Radio Personality & Philanthropist Robin Quivers & 15 Foundation Give Gift Of $75K Towards Nutrition Education & $22K Towards Music Education Programs For Children

(New York, NY – December 12, 2011) – Just in time for the holidays, radio personality and philanthropist Robin Quivers and her 15 Foundation presented a gift of $75,000.00 to two formidable youth charities in California: The Edible Schoolyard Project and The Connolly Ranch in Napa Valley. Both organizations are dedicated to teaching children about proper food nutrition and establishing proper eating habits early in life to help set a pattern for success.

Robin founded her philanthropic initiative in 2010 with a mission to target organizations that are tackling some of the most pressing issues in our communities. 15 Foundation is taking an aim at improving academics, nutrition and arts education in K-­-12 schools by combining three elements that speak to the mind (academics), the body (nutrition), and creative soul (art).

15 Foundation’s gift of $50,000 to The Edible Schoolyard will give the organization an opportunity to develop a multimedia curriculum which will be shared with schools, school gardens and kitchens around the country in order to further the best practices and facilitate program development for Edible Education initiatives nationwide.

“We are so grateful to the 15 Foundation for their generous support,” explains Alice Waters, Founder of The Edible Schoolyard Project. “By documenting and sharing the best-practices from our flagship program, the Edible Schoolyard in Berkeley, we are able to reach many more children across the United States and give them the opportunity to experience the transformative power of Edible Education”

15 Foundation’s gift of $25,000 to the Connolly Ranch will help support the organization’s “Eco-Intervention” Field Trip program that targets elementary school children who live in low-income households as well as the organization’s Summer Camp program which bridges farming, gardening and cooking experiences in a dynamic, hands-on, youth-driven environment. “I am overwhelmed by the outpouring of love and support that the foundation has been the recipient of in it’s short life. I am very proud of the work that this support has enabled us to do and humbled by the dedication the Edible Schoolyard and the Connolly Ranch,” Quivers states. Robin has worked tirelessly over the past two years for the 15 Foundation – to support every child’s right to a high-quality education. As part of this comprehensive program Robin also sponsored MIMA Music with a grant of $22,000 to work with the kids from both organization and provide musical improvisation. The students from Berkeley wrote and recorded the music performed in the video in just 8 hours with many of them having never played an instrument before.

For more information, please visit 15foundation.org.

When we see the artwork above, we immediately think Super Metroid, but maybe that’s just us. It’s still cool though.

So it has always been a Ninja Tune shtick to have old school samples peppered throughout their jams, but this new release from DJ Food has a distinctive sound we’re used to. For instance, one of our favorite DJ Food tracks of all time is DJ Food fear. Ken Nordine – “The Ageing Young Rebel:” That came out over 11 years ago, and this release from DJ Food also incorporates new styles from the guys, of course, and they’re heading in a direction that we like. To be clear, the last DJ Food album, Kaleidoscope, and it’s also 11 years old. This is a pretty exciting release for any DJ Food fans. The Search Engine is set for release on February 7, 2012.

Press:

Eleven years after the last DJ Food album release (“Kaleidoscope”), Strictly Kev and various friends, associates and like-minded collaborators return with a new full-length. The Search Engine distills the bests parts from three EPs worth of material into a continuous 56 minute album of unbridled creativity.

Collaborations abound in the form of vocal appearances from Natural Self (aka Nathaniel Pearn), JG Thirlwell (Foetus, Streoid Maximus etc.) and The The’s Matt Johnson. The latter reprises his vocal on a cover of his own track “GIANT,” nearly thirty years after its first release. Musical hook-ups include 2econd Class Citizen, who trades sample-attacks with Strictly for the suite of nine tracks that make up the 11 minute “Magpie Music.” Dr. Rubberfunk lends his drumming skills to the opening track and old DJ food partner Solid Steel’s DJ add their own ingredients to the mix.

While there isn’t a single concept behind the record, certain themes twine their way through the music. In particular, the twin retro-future icons, astronauts and robots, float and bleep their way across the surface of the album, from the Henry Flint cover art onwards. Perhaps best known for his groundbreaking work on the 2000AD comic, Flint gave Kev access to a caché of his personal drawings to colour as well as a creating a new work specifically for the project.

Perhaps the biggest surprise to all those who associate the DJ Food name with the early 90′s “Jazz Brakes” records is just how heavy The Search Engine is. Styled as a kind of psychedelic rock album made with samplers, Strictly Kev has not been afraid to frug the fuck out, with thundering drum work and fuzz bass perhaps the central musical signature of his work.

Reflecting Strictly’s work as a designer as well as a musician (he had to take the whole of 2010 off from recording the record while he did all the design for Ninja’s 20th “XX” anniversary) the album comes in a number of formats: regulard CD digipak, download, comic book with CD and a 7″ flexi-disc of a bonus track with an exclusive remix 12″, comic and flexi-disc.

As for the title, Kev explains that, “the way we live every day is helped by search engines of many shapes and sizes. Some people think they control and influence how we work and play. In this case though, the Search Engine could be something waiting to be found out in the vastness of space…” Thrusters on full…

There’s a pretty cool DJ Food website. Check it out.

sorry i was talking to myself…

Via Blowing or Blowing Up.

This year sees the 30th anniversary of one of the UK’s most beloved and influential sound systems, Norman Jay’s Good Times. Instrumental in the development of the Rare Groove scene and the identity of Notting Hill Carnival, Norman’s influence on music tastes can’t be overstated. Hear what those close to Norman have to say about Good Times, from its beginnings to its status as a cultural institution. Good Time 30, an anniversary collection, is out now on Strut.

