roots. While other scenes have come and gone, Organic Grooves still packs in a dedicated group of dancers who feed off and give energy to the music.
In addition to Organic Grooves, Crnobmja runs the Codek record label, which he co-founded with Alex Gloor in 1996. Codek is a homespun operation with an inspiring D.I.Y. approach. Codek releases all of the Organic Grooves recordings, as well as Crnobmja’s projects his alias “Cosmic Rocker”, which are often in colloboration with Zeb or Alex Gloor. The label’s most recent projects include “Care of the Community: the Discerning Dancefloor”, a compilation of outer rhythms, Track and Field’s (Mike Kohler) “In Search of” and “Organic Grooves 4”, twelve tracks recorded live in New York.
MundoVibes caught up with the extra-prolific Crnobmja via telephone after just returning from a very long weekend of DJing in Puerto Rico at an underground hangout.
MV: Do you travel much to the Caribbean?
SC: Well, in the Caribbean I’ve only been to Puerto Rico so far.
MV: Well, a lot of it comes to New York. New York is such a microcosm, such a musical melting pot.
SC: It is and it isn’t. It’s always in certain kind of neighborhoods or in certain ethnic places. It kind of stays there. There’s just a few places where people venture out and try to connect with other people. For example, in Puerto Rico, people probably think J Lo or salsa music, but in the field I’m in there’s really a lot more in Puerto Rico, which I was surprised by when I went the first time. They’re really into music there, anything popular and underground, from dance music to ambient to rock. They’re really into it.
MV: Do you try to be universal with your music?
SC: Yeah, absolutely. We don’t really have a name for our music style but we kind of have that sort of cosmic thing which can by anything really as long as you like it. I’m basically all about grooves and then when you get down to the roots you ultimately end up Caribbean, Africa, Brazil cause that’s where all the dance music really comes from. Even with house music, if you trace it all the way back you end up with reggae and dub, cause they were the first ones putting out 12-inches.
MV: It’s really incredible when you consider how much influence Jamaica has had.
SC: And Puerto Rico has had a big influence, especially here in New York in the ’60s and ’70s. And not just the music, but art, the whole graffiti scene, break dancing, was really big in the Puerto Rican community. And there are certain dances there where you can see where the whole breakdance inspiration comes from.
MV: I guess Puerto Rico is the place to go. Now, you grew up in Switzerland, right?
SC: Yeah. I grew up in Yugoslavia actually, in Belgrade until I was ten and then we moved to Switzerland. My teenage years were in Switzerland.
MV: There’s a lot of music coming from Switzerland now that has many influences.
SC: Switzerland doesn’t really have it’s own music, really. And the young people are definitely not into Swiss forkloric music, so you look anywhere you can for good music.
MV: Did you find it pretty much an open environment where you were exposed to a lot of music?
SC: Totally. It’s pretty much the same as everywhere.It’s more when you start getting deep into it, you realize it’s very limited to what you can do in Switzerland itself, because there’s no music industry. It’s a very small country, very conservative so you get to the edge really quick and you kind of have to make a decision if you want to keep doing it and you know you have to leave the country. And that’s what happened to me. I always wanted to leave the country just because I wanted to live somewhere else, I wanted to live in a bigger city. Not necessarily New York but that kind of happened.
MV: And how long have you been in New York?
SC: Ten years now.
MV: Did you have a vision or did things just fall into place?
SC: I wouldn’t say I had a vision, it’s just the things I was already doing in Switzerland and the
things that inspired me in the first place, I just kept on doing. Like with Organic Grooves, I did something very similar already in Switzerland.
MV: Was that “Go Global”?
SC: Yeah, we did “Go Global” soundsystem but we soon started playing drums. I wanted to incorporate live music with Djing from the beginning I got into it because to me it made so much sense. And it was good, but as I said, you kind of reach a certain level where it’s just not going anywhere. And I came here, not even for music. I came here to do fashion because I’m a trained tailor. So this guy kind of convinced me to come to New York – “hey, you should come, blah blah blah” – and I came and I was making clothes for a little bit. And, I don’t know if you remember the shop Liquid Sky? I was designing for them when they first opened on Lafayette. But, fashion is such a weird thing. You do stuff for other people and you never get credit. I really got tired of it, so I started my own thing. I started ‘Go Global’ with Erica. Even after we opened the shop I really had enough of fasion, because I’m just not a fashion person. I like the making of it, the working with fabric; making a bag or making a pair of pants was good but I couldn’t deal with fashion people so I decided ‘fuck it’ I’m going to do music and do what I love.
MV: And you found like-minded people.
SC: Yeah, Erica and I already were doing the whole clothing thing, we’d done a few parties just for fun, you know. She knew a lot of people and I was Djing. Then we met Zeb at (Club) XVI and he had a similar background. He was born in Italy and grew up in London, but we had similar music backgrounds. It all fell into place.
MV: And now you’ve almost got a mini empire going on here with a party, a label and the like.
SC: You know, it looks from the outside maybe but Erica does some things and I do the label but it all together looks like this bigger thing. But for me, I don’t look at it as “an empire”. Because there’s a few things happening, and yes maybe Erica and I are overseeing the things but only because we’re probably the most responsible out of the whole bunch. And then everyone kind of relies on us being the ones pushing it. Everyone kind of has their own thing, really. AndOrganic Grooves is the same way; all the musicians involved have their own projects going, but that’s just a way for us to get together and do what we like.
MV: So, in terms of how Organic Grooves operates, it really is a loose collabortation of musicians.
SC: Yeah, each of us are very strong individuals basically. And we all have experience in music, have played in bands, etc. We all got tired of that formula of, you know, you have a band and you rehearse these songs, blah blah blah. It was more like we just got together and we just played all night. But with time it developed to where each musician really knows when to play, what to play, and feeding off the crowd. If we play in a setting where you would sit down and watch us play – we did this one time and it was the worst gig because nothing comes out then. It’s really important for us to have the people dance and react to what we do and then you keep going and you kind of push higher and higher until you have this energy going. It’s a different type of band really and it’s hard to describe it. You know in jazz music, where you have a theme, everyone knows the theme and then you have the guys do their solo or they express the song in a way. And if you change the musicians, the song may sound totally different but you recognize the main theme. So, with us the DJ plays the theme and the musicians do their improvisation, they add to the whole vibe. That’s how it works.
MV: I always wondered how that can work. I’ve been to Organic Grooves events and I’ve always been amazed at how seamless it is.
SC: Yeah, you have to listen and be aware of what’s going on. You can’t just be there and look at your guitar and play. You always have to be aware: where is it and at what point are we here with the whole thing so you play the right thing. Otherwise it can be really disturbing if you’re totally out of tune with everyone in terms of just vibing. Like playing heavy metal or doing some crazy solos (laughter) and everyone’s just looking at you. It has a lot to do with really feeling it out.
MV: Does it take time for musicians to grab that vibe?
SC: No. I think it’s more a mental thing. You have to understand what this is all about. It’s not about how good you play or showing off your skills. It’s not about that. You have to understand the whole concept and the fact that you’re playing for the people and you want to keep the vibe. Right now the crew is really tight and we never have to talk about it, it’s just something where you look at each other and you know what’s going on. And that’s kind of cool.
MV: You’ve been in New York for this long and it’s incredible considering so many scenes have come and gone. What do you attribute that to? Just staying true to your roots?
SC: I think so. You know, you see a scene and it can be maybe for a year and then something new comes. But because no one can really pigeon-hole us so in a sense it’s never over, you know? For example, if you take any music genre like drum-n-bass, you know they reached a peak and it was defined years ago what it is and what it sounds like. So, there’s nothing you can change about that. In order to move on you have to change completely. There’s a lot of artists that have been doing drum-n-bass and now they kind of work in different scenes, and you have to reinvent. You change your whole alias and you start almost from zero again in a different scene. Where we are more like in between all these little scenes and the formula we have is the same but of course the sound changes over time. The sound now is very different than from five or six years ago. We kind of managed to stay with the new sounds, we progress but the formula we found is so basic and that you don’t have to change. It’s the sounds, the sounds change. Maybe the drum patterns change but that’s just music and if you stay on top we can progress along with the progression of different genres.
MV: In a sense your creating your own music. You’re outside labels.
SC: Yeah, totally. See, with dance music there’s not much you can change about it. I’m talking about dance music in general: music that makes a body move is always the same in a a sense. I mean, you can play rhythms that are hundreds of years old and you’re still going to feel it and it’s going to make you move your hips or tap your foot. That is never going to change. You know, even with all of these African rhythms or Latin stuff, the basic things are always the same. You may change some of the sounds or how you bring it, but in the end you go back to the main groove and there’s not much you can do different.
MV: I always consider it to be the bassline that gets me moving, which is the simplest form.
SC: Drum’n’bass really is the essential. We all recognize that fact that if you stick to the roots you’re going to stay the longest, basically.
MV: How do you transform this into a studio project? Do you record live?
SC: We do record live. We do both. We sample, we program things, we record live, we combine many different ways of making it sound the way we want to make it sound. There’s different ways to do it, but in the end because of the mindset, it’s always going to come out the way we sound. Maybe it could be more electronic, or whatever, but we’re always going to end up having that kind of organic sound. It’s always going to be about the rhythms.
Zeb, Sasha’s musical
collaborator
MV: Are you deliberately going low-fi?
SC: Well, low-fi has to do with gear and expenses and money and that’s the thing we don’t have. So, we have to do the best thing out of what we have. I know what is possible if you have a big budget. But, we’re so flexible and there’s no studio costs and that’s how we’re able to do it because we’re really self-sufficient. And that’s how we want to keep it. And every CDs going to sound different from the one before and no-one’s going to tell us it’s no good. All of the tracks that we produce I play at the parties and that’s the best test. If I play a track and people go crazy then I know there’ssomething. I have usually the basic tracks and then we work from there, we record the instruments. You have to have the basic groove and it has to be good.
MV: And are you the person at the board?
SC: I’m the one that spends most time with it. So, I do the production with Zeb. And if Zeb is busy doing other stuff then it stays up to me doing it. So that’s the whole thing with being responsible, so if we decide to make an album I kind of take charge and then just do it.
MV: Well, I spent a lot of time this summer with the D’Afro Disco CD and liked it very much. Your moniker, the Cosmic Rocker, is a defining word because the music does go into that realm. I sort of think of you guys on the same plane as, say, Don Cherry or Sun Ra, in terms of your influences.
SC: Don Cherry, definitely. I have to say, Sun Ra, I actually discovered when I moved to America. I never came across Sun Ra in Europe but Don Cherry had some tracks that I used to play. So, there’s something that definitely stuck in my head. But Sun Ra, I would say that goes even further. He’s on a higher level, you have to go even deeper. In the same way, you have musicians like William Parker that’s like dealing with people who are so deep. And we actually did this kind of remix, it’s called ‘Black Cherry’. A guy from Aum Fidelity gave me a CD of William Parker and the drummer Hamid Drake and it was just the two of them. It’s improv jazz and they’re kind of the top notch in that scene. So, we did a remix album but it’s not called a remix, it’s called ‘Black Cherry’ via the sound science of William Parker and Hamid Drake because I used a lot of their sounds and samples. But when you listen to their stuff you really have to be on a different level. It’s not something you just put in and listen to. So, Sun Ra, I think the planet is even further away that he lives on. But definitely-Takuya, who’s plays keyboards and trumpets – he actually was more into that. And I think he even performed with some of the people that performed with Sun Ra.
MV: Graphics seems to play a big part of Organic Grooves identity.
SC: Yeah, definitely, it was always important. That’s Alex Gloor, who’s created the graphics from the beginning. The flyers, the images, the covers, everything. You know, today I still listen to music by the look of it. Sometimes you can almost see the music. I remember the early ’90s with house music there was no visual aspect and it seemed faceless. Our art reflects what we do. It’s a visual look that is not about styling, that’s for commercial stuff.
MV: Speaking of commercial, do you ever feel like others are appropriating what Orgnanic Grooves has developed. Or on the other hand, have you been given huge cash offers.
SC: No, it’s hard because what we do is very unpredictable.
The Rurals, House Music From the English Countryside
An interview with the Rurals Andy Compton
The Rurals in the countryside
BY J.C. Tripp
If fresh country air and deeply funky house music seem antithetical then you haven’t heard the Rurals. The Devon, England-based group, headed Andy Compton and vocalist Marie “Tweek”, have channeled their country life-style into a music that is as soothing and relaxing as a green meadow on a sunny day. It’s also a delight to dance to and the Rurals sound has long been a staple of deep house DJs and heads worldwide.
Since forming nearly 10 years ago the Rurals have consistently released recordings of the highest quality with a total of 7 full-lengths to date, including their latest “Messages”. In addition they run their in-house label, Peng, which has released all Rurals recordings as well as artists like Richard Gow and John Plays Special.The group began with Andy Compton and Pete Morris, borrowing their name from Andy’s club promotions outfit and first record label, “Rural Promotions”. After a few releases as Green Belt and Rainbow Garden on the Idea label (with Matt Cundy and Dean Westcott) the duo settled on the name the Rurals and began producing their distinctive brand of live house music.
It wasn’t until the summer of 1998 that the Rurals had a vocalist. The addition of Marie was fortuitous: a local record shop gave Andy’s number to Marie Tweek. She called him up, and The Rurals soon had a vocalist and ultimately she and Andy married. The additional of Marie’s vocals took the Rurals in a new, more soulful direction. Tweek brought with her a bass player, Pete “Gurner” Middleton, who has been on Peng releases since the label’s birth.
Other Rurals members include Charlie Hearnshaw, a saxophonist, who was in a band with Gurner and producer/mixer Bazil, one of southwest England’s most renowned DJs. Together the group form one happy family of house music and spend a lot of time together jamming, which is the foundation of their music.
Mundovibes caught up with Andy Compton via e-mail to discuss the Rural’s 10 years of delivering delicious deep house and modern soul.
Mundovibes: Firstly, congratulations on “A Rural Life”, your latest full-length. It’s a gorgeous recording and gives some hints of new directions for the Rurals. It is definitely more on the mellow side of things and shows some branching out into slower and more varied tempos.
Andy Compton: Well, our stuff has always been mellow! We sometimes team up with DJ Bazil, who programs solid dancefloor beats, but most of our stuff is for a more chilling environment. I think it’s important to have many different vibes on a cd; if it was all banging house I don’t think so many people would be feeling it — we’re trying to make timeless music that’ll cross over.
MV: The band’s name is interesting since so many people attribute house music to the city. You live in Devon, which is the English country-side. How does house music fit into a life in the country?
AC: Ha ha, I don’t think it does! The nearest decent house music nightclub is over 80 miles away and the scene in our local town Exeter is on a full-on hard house trip. So we have to travel to get a house rush. On the other side there’s nothing better than seeing the green fields of Devon and feeling the laid back tranquil vibes of the country after a hectic tour — home sweet home! it’s a great place to be writing music.
MV: Do you ever feel like you are missing out on the “pulse of the city” by living a rural life?
AC: For sure! I think if we lived in London we would have got somewhere a lot quicker. City folk don’t really take us seriously down here. It’s hard, but to be honest our priority in life is clean living. I want our kids to grow up in a loving more relaxed place, and I now know that family is more important than anything. We’re not asking for to much, as long as we can make a living out of our music we’re happy, a life of fame is not for us.
MV: What are some of the influences that have shaped the Rurals sound?
AC: Mainly soul/jazz and funk, musically it’s our major love! we try and fuse these styles into a more modern sounding music.
MV: The Rurals have been around since the early ’90s and seem stronger than ever. What do you attribute your longevity too?
AC: When I started to learn the guitar at 13 years old I knew this was going to be my course in life, i was obsessed with music. The reason we’re still here is because of pure hard work; we used to jam everyday, our mission was to write a song daily and not to go home until it was on DAT. All this practice made us what we are now. When I hooked up with Marie that took us to a different level as well. It was no longer just druggy deep house, we went in a soul direction, thus exposing us to a greater crowd.
MV: What were your first impressions of house music when you heard it?
AC: I first heard house music when i was at school, things like ‘pump up the volume’, I hated it all! i was into metal at the time so as you can imagine I wasn’t feeling it at all. It wasn’t until I got a job at hmv (in Exeter) when I was 17 that I started feeling dance music. Before I thought it was all really cheesey but when I heard the UK hardcore stuff it was like metal in dance and I was hooked. I slowly started to mellow out.
MV: You released music under Greenbelt and Rainbow Garden. What was this music like and what made you form the Rurals?
AC: I still release under the name “Greenbelt”, it’s more tracky off the wall stuff, it’s like a release of deep house tension — more sample based stuff. We would have been the Rurals before but some people thought the name was a bit dodgy!
MV: How does the Rurals music comes together — through jamming or improvisation? How has it changed or evolved over the years?
AC: It’s always been the same technique, jammin! we just love to jam! if we get a vibe we get it down on tape, if we don’t we just keep on jammin!
MV: The Rurals is very much an independent band, with its own label, Peng, that you run. What brought you to form Peng?
AC: We started peng so we could have full control over our A&R and music rights. You can’t really make a living releasing on other labels in a small scene like this, we got fed up of waiting for labels to get back to us, and had so much music to release.
MV: How important is it to have the control that Peng gives you over your music and its marketing?
