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Listen: Lola Recommends…

Tuesday, November 24th, 2009

The limited sunlight has most definitely put me into hibernation mode. So far in this period, music has served me well. I’ll be more specific:

1. Coded Language – DJ Krust & Saul Williams

>> Coded Language (Universal/Island, 1999)

>>> What a throwback… Saul Williams seems pretty pissed off on this track. His call to action makes you wanna go and start a revolution. Hard-hitting and dirty. Soooo London.

2. The Cell – Erykah Badu

>> New Amerykah: Part One – 4th World War (Universal/Motown, 2007)

>>> “Momma hopped up on cocaine… Daddy on space ships with no brain…” Any track with lyrics like that is bound to be massive. The contrasting vocals, kitsch production and sheer urgency of the track make me wonder why she is still compared to the likes of crappy neo-soul artists. This song is living proof that Ms. Badu gets better with age.

3. Galaxy – Eddie Henderson

>> Sunburst (Blue Note, 1975)

>>> Jazz. Jazz. Jazz. 1970s: eat your heart out. Very simple stuff yet the trumpet and flugelhorn solos bring a whole new dimension to what would otherwise be boring repetitive loops.

4. Gamma Play – Jeff Mills

>> Blue Potential – Live With Montpellier Philharmonic Orchestra (UWe, 2005)

>>> The original is an undisputed classic but the godfather of Detroit outdid himself when he reversed the concept of techno during this project. Techno is ALL about machines yet this full-blown orchestra brings out the artistry of the composition. Beautiful and elegant. A benchmark for up-coming producers: This is the way to push EDM forward. I thoroughly recommend the DVD.

5. Livin’ in a New Day – Tribe (8)

>> Rebirth (Planet E/Community Projects, 2009)

>>> Woah. How smooth is this track? The bass licks keep things ever-so funky. This is what I call “music to chill to.”

6. Leprechaun’s Dream – Chick Corea

>> The Leprechaun (Polydor, 1976)

>>> Despite the fairytale theme of this concept record, I used to think that the dreamy intro didn’t do justice to the remaining 12mins of the track. This is no longer the case. The tune is somewhat of a tribute to its era. I have to applaud Corea’s intricate arrangement: the sporadic percussion teamed with tricky piano riffs and mulitple horns. Each sub-section is bursting with its own personality, yet everything is just about held together by the airy theme – fusion at its finest.

7. Land of Make Believe – Chuck Mangione

>> Land of Make Believe (Mercury, 1973)

>>> A perfect remedy for the depressing weather. Uplifting flower-power vibes. No instruments are spared on this track (except for guitars). If the Brady Bunch were musicians, this would be their magnum opus. A kind of ‘cha-cha’ sprinkled with some happy-go-lucky-hippy vocals for good measure. Has the tendancy to get slightly ‘prime-time-ish’ but this is to be expected with music in this genre.

Listen: Lola Recommends…

Tuesday, September 29th, 2009

Been on a mellow yet experimental vibe of late. Tune in and digest these dope tracks…* You owe it to your ears and soul:

1. First Weaving (Fifth Thread) – Keith Tippett Tapestry Orchestra

>> Live at Le Mans Festival (Red Eye, 2007)

>>> Melancholic lamentation piece. Beautifully crafted composition with Balkan-esque vocal intervals. Perfectly slow. Was recorded in 1998 but the funding was pulled for its official release. However, it was since released almost 10 years later on the Red Eye indie label.

2. Everything Up (Zizou) – Zero 7

>> Yeah Ghost (Atlantic Records, 2009)

>>> Possibly the 1st single off their new release. Upbeat, Monday-morning, light-hearted s**t. Accelerated folk music but has that perfect balance between trippy sound effects and the usual traditional mood that Zero 7 always seem to pull off so unpretentiously.

3. Chase – Giorgio Moroder

>> Midnight Express – Music from the Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (Casablanca Records, 1978)

>>> Pure 80’s. Futuristic, neon space invaders italo-disco with a little bit of synthesizer-suffocated gayness. Classic.

4. Platinum Rows – Tyondai Braxton

>> Central Market (Warp Records, 2009)

>>> Infectious epic score music. Over 10 minutes long. This track could force spontaneous creativity out of a librarian. Tyondai takes the mental aspects of Battles‘ math rock and purifies it with this full-sounding dramatic orchestra. Dreamworks needs to jump on this guy.

