requiredaudio 04 - Flashpoint Grafix

REQUIREDAUDIO
HEAVY
SWOLLEN MEMBERS
Now here’s the album you
should be picking up. But if you
got some extra cash on hand
pick up their previous stuff: ’99
debut Balance, Bad Dreams and
Monsters in the Closet. You’ll figure out why they’ve earned the
hoopla they’re getting today. At
least a hundred thousand album buyers would back me.
They’ve picked up a Juno Award (Canadian, yes, version of
a Grammy) for each of the albums. The 2003 Much Music
Video Awards had them listed in the categories Best Video,
Best Independent Video and Peoples Choice: Favorite
Canadian Group. They took home the award for Best Rap
Video for their Todd McFarlane—creator of Spawn and
who, by the way, handled the Heavy cover art—directed
“Breath,” which features Nelly Furtado. The video is on the
DVD. It deserved the win. Swollen Members (Prevail, Mad
Child, Moka Only, Rob The Viking) are the perfect combo of
members and talents and have the making of music down
pat. They say to expect an album every year. Slow down
guys. I’ve got 14 tracks yet to enjoy. On a side note:
Although everyone is getting on this “free DVD with the
album” thing, they take tips from sponsors DC Shoes and
Red Dragon and show off their skateboarding-infused
hiphop. It makes one hell of a CD companion. No better
way to improve packaging—I got hit with the art, the
music and the visuals. -SwollenMembers.com
136.www.importtuner.com
IMPORTTUNER.COM
04
TEXT BY JOEL MARASIGAN
[email protected]
IM: TUNERMAG
including acapella blends, quick mixes and genre skipping, and you might be ready to do the Hollertronix style.
But if you're lazy, here's a chance to catch it while it's still
in infancy. Biting will follow. About the mix. This is probably one of the most diverse, but comprehensible, mixes
you'll ever hear. This is more fun than blasting coke lines
in Vegas, and it's musically sound. You'll hear the hottest
Baltimore jawns, the hottest New York club jawns, the
hottest dancehall jawns, the hottest dirty south jawns all
mixed up proper with pinches of the Stone Roses, the
Clash, New Order and Bjork just to satisfy the intellectuals.
“The sound is brought to you straight from North Philly's
Hollertronix party which is held in a Ukrainian banquet hall,
and stinks of cabbage, you know, the cheddar. It’s over an
hour of continuously mixed music—including a make-out
session portion for feelin’ on the booty. Guaranteed gully
sound.” I concur. Here’s the skinny: Take a whole bunch of
old 80s shit—not just urban, everything from the Clash to
the Cars to Trinere—and mix it with some good ol’ hiphop
and other stuff and ya got yersef backyard BBQ audio
gumbo that everyone’ll love. Eleven sections of fun gets ya
going. You’ll get a nice 80s-based set, a little Miami Bass,
a little Klymaxx/Salt n Pepa set, Southern Set that starts off
with a Eurythmics mix/beat, a little up tempo freestyle
slow/jam set and ends with that Punjabi shit that everybody loves. This is definitely something to pick up; 10
bucks on the web site. -TurntableLab.com
48 MONTHS
ASHERU & BLUE BLACK (OF UNSPOKEN HEARD)
They had the best of times in
their ’95 to ’98 season—prior to
the “Soon Come” debut. They
started their own label, pressed
up their own music, spread the
word, and made connections. All
that hard work, “going to
school.” You could say that this
is their yearbook. Jazzy grooves, conscious lyrics and
effortless delivery laid the foundation for many of the previously released, vinyl-only cuts on the album; most cuts
are out of print and are only available here. I actually
counted 48 Months out after hearing the first cut. Get past
the first spoken word speachy-preachy and you’ll find
some listen-able gold. “Eat, drink and be merry / God willing, in due time be legendary / And make Black History like
February.” -SevenHeads.com
HANDBOOK FOR THE APOCALYPSE
VARIABLE UNIT
There is something about this
politically-charged,
organic
hiphop-influenced, jazz. Based
on the premise that we are on
the brink of a third World War,
VU’s sophomore debut “Seven
Grain” keeps some of the original members: Kat Ouano on the
Rhodes (of Crown City Rockers; formerly Mission:) Matt
Montgomery on bass, Greg Howe and Calvin Keys on guitar, Azeem handles Vocals. New members: Thomas
McCrae on drums, Jacob Aginsky (of Subnautic) on the
organ, Ralph Carney on sax, Tim Hyland on flute, DJ Quest
(of Live Human and Space Travelers) handles the tables,
and Audio Angel handles all the layering of vocals. Sounds
like a full-fledged, bonafide, live-instrument playing
“BAND” type of group—just like back in the day; before
you were born. All the instruments aren’t pre-programmed
so it sounds nice because you can actually feel the emotion in the music. -WideHive.com
HOLLERTRONIX: NEVER SCARED
DIPLODOCUS & LOW BUDGET
The second mix CD release on
Turntable Lab Money Studies.
