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Monday, 13 October, 2008

PLANETNOTION TELEVISION!

CAMERA-FOLK AND FILM EDITORS WANTED!

Planet Notion is looking for guys and dolls to film and edit features for its new TV channel, PNTV. Accompanying Notion to artist interviews, gigs, fashion shows, festivals and international events, you will be skilled, passionate and full of ideas about how to produce shit-hot video content. Camera-folk will be experienced and ideally have their own equipment, or at least access to equipment, while editors must be able to turn projects around quickly, and with stylistic flare. If you can both film and edit content, we would especially like to hear from you! These casual, unpaid positions would be ideal for those looking to develop their showreels, and to get the chance to travel, film major artists and top events.

Please email lucy(at)musichqmedia
(dot)com if you’re interested in getting involved, cheers!

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The sound catchers. Various artists.

The sound catchers. Various artists.

Ever wondered what would happen if you got some disparate artists all working in and around the same genre into the same room for a State of The Musical Nation discussion? Notion did. After listening to DJ Vadim’s staggeringly diverse album ‘The Soundcatcher,’ we invited the man himself down to the pub, along with some other carefully selected musicians. We invited the famously eloquent British rapper, Ty, primarily for his love of mixing things up. To bring order to the proceedings, who better than one of the grand matriarchs of reggae, Dawn Penn? Add to that Suffolk’s own soulstress, Alice Russell, and the flagrantly independent Omar. We thought we had ourselves the ingredients for a rather serious discussion. What we did discover was what life is like in the trenches for artists making great music independently. Here’s what we and the wallflowers heard... DOES THE CURRENT TENDENCY TOWARDS DISPOSABILITY IN MUSIC MEAN THAT IT STILL HAS THE POWER TO ADDRESS SERIOUS ISSUES? DJ VADIM: Definitely - ALICE RUSSELL: I think so. - DJV: Well, look at that song by Eminem, where he was talking about Bush and stuff. Obviously the whole media and TV are in bed with Bush and the Republican government, and the biggest selling rap artist in America has come out against it. It was just a huge controversy and people were saying how wrong he was, on TV, in forums, everywhere... He made a song about the current state of affairs in America and look what happened. DO YOU THINK IT LED TO ANY SORT OF MASSIVE CHANGE FOR PEOPLE? DJV: I think he is part of a movement that made people think more. DO PEOPLE NEED TO BE MADE TO THINK MORE? OMAR: Things like Pop Idol have really pushed the element of mediocrity in regards to pop music, and audiences are coming to accept the idea of being told they’re that dumb. - A.R: It’s just plasticness everywhere. It’s all about getting a bit of rawness instead of the overly pre-meditated stuff we hear so much of. Some people are so well packaged and thought out. That style of doing things, I hate it. - O: I loved it when So Solid Crew came out of nowhere. I loved that because you could just see people were like..... - A.R: ‘What the fuck?’ - O: Like the way they said that Lily Allen thing was because of myspace, and even Gnarls Barkley. The way it’s been sold to us was as loads of internet downloads, but the reality was an office full of people working away... 200,000 HITS ON MYSPACE DOESN’T NECESSARILY MEAN MORE SALES... O: I want to testify to that! - Ty: Hallelujah! - DAWN PENN: It’s almost like a separate universe that yeah you might be successful in but does it relate to the real world? - A.R: That’s where you hope truth will out. It’s do your thing, do it right. Don’t sit down and just hope it will come out. BUT WE’VE GOT SOME GREAT ARTISTS HERE LIKE PLAN B, FOREIGN BEGGARS AND MANY MORE WHO NEVER QUITE BREAK THROUGH IN THE WAY THAT SOME PEOPLE THINK THEY SHOULD... D.P: It’s a problem if you’re an English artist rapping like you’re from America. I have no time for that. I have no idea why they’re doing this. Someone like Plan B might be lucky in that case. - O: The problem we have is a ceiling in regards to how far you can go, and you get to a certain point, where there’s a bottleneck. One of them is Radio One and Jo Wiley. If she plays your stuff, other people are going to pick it up, and if she doesn’t, they don’t, and it just shows how tight it all is. - T: But don’t you find that we’ve got this opportunity now because of satellite TV, satellite radio, internet radio, myspace, and all this other stuff, that there’s so many other platforms for you to be able to promote your music? Fuck Radio One, fuck XFM, fuck all these people that want us to get onto their playlist! - A.R: It’s like a crazy little club, isn’t it? - T: There’s no control over a lot of these other platforms though, and it is a little bit harder in a sense, but, at the same time I’m here and a lot of music we listen to now just doesn’t seem compromised to me. Before, it was so totally compromised, someone used to say ‘play that’ and ‘it’s going to go on this program at this time,’ whereas now people are just doing what the fuck they want, you know what I mean? And some of it’s going to be cack of course, but there’s going to be a lot of good shit there too. D.P: I think if you have some people who can open a door for you, you’re fine. If you know no-one, that’s it. But like I say, I don’t have a label, I’m not signed to Atlantic anymore – and I’m not talking about them per se – but sometimes I see these people on TV and I wonder why their labels think they’re going to sell millions of records. There’s people who can’t even sell a thousand copies: they have the sounds, but they don’t have the money to get it out there. DO YOU THINK PART OF THE PROBLEM IS THAT WE ARE FOREMOST A GUITAR MUSIC COUNTRY? THE DECISION HAS ALREADY BEEN MADE AS TO WHAT WE’RE PRIMARILY GOING TO BE HEARING... T: Radio One is a dinosaur man, they were controlling it. - O: Listen, shit’s bigger for Radio 2 now than it is for Radio One. This isn’t a Radio One slagging fest, the point we’re making is bigger. If we’re going to talk about all these artists that should be bigger then we need to talk about the force that’s actually saying no. And a lot of people don’t know that’s there. I know a lot of these artists in different fields all have the same story. They ran up to the wall, and the door closed but the door still had a hand, shaking theirs and saying, ‘I like you though, I do like you, but can you do that thing that you did 6 months ago now?’ - DJV: You know what, one thing I’m going to say is that living in America, coming here, I’ve met so many UK artists who don’t want to do interviews, don’t want to do shows, don’t want to do shit, but they want to be selling like Eminem and I don’t understand it. Being in Brooklyn you see people working their ass off - groups like Atmosphere selling 200,000 albums independently out the back of their house is amazing. You’ve got to be professional. T: You got to work. - DJV: It doesn’t matter if you’re rapping, singing, playing the guitar. Why is indie so big in England? Because those bands work like hell. You look at all these little bands and they’re doing like 40 shows a month, doing all the universities, doing everything. Look at UK hip hop artists, how many shows are they doing? - T: I’ve actually had an interest in my records because of people - expatriates living in the States and people being aware of Ty - but it has absolutely nothing to do with the music industry. - O: There’s another strange phenomenon there as well, because I assumed you go to the States and it’s a black thing. - T: No, no, no... O: Straight away there’s a brick wall in my face. It’s a bit weird. D.P: I think that in The States they are racist. I was born in Jamaica but I have roots. There’s a scenario where they’re trying to make out that dark skin people don’t have any soul in them, and that soul actually came from The States, singing with feeling. You’re born American, you’re expected to sing that way. In this country the powers that be are taking the people that can do it and putting a different colour scheme on people that can’t do it. T: But also the actual genre of hip hop has changed a little bit. The thing with hip hop music is that when it morphs into a particular thing and the mainstream accept it as that, it’s very hard to do anything different. And that’s what we do experience as musicians – frustration. — At this point Ty had to go pick up his mum from hospital and everyone else decided to start eating the sandwiches we’d brought. Suddenly I felt as if I knew what Ty meant about frustration. The expected course of events had morphed into something unrecognizable, but no less interesting. Even creative types like to get together and talk shop, bitch about the employer and get it off their chests before heading back to the front. We’re just glad we gave them the opportunity to do so before it started encroaching on their work.