5. New Frontier – Anti-Pop Consortium

>> Fluorescent Black (Big Dada, 2009)

>>> Skillful sporadic rhyming laced on top of heavy duty production. Simply raw electricity and mismatched synth punches. APC give us too many hot tracks on this new drop: I’m also lapping up Timpani, Born Electric and End Game.

6. Kisses – Donn T

>> Donn T (Still Music, 2009)

>>> Moody organic soul (from ?uestlove’s sis). Chilled and not fussy. Her voice aint anything special but it works (especially when layered in the chorus – Omar style). Plus the song is given that extra depth with the Hammond seeing the track out.

7. Fall Suite – The Last Electro-Acoustic Space & Jazz Ensemble

>> Fall Suite (Stones Throw, 2009)

>>> A non-stop, half an hour jazz session that is so reliably spot on, it kinda makes you wonder if there’s actually anything Madlib can’t do?

*Oops, I just realised that the mass majority of these tracks are fresh. Do excuse me. I guess next time, I’ll have to throw in some serious golden oldies;-)

Focus: Bookworms…

Tuesday, September 22nd, 2009

bookwormsportrait

I hate Twitter. That living your life online ish isn’t for me. Tucking self-promotion between tweets about how good your Cornflakes taste and how you feel about sitting on a bus in traffic jars my spirit….I still use it though. And as much as it pains me to say it, I have to admit its not all bad because it’s thanks to a tweet from the Brownswood BPM that I found out about Bookworms.

His bumpy yet hypnotic re-imagining of Mi Ami’s African Rhythms is currently smacking up the real and virtual worlds and his dense, unreleased dubs have rumbled their way onto the playlist of Ms Mary Ann Hobbs more than once over the past year. With our current wave of hot beat producers, you’d be forgiven for thinking Mr Worms is yet another fresh-faced talent jostling for position in the Bass Music marketplace….not so. He’s been doing this for a minute.

“…since around the year 2000, I was 17 years old…making beats on PlayStation recording to boom-box. The first music I ever let anyone hear was a couple Bjork remixes I uploaded to this old website called bjorkremixweb. This was around 2000. Then I produced and worked with some punk and hard-core bands who met through friends from high school. I also made beats for a couple mc’s from around the way. Around 2003 I got really into making my own beats and instrumentals, mostly because other people were too hard to work with…I guess you could say it was a natural progression.”

Although other artists proved hard to work with, it would seem Bookworms has no problems making friends with different genres. Listen to any one of his original productions or remix efforts and you’ll hear traces of Punk/Rock, Hip Hop, Detroit Techno,Disco, Dubstep and Experimental Electronica all present, all correct and all somehow managing to compliment one another.

“My dad was really into stuff like Talking Heads,Brian Eno, Elvis Costello and Jazz. The first music I started buying was random Punk CDs, because I would hear those bands in skate videos. When I started high-school I got into Wu-tang and Drum and Bass…Lately I have been into Detroit Techno, Gucci Mane, Arthur Russell and Kate Bush. I have also been feeling a lot of San Francisco based bands like Tussle, Mi Ami, Roche, Steve Summers, Yao, Lemonade and CB Radio.”

bookwormshomenaway

I need to know more about the San Francisco scene. There’s some hot music out there and by the looks of Bookworms’ discography, he’s busy remixing a lot of it. Lemonade are a San Fran based band who have been getting some hype this side of the water recently and sure enough, who do we find on their ‘RemixTape’…

“My ex girlfriend used to work at a used-clothing store in SF with the Callan from Lemonade, so we knew each other from around SF and going to shows. They’re cool dudes, we talked about it at a show and they sent me the files to remix ”

Talking to Bookworms it soon transpires that many of his links are a direct result of long nights spent listening to loud music on herbal foundations. Take the Solos label that’s put out his version of African Rhythms as a case in point.

“Solos is on some crazy shit, it’s electronic music. It’s all across the board. I met Roche at a warehouse party Solos was throwing in Berkeley, I wanted to smoke and he was rolling a blunt, so we smoked and then I gave him a CD. A week or so later he asked me if I wanted to put some music out with Solos. The rest is history.”

Probing further, I discover that sadly, not all of Bookworms night-time trips have such a happy ending

“…back in about 2006 I went to Big Sur, California for this weird show where San Francisco bands Tussle, Brookhaven, Lemonade and the Drift were playing. Now Big Sur is way out in the woods and nature so I was a bit out of my element and it was hella dark….to cut a long story short I end up jumping off a motor home into the darkness and spraining my ankle really bad outside the show…not a good way to end the night…”

We feel you on that one…moving on to happier times we’ll focus on the music, or rather how Bookworms would like it to be received.