Musical trends are always best
at their roots. Mash up was cool
when it first came out, but now
we're starting to realize that it
lacks a unifier that makes it
something lasting. However,
mash ups did bring up an important issue: DJs needed to
start working hard again. Diplo and Low Budget have
taken off where mash up ends. The Hollertronix sound
adds the all-important soul and grit into the unpredictable
mix, with the strong Philly musical heritage to link it all
together. You see, Philly is unique in that it has a central
location between NYC, Baltimore, and the dirty south; add
its strong DJ culture history, and this is your unifier.
Hollertronix is the best electro, freestyle, dancehall, jiggy
club, new wave, dirty south and Baltimore house you'll find
if you scoured the city for the last 15 years. Now work on
your skills, and envision a series of elaborate mixes
SUBSTANTIAL EVIDENCE
SUBSTANTIAL
Substantial Evidence is a mix
CD
from
U.V. Ink/Ope
Entertainment recording artist
Substantial. This disc features a
mix of Substantial's music from
1999 to 2003. 22 actual
songs/freestyles out of 31
tracks, as evidence of the work
he has been putting in over the last four years. From the
original F.Y.I.R.B (1999), to the music he recorded with
Japan's Hyde Out Productions (2000 to 2001), to his present day projects like Extended Famm & UV. This mix CD
has it all—even six brand new tracks from Substantial and
company. The project also features the antics of a character cleverly named DJ DiccaPina (Dick Up In Ya) who acts
as your host through this voyage into Substantial's career.
The disc features apperances by his crew's Extended
Famm (Tonedeff, Pack FM, Session), UV, The Plague
(Blitzkrieg, GMS, Khameel-Yen, Mecca, Pumpkinhead), DJ
JS 1, Rise, Flo Brown and Pase Rock (of Five Deez). It also
IMPORTTUNER.COM
features production by DJ Spinna, Chew Fu-Phat, Hyde
Out Productions (Nujabes & Monorisick), QN5 Music
(Tonedeff, Elite, & DJ Kno), & Universal Vibrations
(Subtracktion & Milio) and Big Brother True. Simply a must
have for fans of the MC and a great introduction to the rest
of world. -Substantial-Music.com
BREATHING LESSONS
THE OPUS
Mr. Echoes and The Isle of
Weight make up The Opus, a
tandem of beat making mavericks that first gained notoriety
with their standout productions
for Rubberoom and Thawfor.
They have worked with many of
today's most talented artists
including I Self Devine, Aesop Rock, Murs, Dj Krush,
Meatbeat Manifesto and Slug. Their first solo release “First
Contact” was released by Tri-Eight and Ozone to universal
acclaim and landed the duo an Urb's Next 100 spot and
overwhelmingly positive reviews in The Source, SPIN, XXL,
CMJ, XLR8R and The Wire. Emotional depth and moodiness are essential elements of their work. Dark without
being abrasive, difficult yet engaging, their sound is reminiscent of dark drum and bass, yet firmly cemented into
the hiphop annuls. After locking themselves in their
Chicago studio with a mountain of dusty vinyl and two lifetimes worth of musical inspiration, The Opus have finally
emerged to deliver Breathing Lessons, a mesmerizing collection of reflective, instrumental hiphop. Using their signature palette of chopped percussion and intricate drum
programming as base materials, they expand their compositions adding layers of strings, untuned piano, analog
synths, floor rumbling bass, and reverb to haunting effect.
