Simply Cee-Lo Green

Cee-Lo - Suga Baby ft. Big Gipp & Backbone - Cee-Lo Green and his Perfect Imperfections (Arista 2002)


Dangermouse & Jemini - What You Sittin' On? Remix ft. Cee-Lo & Tha Liks (Lex 2004)


Dungeon Family - Crooked Booty - Even in Darkness (Arista 2001)


I have been working on cultivating the music library at WLUW-FM Chicago (the best independent station in the U.S. coughshamelessplugcough), especially adding a good dose of rap/soul/jazz into the existing indie-rock dominated selection. I have no real problem with indie-rock, and actually do like a good chunk of it, but my tastes tend to usually bend toward black artists and their respected genres. Why? I’m not exactly sure, but I’m thinking it has something to do with the amount of 60s R&B I was exposed to growing up. My family is far from being considered anything close to musically inclined, but my dad always listened to oldies and whenever a classic R&B cut would come on (basically every 3 songs), he would crank it up and sing along. So I’m assuming that constant exposure has something to do with, or maybe it was my 5th grade obsession with Boys II Men. Either way, I am what I am.

This week I added Chromeo’s She’s in Control (not black, but definitely not white either), a decent compilation from jazz guitarist Wes Montgomery and one of my favorite albums ever, Cee-Lo Green and his Perfect Imperfections. I can actually pinpoint the exact moment my obsession with the self-proclaimed "five-foot-six-inch god,” though I was exposed to him unknowingly through all of the early Outkast albums (who were a mainstay in the car cd player of that friend who was the oldest of my high/middle school click and was the first to get his driver’s license, meaning he was our sole mode of transportation). My first encounter with Cee-Lo came on a bright weekday morning in college while lying in bed and waiting for my roommate to get out of the shower. I was watching the college music station, which played more under the radar videos (read mainstream misses), and all of a sudden this robed bald black man appeared on my screen with a conniving smile. Then all of a sudden, an inaudible mumble, horn stab and the sexily whispered line ‘so freaky.’ Cee-Lo proceeded to croon with unparalleled soul passion about closet freaks, dancing around in multi-colored robes like a pint-size Isaac Hayes preaching about the good gospel of sweet lovin, but on red bull and vodka. I was completely obsessed from that day on and followed wholeheartedly where the reverend went.

Not surprisingly, Cee-Lo, whose real name is Thomas Burton (later changed to Thomas Callaway in devotion to his mother), was born in Georgia to not one, but two Southern Baptist ministers… hmmm, now where would that gospel influence come from? The singer/rapper/producer/songwriter got his start in the early-to-mid 90s as part of Atlanta’s immensely creative rap community. He was an original member and integral part of Goodie Mob, the dirty south rap group also featuring Big Gipp, T-Mo and Khujo, who alongside the better-selling Outkast, redefined the possibilities of hip-hop. Also a member of the Dungeon Family, Cee-Lo appeared as a singer and guest artist on a number of Outkast songs giving his nasal-croon plenty of chances to be heard. Through the years he has appeared on tracks from such diverse artists as Common, Santana, Black Eyed Peas, Trick Daddy and even background duties on TLC’s smash-single ‘Waterfalls.’ Lo split from Goodie Mob after being offered a solo deal with Arista (the same label that dropped the Mob for poor sales, and later he would be dropped for the same reason), and released the colorful ‘Cee-Lo Green and his Perfect Imperfections,’ to much acclaim but lackluster sales. During this period, he branched out into many side projects including soon-to-be rewarding collaborations with Jazze Pha and fellow Georgian, DJ Dangermouse. The later project resulted in the surprisingly well-received Gnarls Barkley project (3 years in the making) and Cee-Lo’s seemingly departure from weird-sounding dirty south rapper to independent genre-defying multi-functional vocalist. Though his career is now 10+ years old, it seems to just now be taking off; and as he so much likes to reiterate, the possibilities are endless for his infinite creativity. The best may be still yet to come.

If you are curious, this is my short blurb for ‘Cee-Lo Green and his Perfect Imperfections’:
Through all of the earlier Outkast, Goodie Mob and Dungen Family albums, the stumpy, soul-stirring Cee-Lo Green was the wild card, the essential but often overlooked individual characteristic that kept the music off-center and unique to itself. Finally given the go-ahead to go solo in 2002, Cee-Lo self-produced this incredibly fun album of rap, neo-soul, gospel and 80s inspired pop-soul for the major label Arista (kudos to them for releasing such an eclectic album). The focal point of the album is no doubt Cee-Lo's unmistaken octave-leaping nasal croon, which I would imagine Al Green sounding like if he snorted as much cocaine as Rick James did. His lyrics are as playful as you can get, displaying his penchant for multiple personalities, freaky tales and devotion to his god. The music is bright and buoyant, heavy on synthesizers and horns, protruding colors unseen since the 80s, and easily adaptable to whichever mood Cee-Lo may find himself in. This album is all the proof you need that Cee-Lo was one of if not the main creative spirit behind every project he has ever worked on.