“I would like people to listen to my music on headphones while riding around a medieval city on Tron light -bikes. I am trying to expose parallels between sounds and samples and styles of music. I hope to share that with others.”

Shared it he has. Sounds to me that he’s read a little too much Sci Fi though. Well I guess with a name like Bookworms you can’t fault the brother for hitting the books…

“I like Simple Takes A Wife by Langston Hughes… anything by Isaac Asimov and [I read] lots of Sci-Fi end of the world stuff when I was younger..Reading helps me come up with names for songs…sometimes.”

DOWNLOAD BOOKWORMS’ HEADS HIGH PODCAST

 

DOWNLOAD AFRICAN RHYTHMS

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DOWNLOAD LEMONADE’S REMIXTAPE

Bookworms Live @ Lipo 07/06/09 from Solos Records on Vimeo.

Bookworms’ Discography

Remixes:

Finest Dearest – Slow Going (Bookworms Rmx)
Brookhaven – Something Must Remain Of Us (Bookworms Rmx)
Brookhaven – Static In The Valley (Bookworms Rmx)
Mi Ami - How Can I (Bookworms Rmx)
Mi Ami – African Rhythms (Bookworms Rmx)
Lemonade - Sunchips (Bookworms Rmx)

LP’s, EP’s and singles

Bookworm Kills (Demo cassette)
The Hidden Staircase LP (Solos Records)
Mandarine Hits CD (Expel Records)
Folks: Remixes (Self released)
African Rhythms CD (Solos Records)

Links

Bookworms Myspace

Bookworms Blog

Solos Records

Big respect to Bookworms for his time, energy and exclusive Podcast!

Podcast #14: Duke Etienne 10/09/09

Tuesday, September 15th, 2009

electronics

Yeah I know, this should have been posted last Friday but it’s been hectic times at Heads High HQ. I could have done it yesterday but I promised myself I’d take one whole day off the LCD and actually interact with real people ALL day. It was nice. I’ll do it again someday….

Anyway, here’s the missing selection. One of those ones that I wasn’t too happy with when I recorded it but listened back and was pleasantly surprised…A little rags in places but the rawness is the realness. Enjoy….

Duke Etienne Podcast #14

 

Tracklisting

Dark Knight  // Mutant Funk
Bookworms // African Rhythms
Zomby // One Foot Ahead Of The Other
Silkie // Spark
Red // I Should Tell Your Mama On Ya
Baatin // Marvelous
Jimmy Castor Bunch // It’s Just Begun (Larry Levan Mix)
Holzer & Kamura // Pure Love
Players Association // Let Your Body Go
Don Armandos Second Avenue Rhumba Band // Deputy Of Love
Fallout // The Morning After
Martyn // For Lost Relatives
F // Epilogue (Ramadanman Mix)
Kode 9 & The Space Ape // Do You See What I See
Elemental // Talk

Focus: Amede & The Soundsmith

Monday, September 7th, 2009

Headhigh Portraitb&W

Synchronicity is alive and well in the digital age.

I first heard Amede & The Soundsmith via the ubiquitous Alex Nut and his All Young Kings promotion machine. Amede’s work stands out, somehow managing to herd adjectives like ethereal, celestial and melancholic together in a pen of neck snapping beats, subsonically supported basslines and frequent nods towards the past sonic experiments of Jamaica’s dub laboratories. A few weeks after my AYK gift, I bumped into Amede outside Deviation and broke bread, I liked his vibe. More weeks/tweets later and here I am, glasses on, Cornflakes in bowl and ready to explore the world of Amede & The Soundsmith…

Firstly, we should start on a foundation of truth. ‘Amede’ and his partner ‘The Soundsmith’ are one and the same person, an ‘internal-duo’ as he puts it. The separation coming from a need to individualize the creative entities of the vocalist, Amede, and the beatmaker, The Soundsmith. Both of these personalities are extremely well formed. Even a casual listen to ‘Will She Ever Know?’ will tell you that the man can sing, listen again a little more carefully and you’ll hear it, the man can produce. Once you’ve digested that, you’ve then got to come to terms with the fact that these skills are living in a man with less than 20 years worth of calcium in his bones.