This Summer, Strut teams up with one of the most revered of all DJs, Norman Jay MBE, to celebrate 30 years of Good Times, the party that changed the face of the Notting Hill Carnival and zwhich has become a Summertime fixture at festivals worldwide.

Jay set up his first sound system, Great Tribulation, in 1979 with his brother Joey which became Good Times Sound System in 1981, the start of a 30-year residency at Notting Hill Carnival. Norman changed the face of the music played there, introducing a range of gritty, soulful styles to complement the predominantly reggae-based sound systems. The move paved the way for the open-minded Carnival we know today, with Good Times still at its core.

From Good Times, Jay’s career burgeoned. He became a key DJ during the ‘80s London rare groove scene, hosting a series of legendary clubs – Shake ‘N’ Fingerpop, High On Hope (inspired by New York’s Paradise Garage) and famed sessions at London’s Bass Clef (later the Blue Note), all of which built his reputation for open-minded soulful selections spanning soul, funk, disco, early house, reggae and hip hop. Through his club nights, he was one of the first to introduce legendary US DJs like Tony Humphries, Louie Vega and Blaze to the UK. Further success followed – he was one of the founders of London station Kiss FM and ran the seminal Talkin’ Loud label alongside Gilles Peterson at Phonogram.

Jay’s tireless work as a DJ has earned him many accolades – he has appeared on the BBC’s Question Time, and received an MBE for his work in 2002, the first time any DJ had received such an accolade.

In the wake of his many achievements and the ongoing success of Good Times, Jay has enjoyed a series of essential compilation albums on React, Resist, Nuphonic and Azuli stretching back to 2000, as well as a recent spin-off album, ‘Good Times Australia’. Now, the maestro returns with a special 30th Anniversary collection for Strut, another bumper set of genre-hopping classic and rare Good Times favourites. Tracks include boogie rarity ‘Dreamin’ by short-lived band Zalmac and Fries & Bridges’ ‘Forever This’, a 4×4 belter featuring an early vocal by chart superstar Cee-Lo Green. Jay touches on independent hip hop with Basement Chemist, jazz grooves courtesy of Kira Neris and Attic Tree, skanking reggae from Jacob Miller and doo-wop soul courtesy of Little Anthony & The Imperials.

Norman Jay presents Good Times 30 is released on CD, LP and download. For the CD and LP formats, leading journalist and author Lloyd Bradley interviews Norman Jay for an extensive career-spanning sleeve note. The package also features rare and unseen photos from across Norman Jay’s career as a DJ.

strut-records.com
normanjay.com

1. MARK CAPANNI – I BELIEVE IN MIRACLES
2. AVERY SUNSHINE – I GOT SUNSHINE
3. TED TAYLOR – GHETTO DISCO (Edit)
4. ZALMAC – DREAMIN’
5. TERRI WELLS – WHO’S THAT STRANGER
6. LITTLE ANTHONY & THE IMPERIALS – I DON’T HAVE TIME TO WORRY
7. MARIO BIONDI – MY GIRL
8. JACOB MILLER & INNER CIRCLE – TIRED FE LICK WEED IN A BUSH
9. THE BASEMENT KHEMIST – EVERYBODY (L I F E)
10. J BOOGIE’S DUBTRONIC SCIENCE feat. GOAPELE and CAPITOL A – TRY ME (People Under The Stairs Remix)
11. ATTIC TREE – VOAR
12. CURTIS MAYFIELD – VICTORY
13. DANTE – FREAK IN ME
14. FRIES & BRIDGES – FOREVER THIS
15. THE DETROIT EXPERIMENT – THINK TWICE (Henrik Schwarz Remix)
16. ASHLEY SLATER – PRIVATE SUNSHINE

Norman Jay MBE- Good Times 30 Mini Mix by Strut

Swag for days.

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Motor City Drum Ensemble Mixes New DJ-Kicks
Stuttgart’s Danilo Plessow Delivers An Eclectic Ode To The Beat
Motor City Drum Ensemble- DJ-Kicks (July 19, 2011)
dj-kicks.com

Motor City Drum Ensemble- L.O.V.E. (DJ-Kicks exclusive) by !K7 Records

“When did I fall in love?” Danilo Plessow, known to the world of dance music as Motor City Drum Ensemble, echoes the question. Wearing the kind of smile that indicates true love, first love, the kind of love that will never leave you, he gazes upon a city park. A bunch of kids are playing catch. He was their age when he fell in love for the first time: with the beat. So he started playing the drums. That beat is his companion to this day. Having morphed through all kinds of forms its recent incarnation is delivered to the public on his amazing, genre blending DJ-Kicks mix; a mix more than worthy of the series’ history of ruthless experimentation with, and re-definition of, the Mix CD medium.

His understanding of how the parts of a track can work has never been more apparent than on his DJ-Kicks mix. In 10 years, playing 80+ gigs a year, including such temples as Berghain, Fabric London, Rex and MOS, he’s absorbed dance history through hard and disciplined work behind the decks. Look at the opening selections of his DJ-Kicks mix to get a glimpse of his amazing ability to fuse totally disparate sound aesthetics into a coherent whole. He sets the scene and opens the party with the uplifting and inviting chants of Sun Ra’s “Door To The Cosmos”, then drops a groove of contempo Soul via NZ youngsters Scratch 22’s Remix of Electric Wire Hustle’s “Again”, which then just melts perfectly with Rhythm & Sounds’ machine dub of “Mango Drive.” Be prepared because this is just the beginning! Before you know it the guitars of Tony Allen’s “Ariya” tickle their way into the mix, its combination of collective chant and afro beat leading the listener into a joyful bliss. As you tap your foot the set dives into a tribute to one of the most influential urban centers of club culture: the Windy City. Between the driving soul of Peven Everett’s ode to love “Stuck” and the joined forces of Tevo and “Poppa” Rick Howard’s “Can Your Love Find Its Way” you find the master of Chicago house music: Mr. Fingers. It’s a beautiful homage to one of the main chapters in dance music history with the only “foreign” track ironically being an edit of Germany’s Bad Jazz Troupe.