I’m including:
-My absolute favorite Cee-Lo track because of the way it defines all of my unspoken feelings toward fine women everywhere, ‘Suga Baby’ from ‘Cee-Lo Green and his Perfect Imperfections’ (Arista 2002) which features fellow Goodie Mob-er Big Gipp and rapper Backbone.

-The ‘What U Sittin’ On?’ remix of the Dangermouse and Jemini track which I believe is the first released collaboration which features DM and Cee-Lo, and also features Tha Liks, found on the 3-song 26” EP (Lex 2004).

-The amazingly fun ‘Crooked Booty’ from the completely underrated Dungeon Family album ‘Even in Darkness’ (Arista 2001).

Notable Newer Releases #1

The Cheebacabra - The Annunciation - Exile in the Woods (Mackrosoft 2006)


Thee More Shallows - Freshman Remix by Odd Nosdam and Why? - Monkey vs Shark (Turn 2006)


Takagi Masakatsu - J.F.P. - Journal for People (Carpark 2006)


The Cheebacabra – Exile in the Woods / Mackrosoft

Holy shit is this a skeletal funk-fusion gem, tight drum grooves, synthesizers… um synthesizing from every angle, boisterous bass and the occasional trumpet/sax/clavinet/melodica solo, future-funk finally has it’s bandleader. Who is this funky man of mystery? I have no idea, but he calls himself Cheeba and he has his credentials. Drafted into the Dust Brothers (Beck, Santana, Madonna, etc) production team at 18, Mr. Cheeba honed his skills before departing on his own which was followed with the soundtrack to ‘Fight Club,’ his label Mackrosoft started with his brother Aja West and a critically acclaimed 2003 debut album under the Cheebacabra moniker. This follow-up doesn’t come close to disappointing either; songs range from stripped down Curtis Mayfield on 'The Annunciation to Blaxploitation meets the Mario Bros. on 'Chatter' to voiceless Barry White on 'The Treehouse.' Madlib’s Yesterday’s New Quintet finally has the touring mate he always dreamed of, not to mention competition.


Thee More Shallows – Monkey vs Shark / Turn

San Francisco’s Thee More Shallows are a band on the rise. Three years in the making, their last full length, More Deep Cuts (Turn Records), gained critical acclaim and is still gaining momentum. This EP was recorded in much less time, but the perfectionist character remains, highlighting Dee Kesler’s songwriting and the trio’s brooding indie-rock. Thee More Shallows create dark, serene rock echoing back to My Bloody Valentine and the Velvet Underground but also still contains the youthful ambition of a band on the up-and-up. The highlight of the EP is their stark, unpredictable cover of Al Green’s (originally performed by The Temptations) ‘I Can’t Get Next to You.’ Gone is the soulful yearning and in it’s place a spooky, eerie almost stalkerish tale of obsession. It’s definitely one of the best cover songs I have come across in a long time, and makes the entire EP relevant if only for that one song. The other 6 songs don’t let down though, coupling the epic indie-rock with chamber and post-rock and just a touch of goth and electronica and also features a remix by Anticon’s Odd Nosdam with Why? This is definitely a band to keep a watchful eye on.


Takagi Masakatsu – Journal for People / Carpark

In my opinion the aural and visual worlds are very closely connected. Especially in our current ipod/headphone dominated society, properly soundtracking every waking moment has become a daily obsession for most of us music lovers. Modern music needs to not only stimulate our ears and minds, it needs to affect our visual surroundings, it needs to skew the subjective view of our current environment. Kyoto, Japan’s Takagi Masakatsu understands this more than most, especially thanks to his multimedia background, and his music sublimely reflects it. A classically trained pianist, multimedia documentarian and art-gallery exhibiter, Masakatsu creates visually stimulating compositions of finely manipulated melodies and fluttering ambient soundscapes. Released on Todd Hyman’s always amazing Carpark label, ‘Journal for People’ is an hour-long compilation of soft piano cadences, minutely diced instrumentation and oddly timed layering that owes as much to Alice Coltrane as it does to Aphex Twin. If you get a chance, you should really sample the accompanying DVD at http://www.takagimasakatsu.com/ to really get the gist of Masakatsu’s frame of mind. I highly recommend this album to anyone into ambient music, minute glitch or even more atmospheric jazz.