“I am 19. Many see me as an older person. I believe that come from being well guided by my father and his Nigerian background, he has been a prominent factor to keeping my head screwed on….At 10, I started singing. I have no idea where it came from in all honesty, only God knows! I performed my first show in my first year of secondary school and then that was it, music it was! In the summer of 2004, when I was 14, a cousin of mine and I got our hand on Fruity Loops, we was so excited about the prospect of beat making, we thought we were hot then even though they sounded wack. He went off to develop his sound and I did the same, listening to the sounds of Dilla, Slum Village and Dwele. I feel it has been an organic musical journey for me as I didn’t have any musicians in my family. Many artists of today had musical family member or were pushed into learning instruments as a child. Sometimes I wished I learned more instruments as a child, I’m learning now but it just isn’t the same as learning young.”

I feel what he’s saying, but I think he’s being a little hard on himself. From my Jurassic Park perspective, Amede is learning young. How many 19 year olds do you know releasing innovative, introspective, soul-drenched music on their own labels? I know a few who push out the throwaway sound of now from their ReDrums and Subtractors, but music with longevity….a handful. On the subject of releases, Amede & The Soundsmith dropped their debut single ‘The Underground’ early this with their follow-up ‘Flat 17 Ep’ having hit the digital shelves in August. Why ‘Flat 17′ Amede?

“Flat 17 is where I was staying for my first year of university at the time of its creation, it’s the place where the idea came to fruition, where each track was composed. Flat 17 is the birth place of the EP. The project is aimed at letting people know what it is I do, what I am capable of and who I work with. Each track consists of different elements which are part of me. I wanted to show that I don’t just sing, I don’t just compose, I can also produce for others, beatbox, songwrite, create my own artwork…Another motive behind it was to lead a pack. I believe it’s good that a creative circle of artist has somebody who just goes ahead and puts plans in action, it was to inspire my creative partners too. I work with some amazing musicians, Nadine Ceaser who won the 219 Variety Show last year, lyricist & vocalist, T-funk and producer, Azekel. It was partly to show them that whether Flat 17 gets a thumbs up or thumbs down from people, getting it out there can be done by one of us. I believe it has inspired them to also get their music out there too.”

Flat 17 artwork front500

Big respect for that and incidentally, a clear ‘thumbs-up’ for the EP. Now I’ve heard it, I want more! Luckily for all of us, there is more to come. A&TS’s Bohemianmusic Label is currently germinating a ‘beat-trilogy of free downloads’ which will involve external remixers and live renditions of some of their material. There is also more to come from lyricist T-Funk and songstress Shanaz Dorsett. Nice. Maybe not too surprisingly for a self-confessed perfectionist who clearly wants to be in control of his own destiny, Amede, and his partner the Soundsmith also have set their sights on deconstructing the black art of Mastering…and growing beards?!

“The direction I’m heading into is actually more of the technical background of music. I have a love for mixing but mastering is where I really want to take it, I want to wake up early in the morning in my studio mastering and mixing music with my producers beard growing out of control… it’s where the love is at. As an artist, I simply want to be a big part of the evolution of today’s music and to primarily make honest music from the soul, what I may sound like a decade from now is something I’m not sure of but I know I will be knocking sounds out to my grave.”

Word.

Amede likes you people, so much so that he’s given us the ‘Flat 17′ Ep track ‘Vast!’ for free, and asked us to pass it on to you.

Download Vast!

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He also let us in to the very personal space of what inspires him to do what he does right now…

Amede & The Soundsmith’s Top 5 Inspirations:

1. I’ve been listening to a lot of Fela Kuti’s ‘Expensive Shit‘ album, Samiyam’s ‘Moon Shoes‘, Hudson Mohawkes ‘Rising 5‘ and the classic by Tom Scott – ‘Today‘ that track is amazing!

2. Knowing that God has love for me!

3. My Fathers wisdom!

4. I went to watch Soul Power in West London two weeks ago. I found it very inspiring seeing all those great musician vibe with each other. It was pure love recorded in history and I hope I can be watched upon in such a manner one day.

5. My peers! God as allowed me to grow around very inspirational young creatives which I know will leave thier stamp one day and it’s a blessing to be part of that.

So there we have it, young talents with a luminescent future. Amede…..and the Soundsmith.

Links:

Official Website
Myspace
Twitter
Shanaz Dorsett Myspace

Download: Floating Points Maida Vale Session

Tuesday, September 1st, 2009

flp

Floating Points and the Eglo crew are good peoples….they’re hyper-talented too. I woke up this morning to an email from Fatima showing me the way to their latest Maida Vale session for Giles Peterson. Listening to it now, it’s pure vibes….transporting me away from the post bank-holiday pain…..it’s only right I share this.