Assembling the mix was a true journey for Danilo, painstakingly going through his collection, combining tracks, making edits—a quest in search of those “magic moments”, as he puts it. In this mix one prime example of these “magic moments” surely lies in that split second when the pads of Fred P.’s “On this Vibe” drop into the gorgeous Stone’s “Girl I Like The Way That You Move.” Moving on, Pablo Valentino, Danilo’s label colleague at MCDE with an equal disregard for genre boundaries, and his Creative Swing Alliance leads the listener into the proto-Afrobeat of Geraldo Pino’s “Black Woman Experience” followed by an absolutely mind-blowing edit of Philip Sarde’s “Le Cortège et Course,” a track that in the hands of Motor City Drum Ensemble sounds more like a techno classic than what it is: a piece from a 1972 movie soundtrack, César et Rosalie, starring Romy Schneider and Yves Montand. You want another “magic moment?” There it is beaming you right into the Minimal Nation of Robert Hood’s “The Pace!”

Hood’s track is part one of a subdivision in this mix that, like the Chicago homage before it, works as a bow before the fathers. One after the other, the names making up the chapter this time are: Hood, Arthur Russell, Walter Gibbons and Aphex Twin, with Motor City Drum Ensemble’s aptly titled “L.O.V.E.”—Danilo’s beautifully seductive version of nocturnal soul music—sitting right there in company. In the hands of less talented compilers such lining-up of total heroes could result in a superficial “favorites mixtape” fiasco but thanks to Danilo’s impeccable intuition and architectural sensibility every choice he makes creates a natural link, no matter how huge the genre, era and geography gap he is crossing.

So, after the Selected Ambient Work “Actium” gives way to the wonderland that is Isolées remix of Recloose’s “Cardiology” we are slowly approaching the end of Motor City Drum Ensemble’s DJ-Kicks. Latecomer, a Moscow based multi-instrumentalist, singer and producer that was discovered by MCDE last year, induces a last moment of tranced concentration before the “African Chant” by contemporary Scando Jazzer Timo Lassy provides the listener with another plateau of musical high.

This personal and spiritual journey is then bookended by one of the high points in cosmic disco history: John Mason’s “Sweet Power, Your Embrace”—a track oh-so wonderfully representative of Danilo’s intentions and inspirations. It’s always a good sign when your hero gives you a call to express his enthusiasm about your choice—as Mr. Mason did in this case. It’s that moment when both sides are feeling honored: father and son, joined through the love of the music.

And so Motor City Drum Ensemble’s DJ-Kicks ends. The listener has gained yet another glimpse into the cosmos of Danilo Plessow’s inner world and the DJ-Kicks series has been the stage for yet another beautiful dance. With the next months holding an extensive tour schedule for Danilo, dancers around the world will be able to experience his gift as a selector first hand. That is, before he gets back into the studio to start working on his first album as Motor City Drum Ensemble as well as a live act. All this will prove, just as his DJ-Kicks is doing now, that there is no such thing as stagnation in the ever-evolving cosmos of Danilo Plessow!

Southland’s very own hip-hop icon, Aceyalone, and the newest female emcee on the scene, J-Natural, are excited to invite you all to very special red carpet premiere of “Desire” a short film written, directed and produced by J-Natural, along with her record release party for her debut album, Love Is On Hiatus. The event is on Wednesday June 29 at the Downtown Indepedent at 9 PM. A roof top release party to follow with performances by J-Natural, POWOW, and Open Mike Eagle.

JNatural is in the fashion industry by day, and an emcee by night. Executively produced by Aceyalone, her debut LP Love is On Hiatus is a rousing, jazzed inflected album that the press is already taking notice of. She follows in the tradition of uncompromising and strong emcees like Jean Grae and Medusa. Love Is On Hiatus features Aceyalone and Abstract Rude and production is by San Diego beat maker Jeff Wonder.

ABOUT LOVE IS ON HIATUS:

Executively produced by Aceyalone, her debut is a rousing, jazzed inflected album. Following in the tradition of uncompromising and strong emcees like Jean Grae and Medusa, Love Is On Hiatus features Aceyalone and Abstract Rude. Production is by San Diego beat maker Jeff Wonder.

JNat is a young fresh emcee on the scene. A fashion designer by day, she started officially rapping when she formed an eight piece hip-hop band called Sonic Tongue in the late 90s. After years of shows in San Diego and opening up for people like Brother Ali, Jeru the Damaja, Elroneous, CMA and Slug, she moved back to LA and ventured out on her own. In 2002 she released her first solo EP For Clarity, and in 2004, continuing to find her own voice, JNat wrote and produced a 5 track acoustic guitar EP called LA Virgen.

In 2005 during a chance meeting with one of her icons Aceyalone at a Medusa show, she slipped him her latest CD. He called the next day wanting to collaborate. In 2006, JNatural teamed up with producer/photographer Jeff Wonder to produce her first globally distributed project Escape From Babylon. In 2008 she released Sex Lies and Sextape mixtape, mixed by DJ Ray Ray Raw and featuring The A-Team (Aceyalone & Abstract Rude.)

Love Is On Hiatus drops June 28, 2011

Machinedrum – “Unknown” from the Fenris Eyes Mixtape:

Jimmy Edgar – “Vibration:”

Jimmy Edgar – Hot, Raw Sex (Theophilus London Demo):”

Photo by Paola Angelino.