Although the all-too-brief vocal appearance of Lord 360
reminds listeners of their productions for emcees on
Rubberoom's 'Architechnology' and their own 2002 debut
'First Contact', this release is clearly intent on establishing
The Opus as a production duo capable of creating music
that stands on its own. -DirtyLoop.com
DECOMPOSITION
THAVIOUS BECK
Press: Composer of mercurial
soundtracks for uncertain
times, Thavius Beck conjoins
various strains of electronic
music to arrive at a daringly
ambitious sound. He has
received recognition in SPIN,
the Wire and Urb for his solo
releases under the moniker Adlib, his work with Los
Angeles crew Global Phlowtations, and numerous guest
appearances that include spots on Omid's Beneath the
Surface and Freestyle Fellowship's Ancient Art of Adlibing.
An exceptional programmer, engineer and multi-instrumentalist, Thavius Beck's many talents allow him to take
a song from idea to completion without ever having to
leave his cluttered studio. Uncompromising vision and an
ear for the unusual are staples of this writer/producer's
work. The sprawling arrangements on Thavius Beck's
Mush debut, Decomposition burrow into the listeners brain
with a mix of melodic samples, chopped breaks, pulsating
synths and head-swirling delay, and then morph into
genre-bending sound paintings adorned with hallucinogenic vocal samples. Four full vocal tracks, “Open Your
F*@!ing Eyes” (featuring vocals by Thavius Beck himself),
“June Gloom” (vocals by Subtitle), “Amongst the
Shadows” (vocals by Cedric Bixler-Zavala of Mars Volta)
and “Demons of Destruction” (vocals by Longevity of
Darkleaf) find homes among instrumental tracks that are
as densely layered and well crafted as is found in modern
04
electronic music. Decomposition is a work worthy of
extended headphone listening. Indulge. -DirtyLoop.com
UNCLE JUNIOR’S FRIDAY FISH FRY–THE MARKET
DIJINI BROWN
Uncle Junior Records is named
after the father of label
President Wes Jackson. The
Market is the first of six in their
Fish Fry (an ode to, and aptly
named, for the gatherings that
the family and friends had at
their 16th floor apartment in the
Bronx) series of mixtapes. The eclectic collection of music
at those gatherings would range from George Benson to
Dr. Buzzard’s Original Savannah Band to Kool and the Gang
to Stevie Wonder to Earth Wind and Fire. Its diversity is
promised; you’ll get everything from soul to house to Latin
Jazz to rare groves to Afro beat to broken beat. This first
one is done by Dijini Brown, an accomplice to such hiphop
acts as Pete Rock & CL Smooth, A Tribe Called Quest,
Bluenote jazz artist, Cassandra Wilson and Reggae legend
Barrington Levy. He sticks to the Fish Fry formula and
incorporates the rare cuts: The theme song from blaxploitation martial arts film Black Belt Jones (where A kungfu expert—Jim Kelly; the guy that almost stole the show
away from Bruce Lee in Enter the Dragon—battles the
Mafia to save his karate studio from mob redevelopment
in the Watts area of L.A.), broken-beat grooves from Agent
K, latin-jazz from Mongo Santamaria, afrobeat horns from
Dibango, a little Dub from Gregory Issacs, and classic funk
of Brass Construction. He even grabs a haunting sax solo
from his father, Marion—a key figure in the '60s free-jazz
movement; he was an integral collaborator on two of the
most significant avant-garde jazz recordings of the ’60s
such as John Coltrane's “Ascension” and Archie Shepp's