tags: | dj vadim | dawn penn | ty | alice | russel | omar | myspace | radio one | radio two

The Cinematic Orchestra

The Cinematic Orchestra

Audiovisual alchemy, multi-lingual instruments and the scattered scenery of an imagined film? It could only be Jason Swinscoe and his Cinematic Orchsetra. The man on a mission to make records that are ‘not just music for music’s sake,’ returns with ‘Ma Fleur,’ a stripped-down symphony bearing several storytellers and a message of hope. Piano, strings, saxophone, drums and vocal parts delicately interplay in this minimal masterpiece, which is Jason’s soundtrack for the cycles of life: loss encountered and love fulfilled. Such abstract and universal themes are Jason’s focus; ‘self-indulgent’ records are trivial for an artist and producer who relies upon the medium of music for mass communication, for unification. For him, music should be inclusive and wide-reaching, just as opening track ‘To Build a Home,’ carries the line: ‘A place where I don’t feel alone.’ The vocal ‘I’ is always a byword for ‘You’ or ‘We’ with The Cinematic Orchestra; music is a magical soundscape where self and other are one. ‘I build a home / For you, for me, / Until you disappear / From me, from you...’ runs newcomer Patrick Watson’s tentative lyric, as the piano melody mounts and stirs, while core TCO member Phil France’s double bass provides the sturdy backbone upon which this beautiful tune hangs. The record itself is supported by a screenplay Jason commissioned to a like-minded old friend. ‘Ma Fleur’’s script is inhabited by three or four characters, whose individual worlds ‘collide to create new universes,’ and whose rich and vividly felt emotions steer the movements of this symphony. Taking inspiration from directors like Tarantino and the experimental time scale of ‘Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind’ (2004), the chronology of the record’s script can be ‘broken up,’ so that the various phases of human life make sense as a whole. This holistic approach in turn corresponds to The Cinematic Orchestra’s wider and enduring project, to which one line from ‘Ma Fleur’ especially relates: ‘Wrap yourself around the world.’ The band’s juxtaposition of ‘cinematic’ and ‘orchestra’ is their self-proclaiming manifesto that the music they make ought to simultaneously conjure or suggest a visual landscape. So tunes have to be kept both relatively impersonal and stridently open: these are neutral compositions for the listener to ‘imaginate upon,’ as Jason explains it. I wonder aloud whether the sometime fine art student and band leader is one of those rare people who experiences synaesthaesia, or ‘colour hearing.’ Can he ever hear a piece of music with a blank canvass in his mind, or listen to a note without his vision becoming awash with a certain hue? ‘I do both, really,’ he says with a mischievous glimmer in his eye. Presumably, to ‘wrap yourself around the world’ is to experience it fully and meaningfully, as a part of nature rather than part of human destiny. Eyes and ears would perceive this integrated universe as one; sights and sounds would work in a symbiotic fashion, while the ego melts away. By reflection, so-called ‘mystical’ experiences that have been reported through time often involve the subject describing being wrapped in light or a flame coloured cloud, whilst hearing enchanting music. And so we return to Jason’s original ambition, to imbue his work with that ‘spiritual’ quality where life adds up, in all of its hectic elements and heady sensations – just like the young protagonist of ‘Ma Fleur,’ we ‘Climb the tree to see the world,’ and are at peace with it. Legendary ‘Rescue Me’ soul singer Fontella Bass urges the second tune along with her ‘How near / How far / Tell me how far,’ refrain, as Luke Flowers’ drums arrive for the first time, a subtly added texture to the lingering parts of piano and double bass. Jason remembers his stubbornness at the time of producing this track; he was determined not to use any of the same collaborators from 2002’s ‘Everyday,’ but it ‘just wasn’t happening’ with the other vocalists he recruited. At the time, Fontella was very ill, but ‘she wanted to make music, like she always has done, not just sit and convalesce.’ While Patrick provides the tones of youth, Fontella is the voice of age and experience, her ‘near’ and ‘far’ seemingly interchangeable with ‘Ma Fleur’’s preoccupation with the themes of love and loss. She sings a melody that tremours and undulates, so that the weight of significance between ‘near’ and ‘far’ shifts, just like the ebb and flow of human relationships both within the universe of the record, and in the real world outside. Jason confirms that the title ‘Ma Fleur’ is indeed indicative of a fragile token passed from one lover to another; a simple language that encodes so much and crystallises a moment to be savoured. As for the interaction between The Cinematic Orchestra’s individual instrumentalists, Jason felt no pressure to ‘include all of the band in all of the tracks.’ While the celebrated, beat-driven ‘Everyday’ used complex harmonical and rhythmical structures, he believes that ‘things got lost.’ Here, the listener is alive to the suggestiveness of repeated motifs, and the ‘orchestration between the selected instruments,’ rather than grand, sweeping arrangements, is what resonates and yields energy. Comparable with Jason taking inspiration from raw and spontaneous human action like ‘seeing a couple hugging in the street,’ and Patrick’s lyric: ‘Held on as tightly / As you held onto me,’ it is the intimate movements and exchanges between the instruments that is crucial, not the bombastic effect of a fully fledged orchestra. So ‘Ma Fleur’ sees the band employing a new technique of ‘taking things away’; the value of understatement that is perhaps an effect of Jason’s immersion in Parisian culture. The contemplative, ‘romantic’ character of the city is something he acknowledges as an influence upon the record. Becoming uninspired by the music he was making from East London, Jason moved to Paris , where ‘Ma Fleur’ began to take shape. However, the record was completed amid the ‘growth’ of New York , where Jason has now settled. He found the perfect location to take photographs for the various scenes of ‘Ma Fleur’ along the Rockaway Peninsula in Brooklyn . To compliment the unified vision of the world ‘Ma Fleur’ projects, it was important to find a landscape where all of the scenes could be accommodated, not just random ‘meaningless’ scraps of the city, cemented together to synthesise a whole. A preternaturally blue sky, almost turquoise, envelopes the waterside image on the record’s sleeve, a shadowy hut flanked by bullrushes gesturing towards the central idea of ‘home’ that the opening track meditates upon. Respected New York photographer Maya Hayuk worked with Jason to shoot eleven images, one for every track. No overt links between the tunes and the photographs are offered, just as ‘Ma Fleur’’s characters are absent or distorted – this audiovisual work had to be kept as open as possible, to bring the universality and interpretative freedom Jason insists his art must have. By extension, the vocal parts on the record had to be sparse and carefully placed. Fourth track, ‘Music Box,’ for example, features the gentle intertwining of Patrick’s voice with Mercury-nominated Lou Rhodes’, their murmuring parts seeping into the composition like spirits, leaving the human world of battling wills and distracting egos behind. Returning to arresting opener ‘To Build A Home,’ Jason stresses the importance of the way in which Patrick’s words and intonation had to be ‘wrapped’ around the music in a manner that was objective enough; unobtrusively, so that the emotion was controlled and contained. The frontman’s choice of ‘wrapped’ is revealing, again harking back to that impassioned lyric, ‘Wrap yourself around the world.’ Clearly ‘wrap’ is the most active verb both within the record and Jason’s artistic imagination; this imperative to meld opposite elements together, to liquidate a fragmented life of love and loss into a fruitful whole. ‘Joy and pain’ (as Lou sings in the last tune), past and present, ‘near and far’ (Fontella’s verse), self and other, man and nature...Disparate elements are gathered, fused and dispersed by these lush and lilting soundscapes as they roll along. Scenes assemble and mutate while the characters grow, think, feel, act and decay; harmony and discord is their orchestral accompaniment. Breathe’ is the third to last track: one character’s final and stoic intake of breath as she resigns herself to death, here figured as some kind of oceanic subsuming. While the action and subject of this song is dissolution, Fontella’s vocal is rich, deep, unwavering; the most assured and dominant delivery across the entire record, flanked only by a simple bassline, a hesitant melody and occasional drums. For the spirit of ‘Ma Fleur’ is optimistic, its dynamic an upward thrust. Although Jason reckons that ‘Everyday’ was ‘closer to motion,’ he also tells me that ‘physics’ are a meaningful part of this fresh material – the bodily vibrations elicited by various instruments and voices that demand a visceral response from us. The interplay between our auditory and visual faculties are then to do with the neurophysiology of the brain, and nowhere on ‘Ma Fleur’ is this synaesthesia more alive than with Fontella’s perishing figure on ‘Ma Fleur.’ She tells of some mysterious force ‘singing into me’; ‘It comforts me / And carries me / Out to sea / And swallows me.’ At ‘swallows’ the music builds dramatically then falls away to usher in ethereal backing vocals: the benevolent god that has been presiding over the record seems to be guiding her into another life cycle. Such renewal and continuity – the visual image of waves gathering, crashing and reforming endures – is carried forward by the penultimate and final tracks. Patrick revisits the melody with which he opened the record, then Lou instructs us to ‘Dream’ over burgeoning strings and glockenspiel. The bonds between these disparate individuals allow life to remain unfolding meaningfully. Forward-looking, sincere and physical, cerebral and spiritual at once, ‘Ma Fleur’ is one of those records that is built around a belief in the power and magic of music. By working to unite the impulses of past and present, the perceptions of eye and ear and the preoccupations of self and other, Jason and his Cinematic Orchestra invite listeners to hear their own hopeful message and see external beauties afresh. ‘H(o)ld on as tightly’ to this record as you do to your own selfhood or a beloved other, and you might just relearn the wonder of what it is to ‘wrap yourself around the world.’ ‘ MA FLEUR ’ IS OUT NOW ( NINJA TUNE )