First thing’s first, we love exciting artists. Born is exciting to us. Venturing into new, refreshing and explosive areas of hip hop & electronica from the flows to the instrumentals. When we listen to Born I Music, it’s as though Tupac Shakur has passed and been reborn as “The Born Identity.”

We’re not all that spiritual, but Born I Music inspires us to get our meditation on more and to truly “meet ourselves.” We think that if you took Shakur, Ghostface, Kanye, Kid Cudi & The Clipse, put them in a blender and applied some of what Born’s production team (Godfather Sage, Imani Beats, & several others) calls “Afro-Asian Electro-Hop”, you’ve gotten a taste of what this man is doing.

On the heels of his latest release “THE BORN IDENTITY MIXTAPE” which you can download free here. We sat down with Born to learn about the man behind the music, his dad’s cooking and how Born manages to create bass-heavy, spine-tingling songs that just make you want to max out your car system and bob your head. Get Familiar.

Born I Music: You rang? Yo. What’s poppin’ G?

Hipsterwave: Not too much. I’ve actually been listening to your new album for like the past few hours non-stop. We also tweeted about it.

Born I Music: [laughs] Cool. Okay, no doubt. You caught it to the end?

Hipsterwave: Yup. Yeah, man.

Born I Music: Oh, okay, nice.

Hipsterwave: Yeah man it’s good! Usually if an album isn’t good, it won’t get multiple listens.

Born I Music: Word.

Hipsterwave: But there are a lot of stand-out tracks or winners on the record. I think I can sort of tell who was producing what just from the sound… But hey, why don’t we start getting into the questions before you start answering them.

Born I Music: No doubt. Hey one thing before we get this started though, right now I am standing over a pot of boiling water and I’m about to cook. [laughs] It’s probably one of the funniest dishes in the world but when I was younger, I really thought my pops was sort of like a chef, like he’d be whippin’ up all sorts of meals and desserts and stuff like that. But man, he had this signature dish and it was macaroni and cheese with pieces of hot dog cut-up in it. Dude. That might sound questionable, but it’s heaven beyond heaven. He’d do that and he’d put some broccoli on the side, and it must just be a throwback to my youth, but every once in a while I just get a craving for macaroni and cheese with hotdog chopped-up on the inside, so I got a big ol’ smile on my face getting ready to jump into that as soon as we’re finished with this interview. But yeah… [laughs]

Hipsterwave: Oh okay. [laughs] Yeah that sounds interesting, I’ll have to try that.

Born I Music: Yeah man it’s a treat man I’m tellin’ you man. Trust me, it’s a real uh, blue collar delicacy.

Hipsterwave: Is there any kind of macaroni in particular or can you just…

Born I Music: Yo yeah, yeah. You gotta do the Kraft Deluxe, the joint that comes in the box with the cheese sauce. Yeah, like you can’t just do the Cheesy Mac or anything like that. It has to be the Kraft Deluxe that has actual cheese sauce and you just get some chicken hot dogs, or whatever your flavor is, and just chop that up and toss it in there…

Hipsterwave: So it’s not a powder, is it actual cheese?

Born I Music: Nah, Nah, it’s actual cheese, not the powder that you mix up. That shit is nasty to me man, but it’s the deluxe one, so it has the rich flavor. Velveeta type. You squirt it on, mix it. Chop up your hotdogs. Toss that in there. You are in heaven dude. I’m tellin’ you. [laughs]

Hipsterwave: [laughs] That’s what it do man. I’m gonna have to try that.

Born I Music:: Yeah man.

Photo by Jammie Patton.

Hipsterwave: Okay so the first question is what are you influences in music and how did you develop your flow style and method of delivery?

Born I Music: Okey dokey. Influences in music, I think this is like a standard answer—you have to say this—that like my parents are my influence as far as music is concerned. It’s really true, like my father is not an artist, but my father’s art was his love and appreciation for other artists, you feel me? If you made music, you would love to have my father as a fan because he really gets into the music. He gets into like the personality of the artist, you know. So I’d just be in the car and we’d be goin’ to like the pizza spot or just running an errand or whatever and he’d just give me like these crazy long history lessons about like how John Coltrane and Sonny Rollins were going neck-and-neck to see who was gonna be the greatest tenor saxophonist of the time. Also, you know how John Coltrane played in Miles Davis’ band and then branched out on his own and then Wayne Shorter came in and filled his shoes and – my dad was a big Coltrane fan, by the way, so I got like a huge Coltrane lesson. Like every day was a Coltrane lesson. My pops was also really into the great soul-singers- Wilson Pickett, Otis Redding, Aretha, James Brown – and then as we both got older, his musical taste just got more and more diverse, so like at any given time—you know my family is from Ghana—so at any time we’d have like Ghanaian highlife playing in the background or we’d be listening to like the local like public radio station that had all like the fresh jazz on there or it would just be something from my father’s like infinite jazz library. And you know then he started branching out into Brazilian music, which he got really into, like Astrud and Jao Gilberto and all that other type of stuff. Then, even Japanese cultural music, Shakuhachi flutes and all that. My house was always really, really diverse as far as the music was concerned. So, that’s like a ton of subconscious influences that you don’t really know you’re being influenced by it until you sit back later on in life and say “Okay, well this is how it all started happenin’.”