AC: It’s very important, if things go wrong I’ve only got myself to blame. It means we’re always in contact with magazines and distributors/shops etc. so we can get direct feedback.
MV: Peng has grown into a sizable enterprise. How does having a band and running a label work?
AC: It’s hard work and I’d much rather be in the studio full time but, I also enjoy communicating with others in the scene. I have to try and manage my time well, otherwise I never make it into the studio!
MV: House music seems to thrive at the underground level but loses its soul when it goes major. What are your feelings on this?
AC: Perhaps majors only pick up things that are more cheesy and less soulful. Or maybe underground heads go off music when they hear it in every shop in town — there must be a middle ground.
MV: For a while there was a great buzz on deep, lush and jazzy house mainly with Naked music. Do you feel like you were over-looked and do you feel you are under-recognized now?
AC: The thing is with naked they came in with fantastic marketing and great music! They made the sound and sleeves a fashion accsesory. After naked music came around people always said we sounded very “naked” and we were always being compared to them. We never had the budget for massive artwork projects or even for full colour sleeves, we just wrote groovy music! I’m sure the naked buzz helped steer a few people towards our sound as well. Under recognized, yes perhaps.
MV: The Rurals sound is very warm and inviting. How much of this is because of the equipment you use, which sounds very analogue?
AC: There’s alot of air in our sound, plenty of old analogue gear and mainly real instruments; this is where our sound comes from.
MV: Your meeting vocalist Marie “Tweek” when the band was first formed was very fortuitous since her voice is a key element to the Rurals. How do you feel about her voice and how it compliments the music?
AC: Meeting Marie was a blessing! I’d been dreaming of meeting a vocalist that would fit in with our sound and push us in a new direction — my dreams came true! Marie is a fantastic natural untrained vocalist/lyricist. She sings with soul from within and does it with minimal effort. It was the icing on the cake for the rurals sound!
MV: The lyrical element to your music is very important. Much of their content is about relationships and personal issues. Who is responsible for the lyrics and how do they fit with the music?
AC: It’s totally marie’s department! I just get the music sorted out, then it’s over to her! She sings about all types of issues, things that have effected her, friends, the world etc.
MV: There’s a certain sweetness and mellowness to your sound. Where do you feel that vibe comes from?
AC: The sounds and vibe comes from deep inside. I sometimes listen back to our music and think did we really write that? I don’t know how it happens, it just does — it’s like magic.
MV: What is the overall mood you wish to create with the music?
AC: Good vibrations, love and good messages! If we can make people feel good then that’s our job done.
MV: Do you every play out live and what are your shows like?
AC: When we play live our shows have a great energy and there’s no drug to compare the feeling to. When everyone’s singing along it’s like we’re in a different world, or even heaven!
MV: How do other members of the Rurals contribute? Are the roles clearly defined?
AC: There’s no rules, we all do a bit of everything! But, if there’s sax needed then Charlie Hearnshaws the man. If we need fat clubby beats then bazil’s over in a flash. And for jamming, pete mo’s my brother. We’re telepathically linked and of course Marie does the singing.
MV: How do you go about recording? Do you have a studio set-up?
AC: The studio’s right next to the office. We just get in there, jam, and see what happens!
MV: Since you career spans so many years, what are your feelings about how house music has changed over the years? Do you feel it has grown and matured?
AC: Yes, I think it has, but to be honest what with having a family and stuff I really haven’t got time anymore to be checking everything out.the stuff I get sent from friends producers in the scene always sound great. In a way it’s good not to hear everything or perhaps with not knowing it we’d sound like everything else?!
MV: Your music was featured on HBO’s “Six Feet Under”. How did this come about? Will there be more like this?
AC: That was really lucky, so was getting the parts for Mavin and Tammi’s “Ain’t nothing like the Real Thing” from Motown — a dream come true. The music supervisor for “Six Feet Under” really likes the Rurals sound, that helps. I hope there’s more to come.
MV: Peng recently released the compilations “Leko The Lazybeat Lion – The Peng Fables Vol.2” and “My Twilight Blues”, which feature a number of unreleased Rurals tracks. Tell us about these releases.
AC: The compilations are a great way of exposing other artists on peng. We get loads of great demo’s, I feel if we’re releasing new music not only do we help unknown artists start a career but we also keep the peng sound fresh. Most of the Rurals songs on the CD’s have been released on vinyl, but not everyone buys the vinyl, it’s good to have our non DJ fans able to have our music on a easily accessible format.
MV: You have an international fanbase that is very dedicated. What would you like to say to them?
AC: We love you! Without our fans buying our music we wouldn’t be able to fund the job we love. In my local post office they can’t believe how many people in crazy places buy our stuff. I love our online shop, it puts us in touch with a lot of these people, who give us direct feedback.
MV: How important are visuals for the group? Do you pay close attention to this and do you have videos?
AC: We have a designer in London called nima (nmo design) who does a great job with our web sites, logo’s and artwork, it’s totally his dept. we’re thinking about videos…if they’ll help promote us then we’re up for it.
MV: What do you think you would be producing if house music never came along?
AC: Really tricky question, perhaps hip hop?
MV: Where can we expect the Rurals in 2005 and beyond?
AC: We just hope to grow musically and our fanbase! Perhaps get the band on the road again — we get lots of requests but now Marie and I have little Rico (2 years old) and another little one on the way. We want to make a stable life for our kids; I don’t want them growing up not knowing
where there home is. It’d be great to do more music for tv/films as well, those kind of deals suit me well as I love being in the studio working on special projects.
Stockholm’s Markus Enochson is at the cutting edge of a new form of soul music that infuses classic soul with his techno- and electro-musical influences and impeccible production skills. Enochson has been an integral part of the house music culture in Sweden for years and his own productions like “I Am the Road” and “Feeling Fine” and collaborations with soul vocalist James Ingram and the Masters at Work (“Lean on Me”) established Enochson as a leading house music producer. Working within the underground house music scene, he has an impressive pedigree as a producer, remixer and a DJ and has a reputation for genre defying blends in his productions and DJ sets. Not one to rest on his laurels Enochson’s work has evolved and mutated over the years, from the classic, New York-inspired house of his first singles to the freer and more unrestrained elctronic-drenched compositions of today. Enochson is constantly hunting for new ways of introducing his version of soul. Today he lets his early rave and techno influences shine through, coupled with broken beats and R’n’B. This is a big jump and it was an awakening for Enochson when he realized he could escape from the pattern he was partly responsible for putting himself in.
With “Night Games” his full-length debut on sonar kollektiv, Enochson has created his own unique electro-soul sound. It was Louie Vega from Masters at Work who came up with the idea of an album a few years ago. Markus started off the work, but while doing it, he kept getting new ideas that he didn’t know what to do with. The pieces eventually fell into place resulting in an album of heavy electronics blended with deep soul, with strong influences from Detroit and 80s electronic underground dance. “Nite Games” is largely a reflection of what is happening today. It is a sort of soul-minimalism, distilled from his years of musical experience. Nite Games is house, techno, and broken beats woven together in a way that only Enochson can.
“Nite Games” is the first step in a new journey of experimentation and discarding tired music formulas. His recent work which is minimal yet soulful tech-house includes ‘No Only In Sweden/Chord song’ under the Two Guys & A Dog alias and a remix of Demetrius Price “No Holdin’ Back” on Sweden’s Raw Fusion label under his new alias Audiobuff. Enochson is also busy finalizing production of the full length debut of Cornelia. This is in addition to his busy schedule as a globe-trotting DJ and in-demand remixer.
Mundovibes was fortunate enough to catch up with the busy artist for this e-mail interview.
MUNDOVIBES: You were born in 1975, near the peak of the disco and soul eras. How strong an impact did this period have on you? What music do you remember hearing as a child that shaped you?
MARKUS ENOCHSON: At home I was brought up on more or less on a strict diet of soul music, mostly ballads. I remeber specifically at an early age being in awe of Stevie Wonder, Quincy Jones, Thin Lizzy and many more. Since my father was involed in music for several of my early years there was a lot of music around, intruments to play and people playing and singing at home.
MV: Your uncle was very formative in your childhood exposure to music and electronics. Tell us about this.
MARKUS: My uncle had a synth and studio store for many years in Stockholm and I strongly remember my first visit to this store as a 5-year old and experiencing a synthesizer for the first time. I was truly amazed. This is one of my strongest childhood memories and I truly felt that I wanted to be around synthesizers for the rest of my life. Later on my uncle had this amazing home studio with more or less all the goodies you could imagine and I loved spending time in there when we were visiting them.
MV: We all know that Marvin Gaye lived in Sweden. Was soul music popular there?
MARKUS: Traditionally Sweden is a rock country and I imagine Marvin came cause of the women… although in Marvin’s days it could have been different.
MV: You come from a musical family, yet you pursued a different sort of musical career. What made you want to do things diffferentltly
MARKUS: I think any kid wants to form an identity in polarity of sorts towards your parents. In my way I started listing to synth, the early body music and techno as my “revolution” came about.
MV: When were you first introduced to techno and house music what were your impressions?
MARKUS: For me techno and house came to my attention in the early ’90s. I went to raves and had a few live experiences in those early raves. Cari Lekebush was in a way formentative in my musical schooling as he showed me some tricks (we’re form the same suburb) and he lent me his id so I could get in underage to parties.
MV: How did your musical career begin?
MARKUS: I did a maybe ten live gigs during the period 92-96 and organised a few parties. My first paid gig was in ’96 and I started travelling as a DJ the year before. Early on in 98-99 I had my first release (‘Follow Me’), a vocal house track and I ran with that style cause that was my first release.
MV: What was your first DJing experience?
MARKUS: More or less a disaster of sorts. I had to stand in for a friend who was double booked. I didn’t own turntabels and had just done the occasional mix for him while he was chatting some girl up. I remember that I was horrified and nothing went as I wanted it to. It got better after that.
MV: When did you realize that you wanted to produce dance music?
MARKUS: I realised early on that i wanted music to be a part of my life and dance music was not a term in those days. Eventually I was drawn towards it because my interest in music and technology so in a sense it came naturally. Muy soulful upbringing and interest for technology
MV: What were your first experiences producing music. Did it come easy?
MARKUS: I remember the first time I had a synth that could record something — again it was natural.
MV: You are well established as a DJ. What do your DJ sets encompass?
MARKUS: That’s a very tough question to answer right now. I try not to be linear these days, I’m tryin to not be held back by myself and my own ideas of what I think the audience might want and just go with the flow. I recently started DJing with Serato and its a godsend for me. I now find what track I want the moment I know what I want. Before with CDs I was lost by too many pages of CDs in the case. I still prefer vinyl and I bring what I have not recorded for a gig that I think I might play. This leads into the next question and this relefcts what I’m doing as a producer these days as well as a DJ.
MV: You have gone from producing classic-sounding house to a much more varied and more experimental sound with a number of influences. How and why has your music evolved?
MARKUS: I really started out DJing and producing techno. House was also a huge part from the get go and it was within house music I got my break. In a way you can say that I grew tired of house and all of its cliches and pastiches. I more or less did music oriented around the soulful NYC scene for close to ten years and I grew tired of it. When I started doing my album I realised early on that it was time for a change. No more live bass, no more rhodes, at least not for that album. In a way you can say that the album was the start of something that has continued into a series of 12″s and what also can become a new electronic oriented album. I’m more interested these days of exploring the combination of traditional song structures and electronic soundscapes as well as al lintrumental electronic tracks. Also I’m trying to develop other artists and working as a song writer and producer for others. I’d like to mention Cornelia Dahlgren, a Swedish gril I’m working with and we are close to finising her album.
Cornelia Dahlgren
MV: You have worked with Louis Vega and Kenny Dope of Masters at Work. How does it feel to be working with them and how did this happen?
MARKUS: I got to knew one of their bookers, Olli White in London, and we became friends. This led into the collaboration with James Ingram because he’s been wroking with my father alot so I was sort of a facillitator and a suggestor for the collab and also a co-writer for the song “Lean on Me”.
MV: Your full-length album “Night Games” is a mix of styles and of collaborators. Clearly, you wanted to mix things up.
MARKUS: I mentioned earlier that I felt that the traditional soulful scene was in a stand still, and alot of people are still standing. Other people realised this as well, for instance Louie (Vega) took to his roots and incorporated a lot of latin types of music into house and I turned to mine, hence I brought into my soul music a lot of electronica and early techno feel to it. I more or less wanted to do electronic music but with a soul sensibility. I felt that I was searching for something different rather than repeating some tried and tired formula. The collaborations came about in a very easy way. All of the people except James Ingram were living in Stockholm at the time and we are all friends so it was more of a collektive than anything else.
MV: How did the songs and collaborators on “Night Games” come together since you have so many sounds and voices.
MARKUS: Most of the songs are collaborations between me and the vocalist where I do the music and they do the lyrics. Sometimes we do the melody line tothether and at other occasions the vocalist does it all by themself. Musically I had a few tracks for all the different vocalists to choose from and I wrote them having the specific vocalist in mind. I had a clear idea of their vocal range and style from before since I worked with almost all of them earlier.
MV: Many of your songs such as “Endless Dance”, “Hear Me” and “Love is on the Way” and have an uplifting message. Do you want your music to lift people up?
MARKUS: I try to think positive even when the chips are down. So I guess it might shine through. “Hear Me” I wrote the English phrases and “Endless Dance” me and Jocelyn were very close with our minds and speaking alot of these issues at the time.
MV: ” Night Games” has a sound that is both soulful and techy. How do you balance between the machine and the soul?
MARKUS: I’m part machine 😉
MV: What impact do you want your music to have on the listener?
MARKUS: If i could wish for something it would be that the listener would try to immerse themselves in the music
MV: What are the strongest “elements” to your music?
MARKUS: I mean, its really not me who should answer this, but if I have to say one thing that I strive for it’s in how to combine an electronic soundscape with traditional songwriting
MV: Your work with James Ingram is very soulful and solid. Tell us about working with him. Are you a fan of his?
MARKUS: I’m a huge fan and I grew up with his music. My father Lars and him have done a few collaborations. It would be very har d to do somtheing unsoulful with James cause he’s a very inspired and soulful man. In a way I’m blessed to have been part of his musical life and I’ve learned a great deal from him
MV: What is your approach to remixes? Do you totally reconstruct a song? What do you set out to do?
MARKUS: In my opinion a good remix is a remix that truly takes the track in a different direction and makes it into something completely new. Remixes today are more often than not shit, I haven’t heard a good remix on a R&B track in many many years. In a way I feel that the remixer should try to accomplish to make the song/track his/her own and then reproduce the song so it feels like an original.
MV: How would you describe the music you are producing now?
MARKUS: Experimental music. I was shackled by myself for so many years and I never want to be in that situation again. It’s almost like I wanna be changing the script every other production tese days.
MV: You have a strong interest in technology. How does this affect your music?
MARKUS: I’m constantly learning about new technology and old. So, in a way I never want to stand still. Even if it’s a mic techniquie for kick drums or the latest plug-in I want to be on top of things and during the years this has been my motto in studios. I never was afraid to ask in these situations.
MV: What are some of the irreplaceable tools you use to create your music?
MARKUS: Well, I have to list a few things. The didrick de geer micrphone. All of the vocals on the album, indeed all of the vocals I’ve recorded since I got this microphone have been done with this baby. It’s truly amazing, built by a more or less fanatic guy starting out with the capsule of the akg c12. Also, for drum i use the mpc 60 mk II most of the time. I use logic as a daw controling protools hd interface. Nils, my dog, is my constant companion in the studio
MV: What trends do you see on the horizon for dance music? What is inspiring you?
MARKUS: Dance music as well as all music has alot ahead in the terms of reorganizing the business structures to fit today’s community. Musically I think today are really inspiring times. In a way I imagine that house and techno has never been as close in 15 years or more. This is truly inspiring.
MV: You’ve been working with Chicago’s Still Music with “The two guys and a dog ep”. Tell us about this.
MARKUS: “two guys and a dog” are part of five guys and a dog which is a way of naming all of us working in our studio complex. We are doing different combinations and collaborations working under this guise. We also have a myspace site and are doing a few collaborative DJ sets and future releases and co-productions and possibly a label. There is a future two guys and a dog ep on miso music very soon.
Two Guys and a Dog ep (Still Music)
MV: What projects are you involved with now?
MARKUS: Well, finsihin g the album of Cornelia, a remix for tiger stripes, the awa track is a part of tronic jams ep 1 on deeply rooted, soon cpt beard is coming out on raw fusion and a secret bootleg track that i’m sure will make some impact;)
It´s been rumored that New York based Artist-Producer-DJ extraordinaire Jaymz Nylon was born with a stack of vinyl in his hands. Whether it´s true or not, his youthful passion for music led his father to compile young Nylon’s favorite tracks on a tape when he was just 3. Even then Nylon exhibited a deep appreciation for funk and soul and the mix included Fela, Santana, Otis Redding, James Brown, Stevie Wonder, Al Green and a little Samba thrown in by his mother.
Fast forward a few years to age 14 where Jaymz’ father is stationed in Germany (aha–the techno connection!) and we find him turned on to electronic music which he then started to mix with early funk and hip-hop. Nylon DJ’ed his first party for young American and German teens in the parking garage beneath his apartment complex. Then at the age of 17 and through university, Nylon went underground, throwing Acid/Chicago House Music parties in basements while parents were away. From here the pace quickens.