Shufflings #1

Clap Your Hands Say Yeah! - Details of War - Clap Your Hands Say Yeah (self-released 2005)


Errol Brown - Over Dub - Dub Over Dub: 27 Tracks Dub Extravaganza (Heartbeat 1996)


The Roots - Episodes - Illadelph Halflife (DGC 1996)


Every Sunday night I work the overnight shift at the glorious music-broadcasting mecca of WLUW-FM Chicago, usually going around 9 or 10p and finally pedaling back into my apartment at about 5a. I’m not complaining, I absolutely love it, but it only leaves me with about an hour and half of sleep before I have to get up and prepare for my 6-hour shift at my rent-paying job. So needless to say, I am usually pretty beat by the time I make the 30-minute traffic weaving bike trip north through the Loop, yuppie-town, Lincoln Park and Lakeview. The problem is that I want to update this audioblog about three times a week and I am left with very little energy on Monday afternoons to make clever and sometimes ridiculous connections between my music and everyday life. So I’ve devised this series called Shufflings teaming my love for randomness with my love for writing short music blurbs.

Every Monday I play on taking whatever the three songs next in queue on Itunes glorious Party Shuffle invention and write about them no matter what they may be (as long as they are in reasonable uploading length (i.e. probably not a track from Coltrane’s last concert at Olatunji). It will not only force me to write about tracks I may never get around to but also give you a sneak peak into the wonderful world of Michael-Radio aka my Party Shuffle (my Last.fm maybe a better actual Michael-Radio since it also takes into factor the amount I spin a particular artist but randomness is godliness dammit)… so enjoy.

Clap Your Hands Say Yeah! – Details of War – Clap Your Hands Say Yeah (self-released 2005)
I guess it’s fitting that a track from the band that audioblogs like this one literally brought from being a bedroom boredom project to one of the most talked about bands in 2005 be the first to grace this series. The success of Clap Your Hands Say Yeah could have never been predicted, at least not the speed nor the way of passage, as the Brooklyn quintet morphed from eager young nobodies embodying their 80s indie-rock heroes to infectious saviors of the indie side of indie-rock by self-releasing, self-promoting and self-distributing their way into the ears of every blogger with an interest in music in one short summer. ‘Details of War’ shows up half way through their self-titled debut following a 1-minute toy xylophone segue way and finding the boys at maybe their most melodic moment. The track slowly builds from yearning warble to an invigorating call-to-arms highlighted by a simple yet effective repeating harmonica gasps. Nothing overtly special here, but it brings to the table just enough to keep you coming back again and again, which of course is the CYHSY addiction.

Errol Brown – Over Dub – Dub Over Dub: 27 Track Dub Extravaganza (Heartbeat 1996)
This song is off probably the best dub compilation to be released in the 90s, two decades after dub and reggae found their zenith. The 27 track compilation pulls from reggae standards across the board as mixing board extraordinaire, Errol Brown, crafts a seamless, relaxing blend of everything that makes dub so intriguing. Nephew of the late Duke Reid, Brown was raised and educated in some of Kingston’s finest studios recording seminal reggae artists like Alton Ellis, Peter Tosh, U-Roy, Bob Marley & the Wailers, Gregory Isaacs, etc etc etc amen; the man recorded and mixed the cream of the crop. He also appeared in the amazing Rockers movie, which I suggest, to anyone interested in seeing the true reggae artists in their prime in their element. I’m not positive if this is the same Erroll (spelled with two ‘L’s on AMG) that fronted the interracial English funk and soul group Hot Chocolate. It could possibly be, but I don’t want to be feeding you the wrong information, so if you know drop a comment and educate me as well.

The Roots – Episodes – Illadelph Halflife (DGC 1996)
Goddamn do I love The Roots; to me they are everything that hip-hop should be, quick, witty, street-wise rhymes care of Black Thought, a steady, effective drum beat care of the multitalented ?uestlove, thick bass lines by Leon Hubbard and a swirling, unrelenting sound that is as ghetto as it is psychedelic. To me the greatest thing about The Roots was how they created albums instead of singles, a characteristic they’ve seen to be moving away from as of late. In my opinion all hip-hop should be backed by a live band, there is something that just completely takes a song to the next level when you strip away a stiff preprogrammed beat and let true musicians bring the song to life complete with raw energy and inevitable mistakes. Not to mention Black Thought is probably the most underrated emcee in the game.