Hipsterwave: Yeah, right? Word…

Born I Music: From like a young age, yeah you know, you get older and you just start to reflect on it like “Okay, this is the type of person that I am, and this is why” but, my father, it’s not like he was a musician, but he was and is such an intensely devoted listener and appreciator of art and music that it was almost like growing up with someone that actually played music. Oh, and I definitely would be remiss if I didn’t mention my Frank Sinatra education, which I really appreciate to this day. I dunno what happened, when I turned 17, I just started looking through my dad’s collection and then he had this one record of Sinatra when he was on the Reprise label and pardon my language, but man I ate that fucking thing up. And man, just for like years I was just like deep, deep into Sinatra and like it didn’t help that my father painted the whole picture of what Sinatra was about and what he meant to the game. I think it was also because he saw that I was really deep into gangsta rap, so he’d be like “If you really wanna know what a thug is you need to research Frank Sinatra. [laughs] Frank Sinatra was the thug of all thugs. All these other dudes you see runnin’ around, they never thugged it out as hard as Frank Sinatra.” You know, my dad talked about Sinatra, like just as being an American icon, and also what he did for race relations, to make people bow down as far as Sammy Davis, Jr. was concerned. So yeah man, I just developed this crazy appreciation for multiple dimensions of music and then came rap and it was like Nas and Wu Tang and Biggie, Mobb Deep, Black Moon. And I’m not gonna front, shit, Snoop, Dre, Bone Thugs. All that had me goin’ just comin’ up, but my mind really just started to explode once I heard Illmatic and 36 Chambers, the Infamous, Doe or Die and Enter the Stage—that first Black Moon album—that’s when all my extracurricular activities started taking a backseat and I would just be coming home and listening to music, period. [laughs] But yeah, I know you asked about flow and delivery too so…

Hipsterwave: Well, I know Dilla’s in there too for that…

Born I Music: That’s crazy right? Like it pains me to say that I was one of the people that appreciated J Dilla’s production without even knowing some of the stuff that he had produced, like the shit from Pharcyde, etc. I was also a pretty decent Tribe Called Quest fan, but my awakening into hip hop came slightly after the mega Tribe Called Quest era. And I came into hip hop really during the height of Biggie, Nas and Wu Tang era. But even those Tribe Called Quest hits that Dilla produced on, I really appreciated them, but I wasn’t checkin’ for the producer back then, you know what I’m sayin’? So it wasn’t until like Slum Village came out and Godfather Sage–my producer—was really tryin’ to put me on to him and then I started takin’ more notice to the production and then started taking more notice to the lyrics and you know listening to “Welcome To Detroit” and all that other stuff. So I don’t think that people give Dilla as much props as he deserves as far as his emceeing is concerned, because he was a fucking surgeon when it comes to the emceein’. So I would throw him in there too, almost as like a subconscious influence, definitely. I mean this dude said “Whole body blingin like 3-P-O, nigga” [laughs]. But as far as flow is concerned, one of the very first people I tried to pattern my flow after was Nas because to me he just connected the dots in a really, really crazy kind of way. As much as I respected Raekwon’s flow, I never really tried to duplicate that, but I definitely, definitely was a Ghostface fanatic as far as his whole approach on the mic. There’s this song on the first Cuban Linx called “Wisdom Body,” right, it’s like number 13 on the disc, it’s Ghostface’s solo song and the whole song is about him like approaching a female: that song right there? Gave me all my game right there. All the swagger I needed to pull any chick, came from “Wisdom Body.” [laughs] Number 13 on the first Rae album, but that, I mean it was something else that let me know that you have to have a certain kind of presence. You can’t just flow it out. You really have to create an atmosphere with your lyrics. The RZA was a big influence when I was a kid, just because he packs so many words and so many syllables in this real “I don’t really give a fuck how it lands on the beat” style, and, just being able to cram all those syllables into a short space was something that I was really into all the time also. So, I’m pretty sure that all those things come out in what I do.

Hipsterwave: Okay, alright. So I just heard that track “One In The Chamber”, and that killed me when I heard it, so I was wondering what the production process was for that one? And it sounds like Godfather Sage, but what was the process?

Born I Music: [chuckle] Okay, so I’m sitting at home and the way that this whole process has gone with recording my album, “Tomorrow is Today” alongside “The Born Identity Mixtape” has just been like, I’ll just go into the studio for like a week straight just record maybe four or five songs a night. Then I come home and share it with everybody who is in my immediate circle, get feedback, and then spend the next week going over the newest submission of beats. You know, during the time I’ve been in the studio recording, I’ve still been getting more beats from more producers. Then I’ll spend the next week out of the studio, just in my crib, or you know just sitting on the road just writing, and then I’ll go into the studio the following week and just knock all that stuff out. And so, with that track “One In the Chamber,” it wasn’t that much different, but to be honest that track was meant for like another artist Godfather Sage aka GFS produces for, and I was just on the road and he was just playing it for me over the phone—like yeah, yeah check this out—and I almost crash the car! I was like “Yo dude, I don’t care what’s going on with that right there. I don’t care who you had slated for that. Come on man. Fam first! Man, family first!”

Hipsterwave: Right. Family Comes First man.

Born I Music: Yeah man. I really give my producers a guilt-trip kind of, because I know they wanna work with other artists and I’m not trying to completely ransack all of their best tracks before they let other people hear them, but at the same time, of course I am [laughs]. I mean I’ve been doin’ this shit with them for like almost 10 years, you know what I’m sayin’? So, I got a real F-U attitude towards anybody else that’s not me when it comes to the best production I can get my hands on. So, basically after almost committing vehicular suicide/homicide after hearing that beat over the phone, and GFS’ tracks are such that you can—like I get a lot of beats from a lot of other producers—and I’ll play ‘em on my little laptop or whatever, and you know you can’t hear the bass on those little speakers really, but I can hear the bass from a Godfather Sage track through the telephone, through the weakest clock radio type speakers ever. So, that shit was boomin’ through the cell phone, and I was like, yeah okay—so—I really need to do this track. But, I had no idea how I was gonna come on it, what I was gonna do with it, et cetera. And like, now, I see how a lot of these dudes who claim they don’t write, you know what I’m sayin’ – I see how they process goes. Because eventually with a lot of the stuff I wrote on this album I’m like either driving or just on the road period and so I don’t have a means or even the time to actually write anything down, so I just start going through the song in my mind, and I’ll just come up with like the first couple lines or eight bars or whatever and then I’ll just come down and you know commit it to pen and paper later on. But, the first line came to me in just this really odd way for “One In the Chamber,” and then that first line, that “hallelujah,” and then the lines that followed-up right after that were so over the top, I was like “Naw, I can’t say that,” and then there was like another mini me on my shoulder like “Well, you know, why the hell can’t you say that?” And so, [laughs], that’s how that track started.