In 1993 and we find Nylon fulfilling his musical calling with his debut 12″, Ofunwa´s “It all begins here” on the pioneering house label Tribal America. Thus was begun a prolific career that spans many tracks, DJ sets and creative output. His debut album “Afrotech” on Irma in 2000 was widely appreciated for Nylon has recorded under various pseudonyms throught the years recording music for King Street/ Nite Grooves, Loveslap, Out of the Loop, Captivating, Eightball/Empire, State and his own Nylon imprint. After this long journey of acquiring and sharing knowledge of Nylon is now concentrating on his own Nylon Recordings.
To mark the start of a new phase of his career, Nylon has released the full-length “African Audio Research Program Vol. 1” an electronic album of warmth and soul that works on and off the dancefloor. On this album are epic tracks like “Shine”, “People Still Dream”, “Morning Eyes” & “Skullduggery”, along with stunning vocals of Bobbi Sanders, Sokunthary Svay, Joshua Tree and Nylon. “African Audio Research Program Vol. 1” also features the extremely talented Jay Rodriguez (the man behind the world famous Groove Collective) on sax/flute.
Mundovibes was priviliged to hook up with Jaymz Nylon for a chat about his lengthy career.
Mundovibes: Jaymz, you have been spinning, producing and remixing deep, soulful house for a couple decades now. How does it feel to be a veteran of the house music universe?
Jaymz Nylon: To be exact I have only been in the business for 12 years, releasing my first single in 1993. I really do not feel like a veteran because for me every release is a new beginning with the sound always moving forward.
MV: How important is your African heritage to your music and how do you express it?
No matter how far removed I maybe from my African anscestors I feel them in life’s daily rhythm when I talk, walk & breath and this comes through when I create my music.
MV: What would you say is the thread that ties all of your various projects and efforts together?
JN: There is no thread that ties all my various projects together, it’s a seamless bond that will continue as long as I breath.
MV: What are the key elements to a Jaymz Nylon production?
MV: Brooklyn is your home but you travel the world. What keeps bringing you back to NYC?
JN: I have not yet found a place that can compare with Brooklyn’s environment where art and urban co-exsist. But who knows maybe one day I will do a complete 360 and end up living in the northern beaches of Australia.
MV: Since the late ’90s the club scene in New York has been under pressure. What are your feelings about the present culture in the city?
JN: It’s difficult but I try to stay positive about the NYC club scene & not give up on her. I just started a weekly Wed. party called Nylon Sessions at Gypsy Tea 33 W.24th St. between 5th & 6th Ave. it has a sick Phazon Sound System…Wish me luck!
MV: Please give us the low-down on your latest project, African Audio Research Program?
JN: Well African Audio Research Program Vol.1 is just one many volumes to come. It provides me with a creative outlet that allows me to unleash all this music inside of me, on my own terms. A2RP is also a sharing experience with me, my collaborators and the listener.
MV: How did you go about putting African Audio Research Program together. What was the inspiration?
JN: The name African Audio Research Program came to me from a dream where I was a part of organization that willingly came over from Africa to a new world and had to find a way to communicate with the native inhabitants but only through music. The amazingly talented people around me inspired me to make this dream a reality.
MV: You also have some new 12” releases, please tell us about these?
JN: Black By Birth Feat. Ronyx “Get It Right” Main Squeeze Co-Produced with Andrew Brown
Jaymz Nylon “Virgin Sand” Perfect Toy Records.
MV: You collaborate with a lot of different artists. Who are you working with lately?
JN: Bobbi Sanders (ex-wife of El DeBarge),Mooney, Kmao, Andrew “AEB” Brown and Jay Rodriguez.
MV: Describe the creative process you employ to create your music.
JN: Go to sleep, wake up from dream and go into studio.
MV: The lyrics in your music are spiritual and uplifting and abstract at times. What do you want to communicate with these lyrics?
JN: That life is designed to be lived through the hardest of times to the most tender.
MV: What keeps you grounded in what must be a pretty hectic schedule and life?
JN: Looking into the eyes of my 14 month old daughter Bianca, the smile of 10 year old daughter Coco & the love and laughter of my wife Ria.
MV: Your knowledge of modern dance music stretches back a few decades. How do you put this knowledge to work with what you do?
JN: What strikes me the most in past decades was Black Music of the 70’s and in particular their arrangements and placement of instruments in the final mix. And with this knowledge I happily apply this to the way I record.
MV: What gives you the most satisfaction from a DJing gig?
JN: Smiley sweaty people.
MV: What, in your opinion, was the golden age of house music?
JN: Yesterday, today and tomorrow.
MV: It has to be difficult to be continually inspired. What do you do outside of the music for this?
JN: Spending as much time as I can with my family & friends which are not in music business.
MV: Dance music is about letting go and releasing and these days there’s a lot to release. What are your feelings on this?
JN: This is nothing new, every generation has had some sort of outlet for release and letting it all go. As long as humans exsit we will always need a means to escape sometimes.
Like many Chicago-based labels, house music was a catalyst for the launch of Guidance Recordings. But unlike the now-defunct house labels that never moved beyond the genre Guidance charted an adventurous course from its inception. Releasing pioneering compilations of dub, down tempo and lounge the label rapidly expanded far beyond its original deep-house offerings. And that continual quest for new sounds and emerging artists has made Guidance one of the most dynamic and respected labels in the world of underground dance and electronic music.
Guidance Recordings was founded in 1996 by Ivan Pavlovich, Rob Kouchoukos, and Sid Stary. All shared a passion for house music and were involved in its nascent recording industry. Pavlovich and Kouchoukos met while running operations at the legendary Cajual, Prescription and Relief labels. At the time a new wave of producers were expanding upon the Chicago house music blueprint—adding state of the art production techniques and a cosmopolitan edge to art form. Guidance embraced the globalization of electronic music, assembling a diverse and talented roster of artists from across Europe, the UK, and North America.
The label released its first two singles, Free Energy “Happiness” and Projekt: PMs vocoded house classic “When the Voices Come” in May 1996. It followed with a string of timeless twelve inches that helped launched the careers of house music legends such as: Austin “Abacus” Bascom, Deep Sensation, Blueboy, Fresh and Low, Kevin Yost, and Chicago’s very own Glenn Underground, prompting Muzik Magazine to proclaim Guidance “the best new house label in the world” in its 1997 year end issue.
Although Guidance initially made its mark in the industry on the strength of its deep house singles, the label’s goal has always been to release a diverse spectrum of soulful urban electronic music encompassing but not limited to house, dub, downtempo, hip hop, lounge, electro and world influenced sounds. All three of the label’s founding partners came of age in club culture during the late 1980’s when DJ’s regularly spun rock, reggae, hip hop, house, freestyle, electro and techno all in the same set. It’s in that spirit of diversity that Guidance carries on.
Inspired by the critical and commercial success of Blueboy’s “Remember Me”, Guidance has successfully launched Mundial Muzique, Midnight Express, and Hi Fidelity House, Dub, and Lounge compilation imprints. This foray into the CD compilation market proved to be a crucial phase in the label’s expansion, exposing the Guidance sound to a wider music buying audience beyond the confines of DJ culture and paving the way for the label’s transition into a full scale record company dedicated to artist development.
Over the years, Guidance has been very fortunate to have a number of the acts on its roster grow with the label and evolve from DJ?s producing the odd one off single into versatile artists capable of releasing engaging full length albums. The year 2000 marked the release of the label’s first proper artist album, A:xus “Soundtrack for Life” produced by Toronto’s Austin Bascom. In early 2001, Guidance followed suit with “Doubts and Convictions” the masterful debut album from Marseille, France based trio the Troublemakers.
Refusing to rest on its laurels, the label has continued to keep the quality level high, delivering the sterling sophomore album “Numero Deux” from Milan based duo, The Dining Rooms; the debut full-length of Nuspirit Helsinki, a multi-talented collective of local DJs producers and musicians that ascended to the forefront of the European nu-jazz scene; Norwegian folk electronica trio, Flunk’s stylish synth pop love affair “For Sleepyheads Only” and Caia’s “The Magic Dragon” a captivating album of far east inspired electronica from Andy Cato of Groove Armada.
In an increasingly challenging industry Guidance has branched out, licensing tracks to television programs like “Six Feet Under” and tapped into the burgeoning video game market, compiling the soundtrack and companion soundtrack album for the popular Play Station 2 game Smuggler’s Run, and placing songs from the Guidance catalog on Midnight Club 2 and Grand Theft Auto III. With last year’s signing of Bent, Nottingham, England’s undisputed champions of leftfield dance music, as well as exciting new artists such as Seattle’s Young Circle and Tennessee’s Skyway 7, the label’s future is looking positive. Add to that a strategic partnerships with companies such as E Music and Apple’s I-Tunes store and Guidance are posed to thrive in the digital era.
Guidance’s cluttered office located in a non-descript building in Chicago’s West Loop might be anti-climatic for an article in, say, Wallpaper magazine. But clearly it’s all about the music and Guidance makes no pretense about it. It’s a cold spring Friday afternoon and things seem pretty guiet at the office, with just two of Guidance’s “family” members in presence, founding principle Ivan Pavlovich and operations manager Tony Mesones. With the Bent LP playing in the background, we sat down to talk about Guidance Recordings, the Chicago scene and the music industry.
JC Tripp: From the start it seems like Guidance has been on a dub and spiritual kind of vibe.
Ivan Pavlovich: Even from the start there was always one song on the e.p. that was different, it wasn’t straight deep house. As we’ve grown older and our tastes have matured, we’ve gone from more club oriented music to more down tempo, a lot of orchestration, just a more mature sound I think. Music we can listen to at home, not having to go out to clubs and bang our heads against the wall. But Tony will still do that but he does that for fun (laughter).
Tony Mesones: Yes, to diversify the catalogue as well, you know, in the long run.
JC: Are you, in terms of genres of music, are into any broken beat or is it primarily down tempo?
Ivan: Down tempo. I think the problem when you deal with broken beat is that you’re talking about 2,000 people in the world who are into broken beat and you’re only dealing with these people. The only people who understand it are the people who are in it.
Tony: To make the scene, you are closing it off. Also, it’s a West London thing. The thing about broken beat shows that I’ve been too, I’ve noticed when I went and saw Dego, everybody stands and dances in the same place. It doesn’t get crazy.
Ivan: But, we’re not downtempo. In the beginning we were just trying to do quality music, whatever appealed to us, you know? So, it wasn’t about classification or anything, it was like “do we like this on its own. Do we just like this on its own.
Tony: And can we do something with it, you know?
JC: What were some of your first projects.
Ivan: Josh Michaels, who’s since moved to San Francisco, did the first release. Some of our big 12” artists at the beginning, we had the Glenn Underground’s, the Kevin Yost’s, Larry Heard. Just really pushing the deep house sound. And at the time things were getting a little harder and we just wanted to bring it back to deep house.
JC: Your roster is very international now.
Ivan: I think it always was. Somebody asked me this the other day, ‘do you only sign Chicago artists?’ And, we only have 2 Chicago artists and they’re not even in Chicago. We had like 3 or 4, but Glenn Underground’s the only one who did an album for us. We really don’t work with that many people from Chicago, not by choice, that’s just the way it worked out.
JC: So, it’s not about Chicago artists, it’s about wherever the material comes from?
Ivan: We just started gettting projects from overseas and they snowballed. It’s a weird thing, you go territory to territory. You get an album or some tracks from a couple of French artists and all of a sudden you get 40 demos in that territory. And then in Scandanavia the same thing happens. You do a couple of things and all of a sudden it’s a flood. I mean, we may as well be a Scandanavia label now. (laughter)
JC: Well, you’re more like a European label in the sense of what you’re representing. Do you get that comparison?
Tony: Yeah, I think it’s an easy comparison to make, a natural association. It doesn’t bother us, if that’s the question.
JC: You have at least two very successful compilation series, High Fidelity Lounge and High Fidelity Dub Sessions. That’s a big part of your operation.
Ivan: Yes. I guess there are three levels of operations: you have the twelve-inches, which we’re now relegating to promote artist albums, with remixes. And sometimes to test out new artists. And then you have the artist albums and the compilations. I think they all are equally important.
Tony: They all help each other out in some way.
JC: And how do your compilations come together conceptually?
Ivan: It’s just a matter of somebody coming up with a concept that can be spaced out over a series. With the new “Star Gazing”, Tony just kind of came up with it and hopefully we can carry that over through a number of volumes. That’s always important.
JC: Do you think there are too many compilations out there now?
Ivan: It’s definitely tough to set yourself apart in the compilations. If we hadn’t started the lounge series years back when there were just a couple of chillout lounge compilations and the market was really open for it. I don’t think we’d be doing it anymore. It wouldn’t be worth it because the sales drop.
JC: But you pioneered that in the States.
Tony: Yeah, luckily we were there at the beginning, you know, especially for the US. Because without that it really wouldn’t be worth doing it.
Ivan: I think “Star Gazing” is a brand new concept unto itself.
Tony: Synth-pop but a little bit edgier.
Ivan: A little bit edgier, a little bit folktronicish. But I don’t see many compilations like that out there.
JC: It’s not in the club realm at all then?
Tony: No, it’s more of an electronic-rock vibe, right? Stuff like Flunk, Telepop, Les Rythmes Digitales, that kind of vibe. I haven’t seen a compilation that kind of devotes itself to that genre yet.
JC: I want to talk about some of your specific artists, firstly with Nu Spirit Helsinki. Do you typically look to develop artists or do you go with one record and see how it goes?
Ivan: The hope is to be able to develop them. Up until know it’s been really tough for us because we’re always doing first time artists. So, we’re really breaking them and then having to wait for the second album to sell.
Tony: As a record label, you really have to look toward developing the artist. There’s all of this time and money and energy into breaking them. If you have nothing to follow up with then it really hurts.
Ivan: You’re just getting your feet wet with the first, and then the second time. The Nu Spirit Helsinki album resonated.
JC: It’s an awesome album. Too bad radio couldn’t pick up on that.
Ivan: Yeah, you know in a lot of instances I think “this would be great for R&B radio” but it’s a very “European” album, I guess.
Tony: They’re doing a lot of shows in London now and they’re really starting to catch up. That’s an album that is going to take a long time to get to the point where it’s understood.
Ivan: I think it’s just harder to understand, it’s not an easy album to get. You’re going to have to really sit with it and that’s why it’s talking so long. Which is great, because that album is going to be around 10 years from now.
JC: It’s definitely got a classic feel.
Ivan: It doesn’t date itself. Those guys are amazing musicians and producers. They are perfectionists.
JC: In terms of breaking an artist, what is your strategy?
Ivan: The strategy is to sign really good artists and hope for the best (laughs). It depends, it varies from artist to artist.
Tony: And there’s the twelve-inch thing and see if we get the response.
Ivan: It depends, from artist to artist. It depends on what kind of artist they are and what their abilities are. Some people can’t DJ or tour live, and you’ve got to figure out some other way to break them. Maybe it’s like the Dining Rooms. Maybe instead of bringing them over for a tour, maybe you just do a lot of film and TV licenses and try and get the word out through that. Another artist we’re looking at signing has an amazing live show, so the focus would be to bring them over and do a tour.
Tony: As a label, we’ve been making a push to try to get a national tour together. The difficulty is that our artists are overseas. Now we’re making the push, we’re gettting the buzz where the audience wants to see and hear them in the states. For example, flunk, which will be touring in the fall. It’s new territory for us here at Guidance.
Ivan: Yes, well it’s a live tour and that’s tough. The problem with Nu Spirit Helsinki is you’re talking about 12 people. That doesn’t include sound guys, technicians, etc. You can’t bring 12 people over from Europe and have a shitty show, so you’ve got to have these other people, you know?
Tony: It’s more hurtful to have a bad show than it is not to do a show. It’s cost prohibitive: you’ve 12 people, we’re a small label here. I’m sure the response would be great if we could get them over here and there would be a demand to see them. But if they keep doing more shows overseas and maybe there will be a buzz and we can do something.
Ivan: We don’t have radio here like they do overseas. You have to use alternate methods of marketing bands, things like video. Very few electronic artists have been able to get on MTV. What’s cool are things like Cornerstone Player, Res magazine has a DVD with a lot of electronic artists. So, you have to look at those options to spread the word.
Tony: There are alternate avenues. We don’t get much radio play but we do with stations like KCRW. There are certain tastemaker stations that have been good to us.
Ivan: It’s this grass-roots kind of fight to find the best means of exposure for your artist and figuring out how to make that work for you.
JC: You have a very strong graphic image with your packaging. It’s part of what attracted me from the start.
Tony: We try to make it a definitive statment like with our lounge series. If you’re talking about marketing that first impression is so important. How do you get somebody to go towards this CD? That’s why the Ultra releases have done so well, or the Naked look. And we’re doing it a little differently but we’ve got some great artists creating work for us.
Ivan: I think we’re getting better with the art work. There were a couple in there that just snuck by (laughs).
JC: Getting back to the music, do you put people together and say ‘hey, I’ve got this concept’.