tags: | the cinematic orchestra | ma fleur | jason swinscoe

Label profile Lot 49

Tech and funk, religion and porn; LOT 49 founder Mark Pember AKA DJ/ Producer Meat Katie likes to it mix up both on and off the decks. Those who have caught Mark’s ballsy DJing style will have a good idea about the vibe this label was built to bottle. We’re talking dirty, rolling, rich and bassheavy – a romp between techno, electro, house and breaks. Fresh from the release of ‘LOT 49 Presents,’ a celebratory compilation for its 3rd birthday, the imprint has this year welcomed Mark’s new partner, fellow break-faster Dylan Rhymes. Rhymes had been a key LOT 49 artist since the start, and came to the label with a fighting mission statement: ‘Between us we plan to keep releasing the best club music.’ Meat Katie, Dylan Rhymes, Vandal, D Ramirez, Elite Force, Dexter, Jono Fernandez, Marco Bailey, James Talk, Alex Metric and Lützenkirchen are just some of the breakbeat heavyweights flying the LOT49 flag. Tech funk is the party-line-genre, but that itself could mean anything from techno to electro to house to breaks, at varying intensities and in random combinations from 12 inch to 12 inch. ‘Snowballing’ as Mark says since its creation in 2004, the label hosts hot hot parties right around the globe. The Far East, Miami, Mexico City, Canada and Australia comprise the beat map LOT 49 has travelled so far. It all kicked off when Mark decided to ‘get my arse in gear’ and build himself a new label, following the stitch-up departure of his previous partner on W9Y (Whole 9 Yards). The guy decided to move to be with his wife in Sweden but preferred to split W9Y across the continent (‘It’s still in limbo now!’) than leave his half of the homegrown project with Mark. Going solo, Mark made concrete his ambition to have a label that constantly functioned like LOT 49’S TOP SELLING TEN 01 / Dylan Rhymes ‘ The Way ’ 02 / Vandal ‘ Mad As Hell ’ 03 / D. Ramirez ‘ Slave ’ 04 / Meat Katie ‘ All I Need ’ ( DYLAN RHYMES / LEE COOMBS REMIXES ) 05 / Force Mass Motion ‘ Out of It / Skyline ’ 06 / Vandal ‘ Obey ’ ( DEXTER REMIX ) 07 / Jono Fernandez ‘ Rising Up ’ 08 / Meat Katie & Aquasky ‘ Feathers ’ ( MARCO BAILEY REMIX ) 09 / 30Hz ‘ Space Age ’ 10 / Vandal ‘ Idiots ’ ( AUDIOJACK REMIX ) one of his lively DJ sets – ‘I like them to carry some attitude and bollocks!’ - smashing styles together and ram-packed with rare sounds. ‘LOT 49 Presents’ reins in ten exclusive tracks including Vandal’s ‘Bad Acid’, Dylan Rhymes’ ‘Suicide Girls’, Elite Force’s ‘I Don’t Think So,’ and ‘Mutton’ by 30Hz. Meat Katie’s last release ‘She Ain’t Right’, and his awesome reworking of the Bassbin Twins’ ‘The Dogs’ will give novices a chance to get up to speed – or try to keep pace – with the man’ s take on beats and breaks. Rogue Element’s blistering new remix of Dylan Rhymes’ classic ‘Muzika’ is the icing on this birthday cake. Exclusives aside, Sharam Jey, Loulou Players, Swen Webber, and David Eckenback all get brought aboard to offer up quality tunes in this riot of a mix. ‘We’re doing alright, you know,’ Mark grins over his pint. With Rhymes in tow shouldering his share of the beats and an artist album in store from the LOT 49 originator himself – he’s hitting the studio in August – these are indeed good times for the British breaks label. Turn up, tech-in and funk-out to its signature-styled catalogue to experience the sound of clubs in the future. LOT 49 online is now a veritable superstore of back-cat tracks, exclusives and early promos. ‘People who appreciate what LOT 49 is doing have discovered it for themselves, which makes them like it even more. We’ve got no press agent, it’s a really grassroots label and it won’t be known for being splattered across all of the magazines.’ Kicking UK breaks in the backside and carving out a hardcore sound, you’ll feel the gratifying body-bass of LOT 49’s output on discerning dance floors at home and away: stand by! VITAL STATISTICS LABEL HEAD / Meat Katie & Dylan Rhymes LABEL FOUNDED / 2004 ANNUAL RELEASES / 12-14 Vinyls, 1-2 Compilations, 1-2 Albums MISSION STATEMENT / Tech. Funk. WEBSITE / www.lot49.co.uk

tags: | lot 49 | dj | producer | techno | electro | house | breaks | funk | dylan rhymes | more...