You may or may not know that Shook Mag recently featured the whole click in their spendiferous last issue. Click here to get familiar.

Lastly, we’ve been waiting for the Vacuum Ep for ages….pressing problems apparently. Anyway, until it actually exists, here’s a virtual version for your pleasure…

Floating Points Ensemble BBC Maida Vale Session CLIPS by floatingpoints

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News: 2562 goes long…again

Wednesday, August 26th, 2009

2562

Chinua Achebe was right. Things Fall Apart….or at the very least, divide and evolve. Take Dubstep. Once used to denote a specific crossbreed of steroid-pumped dub and skunked out two-step, the term now shelters a clutch of vaguely related forms ranging from the technoid to the unashamedly dubwise . When I first heard the sounds of 2562 aka Dave Huismans and his alter ego A Made Up Sound, I was excited. he’d managed to carve out his own niche, and by the time his debut Aerial LP dropped he’d built up a long list of accolades and received perhaps the greatest compliment – imitators.

One and a half years later and it’s that time again. November 2nd will see the release of his second collection Unbalance. With more than a hint of the detroit disposition of his A Made Up Sound alias, Unbalance promises to be everything you’d expect and quite possibly, a little bit more. We’ll leave the last word to Tectonic head honcho Pinch

‘I’ve worked closely with 2562 over the last few years and I can honestly say that Unbalance is an incredible album – it’s one of the most exciting releases that Tectonic has seen to date – it vastly exceeds the already high standard he set himself with Aerial’

Nice….

click here to get a taster of ‘Love in Outer Space’ and click here to download a mix he put together for the Boom Noise & Pokes Show earlier this summer.

UnbalanceTracklist:

1. Intro
2. Flashback
3. Lost
4. Like A Dream
5. Dinosaur
6. Unbalance
7. Superflight
8. Yes / No
9. Who Are You Fooling?
10. Narita
11. Love In Outer Space
[12. Escape Velocity – digital only]

Listen: Lola Recommends…

Tuesday, August 18th, 2009

These tracks* have been overheating my system of late. Classics and future classics – all massive sounds:

1. I’ll Stay – Funkadelic

>> Standing on the Verge of Getting it On (Westbound Records, 1974)

2. Black Wonders of the World – Billy Paul

>> Got my Head on Straight (Philadelphia International Records, 1976)

3. Friends from Rio 1 Featuring Celia Vaz (Pressure Drop Remix) – Francisco Cat

>> Brazilika (Far Out Recordings, 2009)

4. Requiem for a DJ – K2

>> Soul Heaven Presents Kenny Dope & Karizma (Soul Heaven Records, 2007)

5. Beyond – Mr Scruff

>> Trouser Jazz (Ninja Tune, 2002)

6. The Three Faces of Balal – Yusef Lateef

>> The Grandfather Paradox (BBE, 2009)

7. Look at California – Maze Featuring Frankie Beverly

>> Maze Featuring Frankie Beverly (Capitol Records, 1977)

8. Aggression – Eric Dolphy

>> Eric Dolphy at the Five Spot Vol. 2 (Prestige, 1961)

9. Look of Love (J-Dilla Remix) – Slum Village

>> Fan-Tas-Tic Vol. 1 (Counterflow Records, 1997)

10. Auditorium – Mos Def Featuring Slick Rick

>> The Ecstatic (Downtown Records, 2009)

*Listed in no particular order.

Download: Awesome Tapes From Africa

Thursday, August 13th, 2009

onipa

I found out about this blog a while back but for some reason, memory of it floated outside the reach of my consciousness until it was re-presented to me by the nice folks over at XLR8R.

The story goes like this: Blog owner Brian Shimkovitz went ao Ghana circa 2005 to study Hip Hop. He worked out that a lot of African music never makes it out of Africa and the Awsome Tapes From Africa blog is born, dedicated to spreading Africa’s finest analog archives worldwide

Now, if i’m honest, i’m listening to the XLR8R mix Brian put together right now and it’s a little hit & miss. Having said this, i’m only a small aspect of god so my taste is not omnipotent and to be honest, I love the concept so much i’m gonna support it anyway….ok the selection seems to get better as he warms up so I take it back. There’s definitely heat hidden in the ATFA archives too so make sure you go check them out. Meantime, check out the XLR8R podcast and make your own mind up…

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