Ivan: Rarely. Mostly we’re talking about finished product. Where it’s developing an artist, meaning with the 12-inches, the whole farm league thing. You keep putting them out and it’s like ‘wow, this is what’s working’, giving them feedback, working with them on that end. But not really starting from zero, where you’re like ‘OK, I’m going to take this person and this person and put them together and lock them in a hotel room together for a weekend and then we’ll have an album’. We did that once with a relase called “Urban Renewal”, which was spoken word. So, that was the only time where we actually put people together. We took Chicago spoken word artists and sent them to New York to work with Rahzel . Different things like that, we called King Britt and said ‘can you and Ursula Rucker deliver something for this project.’ But beyond that it’s really up to the artists.
M: Do you have certain clubs that you do things with?
Tony: Ivan and I have taken it upon ourselves, and Tobias as well. We started a night, on Mondays, at a place called Spoon on Wells. The night reflects the label, the diversity. We do the house music thing but Tobias willl throw in some ‘80s. Everybody does a house music night here in Chicago and it’s boring. It’s about just keeping it fun and it reflects our tastes.
Ivan: On that whole vibe, people take music soo seriously sometimes.
Tony: Especially in this town. They’re so serious about it.
Tony: Even the musicians on the Bent album, they’re having fun when they make their music. They’re trying different things, it’s quirky. A Captain & Tenille sample for a house track, you know?
Ivan: With Nu Spirit, it’s great to be serious like that. That’s a serious album but other times music can be fun.
M: Do you think Chicago gets too pigeon-holed in the whole house thing? Everybody’s like ‘Chicago, house music!’
Ivan: There are other scenes. The whole thing they’re doing with say, Thrill Jockey. They’ve got their own scene with Tortoise and Cake. That’s a great scene and it’s viable and you’re making it work. But you’re getting crossover into our magazines, the electronic magazines. But you still have the history of, like, this is where it started.
JC: I had a pre-conception of Chicago that everybody was all together in one place, as a family. And then I realized it’s very north-south.
Ivan: Yeah, totally, as split up as neighborhoods.
Tony: I’m relatively new to the town, I moved here two years ago and I had the same pre-conception as you, where it’s kind of a family vibe.
Ivan: I think if you’re actually in Chicago it’s pretty diverse, but for people who come over here they’re always amazed. They expect to see, like, Frankie Knuckles and everybody’s just jackin’.
JC: Now it seems like every trendy bar has a compilation.
Ivan : Every bar, every national retailer, anybody you can think of now has a compilation to make it a lifestyle.
JC: Is that anything you would get into?
Tony: We do it. That’s just another way to reach that market. You don’t have radio, but you have these comps that are everywhere. There’s major retailers that do this. My mom goes into these places, Joe Schmo from whatever college goes to these places. This is how to reach these people. You can’t go through radio, so you go to these major retailers and you get on their compilations.
JC: Do you find that there is any unity amongst member of the scene, in terms of working together on projects or promotion?
Ivan: I don’t know, there’s no sense of unity, everybody’s off on their own running their own race. Which is good and bad. I think if it was there’d be some inteesting collaborations and maybe more music that pushes boundaries if people did put their heads together. Even when we’ve tried to do things with other house labels, downtempo labels and it never really worked out. I am sure there’s some underlying competition or egoism about what everybody’s doing, but it’s very hard to bring people together. That said, we’re on really good terms with a lot of the labels. Everybody shares information, the people who know each other help each other.
JC: In terms of Guidance future growth and direction. Do you see things as getting bigger or what?
Tony: They need to get bigger.
Ivan: The market right now is awful. Anybody in the U.S. will tell you. Any label, save something like Ultra, who still is spending the marketing money, Eighteenth Street Lounge Music based on Thievery Corporation sales, not their other artists. Their other artists are hurting just like anybody else. Definitely, everybody is feeling it. You talk to people in France, and they’re doing all of the Buddha Bar compilations like Vagram, who’s the main distributor of these compilations—they’re hurting. Even though the French market just went up like the only market in the world to increase their sales. Our genre of music has gone down like 30%. So, everybody is hurting, a lot of labels that were distributed by majors have been dropped. So, now is not the time for somebody to start their own label. The labels that are still in the U.S. doing it, it’s getting harder and harder you know?
JC: What do you attribute that to?
Ivan: The economy, for one. The economy is hurting everybody. People aren’t spending the money on music. So, you’ve got somebody who’s going to the store and spending $20, instead of the $60 you’d allot yourself a couple years ago. That’s why the artwork is important, that’s why all of the marketing is important. You’re vying for one person’s 20 bucks with everything else that’s in the marketplace. Like I said, if we hadn’t done the lounge years and years ago it wouldn’t be feasible for us to do it now.
A DJ doesn’t have nearly the setup of a full live band, but there are certain technical requirements that are of utmost import, one being the mixing board. DJs live and breath by their mixers. Things get a wee tense when it’s learned that the contract-specified mixer never showed. No mixer, no music, so a last minute shuffle ensues to get the board, which is somewhere midtown. It’s the sort of thing that gives a DJ nightmares but cool prevails and with a board in place some 30 minutes later Nicola Conte opens the night with a seductive bossa nova-esque groove. Ursula 1000 settles down in the sleazily bedecked backroom, joined by his wife and a case of Rolling Rock. Not exactly Hotel Costes but, hey, this is the real world.
Ursula 1000 (AKA Alex Gimeno) displays a genuinely affable personality: mild mannered, eager to discuss, devoid of attitude, and loaded to the hilt with musical references. In a music scene that’s smothered by attitude Ursula 1000 is definitely in it for the right reasons, namely a love for music and underground pop culture. With three records behind him for Thievery Corporation’s ESL label—The Now Sound, All Systems Are Go Go and the latest Kinda’ Kinky—he has a firm standing in the international club-pop/loungecore scene. His sampledelic pastiche of cha-cha-cha, mambo, ’60s go-go and modern beat programming has been embraced by underground hipsters, ultrapop aficionados and fashionistas alike.
Though ESL music is recognized for its ultra-suave downtempo vibe, Ursula 1000 feels right at home with the label. “I think I initially fit in in a more of a stylistic and design sense even though my music was a lot more hyperactive than anything on the label,” he explains. “But I think the label was looking for something like that cause they don’t just want to be a downtempo label. And when they heard my stuff they thought ‘this could expand our roster and give it a different sound.’ It’s funny, I think people dig it. You know, when you want to chill out you put on your Thievery Corporation but if you want to pick it up a notch then you listen to Ursula 1000. I think they realize it’s good for the label to have me,” he says.
Ursula 1000’s populuxe musical tates may be partially attributable to his Miami upbringing. After all, a world of pastels, palm trees, guayaberas, and ’60s vernacular architecture is bound to seep into anyone’s psyche. For Ursula 1000 that influence came in a roundabout way. “The only thing that may have contributed is probably the really awesome thrift shopping. It was great stuff. How could you not buy a Martin Denny record for a quarter with this amazing cover? I could just stick it on my wall cause it’s so cool looking, you know? Even if the record sucks. But then you start listening to it and at first it’s like, whoaa check out this cheesy thing but the more you play it you’re like ‘wow, I really like this.’ And that’s what was happening,” he says. “I was also into some jazz and some soundtrack stuff but not in an ironic sense. I think the more loungey stuff like the Martin Denny and the Esquivel was kind of comic at first; I grew in appreciation for it and I think that mixed with the flipside of the thing—drum’n’bass, house, breakbeat, techno. Those things eventually fused.”
Today’s thrift shopper might not revel in the supreme coolness of old Martin Denny records, since they’ve all been picked over. But, with the recycling of all things retro, it’s natural that artists like Ursula 1000 would become popular reworking those fabulous sounds. But while others have dabbled in its built-in irony and moved on, Ursula 1000 has stuck to his kitschy-guns. “When my first record came out, there were a lot of people like D’Mitri from Paris, Fantastic Plastic Machine and the Bungalow label from Germany. A lot of people were doing similar kind of stuff, where we were dabbling in late ’60s—kind of campy but with groovey elements. But then it seemed like everybody shifted gears immediately and I just thought when I started working on the second album that there were areas of ‘loungecore’ that still needed to be explored.”
On ‘Kinda Kinky’ Ursula 1000 has been able to stretch out, without betraying his loungecore roots. With its Shag illustrated cover and collaborations with Saturday Night Live band guitarist Dr. Luke and Brother Cleve of Combustible Edison, Kinda Kinky is a step up in quality and variety. “There’s definitely a twist on this record,” says Ursula 1000. There’s more electro elements, there’s a samba kind of house element that I’ve never explored.”
Still, for its all of its new explorations, Ursula 1000 won’t be pulling a Madonna on us anytime soon. “I felt like it more like sticking to my guns. Some people reinvent themselves and sometimes it works for some people like Blur for instance. But some bands, when they do it, it’s just a little too much like ‘who are you now?’. Or it sounds exactly like the first record and that could just be a bore too. I was kind of prepared for that with this record. I knew there might be some people that might think ‘oh, god this guy’s still stuck in the ’60s, but I love that period.”
In both his DJ sets and his produced music, the idea is to get down to a fun(ky) beat. “I still get such a kick when I hear a cha cha mambo rhumba kind of beat mixed with a hip hop, modern kind of break. It just sounds so cool and I still like it. And it’s fun: it goes straight to the hips,” he says.
Ursula 1000 also enjoys mixing today’s sleazy electro-disco, ala DJ Hell’s International Gigolo label with the real old-school deal. “It’s fun to spin that kind of stuff and back it with a Divine or a Bobby Orlando track. So you’re like, ‘this is where it came from but here it is again.’ It’s fun to do that.”
“I DJ for a fun groovy vibe but it gives people a good laugh too. I might be playing something that’s got a funky house groove but there might be some kind of quirky little sound in it. But then I might back it up with a Prince song or something. It’s fun when you can throw in classics: out of context you throw them in and people are like ‘wow, that is a great song.’ For instance, if you playing Human League back to back with Soft Cell and Culture Club you’re like ‘OK, this guy’s on some kind of ’80s twist’. But if you’re playing something else and you throw that in there and suddenly it mixes in you’re like ‘Wow, here’s a Human League song. We didn’t expect that.’ That’s what I like to do,” he says.
Ursula 1000 cut his teeth spinning in Miami and South Beach’s Lincoln Road with its ultrafab Morris Lapidus designs. For several years you could find him spinning his hyper-pop at the now defunct 821. For Ursula 1000 there’s not much left to miss about Miami. “I mean I hate to slag it. It’s what it is, you know. To me it’s a vacation town and it’s great for that. And I’ve done it from like ’91, from the early stages of techno, before drum’n’bass. I would just listen to what was happening in England or whatever and try to bring it here. I’d play it Miami and there’d be like four people who’d like it. They just don’t get it. It’s a weird thing and I don’t know what that is. Maybe it’s the weather. Maybe it’s just too hot to think.”
Since landing back in New York City Ursula 1000 has wasted no time landing prime DJing gigs at some of the city’s hippest joints like Apt and Soho Grand, where he spins weekly. He’s also a regular on the fashion show circuit. And what does Ursula 1000 think of this often attitude-dominated scene? “I’ve never done any gig where I’ve come home afterwards like ‘Oh my God, what did I just DJ?’. It’s always kind of fun. This is funny; things like fashion shows and hotel lobby gigs and things like that can be really super pretentious, you know? And it’s good to give it a little something different.” And that’s said with a big cheekey wink.
Ursula 1000’s latest release, “Undressed” is a seductively cheeky remix album collecting exclusive reinterpretations of tracks from Ursula 1000 last studio album “Here Comes Tomorrow” and recent 12″ vinyl singles. Included are both the DJ Deekline and JStar remixes of underground dancehall fire-starter “Step Back” (championed by DJ Tayo), a funked up version of “Electrik Boogie” by Fort Knox Five, a percussive jazz redo of “Boop” by Skeewiff, and a pounding semi-industrial rework of “Urgent/Anxious” by the critically celebrated robo-rockers Ladytron. All tracks previously available on vinyl only! A seductively cheeky remix album collecting exclusive reinterpretations of tracks from Ursula 1000 last studio album “Here Comes Tomorrow” and recent 12″ vinyl singles. Included here are both the DJ Deekline and JStar remixes of underground dancehall fire-starter “Step Back” (championed by DJ Tayo), a funked up version of “Electrik Boogie” by Fort Knox Five, a percussive jazz redo of “Boop” by Skeewiff, and a pounding semi-industrial rework of “Urgent/Anxious” by the critically celebrated robo-rockers Ladytron.
Now that they’ve been commissioned for a deluge of legitimate revisions, will they still be rubbing artists up the right way without their permission? Will there be future offerings from their notorious ‘Yam Who’ imprint? Why haven’t they been sued yet? I decided it was time to find out the answers to these burning questions and discover a little more, by chatting with Yam (not Who), over a plate of oriental cuisine…
An unassuming and quiet guy, Yam is clearly driven by music. Any thoughts of trepidation regarding interviewing such an enigmatic figure vanished, once I started the conversation with him. The mysteriousness and the relative anonymity born out of illegitimacy of their initial re-rubs seems to suit Yam well.
The Yam Who approach to remixing has shown that there is still an art to the reinterpretation of records. Yam agrees that many people commissioned for remixes seem to be motivated by the money waved at them. However, as the ‘Yam Who Reworks’ on their own imprint were not commissioned, Yam feels they were able to do what they wanted with the tracks. The fact that producers and DJs alike have been blown away by these mixes, means they may come to question how they themselves approach remixes. There is no doubt that this is a good thing, and it could help improve remixes in general. The reason they titled their revisions as reworks as apposed to remixes, was to make people sit up and take notice of what they were doing. This conscious change in terminology was part of the self-generated intrigue they created, which bred the hype that has surrounded the mysterious duo. Yam says the difference between the words is “4 letters”. The artists that they’ve revisited cover broad musical angles, and the reason behind this was to give them more flexibility. It is a testament to their production skills that they’ve manage to re-touch them all with stunning results. It is the complementary flavours of soul-drenched vocals and exquisite understanding instrumentation, which is why their versions of the tracks have succeeded. Spirituality and soulfulness have always been happy bedfellows, so it’s not really a surprise that their revisions work.
Asked whether he expected the frenzy that their remixes invoked, Yam said “not really”. He feels the remix of Raphael Saadiq, his favourite of the material released so far, was “the one that made people start to notice”. However, a shrewd salesman and someone who prefers to live in the present, Yam counters that their “new stuff is much better”, and is a truer reflection of their musical identity. He believes the diversity of the material that they’ve put out has led to a situation where “people don’t know what to expect” from them. Regarding the potential audience for their bootlegs, I asked Yam if he agrees that people are more receptive to rejigs of tracks by artists they are familiar with, as opposed to those of unknowns. Yam says yes, likening their musical approach to that of Hip Hop producers “looping up fragments from different sources” and the fact that bootlegs often succeed because they work with tracks that people already know.
Yam believes the success they achieved last year was “all about the timing”. As well as making records for a long time, the reason he got into the process of making music was down to DJing, since 1988. The Balearic approach to selecting music has certainly influenced Yam’s own mixing style, and his production ethos, bringing different musical vibes together. With the success of open-minded club nights like Manchester’s Electric Chair and Sheffield’s Lights Down Low amongst others, we thankfully seem to be returning a less musically intolerant period of time. This could also be reaction against superclubs championing one trendy bastardised sub-genre and cold-hearted DJs who see spinning records merely as a money making venture. This ruthless and cynical approach is opposite to the philosophy of Yam Who and countless other true musical soldiers who “live music”. Unsurprisingly, Yam’s favourite DJs are those with a similar outlook to him, who “know their music and don’t just play large records”. The ‘Who’s production (or should that be rework) style sets them apart from the majority of other artists. Yam stated that his favourite are mostly people from West London. He feels that as producers, people like the Bugz and IG Culture are “as good as you can get”. From Yam’s DJing, it is apparent that he admires many other producers, too!
Yam finds it difficult to pin point steps in their creative process. He feels that because they spend so long in the studio, sometimes they “don’t know what was there when they started” when they arrive at the penultimate stage of remixing tracks. He also feels it can be “hard to detach yourself from what you are doing”. Most of the Yam Who remixes operate within relatively narrow tempo boundaries. Whilst Yam believes “you can get a groove going at any BPM”, there was a decision to speed up the tracks “to at least dancing tempo”. The fact that they like to keep their audience guessing and broaden their appeal means that their recent Joe Claussell-esque epically fluted version of a Lizz Fields track was not a change in direction. It was merely the duo expressing their respect for the more spiritually aware side of the music.
It was inevitable that the issue of legality would come up in conversation. It seems that the labels that have had their music misappropriated have taken a sensible approach with regards to Yam Who. Their ‘bootlegs’ are creative works of art, which would have been unlikely to have seen the light of day, was it not for the pair’s cottage industry approach to releasing music. They are not recordings of tracks yet to see the light of day that sounds like it was recorded in a studio with the acoustics of a toilet or unreleased material, which record companies would surely object to. Yam says he feels that label bosses “understand about what we are doing”, and can therefore appreciate the benefits of a non-commissioned and therefore free re-rub from the ‘Who.
Reaching places that conventional PR tools could never penetrate, Yam Who are promoting the label’s artists to musical ears who may not have otherwise come across them or heard them in those musical surroundings previously. When picking tracks to revisit from the copious remix offers they are now receiving, Yam admits it’s “usually the vocal” that makes them pick one from the glut of tracks “people are throwing at us”. If the right track pricks their ears, you can be sure they’ll give it the Yam Who treatment, whether invited to, or not! Excitingly, Yam Who do not want to just be known for their astounding remixes.