Louie Vega

Louie Vega – Mastesr at Work Interview. Strictly Rhythm Words Toni Tambourine First question: What happened to your famous diamond MAW pendant? Arrrr… that poor pendant. Its in Miami somewhere. Some lucky cleaning lady has it or something. It was a gift from Kenny that he gave me about 10 years ago. When I was in my place in Miami, my son was wearing it and I guess it must have just got lost down some sofa somewhere. That was a very beautiful piece. I am having a new one made. We saw a video of you DJ’ing recently in Miami. Was that your mum you were with at he party, does she go to all of your gigs? You know a lot of my parties here in the US are family orientated. My Mom, my sisters their daughters, they all come out and they love this music. It was my Mom who was rocking out and the other woman was my aunt! You can see the video at www.defected.com/tv Did the music that they played when you were growing up influence your style now? As you know I have Latin heritage, Salsa music is a big part of my growing up. I had a very famous uncle singer named Hector Lavoue signed to the label Phonia ?????, I also listened to Elton John, Steely Dan, Stevie Wonder, and got I got musical influences from my sisters going to clubs and being club queens in the late 70’s and 80’s they brought a lot of records from Zanibar and the Loft, Paradise Garage and The Gallery. Did you go to any of those clubs? I got to go to the garage when I was 15 years old, I remember what Larry Levan was playing when I first went in there, it was amazing. He played Candido – Thousand finger man, Street Player - Chicago, a lot of those records that influence us today were played at that club. I still play those records to this day. I was in awe of the sound system, Larry Levan, the way he played, he mixed a lot of effects and accapellas, he really took you on a trip. I guess you could say that he was a role model or you. Yes he was a role model for me as a DJ a producer and remixer. He remixed and produced tons of great records, the Beach Boys, Grace Jones, Gwen Guthrie even Mick Jagger. Maybe your have reached the same stature as him now? Ah man… I don’t tink I could ever go that far, but there were a lot of great DJ’s around at the time watching Tony Humpries at the Zanzibar, they way he played records. At that time it was amazing, in New York. It was all about the big clubs and the sound systems. You had 10 or 15 clubs the size of The Ministry of Sound and all had amazing DJ’s. Between 85-90 I played the tops clubs in NYC, I was young, 20 years old and I was playing every Friday and Saturday to huge numbers night to 2500, 3000 people every weekend. What about your legendary underground Network Party? I took a break for a couple of years then I met Don Welsh who was Barbara Tuckers partner at the time. He had already started the underground Network at Elite. They said look how do feel about being the resident DJ at all our parties every Wednesday. Then they came up with the concept of making it a music industry party where all music industry heads could hang out, dancers DJ’s etc and just release, and so we went over to the Sound factory where we had seen Frankie Knuckles playing. It was bumping and we loved the club. I guess that was your first residency? Yes it was my first house music residency, because before I would play Latin, Hip Hop, Reggae, R & B a big mixture. In the late 80’s (87) I met Todd Terry. We started hanging out a lot and Todd said to me ‘ Man I doing a lot of records at the moment, will you mix them for me ?’ I was mixing pop records at that time. If you look at Todds early records you’ll see my name on them. Records like ‘Just make that Move’, ‘The beat Goes On’, ‘Give Yourself to Me. Me. Todd and I became really good friends and we used to hang out after that. Do you think that Strictly Rhythm kick started your career, especially with songs like Beautiful People? I would say as a producer for house music YES, Strictly Rhythm gave me the opportunity to release a lot of the ideas that I had, Mark Finkelstein was the man behind the scenes sorting out all the business side of things, but Glady Pizarro was in charge of the creative part, she was always out, checking out the clubs, checking out what was new, checking out the next thing. She would always say to me ‘what you got thats new?” and I would be calling her at 3am in the morning, her and Micheal White???? at Nervous . Strictly Rhythm and Nervous were very instrumental to my career and I would call them and they would listen and I would say ‘I have this record and it real hot!’ The records would be Deep Inside, or Beautiful people and they would be freaking out. I’d say ‘I got this idea, we wrote this song called beautiful People’ and it was actually India, Lem Springstein, Dereck Whittaker and Myself who had written the song, and the next thing Beautiful people was born. I had a great team at the time trying to pull together some great song writers, I was working with India at the time, and Lem Sprinstein. What’s the story behind Deep Inside? I came up with this hot groove and I wanted to do something for Barbara Tucker because she was always singing at the Underground Network. So I said I got this song for you. When she sang this song she sang one little part that really stood out for me that was ‘Deep Down Inside, Deep Deep Down inside’ and I was like wow that gave me an idea I went back into the studio I wrote this new groove to it and it became ‘Deep Inside’ the track, and I though that I would like to use this groove to introduce Barbara’s voice to the house scene. I think it will be perfect for getting the crowd to get into vibe. Whats this I hear about an up and coming superstar DJ helping you out? It’s funny that it’s such a small world, when I took that sample I went to a studio where a young guy who had a tiny little studio in a room in his house helped me out. This young engineer who worked on my song turned out to be Erick Morillo. The young Eric Morillo did my track! He was my engineer on Deep Inside. From there the song blew up and I couldn’t believe it, I gave that song to Strictly Rhythm for practically nothing and it did amazing out there. It has become every house music aficionado’s favourite record! Its wild how that happened, I remember going to Italy and seeing there reaction, I saw how huge it was, it hit everybody on the spot. It’s a classic groove and the hook is infectious. The Sound factory Bar – everyone used to hang out there. Everyone went there and I was the resident there on a Wednesday night. You’d see all these people hanging out there who came from the same area, Kenny Dope, Roger Sanchez, Danny Tenaglia, Erick Morillo, Armand Van Helden, Barbara Tucker. Everybody would be hanging out and when they did jams they would bring them and I would play them, we would break the records right there. It became a whole scene and they