Hipsterwave: Whatever works, huh?

Born I Music: Yeah, yeah. And I think that’s pretty much what I think I’ve let guide my writing process on these projects. Because for me, it used to be really important to be that I’d get the recognition of lyrically destroying the track. You know what I’m sayin’?

Hipsterwave: Yeah.

Born I Music: And on the Born Identity Mixtape there’s still some of that going on [laughs], but what’s more important for me right now is to actually just make a good song, and so I’d rather just be like another instrument on the track—whether I’m like a melodic instrument or a percussive instrument, or somewhere in the middle of both—it’s more important for me that I just really create a good experience for the listener as opposed to me, you know, feeling like egotistically satisfied that I really murdered the track. You know what I’m sayin’, so if anybody wants to hear me like pack 800 words into eight bars [laughs], I got stuff like that—you know just send me an e-mail—and I can send you the old stuff. Go back an study the first Shambhala album “The Lotus Of…”. But, what’s important for me right now is creating an enjoyable musical experience for as many people as possible. So like, whatever just kind of erupts from my mind as a result of listening to the beat, I just kinda trust that and just go with it. I get to mumblin’ and hummin’ and the track writes itself [laughs].

Hipsterwave: Okay, so the next question is—I hear some influence from other cultures in your tracks—and I was wondering what your thoughts are on other cultures, and you already mentioned Ghana, but the whole question is how do other cultures play an influence in your everyday life?

Born I Music: Well, my mixtape is a bit more straightforward as far has hiphop/dubstep, etc. I just wanted to really demonstrate what I’m capable of lyrically. But you’ll really hear that musical diversity on the album. Like I mentioned my father would play a lot of music from a lot of different cultures and that was probably in the back of my mind influence. But my overall philosophy as an artist is to try to highlight and celebrate the differences amongst people and to then really expose the things that make us all the same at the end of the day. So, it’s like unity within diversity. So, on the one hand I like to try to pull music from a bunch of different cultures to celebrate the diversity of humans. Right, and then I put it all together to say “See, we all love to dance, we all love the drum and we all love a good melody. So there’s no reason why we should feel separate from one another. – We’re still the same family at the end of the day” You know what I’m sayin’? Now, my spiritual background is Buddhist and coming from an Asian spiritual background, that has just opened up my world to a lot of Asian music and the obviously my cultural background is African, and African-American, so that all opens up a big window of music influence and musical exposure. So, when I set-out to do this album, I wanted to do something that would be like Afro-Asian-Electro-Hop. You know because I love electronic music, I love music that comes from the east, I love African music, and hip-hop is basically the culmination of all African American music—you know over the centuries—so I kinda wanted to put all of those things together and make an experience out of it. So yeah, the music of other cultures really plays a big part in what I do. I don’t like the term “World Music.” I think that’s corny. I just feel like right now with the Internet and the world just getting smaller in general, the idea that you should sound like you come from certain coast or a certain region, all of that is about to be obsolete. Really, we should really start looking at it like all of these different cultures are brother and sister cultures, so there’s no reason why we can’t reach out and use those things like they’re our own.

At the same time, I like the idea of being able to take really ancient deep-rooted sounds and then mixing them with some really futuristic shit and then just going for it. I’m all about putting opposites together and making something happen.

Hipsterwave: Alright, cool. So what do you think some of the rewards in music have been for you?

Born I Music: Being able to fly around the world just on the strength of my music is definitely a huge blessing and a wild head trip. When I was a part of Shambhala, we toured in Asia numerous times and it just an unbelievable experience. And money, who doesn’t love money? [laughs] Its a rough grind in this game but when the paper is good, the paper is great [laughs]. Making music that you know will stand the test of time is a big reward, developing a fan base, having people you don’t know come up to you and tell you that something you did changed their lives or helped them through a rough time, nothing beats that, man. Making “The Born Identity Mixtape” while making “Tomorrow is Today”, working with so many talented producers, engineers, tastemakers, friends – its all just beyond words…I can tell you being a musician, and as somebody who practices meditation, meditation is always about taking a good clean look at yourself over and over and over again until you can really see as clearly as possible. And, being a musician is a big part of that because it’s like one gigantic meditation. You’re always digging into yourself to see ‘what else is there’? ‘What else can I speak on’? ‘What other perspective can I introduce to the world’? What have I been through that I can share that would be of value to myself and others?’, et cetera. And so, just on a personal level, as somebody that believes in past lives and future lifetimes, and all that other stuff, hopefully I’ve been able to knock off a couple of future rebirths by just paying attention to myself as deeply as its required when you’re an artist [laughs].

Hipsterwave: Last question – whats coming up for you?