Their plan for this year is to put out an album of their own compositions and “build the concept”. However, they are conscious not to “aim to far”. Asked about potential vocalists for this LP and future projects, Yam admits he “wants to get his own singer”, as this is the “right way to do things”! This may be a surprising admission from someone who’s worked with a variety of top-class vocals, often without the singer’s knowledge, but Yam feels this approach is vital for them to establish their own identity as a production duo. If they choose to work with established artists, names like Raphael Saadiq and Amp Fiddler crop up as definite possibilities. It is likely that other vocalists who they aspire to working with will go the way of Pharrell, Little Brother, N’Dambi et al. I asked Yam if there were any special tracks from the past that he’d like to revisit. His answer was that “all your favourite tunes are perfect”, and so would find it difficult to meddle with them. When pushed to identify an artist from history who he would like to give the Yam Who medicine to, Grace Jones was named.
I decided the final question to be asked, was ‘how did you decide on the name ‘Yam Who?’’. Yam says it was in part down to the name of Chinese Dentist in the Jerky Boys cartoons, whose name was Nam Who. This was combined with the fact that ‘Yam’ was his nickname, due to his surname. They decided Yam Who would also fit in with the mysterious vibe they were creating, and so the moniker was born.
Japan’s Leading Underground Dance Music DJ and Producer Yukihiro Fukutomi
Yukihiro Fukutomi started his career as a DJ during the late 80’s, at the dawn of the Japanese dance music scene at clubs like Gold, Zoo and Cave in Tokyo. At the same time he started working as a composer, arranger, programmer and producer. Fukutomi was also involved with the programming for Pizzacato 5. With his first solo project, a track titled ‘Tokyo DJs Only’, he received recognition as a pioneer and creator innovator of house and dance music.
Since then Fukutomi has been immeshed in the entire process of creating rhythmic music: producing, arranging, composing, programming and remixing. From 1991 to 1995, he released three solo albums and got high acclaim for each one in various music circles. In 1999, his mini album titled “Brasilia 2000″ and 12” remix single titled PEG from Galactic Disco (Hospital) were released and further enhanced his reputation as a top artist. After releasing Brasilia 2000 EP (bpm king street sounds / nite grooves)] Fukutomi was recognized by the likes of Gilles Peterson and Blaze.
Japan’s Pantone music have now released Fukutomi’s ninth full-length, “Equality” his most ambitious project to date. “Equality” unites artists from all corners of the globe beginning with Philly’s urban poet Rich Medina who speaks of inner city pressure. Next, 4-hero and King Britt collaborator Lady Alma screams the house down on two soulful jams. East London crooner Victor Davies teams up for some pure samba soul on ‘All over the world’. And Sweden’s Ernesto teams up with Isabella Antena with a beautiful harmonious Brazilian flavour with ‘Love is to blame’ and ‘Cat and mouse’. Adding an extra edge are the broken-beat London flavoured ‘Road to Nowhere’ and ‘Continuous Function’. “Equality” is a far-reaching recording, bound to further secure Fukutomi’s reputation as a creative force on the world dance scene.
Mundovibes: How do you feel about “Equality”? Are you happy with this record and the reaction it is getting?
Yukihiro Fukutomi: I think this work is my best and I’m happy about the reaction.
Mundovibes: “Equality” seems to have a theme of peace and unity. What is the “message” of this recording?
Yukihiro Fukutomi: I’m convinced that music can go beyond the cultural and linguistic barriers.
Mundovibes: Your music incorporates many influences and sounds. Are you influenced by many different sounds and cultures?
Yukihiro Fukutomi: Yes, during my high school year, I was listening to miles davis, the soft machine, steve reich, the Clash…I think I am influenced by various kinds music.
Mundovibes: There’s an overall mellowness and tranquility to “Equality”. Does this reflect your state of mind?
Yukihiro Fukutomi: Well, I’m no longer a young guy and am not an aggressive one in a first place. Becoming a father may attribute to that.
Mundovibes: How do you put warmth and humanity into your music?
Yukihiro Fukutomi: I guess my preference toward music with warmth and humanity naturally came out. I don’t intend to put those elements into my music but if thats what you hear then cool!
Mundovibes: What do you like about collaboration and what are the greatest challenges?
Yukihiro Fukutomi: The fact that my favorite artists contribute toward my music makes me very happy.
Mundovibes: How are you involved in the Tokyo scene and what is it like at this moment?
Yukihiro Fukutomi: When djing, I’m concentrating on increasing listeners who understand and appreciate music little by little. I’d like to increase not only good audience but whose who understand music.
Mundovibes: What is in your mind when you remix another artist? What goes through your mind?
Yukihiro Fukutomi: My basic idea is to deliver original messages through different vibe.
Mundovibes: “Equality” is a very international recording, with artists from all over the world. What is the link to all of these various contributors together?
The beginning with Isabelle Antena’s was an email to me. I had met Rich before. Other collaborators, I contacted through my friends.
Mundovibes: “Equality” features both dance-tracks and mellow tracks: a little of both. Is it important for you to show two sides of your character?
Yukihiro Fukutomi: It is not really my interest to produce dance track oriented album.i like all kinds of music so hopefully this is reflected inthe end result of ‘equality’.
Mundovibes: What tracks came most naturally or easily for you?
Yukihiro Fukutomi: “Equality”. There had been this ambiguous image of the word equality (equality means so many things and has so many interpretations) and one day it was given a form out of blue.
Mundovibes: What are your favorite tracks on the album?
Yukihiro Fukutomi: “Equality” is my favorite track on the album.
Mundovibes: How does “Equality” differ from your previous two full-lengths? How has your sound evolved?
Yukihiro Fukutomi: More live instruments this time. Especially percussionists….we use 2 on the album.
Mundovibes: What is your primary instrument(s) or equipment in the studio?
Yukihiro Fukutomi:
software:Pro Tools, Digital performer, peak, recycle.
hardware:AKAI Z4, nord rack2, nord electro, memorymoog, access
Mundovibes: What was it like to work with Pizzicato 5 and Blaze?
Yukihiro Fukutomi: I had worked with pizzicato five. It was fun to do different type of music and I was able to brush up my skill. I respect Konishi and I learned a lot from him. With Blaze, I sent them a track and asked them to collaborate if they like it. We worked together in NY and it was a great experience.
Mundovibes: Has your “sound” changed as the technology has changed and, if so, how?
Yukihiro Fukutomi: With the advancement of hard-disk recording, we came to use live instruments and programming. We are now able to control various elements.
Six years ago music industry veterans Russell Jones and DJ Cliffy formed Future World Funk, channeling their enthusian for global rhythms into their own DJ soundsystem: an amalgamation of Asian beats, Brazilian d’n’ b, Gypsy bangers, latin licks, socca, bashment, reggaeton, afrofunk and beyond. It’s been a long and winding journey for the two, a journey of continued musical diversity and discovery on all five continents, and of one big global party.
Racing around the planet to locations as far-flung as New York, Taipei, Moscow and Sydney Future World Funk have encountered all manner of cross-pollination that was completely unimaginable a decade ago. From the Desi beats of the UK, represented by G. Samra’s current and ultra-hot track Sharabbia, to Brazilian folk-electronica as defined by award-winning producer DJ Dolores, to merengue house, Balkan hot-step, Japanese dub and, for good measure, Romanian calypso-waltz Future World Funk leave no genre unheard.
“On The Run”, the seventh installation of their popular Future World Funk CD series on London’s Ether Music, is a reflection of that musical voyage showing just how much the FWF sound has blossomed and its audience has matured. This double album features 22 insatiable world-beat tracks that traverse the globe on a quest for the most danceable grooves. Tracks like Jah Screechie’s classic ‘Walk & Skank, ‘Dia del Sol’ by Marky & XRS and Shantel’s ‘Bucovina’ all find common ground within the Future World Funk sound. It’s like a fruit salad of global funkyness.
Of course, the best part of Future World Funk is to dance to it. Their Future World Funk club nights are what gave birth to their compilations and have been putting “la mezcla” in dance-floors at places like London’s Notting Hill Arts Club where they host the “Future World Funk” event, Cafe Lazeez, New York’s S.O.B.s and events like WOMAD, Montreux Jazz Festival and Carnival in Recife, Brazil. Their wide-open, ecletic mix appeals to like-minded individuals, who show their appreciation and dedication by sweating up dancefloors worldwide.Aside from their roles in Future World Funk both Cliffy and Russ are actively involved in club promotion, writing about music, remixing and producing their own tracks. Russ is behind some of London’s most successful club nights like “London Calling” at the Blue Note where he became artistic director and “No Room For Squares” which has featured guest deejays like Gilles Peterson and James Lavelle. Cliffy is a regular contributor to “Straight No Chaser” and “Songlines” and took his love for Brazilian music to heart by living in Brazil for several years. Upon returning to London in 1997 he started “Batmacumba” at the Institute of Contemporary Art. Both are actively involved in programming and promoting world music, both in clubs and on the radio.
Mundovibes caught up with Future World Funk, fresh back from Las Palmas where they rocked a crowd of 20,000 and as they prepared for the holiday party seaon…
Mundovibes: Firstly, congratulations on your latest compilation, “On the Run”. The title is apt since it seems you have been doing some globe-trotting.
Future World Funk: Well thanks for the congrats, we really enjoyed putting this compilation together and we definitely think it is our best yet, we had too work hard to squeeze so much good music onto two cds. When we sat down and counted all the countries we had palyed since the first volume we realised it was totalling over thirty. We were kind of blown away by this but have now set a target of 50 countries.What started out as a humble club night in Notting Hill over six years ago has led to CD sales in access of 100, 000 copies and a globe-trotting musical deejay worldwide party experience. Highlights have included China, Brazil, Russia, El Salvador, Taiwan and Singapore. Earlier in the year we played the Sydney Opera House, one of those things you dream about doing once in your life and most recently the Womad festival in Gran Canary to 20, 000 crazy Spanish people – I don’t think we have ever seen a crowd so up for it. This album is a collection of the music we have discovered along the way and also a reflection of London which is still our home and we love. The wealth of muticultural diversity in this city is a constant inspiration.
Mundovibes: You recently toured in the States. What was this experience like? Are audiences receptive here to your sound?
FWF: One thing you can always guarantee in the States is that someone will come up to you for a good chat, with a genuine interest in what you are doing. Ameicans like to talk and are friendly with it. They also seem pretty open to the music, we played Ron Trent’s night as apart of the Chicago World Music which was wicked, top venue, great soundsystem and a very mixed crowd. Although he is known for house music the people were up for anything we had to throw at them. We also played Thievery Corporation’s spot, Eighteenth Street Lounge, in Washington, this place has a really similar vibe to the Notting Hill Arts Club so we immediatley felt at home. The down side of it is that touring the States in very hard work, lots of connecting flights across such a large territory and the government doesn’t make it easy with expensive visas.
Mundovibes: For those uninitiated what is “Future World Funk”?
FWF: Two deejays, 4 turntables (CD, record players), a box of global grooves, think Brazilian drum & bass, Asian beats, Gypsy bangers, Japanese dub, retro highlife, Latin and Jamaican dancehall and a hot and sweaty party crowd.
Mundovibes: “On the Run” contains music from all corners of the world, including Colombia, Cuba, England, Brazil and India amongst others. What is it that ties all of this music together?
FWF: Recently we have been starting to add new gypsy beats into our set (check DJ Shantel on the album), this music has been going down a treat but what you realise is that this music is a real hybrid with references to Indian wedding music, Argentinean waltz and tango, ska and of course the brass sounds of countries like Germany and Turkey. I think this really reflects what FWF is all about finding the common ground which exists between so many musical forms and the programming this music in such a way that it all makes sense.
Mundovibes: How do you go about finding and selecting your music? Do you frequent dark alleys and musty warehouses in search of vaults of forgotten vinyl?
FWF: My (Russ) favourite trick is to gate crash weddings of our different ethnic brothers and sisters in London, check out the DJ, his hot biscuits and then threaten to high-jack the bride unless the he hands over all his best tracks. I (Cliffy) have raided my mother-in-laws collection (she’s from Rio de Janeiro), nicked my brothers old records (an odd mix of dub and the Pogues) and am always tapping anyone I know for a free hit. Otherwise we have to resort to scouring the net, camping out in record shops, listening to the radio day & night and begging record companies to supply two of the hottest deejays on the global circuit with their latest pre-releases.
Mundovibes: What was the initial inspirtion for starting ‘Future World Funk” and how has it evolved over the years?
FWF: We both met whilst working for a record label specializing in Brazilian music – Far Out Recordings. At that time the label was remixing some of their more established artist including Marcos Valle, Azymuth and Joyce. Producers like Roni Size and Kenny Dope turned their hand to these projects and there were some interesting results – Prior to that I (Cliffy) had been living in Recife, Brazil and had been right at the epicentre of the Mangue Beat movement pioneered by Chico Science, one of the aims of Mangue Beat was to reinteprete tradition rhythms in a contemporary context, that opened my mind to a world of possibilities. These diverse infuences from what was happening on the streets of Brazil to the clubs of London turned us on to the whole global remix phenomenon and led us off in new directions.
Three of the seven “Future World Funk” compilations released thus far Mundovibes: Did you both grow up in favelas in Rio de Janeiro or was that in another life?
FWF: Sometimes I (Cliffy) think I might have been born in Brazil in another life, my friends in back in Recife say that I deserve honourary citizenship because I act much more Brazilian than British, in fact my girlfriend is from Rio de Janeiro and sometimes she is far more British than me. In reality we both grew up in the urban ghettos of South London not very exciting at that time but evntually the peace and quiet of surburbia was rocked by the culture-shock of the Pogues, the Specials, Acid house and then Acid Jazz.
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Mundovibes: What influenced you to do what you are doing?
FWF: Once I finished my Masters in Philosophy I knew there was no going back to the regular routine of life, I had to find my own path through life and music would be the guide.
Mundovibes: Apart from “Future World Funk” you are both heavily involved in music as writers, promoters and producing. How do you do all this and have time to shower, sleep and eat (amongst other activities)?
It’s a tough life but somebody has to do it. We can actually go days without sleep, get chased by dogs, abuse our ears with loud music, our stomachs with too much alcohol but still we ride bicycles around London rushing between meetings with record labels, magazines, hitting the studio and of course deejaying in the smokey clubs each and every week. Luckily we are in a position to dedicate ourselves full time to the pursuit of global funkiness, that makes things much easier not having to divide ur time with other preocupations just to pay the bills.
Mundovibes: With the global-digital-culture we live in now there are seemingly endless possibilities for cross-pollinization of music. Is there a limit to how far this can go?
FWF: In some sense it does seem like the only limitations are the ones which we each harbor inside oursleves but it is easy to miss that fact that there are real limits out there, the more we live in a digitized world the more we crerate barriers for those who do not have access to the technology. It is so easy and trite to say that we live in a ‘global village’ but when you stop to think about it a working-class British person and a working-class African person our probably much further apart economically today than they were fifty or one hundred years ago. Although we might both be drinking Coca-cola it is fairly obvious one of us will be able to afford an Ipod. If the technology becomes to one-sided it will be counter-productive for cross-pollinization
Mundovibes: Do you find that more people are receptive to your musical selections today? Are people more open-eared or is it just a small “globally-attuned” audience?
FWF: In the UK things have moved on a great deal in the last ten years, we have moved from the small island mentality to a country with a broader world vision, even more so in London where nowadays 1 in 4 people were not born in the country. Nowadays the Capital is a truly cosmopolitan city where you are as likely to hear someone drive by playing reggaeton or bhangra than rap or pop music. Club culture has also changed a lot in the last decade, the super-clubs have faded and the more niche venues have thrived creating more opportunities for diverse club music. Of course there is still a lot of hard work to do spreading the word but you feel like real progress can now be made.
Future World Funk night at London’s Notting Hill Arts Club
Mundovibes: Some genres of music, like Brazilian, have a way of almost miraculously absorbing other music into theirs. What is it about these cultures that make this possible?
FWF: I was saving the answer to this question for when I study my Phd. Ultimately the answer is pretty simple: people, opportunities and sometimes necessity to adapt to a shifting environment make cultures absorb other influences . Centuries ago as Gpysies moved up through Indian and Persia into Europe it probably made ideal sense to soak up local influences on the way, both artistically and economically. When the Portuguese brought African slaves to Brazil they tried to stamp out the music & culture but the resilience of these people allowed them to forge a new afro-Brazilian identity. The Brazilian samba is a fantastic example of how cultures absorb. At the turn of the 20th Century poor black musicians earnt a living playing in French-style salons in Rio, waltzs and polkas were the height of fashion for rich Rio residents. At night the black musicians would go back to their bohemian suburbs to play the music of their forefathers and participate in candomble rituals (the African religion they had imported into Brazil). Slowly with exposure to such diverse sounds led the black musicians, who only a couple of decades earlier were slaves, to create a new fusion which came to be known as samba.
Mundovibes: You are both involved in remixing annd producing tracks. Tell us about your currrent projects?