Noise|Beauty

Archie Shepp – Attica Blues – Attica Blues (Impulse 1972)


Monk Hughes & the Outer Realm – A Piece for Brother Weldon - A Tribute to Brother Weldon (Stones Throw 2004)


The Blood Brothers - Burn, Piano Island, Burn - ..Burn, Piano Island, Burn (Artist Direct 2003)


So Chicago’s Shedd Aquarium is apparently the biggest indoor aquarium in the world (at least according to the website, I don’t have the exact statistics so I’ll just take their word for it). I, being the aquarium/zoo fanatic, not that I like to see animals caged up or anything like that but I do think it’s amazing seeing those creatures in close proximities, have been wanting to see this monumental fish tank since the day I moved to Chicago back in December. But, like all exhibits of this nature, it costs money, and I guess being the biggest indoor aquarium in the world doesn’t come cheap because the entrance fee is the equivalent of three meals (that’s how I judge all prices). So it has been hard for me to justify a trip out there for financial/food-ancial reasons. But alas, the good people at Shedd have deemed one entire week out of the year to opens it’s pearly gates to the public and offer free admission for those willing to wait in line. And by pearly gates I mean a giant komodo dragon balloon, and by free, I mean you can walk around the small section behind the lobby but not any of the interesting exhibits like the oceanarium, wild reef or the special lizard exhibit. Being eager and a bit naïve, I stood in line for 45 minutes anyways battling a mix of thrusting wind, a beating sun and miles and miles of raucous children. I’m a patient person and can put up with this kind of family bullshit, well at least at large amusement parks and apparently aquariums, so I stood in line with my eye on the prize; and apparently the only person in the entire line consisting of hundreds of people with out a child.

I finally made my way through the belly of the rubber komodo dragon and through the glass doors where I was met with another line, the winding kind you have to wait in at Disney World. Another 15 minutes, no problem. So I finally make it in and into on of the 4 available out coves for us freeloaders. While I can’t be for sure, I’m pretty sure there were fish on the other side of those crowds of people. I made several attempts to catch a glimpse of a fish or even a turtle, but the closest I could get was about 20 feet. Remember that I severely dislike crowds and even more crowds of children, I finally gave up and head for the exit, my bike eagerly awaiting the ride back to the apartment. But leaving, I glanced into one of the tanks and realized how strange it was that just one piece of glass separated the peaceful tank and the yammering crowds. I started to think about music that I liked that teamed both sheer raucous noise and underlying beauty. My initial thoughts was the avant-garde jazz movement of the 70s with artists like Coltrane, Albert Ayler, Don Cherry, etc all exploring the possibilities of their instruments, pushing them pass melody into strangely beautiful worlds of controlled noise. And then how those ideas found themselves in seemingly all genres, not to mention a genre simply labeled ‘noise,’ that ranged from the feedback manipulating indie-rock of Sonic Youth to the paranoid hip-hop of El-P. So I picked out three of my favorite raucous tunes to highlight that portray this pretty well, though are not nearly as ridiculous as some of the noise out there.

Archie Shepp – Attica Blues – Attica Blues (Impulse! 1972)
Saxophonist Archie Shepp is an interesting character being one of the busiest and wide-reaching jazz artists in the 60s and 70s. His career began with a bang, using his sax to display passionate outbursts melodic or not, but he would later turn to contemplative bebop, ballads and blues in the 80s. My favorite album of his is by far 1972’s ‘Attica Blues’ that catches Shepp in a comfortable place between these two polar opposite styles. He mixes avant-garde jazz with vintage big band, contemplative soul and up-tempo funk making a political statement about the Attica prison massacre of 1971. It is very much an eclectic album which kicks off with this soul-stirring outburst care of a funky electric guitar, horn blasts, Latin percussion and a wailing chorus by Joshie Armstead and Albertine Robinson. Very loud, energetic and soulful.

Monk Hughes & the Outer Realm – A Piece for Brother Weldon - A Tribute to Brother Weldon (Stones Throw 2004)
This is definitely one of Madlib’s least sought out albums as he completely strays from his hip-hop roots to bring a free jazz tribute to Weldon Irvine, an innovative late funk-soul-jazz keyboardist heavily sampled in hip-hop most notably by Tribe and Mos Def. The album, recorded under the moniker Monk Hughes, is a spaced out jumble of funky keyboards, free percussion and vibraphone outbursts all care of the skilled hands of Madlib. For the most part it is straight raucous and unfocused, but upon multiple listens certain melodies start to unveil themselves and the album really grows on you (or maybe just me).