“Firemusic.” Damn. Look for follow-ups The Cleaning, The
Seasoning, The Frying, The Grub and The Dishes are all
slated for release. -SevenHeads.com
SINGLE TO LOOK OUT FOR
“BE ALRIGHT” B/W “GET IT RIGHT”
ORGANIC THOUGHTS
I don’t normally
highlight a single
but in this case
the New Jerseybased Organic
Thoughts crew
stands
out
despite the fact
that they’re allAsian (not a gimmick, it’s by coincidence). The crew actually consists
of an art director/graphic designer, a financial specialist, a computer programmer, and two college students—interesting to say the least. Now that‚Äôs an
interesting concept. The Spanish-influenced debut
single exhibits the talents Diwrekt, Fraze (winner of
Guitar Center’s 2000 turntable competition and runner-up in Linkin Park NYC battle and NYs DMC),
female MC El Gambina (think Lady Bug of Digable
Planets), DJ Reason and DJ On Ponyt. Illmind of
Organized Konfusion handles production and R&B
vocalist Uniq smoothes it out. The b-side even has
Peril-L of the Mountain Brothers rockin’ it with El
Gambina. “Be Alright” presented them for the break of
2004 while their full-length LP “The Purest Form”—
dropping now—will try to ride them for the rest of the
year. -OrganicThoughts.com
04.04.2nr.137
REQUIREDAUDIO
CHARIZMA & PEANUTBUTTER WOLF – BIG SHOTS
RECORD RELEASE PARTY, STAR SHOES; HOLLYWOOD, CA
You gotta agree that ’90s hip hop is already dope. But
when you throw DJ Romes, Peanutbutter Wolf, and J-Rocc
on tables, the way Stones Throw did, it turns into a 100%
live, in your face, heater of a mixtape. Sure any other set
of DJs could have done the job but if you want respect
with your helping of dope try it the Stonesthrow way. Early
’90s hiphop helped bring out the legends. Pictured below
IMPORTTUNER.COM
04
on the tables are DJ Romes of Lootpack, crowd-rocker
Peanutbutter Wolf, and J-Rocc. Mik-ill of 88.7 KUCI and hot
model friend Ramona figured that Star Shoes drinks would
only add to the situation; she was so right. Icy Ice of the
World Famous Beat Junkies showed up for support with
with his entourage. Charizma’s Sisters came through to
provide the presense of their brother.
BIG SHOTS - CHARIZMA & PEANUTBUTTER WOLF
REVISITED: NOW HERE’S SOMETHING OUTTA STONES
THROW THAT’LL BRING A BITTERSWEET SMILE TO YOUR
FACE. THE SOUND AND STYLE COME FROM THE DAYS
THAT MADE ARTISTS LIKE BRAND NUBIAN AND PETE
ROCK SHINE—ALL TRACKS WERE DONE IN THE EARLY
90S. WHY A 10+ STUMBLE FOR A RELEASE? CHARIZMA
WAS TO THE WOLF AS BIGGIE WAS TO PUFFY—HIS
TRAGIC DEATH IN 1993 BURNED JUST AS DEEPLY. THEIR
BATTLES FOR CREATIVE ARTISTRY WERE POINTLESS AT
THEIR SIGNED-TO LABEL HOLLYWOOD BASICS (HOME
OF ORGANIZED KONFUSION). IT’S INTERSTING TO LISTEN TO UNRELEASED CLASSICS THAT SHOULD HAVE,
AND WOULD HAVE, BEEN PLAYED IN HEAVY-ROTATION
ANYWAY. MORE INTERESTING IS THE THOUGHT OF DJS
ADDING THIS NEWLY RELEASED COLLECTION TO THEIR
CURRENT OLD-SCHOOL SET AND RE-INTRODUCING IT
TO A CROWD. CHECK OUT THE “MY ADIDAS” SAMPLING
ON ICE CREAM TRUCK, THE BRAGGADOCIO ON THE ‘96
SINGLE RELEASE “MY WORLD PREMIERE,” AND THE
SPECIAL USE OF OFF-BEAT/ON-BEAT/PAUSE-STYLE ON
MY PERSONAL FAVORITE “RED LIGHT, GREEN LIGHT.”
SOME MAY BE CROSSED ABOUT THE PRONOUNCED
EXPOSURE OF THIS RELEASE. I SAY TO CREATE A LEGEND, SPREAD THE WORD—BUT IN THE SAME BREATH
I’D LIKE TO KEEP THIS GOLDMINE A SECRET—ONLY FOR
THOSE WORTHY DJS THAT KNOW THE DILLY, RIGHT? STONESTHROW.COM
138.www.importtuner.com