FWF: We have just finished working on a remix for Amadou and Mariam, can you imagine our excitement to work with really fantastic material like this it was a superb opportunity? We could see that the track we were working on was mixed like a pop song so we felt very comfortable about producing a club mix for deejays, we could add something without detracting from the original which is always a worry when you are remixing a great track. Once we found a good groove and a tough bassline it was quite simple. The label are very happy with the mix and we had some excellent feedback from other people close to us. We are currently looking at a couple of other remix projects, possibly working with Ska Cubano and a Brazilian singer. We are also working on a couple of our own tracks a twisted acid samba and a drum & bass tune. I (Cliffy) also have a project going with London-based Spiritual South where we work under the nom de plume of Sugar Loaf Gangsters, we have just finished are latest track which is a funky percussion mash-up. More news of these projects in the New Year.
James, Koehnline, surrealism, collage, Axiom, Laswell, Calendar, Jubilee, Saints
James Koehnline's Work Includes Collages for Axiom Records
James Koehnline (pronounced KEN-line) is a collage artist whose work has graced many anarchist periodicals & books as well as music CDs; has co-edited a number of books and had his work collected in Magpie Reveries. Designs and edits the yearly Autonomedia Calendar of Jubilee Saints which is also is the thematic core for the Daily Bleed Calendar (now online for some 7+ years); currently resides in Seattle, Washington, worked for some years at Recollection Used Books.
Koehnline has been creating works of art, in various media all his life, largely influenced by his father’s passion for surrealism. He pursued a formal education at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design before attending Columbia College in Chicago. Decades later, he studied digital media at the Art Institute of Seattle. Meeting at Columbia College, Koehnline gained further direction under the mentoring of collagist, sculpter and host of the weekly radio broadcast “Art and Artists” (WFMT), Harry Bouras. Koehnline has also been involved in a number of grass roots political groups and in 1985, joined several other artists in establishing the collective gallery/studio, Axe Street Arena. Housed in an abandoned Golblatt’s department store in Logan Square (Chicago), Axe Street members strove, according to Koehnline, to “explore the place where art and politics meet”. Koehnline utilized the seemingly unlimited space at Axe Street for delving into a long run of monotype print making (the press being a gift from Bouras) and crafting his “Chaos Papers.” The later being marbled paper he created with brilliant printing inks in a fashion similar to the Japanese Suminagashi, the volitile inks allowed to drift reactively across vats of water, stirred into swirls and patterns by chemical tensions and earthly vibrations and the subway below. While living and working at Axe Street Arena, Koehnline met Ron Sakolsky, music critic, anarchist and professor at Sangamon University (Illinois) at the Conference of the Alliance for Cultural Democracy. Years later, in Seattle, the pair edited the book, ”Gone to Croatan: the Origins of North America Drop Out Culture, ” published by Autonomedia (New York) in 1993, the same year the two set anarchists politics aside, in order that Koehnline could marry, with Sakolsky presiding over, or rather, pronouncing the vows complete. When questioned about why an anarchist would embrace legal matrimony, Koehnline, paraphrasing Wendell Barry, claimed,”I decided to be happy, though I had considered all the facts.” Back at Axe Street Arena, Koehnline currated two mail art shows. The first show, “The Haymarket Centennial International Mail Art Exhibition,” explored the Haymarket Massacre, labor issues and the history of May Day, with entries from nearly 50 countries. The result was a catalog called, “Panic,” which evolved into several issues. Through this event Koehnline became acquainted with Hakim Bey for whom he has created several book covers and came to befriend members of the New York based publishing collective, Autonomedia. Having become involved with mail art projects initiated outside of the collective and falling into zine culture.
Still living and working at Axe Street, emeshed in zine culture, Koehnline took a position as a librarian. The bounty of visual material at his fingertips and the zine world ready for output, Koehnline became a prolific cut and paste collagist.
James Koehnline
MUNDOVIBES: You site surrealism as a principle influence. Can you elaborate on how it impacted your work?
JAMES KOEHNLINE: The primary influence on my early life was my father, William Koehnline. An educator (from English Lit professor to college president, now retired), his twin passions are modern literature and art, especially surrealism. I grew up surrounded by the work of Max Ernst, Magritte, Matta, Escher, Breton, Artaud, Borges, Ionesco, etc. The house was filled with art and books. Whenever he told me I was too young to read something, I took it as a challenge. Early on, my love of surrealism just seemed natural extension of love of fantasy and nonsense literature. By the time I reached adolescence in the mid-to-late sixties, I was trying my hand at creating my own far-out drawings, writings and sound collage. The sound collages were inspired by hearing a few John Cage compositions, and by The Beatles’ “Revolution #9”. I also recorded my “poetry”, much of which was created by the Tristan Tzara method of cutting up miscellaneous articles, throwing them in a box and pulling them out at random. While I had always enjoyed Max Ernst’s collages, I didn’t really get turned-on by collage until I discovered the posters and art books of San Francisco artist, Satty, around 1970. I’d have to say he was the main inspiration for my own collage-making, which began about ten years later. In the interim I did a lot of painting, drawing and printmaking, as well as experimental animated films and elaborate low-fidelity sound collages. At the most extreme I was running three trashed cassette recorders and two reel-to-reel machines with one long loop of tape running through both of them, one recording and one playing back. In 1976 I made the acquaintance of members of the Chicago Surrealist Group, just in time to hang out with them for the duration of their fabulous World Surrealist Exhibition. By that time I was also a huge fan of those masters of comedy, sound collage and pop surrealism, the Firesign Theater. So these are themes that have been running through my life from the beginning.
MV: Your work reflects the fragmentation of culture and ageneral breaking down of “reality”. Is this a proper interpretation?
JK: I think that’s on target. While many elements of traditional religion and culture continue to exert great influence on large segments of humanity, I think it is fair to say that the developed world has strayed a long way from the context in which these traditions were rooted. We force an uneasy fit by constantly rewriting the definitions of the relevant terms we use to explain ourselves to ourselves. The narratives of our lives tend to be awkward assemblages of poorly understood cliches that fall apart under close scrutiny. And so we have America’s love of polls to help us know who we are. We are told that we believe, without a shred of evidence, that Saddam was behind the 9/11 attacks, that UFOs are extraterrestrial visitors and that the Rapture is just around the corner. As Orwell said in 1984, our historical consciousness barely extends beyond last week’s lottery numbers. Collage is a way of taking these shards and fragments, the throwaways of our culture of consumption, and attempting to build new realities and to resanctify our devalued world. I try to build marvelous and mysterious shrines out of trash and worn-out treasures, a kind of do-it-yourself religion.
Autonomedia's Calendar of Jubilee Saints, which Koehnline illustrates
MV: Did you have any magical or psychedelic visions or experiences as a youth or later that influenced your work?
JK: From childhood I was fascinated with dreams and fantasy (which is not necessarily escapist, as it can be a means for confronting the things that are too painful to face in reality ), and loved playing with thought experiments (like imagining I had just been planted in this body, with all of its memories, so who am I really?). As a teenager and young adult I did more than my share of psychedelics. Now that I’m older I find that I can access other worlds and perspectives through the exercise of active imagination, and that life throws me into plenty of altered states — high, low and otherwise — without need for regular recourse to chemical means.
MV: Collage seems to be your most resonant medium. What is it about collage that you find appealing?
JK: After years of drawing, painting, printmaking, etc., I turned to collage in the mid-eighties, partly because I found it very satisfying for reasons I’ve mentioned, and partly because I got involved in zine culture. I found that with only a scalpel and access to a copy machine, I could get my work published in countless periodicals all over the world.
Suddenly I had an audience for my work. I figured I’d move on to other things when I was ready. I did black and white collages for five or six years, then tried to go pro and did color work for book covers, CD covers and magazines for about five years. Then I got a computer and a scanner and explored digital collage for a few years. In the last three years I’ve been moving my work into Time (animation & motion graphics) and space (3D, XYZ space).
MV: Collage is very similar to the musical production technique of sampling, in that it repeats found pieces to create something anew. Is this something you have ever thought of?
JK: Absolutely! As I already described, I was doing sound collage long before I started attacking images with a scalpel. As a kid I spent countless hours with an old reel-to-reel recorder and tape loops of all lengths, some stretching all the way across my room.
Any kind of found sound was fair game – TV, radio, a microphone hanging out my window. My collection of loops was a kind of vocabulary. The number of things I could say with that vocabulary was infinite. It’s code, language and a kind of alchemy. In the late 70s and early 80s I did some radio work (WZRD, Chicago) and was in a band (The Burden of Friendship). While we sometimes attempted to make music, in the conventional sense, sound collage was really our thing. We also held a series of recording sessions in an old steel pipe factory that was in the process of being shut down. We’d invite all of our friends to meet us there in the middle of the night and we’d turn the whole place into a “musical” instrument, creating tons of source material for later collages.
In the beginning I didn’t give much thought as to why I found collage so satisfying, but after I’d been at it a couple of years, I read The Third Mind, by William Burroughs and Brian Gysin. In that book they document their cut-up experiments in literature and the visual arts. The third mind is a kind of mysterious intelligence that emerges when you cut-up others people’s works (the first mind) and rearrange them by some combination of accident and intuition (the second mind). It seemed a perfect explanation to me. Ever since then I have felt that part of what I’m doing is seeking access to that sort of alien intelligence. Sounds a little crazy, but it is fun to look at it that way.
MV: Your use of symbolism in your work is very dense. What is the significance of these symbols?
JK: That’s a big question, so I’ll just answer it in a general way. Every image is capable of arousing diverse and often conflicting associations in the mind of the beholder. Even when the artist attempts to create realistic, representational art, the result is rife with signs and symbols and associations. There is no escape from it. Image is symbol. The density of my imagery, which some would say I take too far, is a representation of my quest to make meaning and beauty, order and harmony, out of the infinite chaos within. The process is a combination of the conscious, intentional and rational, and the unconscious, intuitive and accidental. The overall significance of the result is up to the viewer.
Gone to Croatan
MV: Does your work question our idea of “reality” or reveal another one which lies beneath the surface?
JK: Yes. We all inhabit multiple realities, however hard we try to believe that there is a single narrative to tell the story of ourselves. “Consensus Reality” is merely the lowest common denominator, and as such is dumber and more banal than any one of us.
MV: You studied and apprenticed with the artist Harry Bouras. Tell us about your relationship with him.
JK: Harry was a star of the Chicago art scene in the 50s, He was at the center of a group of rising stars (known as the “Harry Who”), one of founders of Chicago’s Columbia College, a major art and culture critic, and a teacher. Every few years he’d gather a new crop of promising young artists around him and try to help them on their way. I met Harry at Columbia in the late 70s and continued to benefit from his expansive mind, off and on, until he died in 1990. He had an amazing talent for coaxing a world of meaning out of even the simplest thing he turned his attention to. He did his best to set us all on our way to success in the art world.
MV: Would you say your vision is apocalyptic or prophetic?
JK: I wouldn’t say my vision is apocalyptic, in spite of the horror of the Bush years. As for prophetic, that’s not for me to say. In spite of all the hellish developments of our time, I remain hopeful. In spite of the chaos and confusion that abounds in my work, I see it as spiritual, at times even worshipful (in the make-your-own religion sense).
MV: Is your work a reflection of an inner state and if so what is it?
JK: Infinite Chaos, sublime bliss, fear and loathing and all the rest. A reflection of our “interesting” times and my own middle age, marriage, thoughts of having a child before it is too late, etc. I used to think poverty and marginality were romantic, but there are too many things I want to do in this life to let that thought become a cage.
MV: Do you have any particular philosophy that you express with your work?
JK: Ontological Anarchism and do-it-yourself religion.
MV: Can you tell us about your fanzine work and why this culture is so important?
JK: I confess I’ve pretty much lost touch with the zine Scene in recent years, but it was extremely important to me, especially in the 80s, as an entry into non-local communities based on common interests. I especially enjoyed being a part of zines like Beyond the Fringe, Dharma Combat and The Moorish Science Monitor, where the readers were all contributors. These days I get the same sort of community from emailing lists and homegrown Web sites, but zines still serve the same purpose. Everyone can be a publisher. Anyone can get published. Both are vitally important in this age of hyper-consolidation and monopolistic control of the mainstream media.
MV: Apart from fanzine culture, you’ve also been involved in the marijuana liberation front.
What are your feelings about it now?
While I’ve always felt that prohibition is a cruel absurdity that supports organized crime and government corruption, and ruins hundreds of lives for every one it saves, I didn’t really get involved in the activist end of things until I got to know Vivian McPeak a few years ago. Vivian is the powerhouse behind Seattle Hempfest, the largest and one of the oldest events of its kind in the country. He is also one of the most tireless and effective activists around here in any number of very worthy causes, and an all-around inspiring person. When I saw the kind of energy he puts into his projects, I couldn’t help but lend a hand. Somebody should give the guy a lifetime achievement award (though he’s younger than I am). When I started doing promo material for Hempfest, I did a tremendous amount of research on the subject of prohibition, and everything I learned just further convinced me that the whole thing is an evil sham.
MV: You’ve worked extensively with the publishing collective Autonomedia, creating cover art for Hakim Bey’s “Temporary Autonomous Zone” and developing their Caldendar of Jubilee Saints. Why this particular group and how does your work fit in with their vision?
JK: In 1985 some friends and I opened a collectively-run gallery and performance space (The Axe Street Arena, with studios and living space for nine people) in an old department store building in the Logan Square neighborhood of Chicago. The first exhibition I curated there (along with my friend, Ron Sakolsky) was an international mail art show to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Haymarket Affair. Of all the entries we received from around the world, my personal favorite was from Hakim Bey. I wrote him to tell him so, and thus began our collaboration. We found that his writings and my collages were a good match and worked on a lot of projects together, such as the Astral Convention in Antarctica and the 5A Project (Autarchic Asteroids of Aten, Apollo and Amor – Homeland for Marginals in Outer Space). He introduced me to the Moorish Orthodox Church (one of the great DIY religions), and I’ve been a member ever since. In those days I was working as a librarian and I did a lot of serious historical research for Hakim (some of which ended up as Ron’s and my book, Gone to Croatan: Origins of North American Drop-Out Culture, which may have a sequel soon).
We’d been collaborating for several years when Hakim collected his shorter writings in the book, T.A.Z., so I was the obvious choice for the cover art. That was my first work for Autonomedia. Jim Fleming and Hakim next proposed that I put together a book of some of my best black and white collages – Magpie Reveries. Soon after my wife, Andi, and I moved to Seattle in 1991, I came up with the idea for the Autonomedia Calendar of Jubilee Saints (Radical Heroes for the New Millennium! Every day a Holiday! No popes, no heads of state), a wall calendar with a book’s worth of text, that serves as a kind of spiritual family tree for iconoclasts and radicals. The collective loved the idea and the first one came out in 1992. Originally envisioned as a ten year project, it now doubles as the Autonomedia catalog and continues to be published each year. Autonomedia is simply the most interesting small publisher in the country, and it has been my great pleasure to play a part in their brave and decidedly non-commercial pursuit of Truth, Justice and Un-American activities.
MV: You’ve awork extensively with Bill Laswell’s Axiom records. How did your association with Axiom Records begin?
JK: Shortly after I moved to Seattle, Bill tracked me down. I wasn’t familiar with his work at the time, but he was very excited by Hakim Bey’s writings, and loved the work I was doing for Autonomedia. Once I started listening to what he was doing, I never stopped, although I did stop trying to keep up with all of it a long time ago. The man is just too prolific He commissioned me to do a cover for Bahia Black: Ritual Beating System, and so began another long and rewarding relationship. I have done 18 CD covers for him at last count.
MV: Did you collaborate with Bill Laswell on the concept?
JK: Generally, I would get working tapes of projects in their early stages, and create covers based on the music and suggestions from musicians and crew. I was quite gratified when told that in a few cases my art had shaped the final form of the music. Along the way, a few track titles were mine as well.
MV: What is the role of art in representing music? Should it be considered an interpretation of the music or a separate element?
JK: I tend to think of the two elements as part of a unified whole, but quite a few of my covers were created before the project existed, and chosen by Bill as a good match. Of course, with CD covers, the main thing is to get people to listen to the music, so you want to evoke the feel of the best elements of the music in the artwork.
MV: How has your work evolved and what has influenced it more recently?
JK: I feel a little reluctant to admit it, but the biggest influence on my work in the last three years has been my evolving digital toolbox and my abilities in using the tools. In 2000 I went back to school to study the new multimedia tools now available. I stayed for two years and I’ve been out for half a year, still trying to master all of these tools. I studied film, animation and optical printing twenty-some years ago, and nearly everything I learned then is obsolete. When I was a little kid I had a recurring dream about a magical black box with infinite possibilities for creative fun, combining all of the tools of all of the arts in one compact little toolbox. Now it is sitting on my desk, chock-full of so many tools that I’ll never know what some of them are. It can be a little intimidating, but I’m having fun.
MV: Your work has become much more seamless and computer-generated. Would you describe this transition?
JK: I avoided computers like the plague for years, but I always had friends who kept me up to date on the state of the digital arts. In 1995, I decided that the technology had reached the point where the new possibilities outweighed my objections, and I took the plunge. Thus began a torturous two years of transition, during which time I often felt that the machine was sucking the life out of me. I had spent ten years using basically one tool, a scalpel, to create my art. Suddenly I had way more tools than I knew what to do with, and the ridiculous notion that I wouldn’t be able to really make my own art with them until I had learned them all. Luckily I got over that, and although I sometimes feel like smashing the machine and going back to canvas and brushes, for the most part I find that the machine serves me, now, instead of the other way around.