Born I Music: THE BORN IDENTITY MIXTAPE just dropped so everyone go to bornimusic.com and download that asap! The official single for my album is dropping early this summer. Its called “Conga Drum” its one of the most unique and catchy songs to drop in a long time so be sure to go to www.bornimusic.com for the track and the video! My new blog is up, everything from music to video to pics of fly girls, me, me with fly girls, etc is on there [laughs] so everyone go and check out bornimusic.com now! My album “Tomorrow is Today” will drop once I have the right situation so until then, I’mma keep dropping singles, videos and releasing collab projects with various producers. I’ve got a project called “Dolce & Beretta” with my producer Axiom coming up, a bass-heavy concept EP with GFS, an electro/dubstep thing with Aligning Minds and of course touring with The Hoodfellas and providing vocals. I’m gonna be busy man [laughs]

Download Born I Music’s “THE BORN IDENTITY MIXTAPE” here!

On the edge of our seats, once again, from a Family Comes First video. The first was the trailer, now the official video has kept us engaged and locked. Don’t know about y’all, but we love sitting during the suspenseful, quiet moments before the storm.

Without giving away too much, peep this hot new exclusive video from FCF.

Dope enough for you? Many other bangers are available on iTunes now in FCF’s latest album entitled “Entourage.”

FCF “ENTOURAGE”
Tracklisting For “Entourage” Album:

1. Hello (We’re Back)
2. Really Like That?
3. Be Easy
4. Patty Cake
5. Squeeze
6. Subway Cipher
7. You Know The Deal
8. Do It Better
9. Passports & Louie Bags Ft. Malcolm Young
10. Hold You Down
11. Keep It Bouncin’
12. Tippy Top
13. Love Thing

About FCF

Family Comes First; a new breed of Hip-Hop’s generation next. FCF is composed of two emcees directly influenced by the legends of Hip Hop and R&B. T-Rell, born in the Bronx, and La Kid, a New Jersey native, bring a polished and refreshing artistic smoothness to the rap game. FCF combines catchy hooks with a unique style of in & out rhyming. Not since power groups like Mobb Deep and the group formerly known as Smif & Wesson have we witnessed artists of this caliber.

Variety Lab returns with its magnificent new record Team Up!

Features collaborations with folk legend Donovan, David Bartholomé, Lisa Kekaula, Yael Naim, Lily Frost and cover art from famous French comic artists Dupuy & Berberian

Variety Lab
Team Up!
Release date: December 15, 2009
Peermusic / Digital Pressure
variety-lab.com
myspace.com/varietylab

How did this project come together?

“Soda Pop Confusion” (feat kidsaredead):

Download.

This is a diverse and super funky mix of tropicalia, electro, acid jazz and bubblegum pop with a surprise at every turn. From the vocodered disco-rock of Let’s Boogie to the sun-drenched acoustica of Mireia there isn’t a moment here that doesn’t ooze laid-back Mediterranean cool.

- Clash Magazine

Spanning multiple genres and featuring collaborations from some of the most inspiring artists in the world, Variety Lab’s sophomore album Team Up! is set up to be the most wonderful musical surprise of 2009. From the original blueprints through to the execution it’s a grand slam. Collaborations with folk legend Donovan, David Bartholomé, Lisa Kekaula, Yael Naim and Lily Frost creates a broad musical spectrum while French comic artists Dupuy & Berberian bring Variety Lab’s vision to life.

Variety Lab is the alias of one Thierry Bellia. His first CD – 2003’s Providence – gained notoriety for its lead single “London In The Rain,” which was, at the time, included in every single lounge compilation. As in the past Bellia, alone, put Team Up! together, but he did not forget to emphasize his friends’ assistance in the process. Let’s just name his henchmen from the French band Orwell (Jérôme Didelot and Alexandre Longo, aka Cascadeur and winner of the 2008 Inrockuptibles CQFD prize). Making use of his friends, instruments, machines and other weird objects (for instance the Optigan, a toy devised back in the 70’s), Thierry has worked non-stop on this project.

As for the biggest collaboration, after months of swapping tapes across the channel with Bellia, folk legend Donovan himself flew across to Paris to offer his voice and his experience to the spacious and bouncy opening track, “Is This The Last Time.” “I was delighted to be asked to join Variety Lab on their project. I flew into Paris to record. I helped to re-work the song and had great fun with the band. It’s a cool track and I am pleased to present this first single with Variety Lab. It’s a funny lyric and I brought out the humor with one of my quirky accents that I use when I take on the character in a song. It’s a perfect new pop record to dance and meet a new friend or lover,” Donovan says.

On three other tracks, “We Should Be Dancing” (the video has now been viewed over 125,000 time on YouTube), “Mireia” and the very rocky “Not Enough,” it is David Bartholomé, the lead-singer with the excellent Belgian band Sharko, who grabs the mike. And then the fantastic and frantic Bellrays’ vocalist, Lisa Kekaula, with her husky and roaring voice who sings on “Let’s Boogie,” a groovy and vocodered track that oozes sheer rock and soul energy from Detroit. The youngster Vincent Mougel from Kidsaredead comes in next to blow some sugary foam on the sweet candy that is “Soda Pop Confusion,” while Thierry’s fellow Nancy-born Mona Soyoc naturally joins the project as a next-door neighbor, and adds some sensuality to the very eighties “Money,” a cover version of the track by late 70s-early 80s English band The Flying Lizards, who had themselves borrowed it from the soul crooner Barrett Strong. Next, Canadian songstress Lily Frost croons over the lush, crackly ballad “This Parade” before 2008 pop sensation Yael Naim closes the album with her version of “Love Is A Bird;” originally a Variety Lab demo that has gradually evolved, first in the expert hands of Cascadeur, then by David Bartholomé on a Sharko album. “Love Is A Bird”, a simple, and beautiful idea, that leads us strolling from one end of Team up! to the other, filled with a feeling that can be summed up as the more, the stronger, the prettier and the merrier.