used to bring their records, I used play them and the crowd would freak out then the records would just go boom. Who do you think is setting the standards now, the people that are on your radar. I love it when people get creative, Henrik Schwarz, Dennis ferrer, Ame, Mr V, Alix Alvarez, Will Rodriguez from the West Coast, Frank Roger, Joe Clausell. This crew are coming up with some really crazy things. Even on a mainstream level Bob Sinclar and Martin Solveig, There is a lot of music our there and its up to the DJ to develop his taste to music, the DJ has to make it his thing. That is the sign of a really good DJ when you identify exactly what his sound is. Its like yo, that’s a Larry Levan Record, or that A Zanzibar Record, it goes from way back. Describe to me as best as you can what is your sound when you play out? Its hard because a lot of people would say Latin, its not all Latin, to the Diva vocals to the soul music, to Brazilian music to jazz music, to minimal tracks that I have done, I have done everything over the years. You don’t follow trends though right? You play what you feel is good. Exactly, things will stand out if you like them you like them, if you don’t you don’t. I play music that I feel moves me, music that gives me chills. Its how you play the particular song, you can see the reaction from the people. how you bring it in, what you do to create a dynamic..You can make a crowd sing a song just by the way your are playing it, you can accent parts that people what to sing it or say it, even if they haven’t heard that song before. When I play there is a certain energy, I got to admit it now to this day as I have inspired a lot of people and it feels really good to have touched and inspired these people, I’m proud and honoured to be able to do that, weather it’s a DJ or a person on the dancefloor. Music in a transitional stage at the moment. How is it changing for you is it getting better or worse? It is changing, obviously the Vinyl, we have had a great run for the last 15 years has been wonderful and is dwindleing and is becoming more of a purist thing, with my releases at Vega Records we still take care of the purists, that is something that is close to my heart obviously because I am a dj and I still collect Vinyl, even though I play CD’s when I’m travelling. I have a huge collection of vinyl. Do you play from Laptop as well? I have Serrato??? As well, I can do either, I have done it before, its great as you get to carry tons of music. It’s a good time for independents and small labels because you get to sell your tracks digitally around the world from different digital stores, you can promote through the internet, you can sell your records without having to invest tons of money in marketing and production, at least you can get a start. What are you saying its better at the moment? Its got its better side and its worse side. It is not easy for an independent label to survive, you have to be very consistent and make good music. The best thing is that nobody can stop me making music, I make tons of music, I always have Ideas, my mind is always fresh full of them as I am travelling around the world. We can almost control our destiny because we are creating the music and finding the new talent. That’s what I have dedicated Vega Records for to find new talent. What have you done with the mix. I am very proud of the Louie Vega in the house. I covered a lot of different styles of house music. It took me seven days to put that together, I have covered a lot of different styles of house music, I have even done a third CD that I have done on my own, which contains inspirational tunes. It’s a really great CD, one of my favourites so far. It’s a really great all around package. Give me some of the names that are on the inspirations CD? Ronnie Forster??, Denise Williams, Summer Madness, a Tania Maria song that she did last year, Twisted by Ultra Nate the four hero production, Donnie Hathaway, Valdez In The Country, A really beautiful vibe. What are the differences between the two mixes. Well CD1 starts really aggressive and fun and party, the first tune opens up with the Bob Sinclar Remix of Put your Drink Down, This is a really hot summer track and then it goes into this album cut that the Basement boys did, that Freestyle Records put out in the UK, They replayed the horn lines of Street player, it has an aggressive tribal beat, I’ve started it with a big bang. Right away it takes you there. Are there any standout tracks on that particular mix? There’s a song that I produced for Cerrone, it is Louie Vega Vs Cerrone is how they are presenting it. its called Love Ritual, I did it as a tribute to Cerrone and it remade his famous Conga tune, The one that Todd Terry sampled for Gypsy Man, I redid that beat with the ELO band and it sound really powerful, with a new singer called Nina Rodriguez singing some chants on it. Is that an exclusive for the album? Yeah man there are a lot of exclusives on there, also a song by Anane and Blaze, Dance Ritual another song I did for Cerrone, is on the 2 nd CD, and there are a lot of special versions that I put on there. Are there any Latin Flavours on there? A did a remix to my uncles record Mi Hente (My People), and I did that for V2 records, it’s a special mix a special dub that is not even out yet. This summer there is a movie out with Mark Anthony and Jennifer Lopez, Mark Anthony staring as my uncle and its about my uncles life. The movie is called El Cantante (The Singer), my uncle was known as the singer of the singers, he was a very talented singer who brought salsa music to the forefront in the 70’s and 80’s. Willy Cologne who was his partner and his producer, Willy Cologne who is my favourite producer of all time of Latin Music, He produced Hector Lavoue all the way until the end, and they really did have an incredible legacy, their were true legends. The movie is out on Aug 1 st . The record is going to be on the ITH mix. Can you tell me a bout any amazing dj experience that you have had? The Beach in Miami, it was amazing, my mom was there, my wife was there, my son was there, my friends and family from all over the world, I had a great time, they were on the beach on the sand in Miami which is very hard these days. We had Anane performing live, Mr V, Nina doing the Cerrone song that I was telling you about earlier, We had a poet named Ovi, who is a new guy that I’m working with now for my elements of life album. It was such a great party. Sounds like you have a lot going on Louie. At the moment I’m touring, I am also working with Kenny doing more Masters at work projects, We are both really excited about this, especially with this strictly rhythm album which is a double CD, We have remixed ‘Love and Happiness’ as well which is on the album and we have done two more mixes of this too, something that we are coming back to Strictly with so that is awesome.