MV: What are your current projects?
JK: Creatively my main focus is animation and motion graphics. I’ve made hundreds of short experimental movies, still growing into these new dimensions of time and space. Strangely the main thing lacking in these explorations is audio. I learned a lot about new audio tools in school, and I have done some sound collage and voice work, but I find I’m much more interested in the visuals, so I’m anxious to find new collaborators, maybe do some music videos and animated shorts.
Clara Hill has been a seminal figure in the urban-electronic-soul scene since her teens. A the tender age of 17 the musically inclined artist founded the acid jazz combo Superjuice with her friend Funès. The duo gained a following in Berlin’s many dance clubs, laying the foundation for Hill’s forward-leaning sound. During these years, Clara made her first steps in live music and at one of her shows, had a fortuitous meeting with DJ Alex Barck of Jazzanova. This would be one of the most important of Hill’s career. The two became friends and in 1998 he introduced her to the producers of Extended Spirit (2/6 of Jazzanova): Stefan Leisering and Axel Reinemer, who were taken aback by Hill’s soothing vocals. Leisering produced one of her first professional songs, “No Use,” which would end up on Jazzanova’s landmark “In Between” album. Good fortune seemed to match Hill’s talents and her musical output took off with a number of new projects including her group Stereoton, a band that was rooted in hip hop but played with jazz elements. Hill also collaborated on several tracks with Berlin based singer Georg Levin including his hit “(I Got) Somebody New”, that was remixed by Masters Of Work.
All the while, Hill’s voice was strenghtening and maturing as were her song writing abilities, leading to the realization of her goal to record a full length solo album. In 2004 Hill released “Restless Times, a collection of reflective songs featured over the dreamy, deep house productions of Leisering and Reinemer (known together as Extended Spirit) as well as her old friend Funès. With “Restless Times” Hill’s great soul voice caught the attention of some of the genre’s most reputable artists, including Vikter Duplaix, Atjazz, and King Britt. Hill took advantage of this internation recognition by collaborating with these artists resulting in some velvety deep soul tracks like ‘Nowhere I Can Go, with Atjazz, ‘Paper Chase’ with Vikter Duplaix and ‘Did I Do Wrong’ with King Britt.
On her second album “All I Can Provide”, released in 2006 Hill took her collaborations a step further, working with the créme of clubland´s soul and jazz knob twisters. The result is a personal and very mature album, full of great songs, sensuous moods and complex emotions. All I Can Provide furthered Hill’s vocal journeys while mirroring various musical styles like deep house and boogie, jazz ballads as well as folk oriented songs.
Fast forward to 2007 and Hill has a number of additional collaborations on her growing resume, is busy touring the world and is releasing her third full length album “Sideways” as CLARA HILL’S FOLKWAVES. For this project she crafted 10 delicious acoustic-based and folk-oriented songs highlighting perfectly her passionate and rapturous voice.
The result is a recollection of neo-folk tunes in a very calm and slightly jazzy orchestration. She also left some space for very pure guitar and strings melodies in a sensuous atmosphere and invited her friends of JAZZANOVA and EXTENDED SPIRIT, as well as singer/song writer THIEF and NATHAN AMUNDSON from RIVULETS as male singers on the album. “Sideways” is a magnificent album full of enough emotional peaks and valleys to satisfy even the most temperamental music lover. This new phase in her artistic life will please her most faithful fans and will pave the way for the Sonar Kollektiv crew in its new adventures in folk music. which will be a departure from her past collaborations and will be Hill at her most intimate and personal (thanks to Soul Seduction for this last paragraph –ed.)
Mundovibes was fortunate to catch up with her in this exclusive e-mail interview just prio to the relase of “Sideways”.
MUNDOVIBES: You have been singing and creating music since you were in your teens and at the age of 17 you founded the band Superjuice. What inspired you to create music at such a young age?
CLARA HILL: Me and a good friend of mine we were writing a lot of songs. At this time we realized this kind of music/sound was not around in Berlin. We were listening to many Berlin- live-bands but we both were not satisfied with that matter of fact that the sound we loved to listen to were hard to find in berlin. (except the sound of early jazzanova music)
Short: at this time we thought our songs where nice and brilliant and we had to play on stages…in front of a real audience.
MV: Fate seems to have been on your side, since you became friends with Jazzanova’s Alex Barck while touring. How has that first meeting with Barck and your relationship with Jazzanova directed and impacted your career?
CH: I just can say that i´m still thankful. Jazzanova was and still is a big inspiration for me. making music together with Jazzanova was a dream of mine since I´m 17 years old. And it came true when I was 21 producing NO USE with Stefan Leisering from jazzanova. I´ve learned a lot about music and making music while working with Stefan and Alex. And a positive side-effect for me was that they had many useful connections around the world.
MV: You have also had a long standing relationship with Berlin’s Sonar Kollektiv, which is one of the leading dance and soul labels. How is it to be part of this “family”
CH: It´s still a special feeling working inside of this “family”. Sonar Kollektiv is still a label which never stands still. It constantly changing and breathing. And that´s very important for me – very important and helpful for my music that grows everytime.
MV: Jazzanova have played a big role in shaping a new urban sound, much like producers of previous eras. What impact do you feel that they have had on the music you create?
CH: As I already said before, they influenced and inspired me. I also wanted to make music which is modern, fresh and at the same time timeless. Sometimes they were like teachers for me…cause in my opinion they already did so many experiences.
MV: Your first full length record “Restless Times” was produced by Extended Spirit and Funes. How did this recording come together? What concepts and experiences influenced its songs?
CH: To record a solo album, was my first goal. This special morning in 2001 I felt that “now” is the right time to make an album. To make my dream come true i chose those producers with whom i had already worked earlier. Jazzanova /Extended Spirit and friends of mine. The concept was to make fresh, contemporary but timeless songs…with many choirs within. Sounds simple but we wanted to create deep music, deep electronic — sometimes “rough” sounds — in combination with a “soft” and sweet-soulvoice.
Jazzanova’s Alexander Barck. Photo by Fabien Vouillon.
Five tracks from “Restless Times” I produced and arranged with three friends (i.e. Funès, with whom I already worked and with Stereoton´s drummer and DJ). The remaining seven tunes of the album were written, recorded and produced with Stefan Leisering and Axel Reinemer from Jazzanova, 2002-2004.
MV: “Restless Times” introduced your talents to an international audience. Were you surprised by the reaction to it?
CH: Yes, I was surprised! I never expected such a kind of good feedback. That was the reason why i was inspired to make a second album. the feedback was a kind of new impulse.
MV: The follow-up to “Restless Times”, “All I Can Provide” features collaborations with a number of leading producers. Why did you choose to do it this way, as opposed to working with just one team?
CH: First i had the idea to make a kind of compilation-album inviting different producers to work with me. (Like Ursula Rucker does before) Cause I wanted to make new musical experiences. I was curious how it would be to work with other producers from the scene.
It was a great challenge getting all these very good musicians together and bring them all on one album. Had no idea how it would be to work with so many different people. But it worked! Because all the producers I have invited and worked with speak the same “musical language”!
MV: With two full length records behind you, you are firmly established as an artist. How do you feel about your career at this point?
CH: I feel accepted but I´m not satisfied…I can´t stop making music. cant stop expressing myself that way. I believe I have to make more experiences to gain more range of my musical languages. That is why I had to make a new album…my third album…coming out in September. After working two years on “all I can provide” I had to make something fresh. it was the right time for a change.
MV: Love and relationships are major themes in your music. What is it about these subjects that inspires you?
CH: Past and present main influence is the feeling of the “unfulfilled yearning” of love. Love or relationships or friendships are themes within the most intense feelings. Intensive feelings: in positive or negative ways. Love includes hate and happiness, mourning and pain. Love includes everything. Open topic. And I like to write about that.
MV: How do your songs form and take shape?
CH: Mostly I got the instrumental-sketches at first. If the sketch is good it inspires me to write a melody or voice-harmonies…and with the melody the words are coming. Then I write a story around the words. Later I do the vocal arrangements by myself…most of the time. i have to be in a special calm atmosphere/mood. “the write moment” has to be particular which challenge me to catch the special feeling inside.
MV: Your voice adds a lot of warmth and feeling to the music, which is mainly electronic. It is kind of like the soul in the machine. How do you feel about the juxtaposition of a human voice and electronic music?
CH: I like the combination of warmness and coldness. I prefer to work with contrasts. I like the warm sound of soul (not only a soul-voice. It also can be a typical soul instrument, for instance a Rhodes-piano) in combination with the cold and strange sound of electronic sounds. Sometimes it can be very interesting if you combine a clean warm voice with dirty cold sounds. That is what makes a song so colorful and fresh.
MV: How have you grown as an artist over the years? how has your vocal style evolved?
CH: I think now I can be more relaxed because i´ve learned so many things. And I can imagine that you can hear that in my voice. Now I can trust myself more and more ´cause I know what is good for me and my music.
MV: Would you ever want to work in a more traditional “band” setting with live instrumentation?
CH: That´s what I already do! Since I have my new “all I can provide band” I´m working with live instruments. And for my forthcoming album I also chose live instrumentations to translate my musical concept behind that album. We have a drummer, a lot of guitars, bass, keys and sampler/ laptop beside some electronic sounds.
MV: How does your “live” performance differ from producing music in the studio?
CH: As I said before, I tried to mirror the width of the full productions. that’s the reason I founded this band with a drummer, bass,synthesizer +rhodes, laptop and for the new band plus a guitar. if you do a performance with a band you have more energy. that´s what I found out again…(it´s like in the past when I had my own band.) Beside of that I´m also performing my live-pa set with a DJ.
MV: Collaboration plays a big part in your music. What makes collaborating interesting for you?
CH: When I was 17years old I always worked with one person. That was OK but I had to make steps into the future. In my opinion it is good to work with many musicians to make many experiences and get new inspirations.(sure, it depends on with whom you work!) It can be a special phase in your life. And making experiences means you can develop yourself and get more structure and character. But for the last album I just worked with a small team to keep the intimate and creative athmosphere of the music.
MV: What is it like to live in Berlin right now? How does the city influence and inspire you?
CH: I just can say that berlin is a very creative town. In the part of Berlin where I live you can find many artist, musicians and students. That´s a very inspiring atmosphere. It makes me feel free. But when i´m writing my songs I have to be alone and it has to be very quite.
MV: There is a great intimacy in your vocal style which ranges from soothing to vulnerable. Do you sense this as you are writing and performing?
CH: No, not really. Cause sometimes I don’t want to sing in a smooth and intimate way. But it seems to be a kind of “trademark”…but i never influence it.
MV: Trends in music all constantly changes and there is always a “new” sound. How do you keep up with this ever evolving state of music?
CH: As I said, I try to keep up with that…but try to keep my own style…no matter if it fits to what is hip or not. But I think it is important tobe well informed. It is good to know what most of the people are listen to…it´s a kind of orientation.
MV: There is a cosmic side to your music, with the spacey sounds such as those heard in “For Your Love”. Is there a connection with jazz from the 60s and 70s here?
CH: Sure there is. My music comes from listening to soul-jazz music from the 70s, jazz folk pop from the 60s and boogie and house tunes from the 80s/90s. These directions you can find in my music.
MV: What do you think of some of the new folk sounds that are coming out now? Is this inspiring to you?
CH: Yes it was…but before the sound came out. When i was 16years old i was listening to grunge music and a lot of guitar music. Today i go back to these roots. I rediscovered the guitar music for me. That´s the reason I wrote the last album: clara hill´s folkways: sideways which is a musical sideproject.
MV: How do you want your listeners to react to your music? How do you see them connecting with it?
CH: For me it´s always important to see: how music is moving people. I would like people to be open for my music. I would like to see people are listening to my music when they are outside, travelling, sitting in the car (because of the special mood) or dancing and also when they are at home, when they are quite, deep and relaxed.
…and then the hidden tracks will wake them up.
MV: What are the challenges of creating your music, both with your vocals and working with music that is very complex?
CH: My biggest challenge is to break new musical grounds. The thing is, not to stop that process and keep the passion. And i always want to touch souls with my sound of music. which is the combination of my voice, words and production.
MV: What are the challenges in fitting your voice and lyrics to a producer’s music? How do you improvise in this context?
CH: I´m mostly co-produce my songs. which means i always say what sounds i would like to have and which directions i want to go. So there is no need to improvise in this context.
MV: The majority of your songs would are slow to mid-tempo. Is this where you feel your music works best?
CH: I don’t know. On “restless times” the focus was on mid-tempo songs. On “All I can provide” I wanted to sing on more clubby and boogie tunes. I just can say that I prefer to work on different musical styles. Otherwise it would get boring for me, probably. I don’t want to define my style…when i´m writing music I just want to reflect the current phase of my life.
MV: Who are some of your inspirations today?
CH: Musical inspirations: these days i´m listening to Nick Drake, Linda Perhacs, Beck, Beatles and Rolling Stones again
MV: Are you frustrated by the lack of exposure to bigger audiences for your music?
CH: I´m not frustrated. I already played for 30 and 1000 people. And “Rome wasn´t built in a day”…
MV: What are your feelings on the U.S. audience, which is huge but exactly in tune with what is going on in Europe?
CH: This march was the first time when i played for U.S audience. I really enjoyed it. In Miami the people were singing “NO USE” together with me…nice! I´m looking forward to play more concerts in the states. I hope there will be a small U.S tour with the forthcoming album.
MV: There will be a new full length soon. What can we expect? Are you collaborating with any one you can tell us about?
CH: As I said before…for the new album i didn´t make big collaborations. Cause this time I wanted to keep this personal and intimate feeling. For this album i wrote 8 songs. You will listen to 10 folk-songs including electronic sounds and natural guitar songs…songs which are direct and pure. I knew exactly how to create the sound for this album. I worked with marc mac and extended spirit and sung with rivulets and sascha Gottschalk from Thief. A small team and friends I know for a long time.
Originally published in IPSO FACTO magazine, Issue 7. 1989. Editor and Publisher: John C. Tripp
RE/Search Publications is an independent, underground publishing house known for its provocative and intellectually stimulating exploration of the fringes of culture, music, art, and alternative lifestyles. Founded by V. Vale and Andrea Juno in the 1980s, RE/Search quickly became synonymous with a raw, unfiltered approach to documenting subcultures, from industrial music and avant-garde art to countercultural movements and alternative ideologies. The press carved out a unique niche by giving voice to non-mainstream creators and thinkers, and in the process, contributed to shaping the intellectual and cultural landscape of the late 20th and early 21st centuries.
One of RE/Search’s most notable contributions to the exploration of underground music and culture is its groundbreaking series of books that merge oral history with deep, immersive exploration of countercultures. Titles such as Industrial Culture Handbook and Modern Primitives stand out for their fearless and honest portrayal of communities and movements that had long been marginalized or misunderstood by mainstream media.
Using an interview format, RE/Search’s V. Vale and Andrea Juno provide a forum for the investigation and analysis of sub-cultural phenomena. Using their own interests as the basis of the research, the two assume the role of documentarians, giving meaning to such enigmatic subjects as industrial culture, pranks and modern day adornment and ritual.
The two are modern day alchemists — assembling seemingly disparate elements into a cohesive form that becomes an issue of RE/Search. The process isn’t easy though. Beginning with a general focus, Juno and Vale spend months fine-tuning their vision before a text emerges.
V. Vale, the co-founder and editor of RE/Search Publications, is a writer, artist, and publisher whose passion for documenting subcultures and artistic movements has made him a key figure in the underground publishing world. Vale’s previous involvement with Search & Destroy, a punk fanzine he founded in the late 1970s, laid the foundation for RE/Search’s unique approach to documenting countercultures. His eclectic interests and dedication to chronicling alternative scenes made him an ideal editor for a press that aimed to preserve the voices of outsiders and nonconformists.
Andrea Juno, a close collaborator and co-editor at RE/Search, brought a complementary vision to the table. A writer and activist, Juno was instrumental in shaping the direction of the press, particularly when it came to themes of personal liberation, body autonomy, and alternative lifestyles. Juno’s influence helped the press maintain its focus on empowering voices that had often been overlooked or dismissed by mainstream culture.
Having sold their typesetting business, Juno and Vale are now full-time publishers. The most recent RE/Search, Modern Primitives has been their most successful. They were interviewed at their San Francisco office and home, immersed in yet another project, a reissue of Daniel P. Mannix’ Freaks: We Who Are Not Others. The next RE/Search, now in its most preliminary stages, will be on music and will be released sometime in the Fall.
John Tripp: What were your motives initially to publish?
V. Vale: I started Search and Destroy in the Spring of ’77 and that was simply to document what was emergent rebel youth culture, which became known as punk rock. Because it was really much more complex and interesting than most people think. So, I did that until ’79 but then I quit going out to clubs and I still liked the idea of publishing, but the question was to publish what?
Search and Destroy basically had a lot of interviews with bands, although it did have interviews with Burroughs and Ballard, Russ Meyers, John Waters. In 1980 I met AJ and with initial backing from Rough Trade we started RE/Search.
JT: What would you say our Editorial policy was?