Team up! is more than a mere album – Much more. It is like awaking from a soft dream.

Variety Lab
“Team Up!”

Tracklisting

01 – “Is This The Last Time?” (feat. Donovan)
02 – “Money (That’s what I Want)” (feat. Mona Soyoc)
03 – “Which way to go (Reprisa)”
04 – “We Should Be Dancing” (feat. David Bartholome)
05 – “Soda Pop Confusion” (feat. Kidsaredead)
06 – “This Parade” (feat. Lily Frost)
07 – “Hola Mireia”
08 – “Which Way To Go”
09 – “Mireia” (feat. David Bartholome)
10 – “Let’s Boogie” (feat. Lisa Kekaula)
11 – “Not Enough” (feat. David Bartholome)
12 – “Love Is A Bird” (feat. Yael Naim)

Last Wednesday Jimmy Edgar dropped his record, Funktion EP (available here for full preview and purchase in both digital and vinyl) on the new label co-run by Richie Hawtin’s M-nus corporation, ITEMS&THINGS. Edgar’s style on this release is fashionable with nice vocals from Edgar (as usual), while also being reminiscent of the classic rave scene, with an interesting modern twist. For any longtime electronic music scene fans, the second track of four, “Young Thing,” is a must with its acidic/tb303 feel.

One of our favorite things about the exquisite production of Jimmy Edgar is the fact that his melodies and rhythm are so uniquely his. Love his musical ability and hearing how he combines a banging, electronic dance floor sound with catchy, very human feeling synth jams. We’ve seen many changes from Edgar as he has developed as an artist, but one thing is for certain: he is unstoppable with whatever instrument he touches.

Jimmy’s favorite DJ from Detroit, Magda, lets this one go on her label (with partners RunStopRestore) and will sure be one of the sweat sexed designs of ’09 to hit & bloody the dancefloor. “Funktion of your Love” features two remixes, one by Seth Troxler and a rare acid washed Plus Device affiliated B-side called “Young Thing”. The main track is instrumental and although the vox didnt make the cut, we will be releasing that version for free shortly after it comes out.

“Funktion of your Love” has gone through a plethora of generations including a cover by New Look (Adam Pavao & Sara Ruba). Its origins lie in a vocal pop track by Jimmy which is featured on the creatively delayed ‘Deeper’ LP which is still in production and looking to see the light of day this Autumn 2009.

Jimmy Edgar once again embarks on a late September 09 European tour. Contact littlebig Agency to book DJ Jimmy Edgar or his new EUROvision Live performance as we are looking for more cities to infiltrate. Some cities include Riga, Berlin, London, Hamburg, Vilnius and more.

If you want Jimmy, contact a promoter to contact his people.

Big Dada are enormously proud, pleased and cat-that-got-the-cream-faced to announce that last night Speech Debelle won the 2009 Barclaycard Mercury Prize for Album of the Year for her record “Speech Therapy”. With stiff competition from the likes of Florence + The Machine, Friendly Fires and Bat For Lashes, Speech’s confidence never wavered and she came through with the kind of aplomb which made it seem like she’d been walking red carpets for years. We, meanwhile, jumped on the tables, spilt drinks and partied with little thought for the feelings of the great and the grey of the UK music industry gathered around us. So today, nursing gigantic hangovers, we raise a glass of alkaseltzer to the Mercury Prize organisers, the panel of judges, all our supporters out there and most of all the Speech herself! Salut!

Danna’s friend, Um is that Pixie? I don’t even know.

The Summer has been a non-starter here in Scotland. It hit me pretty hard the other day when my vitamin D deficient face looked out the window for another overcast day in the lab. But it’s kinda beautiful in its own way and it adds extra meaning to songs that can normally coast over you. Me & Fine Art made three tapes this month – one for Dazed, one for Nalden and this one here was just sorta labour of love with some really weird shit ( verging from new Hudson Mo to modern classical, fusion, 90s rnb & soul ) to bring some balance and new meaning to a Summer of dreich ( Scottish for shitty weather ).

oh hell no – no track listing this time.

Download.

LA-based, Samuel Stewart, is the son of Dave Stewart of the Eurythmics, and at the young age of 21 has already been working diligently developing his musical career.

Stewart produced his brother’s record, The Giving Tree by Django James and The Midnight Squires. Sam’s first EP, The Beginner is forthcoming, set for release in mid-October.

Here’s the first track and title track from the record:

Download.

Check out more from Samuel Stewart, including tour dates, here:
myspace.com/samuelstewartmusic

Message from KT himself:

Whatupdoe? First off, I must say THANK YOU for supporting me and my music!!
As a result of your support, I want to share some upcoming music from my 2nd album entitled “Nowalataz”.

Also due to the success of my first album, “The Golden Hour”, I will be releasing “The Golden Hour 2XLP” on (LIMITED EDITION GOLD VINYL w/ Full Cover Artwork) coming end of September. I will also be on tour with Mayer Hawthorne/Buff1/Houseshoes begining September 5. A physical release of the “Nowalataz” Digital/CD is in the works.

PLEASE feel free to share it, play it, blog about it, with anyone you would like to :)
God is Good!!

Like the man KT himself says, feel free to download some of the music from the Nowalataz LP here.

Available now via A-Side Worldwide and iTunes:

Buff1 “There’s Only One”

Now On “Tomorrow Already”

14KT “The Golden Hour Soundtrack”

Coming in 2009:
~Mayer Hawthorne – A Strange Arrangement Debut [Stones Throw] // Release Date 9.9.09
~Now On’s “The Break Up” EP
~Debut Album from Crown Royale (Buff1+DJ Rhettmatic)
~New music from 14KT, AML, the launch of www.asideworldwide.com and much more…