tags: | louie vega | dj | defected

Dizzee Rascal

The Rascal is back with a record that ricochets between musical styles and mind-states like a stray bullet. Dizzee’s third long player has as many edges as a lavishly cut diamond, but these conflicting egos and impulses are all brought into check by his unmistakable delivery. ‘The more they hear it and get used to it, the more they accept it,’ is how the rapper’s theory goes; wrapped up in this logic remains his fierce endeavour to be real, to stay true to that ‘Boy In Da Corner’ we met four years ago. Identity is both the conundrum and the trophy to which Dizzee constantly returns – ‘Maths & English’ is what pride and paranoia sound like smashed together. Swaggering, sneering, rejoicing and fearing all at once, Dizzee presents his most challenging and exhilarating work yet. Studying the varied memorabilia among XL Records HQ – a gold Prodigy vinyl here; The White Stripes’ artwork there; a framed array of covers from which warily looks out a teenage Dizzee Rascal – a wide-eyed Dylan Mills is entertaining himself during a gruelling day of promotional duties. Phone interviews with Japan and the States before our meeting forecast a fidgety Dizzee, and indeed, ‘It’s shit, it’s fucking unbelievable,’ is how he rates today’s exchanges so far. Still, the guy shimmies and shifts on the spot to whatever his shuffling ipod throws up - Brazilian beats; Motown classics; krunk numbers; raga tunes - and a monster bag of pick n mix tempts from the board room table. ‘I had to approach this like a new artist, like I was starting again,’ is how he begins his story. ‘Sirens’ is the public’s epic introduction to Dizzee’s new material. A confessional tale of ‘badness I did when I was a kid,’ the track is ushered in by penetrating police sirens and the bombastic, eerie drumming that signals fighting in a martial arts film. Ensnared by accelerated rhymes are ‘a robbery and a fight,’ while the backing track rages via thunderous metal guitars. Their summoning within hip hop recalls last year’s grindie phenomenon – ‘I’m into music, genres are just a way to sell it. People use different instruments differently, that’s all. Any merge that produces good music is good – a lot of my fans are indie listeners and why not, man, I love that Hoxton indie thing.’ He finishes with a comic tribute to the white-boy-with-guitar spazz action, robotic in his chair. ‘That stiff dance, I love it, man, it kills me!’ The track salutes Dizzee’s first favourite band; serving up riotous riffing from the Grammy winning ‘Here To Stay’ (2002) is a Korn tribute group – roaring guitars propelling his inevitable punishment; ‘I’ll break the law / I’ll never change...’ But does a reformed Dylan Mills like the rozzers? ‘There’s stuff they go about wrong... But give anyone that authority, it’s tempting to abuse it, you know you would...’ Does crafting petty crime into rhyming couplets make it, as the man says, ‘art’? With his ‘trigger finger itchin’’ a possessed Dylan Mills and his mate act ‘like we were from hell... Hit his wifey up as well...’ Ask Dizzee what he regrets from that ‘phase’: ‘Nothing. What’s the point? I just did it ‘cos I thought that’s what time it was – I didn’t go as far as some friends did. I tried to do some good - music for a start. I worked hard, went however far, climbing buildings for a couple of extra hours on pirate radio, paying to get in, all kinds of crazy shit... It was my choice.’ His comment commands the LP’s spirit – with the ‘Bigger picture in (his) eye,’ (a lyric from what he calls a ‘swagger tune for the hood,’ ‘Bubbles’) Dizzee the artist is concerned only with progression, while Dylan the man has trained his vision to be forward-looking, fate-mastering even. ‘It’s surprising, people like ‘Sirens,’ the girls like it.’ But what about kids rappingalong to a criminal’s anthem? I ask Dizzee whether he has ever felt pressured to censor lyrical content since his Mercury Prize made him a household name. ‘More people listening is incentive to make more. I might bend towards... Censorship? Ppfff... Come on man, this is me, innit!’ And the little rascals tearing around shrieking ‘Pussyole’ (the second track)? ‘I can’t wait!’ Dizzee creases into a dirty laugh. ‘Nah, it can’t be helped. I apologise! I ‘m going to chat in some schools, not just talk down to the kids. This is serious; kids taking things into their own hands and getting dangerous.’ I mention the recent idea of stab-proof hoodies for school uniform. With a mournful headshake Dizzee, now 22, looks down and continues, ‘It’s sad, yeah... But this is some shit that ain’t new to me. That shit ain’t nice, man. ’ These mean streets were Dizzee’s stomping ground, where family and friends remain – intense places still interrogated by his music; ‘It’s part of me, everything else I’m learning now. Coming from council estates where people wouldn’t have much interaction with anyone else, it’s alienating - feeling lower class, you lash out. I don’t think grime artists are trying to reach anyone outside of the hood, and that’s human nature as well. Aside from the music, they ain’t got much, but this they have cultivated, it’s their own and they don’t want to see it taken away. They need to open their minds but, it’s hard ‘cos of their social situation... Catch 22.’ ‘Pussyole’ relates a toxic friendship with a fellow pirate radio MC – estranged Roll Deep brother Wiley ‘thinks it’s about him.’ ‘Don’t make me get old school!’ is how he stirs it up over an awesome early acid rave hook. Mob-like backers yell ‘Pussyole!’ (‘Me having a laugh,’) while Dizzee raps an adversary’s doom along to the jump-up ‘Woah, yeah!’ sampling of ‘It Takes Two.’ Between the beat-keeping ‘Woah!’s and classic rave chords (‘Maths’) and Dizzee’s scathing lyrics (‘English’) the scene is set . How do these diverse disciplines balance? ‘A lot of the crowd, they don’t know all of your lyrics but they know the tune. I love responses to the music, but I also like being heard!’ And hear him you will. ‘Suck My Dick,’ does what it says on the tin - a straight-up ‘swagger tune.’ The melody he raps (and for the first time ever, sings – ‘It just felt singy, I’m not gonna be Usher!’) echoes schoolyard taunting, just as ‘Suck it! Suck it!’ chants from behind. Brazenly warping ‘Yankee Doodle,’ is how the track drops – ‘I don’t give a shit who likes it / I don’t give a shit who don’t’ – then a quickwitted rhyme chain where ‘dick’ topples into ‘Dingo / I got the lingo... Star like Ringo...’ Such balls (pun acknowledged) from a rapper within ‘This UK hip hop culture of not letting yourself grow... It’s shameful to do well.’ He catapults himself into an American attitude, but with his British identity and signature East London accent intact. ‘All this moaning about people don’t support UK hip hop, you need to make them want it, it’s business... People rapping in an American accent, pisses me off; I’d rather do it until I hit the thing that makes hem know what the fuck I’m talking about...’ Forget confusion here. ‘My big black dick’ is paraded before Dizzee signs off with a devilish ‘Whoo-ha! Ha! Ha!’ Something between orgasm and belly laugh, it’s a choice conclusion to this boisterous wind-up track. So far, so familiar on a substantial level; a troubled or a posturing Dizzee we quickly recognise. However, a threesome of tunes beefing out the middle of his ‘widest’ ‘Maths & English’ LP introduces Dizzee the party host, indulges Dizzee the ladies’ man and reacquaints us with Dizzee the motivator (hear ‘Stand Up Tall’ – ‘Showtime’). Tapping into Dizzee’s sex symbol potential (I’m the cover lover / Girls call me buff ting’) is Wiz’s video for ‘Sirens,’ where he is chased – the ‘urban fox’ in his fur-trimmed parka – by a herd of white officials riding white horses. Disturbingly, the ‘story of my life all my life,’ and no, ‘it’s not an attack on white people,’ Dizzee quickly insists. One female pursuer fancies our boy from Bow – ‘I only read the script at the end!’ She leaves with his blood smeared across her cheek and stunned ecstasy in her eyes. Does Dizzee get spun out by this packaging of him and his music; or indeed its social and racial connotations? ‘I’ve been used to girls for a while now, don’t you worry about that!’ Then there’s that word again: ‘I see the art side of it,’ the Rascal repeats. It’s all about aesthetics in ‘Flex,’ which lands us in a London sweat box for Dizzee’s ode to sexy ladies – ‘I can never watch a butters girl grindin!’’ Bold ska horns and tropical garage beats – not to mention his lust object generating some dancefloor heat - follow Dizzee’s conductor-like: ‘Slow / Fast / Up / Down...’ Dance fads ‘Bubble’ and ‘Butterfly’ sound suggestive in his mouth (he tells me his vocal performance is generally clearer and slower). Safe, sane and single, his lyrical eye gazes upon a sweat bead trickling down that particular female’s thigh, how she miraculously stays ‘high and dry.’ Dizzee, however, struggles to hold it down – ‘Got my tings risin’...’ From debut to third LP, ‘Sittin’ Here’ - ‘I really don’t feel like movin’ so I cotch,’ - finds its foil in ‘Flex,’ a lively call for club-clearing skills. The paralysed paranoiac has morphed into a party starter: ‘Life’s too short to be cautious innit? / Don’t just stand on da edge, come live it!’ ‘People think I’m a melancholy, unhappy rapper. Then it was the easiest shit to write about, but now I want to bring my fun side out too. This is my most complete album, with little things like bridges, complete songs... I liked ‘Laffy- Taffy’ (D4L’s 2006 chart scorcher), that made me jump up, and I started raving again – I went AWOL at Ministry last week, right in the middle of the dancefloor. At festivals I was moving to anything – gabba, techno, drum n bass, r n b...’ ‘Flex’s’ bubbly garage bolsters Dizzee’s ‘Let’s dance all night,’ refrain. He plays a Latino keyboard ditty, but is this the closest the Rasket gets to writing a love song? ‘I couldn’t do the Bow Wow thing – you know, ‘I love you but I’m fucking everybody else’ – I tried it in the studio! I had to look for other aspects of love. This is the other side, I’m rapping for the girls ‘cos I love to see them doing their things in the club. Skanking an’ that is the most exciting way to see a girl other than when you’re havin’ sex...’ I have to ask who his ideal woman is when he continues, ‘I’ve always loved the ladies, ridiculously,’ – ‘Beyonce, all day man,’ is his immediate reply. But then, ‘There are loads, I’m a connoisseur!’ Which leads us neatly into ‘Da Feelin,’’ an ode to the scantily-clad season and a nod to Dizzee’s musical debut as a jungle DJ, produced as it is by Shy FX. Shy calls up a familiar euphoric sample while Dizzee sets about ‘Put(ting) aside the traffic, air pollution and the grime,’ to celebrate summer in the city. A ravished Dizzee exclaims, ‘I love you!’ three times over a warm string-laden breakdown, while he also chats of jet skis, power boats and Hummer- cruising around Ibiza. This opulence marks ‘Bubbles,’ named after the ‘Nike One-tens’ Dizzee coveted as a youngster; ‘On the estate growing up, you had a pair of those, you were the man!’ Far from a cynical blag to bag some more trainers – Nike needs no persuasion – this is a stomping ‘feel-good tune,’ where he spouts ‘Money, money, money, girls, girls, cash, cash – I let the champagne splash!’ High times indeed. But what goes up... ‘Paranoid’ plunges right back into the darkness of ‘Boy In Da Corner’; ‘No rational thought I’m low... Tell myself I ain’t got no friends... Fuck my people / Fuck my ends.’ So we have therapy as well as frivolity; depression and self-doubt twisted into beats and rhymes and made public reveal that ‘Everyone feels that way sometimes – then everyone feels good.’ Dizeee treasures his mic as a vehicle for mass communication rather than self-indulgence: ‘That’s what set me apart as well, always thinking about whoever else, people in general. I’ve always been open, able to get on with all different types of people; black, white, purple, pink, rich, poor, tall, short...’ But the folk he can’t abide –‘Pussyoles’ aside – are gangster poseurs. Two tracks see to their swift execution: the saccharine Lily Allen is a shrewd selection to slam a few fakers – ‘Your mum buys your bling!’ (‘Wanna Be’) – while certified Texan gangster rappers Bun B and Pimp C lend their battle prowess to ‘Where’s Da G’s,’ which also features Dizzee’s funniest rhyme: ‘You’re a fan of hip hop wanking / When you hear those rappers talk.’ Bun B and Pimp C put out that hyphy hip hop DJ Shadow championed in ‘The Outsider’ (2006). When Shadow recruited gangsters to spit verses it was twee; a white hip hop curator with a black hard man fetish. Here, conversely, their presence adds even more weight to a very real atmosphere, especially considering Dizzee’s violent past. ‘I’ve seen so many friends being stabbed or shot, I’ve been in loads of situations... People don’t really know the truth either, one day I’ll write a book...’ There was Dizzee’s threatened kidnapping – ‘That’s ‘The Sun’ doing what ‘The Sun’ do, they kicked that down,’ and the ever-perpetuated media myth surrounding his stabbing in Ayia Napa, aged 19 in 2003. ‘I weren’t stabbed four times in the chest.’ Dizzee shifts up in his chair, ready to demonstrate: ‘It was once in my chest, once in my armpit, once in my back, twice in my leg and once in my bum. So it was six times but they dispensed it evenly, they were kind to me.’ This etiquette of stabbing is something I’m not versed in; Dizzee’s way of diffusing my shock is ‘I ain’t dead though.’ With cheery reassurance he wrenches apart the taboo and stamps out its trauma as casually as if he were brushing a fly from his shoulder. Surely he must be a religious man? ‘It’s on and off for me, I lose my faith and the whole thing of religion is so contradictory. It’s just proof of man, innit?’ ‘Excuse Me Please’ extols the madness of our society – belligerent, divided, corrupt – over a funked-up, suitably broken beat. A policeman who kills a suspect is ‘Just another lost soul in our community,’ while Muslims’ and Christians’ ‘errors are the same.’ ‘Is it me?’ splutters an incredulous Dizzee before he threatens to ‘punch (the) stupid face’ of whoever ‘is in charge of this stupid place.’ But ‘there’s so much good as well,’ and so a spark flickers that gets licked into a flame with album opener and flagship track ‘World Outside.’ Liquid, dreamscape electronics and an ominous gongo-like drum vie with distant sirens and the actual metallic tear of knives being sharpened: the cacophony of two disparate worlds colliding. Against this dramatic backdrop runs Dizzee’s lyric: ‘Fuck the suffering and the hurt / Because it’s all good / There really is a world outside of the hood...’ He explains: ‘I wanted to put that across to people where I’m from, underprivileged backgrounds or whatever. I’ve got some friends who are going through some things, I’m not going through them things no more, I can see outside... I just wanted to give something back.’ Dizzee’s is a veritable rags to riches story. Does he reckon the mainstream can assimilate another grime artist like him, or is he the golden exception? ‘The fact that people see me as having opened some doors, that’s a major achievement – as cold as I can be, I’ve got a heart, I want to help people.’ By reflection, ‘World Outside’s’ very rhythm is a heartbeat; the rapper’s sense of himself, his sharp, open mind and his healthy body straddling these alien territories and strengthening him. Because bar one attack of self-loathing (‘Paranoid’), with ‘Maths & English’ it is Dizzee’s commendable sense of self, the vice-like grip he has over his identity that allows him to assail any subject, no matter how perplexing; to face any enemy, no matter how beastly. Like he raps on ‘World Outside,’ ‘I wouldn’t call it an escape / The roads are in my heart.’ His firm sense of selfhood is exactly why he can write a song about a pair of trainers more convincingly than Mike Skinner or Run DMC, or is so offended by gangster pretenders, or insists upon that Ibizan Hummer, or, crucially, why he constantly pays homage to his Bow home. Not in the Wiley ‘Bow, E3! Bow, E3!’ riot-raising way (Dizzee doesn’t bother opening his mouth to comment on his ex-best mate moving the release date of his new album to match that of ‘Maths & English’), but in an uplifting, cerebral way that can only help to foster the ‘revolution’ he spies in the distance. So the enduring message this record utters is one of hope, but on the condition that we look both ways; ‘get political, interested in the real shit that’s going on... Like two kids killing each other in the space of a week, this has been happening forever.’ Protest , believe, flex, swagger; know yourself, stay true, and yes, fix up, look sharp – these are Dizzee’s dictates we could do well to obey. Although he calls the ‘Boy In Da Corner’ a ‘constant part of me,’ it is Dizzee’s almighty alter-ego that expresses itself so thrillingly; ‘Hands around my testicles / Middle finger risen / Every step that I take / Is a step with precision.’ Precisely. Just suck it and see...

tags: | dizzee rascal | roll deep | wiley | xl records | boy in the corner | sirens | ayia napa | more...

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