Andrea Juno: Well, it was very quickly formed because we did the first book in ’81. In the early days it was that undiluted expression of whatever we liked – unfettered creativity and vision. We didn’t really know exactly what we were doing.
V. Vale: Yeah, we didn’t really know exactly what we were doing but we were doing it. It was named RE/Search and we were making it a research project, i.e. to find out about something we were interested in. Actually our early tabloids are the seeds for a lot of themes.
AJ: It started off with basic philosophical themes: one of them is the surrealistic reverence for the imagination. What is it to be a human being in this society? It’s to really fight against the sort of sterility of a job and everyone needs to have that ability right now to be able to find out what this elusive thing is that is in your own identity. Those were the things we sort of thought everybody should try to do.
VV: Surrealism gave us a whole new set of values initially.
AJ: The Situationists were really important to us then too, and Burroughs. We had an amalgam of influences that we were trying to synthesize and organize. Especially in 1980 when we witnessed the breakdown of a nice packaged underground that was just ready there for the plucking and that’s why they demised Search and Destroy. That’s why those guys decided to stop interviewing musicians and going to clubs anymore. And it’s ten years later and it hasn’t changed. The avant-garde that is avant-garde now is the exact same avant-garde as 1979. Now that’s scary, things that are avant-garde now, something like Negativland, being the same for ten years. There’s something a bit scary about the cessation of a generation.
VV: It’s like all these young bands that are tracing over the archetypes that were established a decade ago. In fact some of the things like Neubauten that came about in an industrialist phase were tracings of futurist theory.
AJ: But there’s a big difference between going from the futurists and then having a generation or a group of people rediscover something and making it new for that time. There’s something quite different about having it never have gone from the ’80s to the ’90s – those things have never gone away, never have even come to be either camp or discarded to be rediscovered again, but just a flat line. It’s almost like a necropolis.
JT: Is it just because of the whole state of things?
VV: This whole post-modern condition of too much information.
AJ: And lack of any synthesis or analysis. That’s what we were trying to do and then it got more and more formative. We never had a credo or dogma, we’ve always tried to resist that. Any of the forms of art or whatever have to always change, so what could’ve been very vital in 1980 perhaps is not now, or vice versa.
VV: We’re just at a time where nothing is meaningful or interesting in itself.
AJ: In our early floundering attempts we would try and synthesize these ideas we had and it truly is a research project. We’re literally researching all of our books, usually through the interview format: discussions, dialogue, great conversations (laughter).
VV: It’s not like we’re interested in everything. There is a certain edge to it, a deep seated kind of social-critical edge.
JT: So, how has it changed now?
AJ: It hasn’t, it’s just evolved. Obviously there is all this new information and new forms that one has to look at. A lot of our basic foundations are still there, it’s just evolved to this form.
VV: I think we’re still engaged in the process of discovering and identifying and analyzing overlooked culture.
AJ: We’re always going to be changing, although I think you have to be more structured now as things get blurrier and blurrier in the outside world.
JT: As RE/Search, you go into something without a great grasp of what it is?
VV: Oh, of course. We’re obviously trying to make up for lost time.
AJ: We make our books, hopefully, accessible to anyone. We’ve always hated elite books, unless if you’ve got a specific function, like a computer book. But our books are for the high and the initiate.
VV: We start with the lowest level of initiation.
AJ: With the Ballard issue, you could be a Ballard fan who’s read every single thing and still find something of value. Or you could be somebody who’s never read a single book. But it’s still never demeaning, we always take the audience as if they were us.
JT: What are the reactions from academia to RE/Search? Have you gotten any feedback?
AJ: We don’t get much feedback from anyone. We do know a lot of academics who do like the book and I’ve met other publishers who claim they really like the book. But who knows? We’re not the people to ask that question.
JT: What do you think of these books that seem to have the same perspective as you?
AJ: I don’t think there are any.
JT: Well, say books like Semiotext(e)
AJ: I’ve met the ZONE people and we, of course, respect their books highly but what they’re doing is on a very different level. It’s something that I don’t even think we’re capable of doing, and vice versa. It’s actually quite complimentary, I’ve met them in New York and they’re very nice.]
JT: I guess what my question is, is there a school that’s emerging here?
AJ: We’re really outside of any academic community, so we wouldn’t know that. Although we do read a lot of theoretical works ourselves. I don’t think as yet there’s any school, at least that we’re part of. Vale and I are fairly isolated.
JT: Do you have problems with that?
VV: No, people come here all the time. We travel once in a while, Vale’s going to Europe.
AJ: We have to travel but we do have a lot of visitors from out of town, but we don’t interact much with the academic or arts world. I don’t really think there’s an academic community that’s that far out there. All the people I know are struggling for some far out idea in the academy are always total outsiders. And the only other “academics” are ZONE and Semiotext(e) and they’re in New York. We respect them very highly, but it’s not like we sit around a coffee table with them. We’re isolated in that we’re workaholics, but there’s some amazing people that either seep up, or we seek out.
VV: But it’s a pretty simple life really – we mostly just stay at home.
JT: How do you generate ideas?
AJ: With Incredibly Strange Films it was a friend that turned us on. There’s always rare and weird pockets of discovery that are very outside of the art world. There’s not an art world of pranks or modern primitives, we always find something that’s within our interests and we’ve made it into a sort of synthesis.
JT: I’ve seen Modern Primitives quoted as a movement. How do you react to what you cover then being viewed as a movement because you’ve presented it as that, purposely or not?
AJ: This is the whole thing of labels creating the movement.
VV: “Industrial culture”
AJ: Exactly. There really wasn’t any until that book came out, and all of a sudden there was a whole movement.
VV: The book was late, four years after the fact.
AJ: We ended it with a picture of a dead horse, that was our only in joke. It was a photo Bobby Adams took in Mexico of this dead horse on the road. But there’s always that thing of when you label something, and that can be the big problem and it can be encrusted in dogma and suddenly there’s this label. But there’s always that push-pull of whether you want to label it and maybe destroy the creativity.
VV: We don’t see anything hipper about tracing over early industrial noise music as opposed to bland pop. It’s the same thing and yet people consider one to be avant-garde, but we don’t see it that way.
JT: Maybe it’s because it’s not Top 40. As long as it remains on one level it’s always considered…
VV: The cachet of hipness.
AJ: Yeah, and I think that right now everything’s been breaking down and even the labels of what is commercial are really getting blended. Almost the preciousness of the avant-garde has nearly gone full circle to being blatantly commercial, almost the commodification of rareness, the hipness of not being blatantly commercial. Now you have a whole revolution in east, and it’s a revolution to shop.
JT: What will be the subject of the next RE/Search?
AJ: Music is next but it’s going to be about 6 months and we don’t like to talk about it. There’s a lot of exploration there, and right now we’re in that organic process of trying to figure out what the hell what the hell we’re doing. We have our ideas but those are the big things. And now it’s sort of filling in the picture and what we have to do is just talk and talk with all these people and things start coming into focus. It’s real exciting and we get a theme gong and it doesn’t really get culled together until just when we’re about ready to lay the thing out or send it to press. It’s kind of exciting because it really is like going into a darkroom after you’ve just exposed an image and seeing what comes off. And it’s very slow — it’s not like we start out with an outline like the bigger presses. If you want to write a book for Random House you’d better go in with a proposal and know exactly what you’re doing. Our way is the meandering way.
JT: It’s probably more exciting and makes it more spontaneous.
AJ: It allows you spontaneity, although we are very structured in what we ultimately want. We know what doesn’t fit, we know what to reject.
VV: We want something exceptional.
JT: In what way do you want to address the subject of music?
AJ: I think memory is one of the most important things right now to grapple with. A friend of mine actually wrote this article on lobotomy as a symbol of our age and memory. I think that memory right now is really very crucial and the fact that we remember nothing, and it is sort of a lobotomized age of images floating through with absolutely no memory and analysis of the past.
And it’s getting worse and worse. This newer generation of musicians has absolutely no memory of the fact that even 20 years ago, 10 years ago, there was similar stuff but was far more fresh and had a whole set of historical contexts and ideas. So in a certain sense you have to constantly drudge up…
JT: And remind people.
AJ: Yeah, the reminder factor and then sort of update it for now. You can always be excited about something but there are very different needs right now. It was like that seeing the Residents cause they were wonderful and they were part of a narrative tradition. This is a whole of a story with elemental themes and mythic images.
VV: Iconographics.
AJ: I don’t even know if I’d even want to listen to music out of context. It depends — if it’s past stuff, somehow that seems to work. Almost like my analysis of painting — a great painting of the past has a certain resonance. I can look at that. But when I see modern painting, for some reason I just think it needs the whole. It’s a broken down fragment and it’s no longer feeding the needs of meaning. I’m just trying to formulate this and this is what we’re in the process right now of formulating about music. Right now I think music really needs the visuals and that’s why I always look at soundtracks. Soundtracks for films are really exciting.
VV: With the evolution of western classical music in the last five hundred years the opera was finally it, the complete thing: plot, dialogue, tragedy, rise and fall of character, playing with themes of destiny.
JT: My association with music and visuals would be something like MTV.
VV: It’s very fragmented, very reductive.
AJ: It’s also “what is the music that is being presented.” The contents are obviously a very important factor, what are the visuals of the music that you’re listening to? Although I tend to think that maybe it’s going to be the seeds for something later on, obviously not now. Now it’s just programming and this flat line of response. There’s no crescendos and…
VV: No dynamics.
AJ: Dynamics. Music right now is almost like a flatland. A high level, high noise flatland.
VV: It’s all loud. It so loud that it doesn’t have any loudness anymore.
AJ: Then there’s always these people harping back to folk, like “why not just listen to the old folk music.”
JT: It used to be easy to know what I liked. Now it’s difficult to do that, I have to view it completely differently.
VV: You have to transform all of these formal categories. You can like anything from any formal genre.
AJ: Now it’s actually better because now you can’t have a simplistic cloaking of the music you listen to or the clothes that you wear to define your commitment in life or your identity. So now it’s a lot harder, you really have to know your identity without those superficial trappings and unfortunately a lot of people really get caught into that as we’ve witnessed with several undergrounds and cloakings.
JT: It’s safe.
AJ: But it’s no longer even relevant anymore. Even ten years ago there were certain cues but now there’s absolutely none whatsoever.
JT: That’s what really struck me when I moved to San Francisco, seeing all of these stereotypes walking around and saying “God I thought that was over.”
AJ: We’re known as the petrified forest of the underground ages.
VV: Right, you can see the hippies frozen in time, the punks frozen in time, the beatniks.
AJ: It’s like taking a core sample, we’re kind of one of those famous geological areas.
JT: You just wonder why people get locked in like that, that’s the way their life is defined.
AJ: In the ’60s you had this wonderful bunch of movies with this whole consciousness. You know, the man in the grey flannel suit, and he was empty and he just wanted to kick free and materials things weren’t gong to solve your ills. And people kind of forget, after the ’40s materialism people did really feel this aching.
JT: Maybe that’s what people will realize again in the ’90s.
AJ Well, it was a really large issue in the ’60s what’s weird is how very quickly people forget and how it gets recycled in a far more blander, weaker way. It’s really strange to see. And it was also in the ’20s and ’30s. I think each generation gets worse and worse with its forgetfulness of how the past was. It’s remaking the past to a far blander image of what it was like.
Issue 3 of ROAM travel and culture magazine, published by John C. Tripp in New York City. Tripp served as Editor and Art Director/Designer, overseeing all layout, design and production.
Contents: Ernest Ranglin, Anoushka Shankar, NYC music promoters (Organic Grooves, Giant Step, Soundlab, Reyklavik’s Nocturnal Splendor, London Street Markets, Vietnam Emerges Anew, Negril Jamaica, Mali Africa by Jeffery A. Salter, Colombia: the Real Thing, Selling Souls: Consuming the Exotic Other, the Trans-Siberian Railroad, Africa to the Americas: Music of the Diaspora
Video production and editing for Orthos Liquid Systems, a leading innovator in the water, wastewater, advanced, and stormwater treatment industry, featuring selected construction projects from 2023, demonstrating the company’s commitment to excellence and innovation.
Collateral are any materials used in communicating your brand’s message, including flyers, rack cards, brochures, annual reports, signs & banner, proposals, identity materials and more. Tripp Studio can create modern and design-forward collateral for your brand that meets your needs, and addresses your market. Take a look at some of our work, and let us help you on your next project.
Brother Wolf Animal Rescue
Annual report and other collateral materials for this Asheville, NC based animal rescue
Carolinas Animal Hospital
A series of informational handouts for The Carolinas Animal Hospital
Echo Hills Postcards
Promotional postcards for Eco Hills, an eco-friendly development in Asheville, NC
Tripp Studio has extensive experience in the design, editorial and production of print magazines and newsletters. If you’d like us to create your print project get in touch!
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Brother Wolf Animal Rescue Annual Report
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Book: Rose Cherami, Gathering Fallen Petals
Design and production of this 412-page tragic story of Rose Cherami, the mother of author Michael Marcades. Cherami led a notorious life that led to her death on a derted highway. Not before she’d stated that JFK would be assassinated weeks before the event. A riveting book, purchase it at Amazon or directly from the author.
MundoVibe magazine
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Ipso Facto magazine
Ipso Facto was a ground breaking music and culture magazine edited and designed in San Francisco by Tripp Studio’s John C. Tripp. Working with such designers as Steven R. Gilmore, Rex Ray, Tom Bonauro, Ipso Facto was a visually provocative ‘zine. Contents focused on industrial/electronic music, film, photography, fashion and culture.
Tripp Studio’s John C. Tripp served as Editor & Designer of this world & rhythmic music website. MundoVibe garnered an international readership and featured interviews, reviews, news, DJ mixes and more. At its peak, it was read by over 100,000 visitors a month.
Healing Savvy
Asheville, NC’s Healing Savvy is the Clinical Herbal, Nutrition and Health Coaching Practice of Sandi Ford. Tripp Studio worked with Sandi to create a colorful, vibrant and informative website that still looks great.
Beba Luxe Boutique, Charleston
One of Charleston’s most fashion-forward small boutiques, Tripp Studio worked closely with its owner Anita Lucas to create original art that reflected her dreamy, ocean-influenced style.
LIC Bikes
A small, independent bicycle shop in New York City. Sadly, closed for business in 2021.
Promo Imaging
Professional photographer John Fowler, based in Greenville SC.
Grey Rock Inn, Asheville
This historic small inn needed a website that reflected its place in the Asheville community and as a destination for travelers. Tripp Studio took all photography and created all design elements, capturing the inn’s essence with a modern and accessible design that highlights the inn’s affordable rooms, convenient location and environmental stewardship.
Author Joan Mellen
Joan Mellen is the bestselling author of twenty-four books and a retired professor of English and creative writing at Temple University in Philadelphia. Tripp Studio worked closely with Joan in creating a website that was simple, yet bold.
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Roots & Beats
News, arts & culture website covering Asheville, North Carolina.
This is your very first post. Click the Edit link to modify or delete it, or start a new post. If you like, use this post to tell readers why you started this blog and what you plan to do with it.
Asheville Map & Guide can be found at local downtown business or viewed and downloaded for free at Issuu
Downtown Asheville Map and Guide, Holiday 2014 Edition
Downtown Asheville Map & Guide is a handy, neatly designed, fold-out guide to Downtown Asheville. With brief articles, an events calendar, a business directory and a map of downtown, Asheville Map & Guide is an essential tool for navigating downtown Asheville — for locals and tourists alike. Supported by local businesses, with limited ads, it is published by Asheville-based designer John Tripp of John Tripp Design. With previous editions reaching over 10,000 readers, Downtown Asheville Map & Guide has become popular with hip tourists and locals.
The Holiday 2014 edition features a colorful cover, featuring a colorful reindeer decked out in Holiday regalia and in a typically funky Asheville way.
Contents include:
• Map of Downtown Asheville
• Holiday Downtown Events Calendar
• Briefs on Counter Culture Coffee Training Center, Vintage Threads, Where Kids Eat Free, Downtown Drumming and more
• Business Directory to Shops, Restaurants, Bars, Wifi
Downtown Asheville Map & Guide released its first edition in August 2012 and has since put out five additional editions. Designed and Published by Asheville resident, John Tripp of John Tripp Design, the map and guide focuses on downtown Asheville. Its compact and clean fold-out format has been well-received. Its online version has been downloaded nearly 10,000 times.
Connections
By Rose Parfitt
MV: It’s really incredible when you consider how much influence Jamaica has had.
It´s been rumored that New York based Artist-Producer-DJ extraordinaire Jaymz Nylon was born with a stack of vinyl in his hands. Whether it´s true or not, his youthful passion for music led his father to compile young Nylon’s favorite tracks on a tape when he was just 3. Even then Nylon exhibited a deep appreciation for funk and soul and the mix included Fela, Santana, Otis Redding, James Brown, Stevie Wonder, Al Green and a little Samba thrown in by his mother.
BY J.C. TRIPP 
James Koehnline (pronounced KEN-line) is a collage artist whose work has graced many anarchist periodicals & books as well as music CDs; has co-edited a number of books and had his work collected in Magpie Reveries. Designs and edits the yearly Autonomedia Calendar of Jubilee Saints which is also is the thematic core for the Daily Bleed Calendar (now online for some 7+ years); currently resides in Seattle, Washington, worked for some years at Recollection Used Books.