The Blood Brothers - Burn, Piano Island, Burn - ..Burn, Piano Island, Burn (Artist Direct 2003)
Straying away from the soul-jazz genre, the Blood Brother’s ‘…Burn, Piano Island, Burn’ was a complete obsession of mine for like 6 months after it’s initial release. I can’t explain it, but I found and still find the album ridiculously intriguing from the absolutely insane lyrics to the sheer energy of every second of the album. The Seattle quintet released the album right at the peak of my hardcore stage and I have never been interested in the genre since; for me this is the hardcore zenith and I need not explore the style anymore. There is underlying complexity, passion and soul in each one of the songs on the record and it is infectious to say the least. The only thing that really tops it is their live show, which I strongly recommend, no matter what shitty band they may be touring with. Interestingly enough, their recent material has transformed into very strange almost pop music; this will be a band to always keep a cautious eye on.

Def Jux Renaissance

Mr. Lif - Murs iz My Manager feat. Murs - Mo Mega (Def Jux 2006)


Aesop Rock - Zodiaccupuncture - Fast Cars, Danger, Fires, & Knives (Def Jux 2005)


El-P - The Day After Yesterday - Collecting the Kid (Def Jux 2004)


With the excellent new Mr. Lif album, ‘Mo Mega,’ hitting the shelves in a week or two along with new full-lengths from El-P and Aesop Rock on deck, we’re just short a Cannibal Ox reunion of a Def Jux label come full circle. And goddammit it’s about time. It’s been 6 years since ‘Def Jux Presents…” initially hit shelves and completely twisted the rap game 180 degrees unearthing underground hip-hop and introducing rap to a whole new generation (of mostly white kids). Within two years, El-P’s indie-label side project turned emotional emcee launching pad released completely solid albums from New York’s Cannibal Ox and Aesop Rock, Boston’s Mr. Lif and his own proper full-length, ‘Fantastic Damage.’ In 2001, Can Ox dropped the dark sci-fi infused The Cold Vein featuring the vivid images and ridiculous rhymes of Vast Aire and his more quick-mouthed partner Vordul Megilah. Teamed with El-P’s industrially thick and subtly jazzy beats, the duo’s only album surprised hip-hop heads everywhere focusing the attention back on New York’s flailing rap scene. In the same year, Aes-Rock followed up his critically acclaimed ‘Float’ on the much more experimental Mush label with ‘Labor Days,’ and album so original and potent that instant success sent Aesop into a reclusive hermit state which took him years to recover from. The following year saw the debut full-length from giant dreads of Mr. Lif, an educated Boston emcee who has a penchant for critical observations, political comments and a quick, throwback rhyme flow. 2002 closed out with ‘Fantastic Damage,’ El-P’s turn to take back the mic and finally living up to the potential that was so blatantly apparent on every Company Flow track. In two very short years, Def Jux went from birth to international success and being labeled as the savior of rap, a tag that until now was considered maybe a preconceived notion.

Between 2003 and 2006 Def Jux released a slew of albums and compilations featuring decent artists all in the Jux vein, but none with the same individual voice or vision of that initial outburst, save some decent instrumental hip-hop from RJD2 (before he became obsessed with teaming up with lackluster emcees) and a very underrated album from Rob Sonic. El-P seemed determined to break as many new rapper friends as he possibly could, when instead he should have been focusing all his efforts and undeniable skills on his already established core. A couple releases last year hinted at this upcoming renaissance including Fast Cars, Danger, Fire, & Knives, Aesop Rock’s EP featuring a completely reinvented and finally completely confident Aes-Rizzle and Collecting the Kid, a collection of El-P productions previewing his new space-funk style that is sure to encompass all of the upcoming releases. New light was finally peaking from behind the dark high-expectation cloud hanging over the Def Jux fam and 2006 may be the year when they return to their place on top of the underground hip-hop totem pole (though it’s gonna be hard to knock Stones Throw off).

Mr. Lif’s Mo Mega is without a doubt the starting point for this revelation, and the album is the quality output you’ve come to expect from the multi-faceted emcee. Letting the politics that were overly abundant on The Perceptionists’ album take a back seat (but of course not completely absent), Lif sounds like he is having fun for the first time. On ‘Washitup!’ he finally matches those ridiculous (and amazing) dreads with a rasta/dancehall vibe humorously scripting a conversation between himself and a very attractive but filthy lady fan. Personally I’m not a big Murs fan, but he absolutely kills it on ‘Murs iz My Manager’ coaching the ins and outs of celebrity-ism to Lif backed by an amazing beat and the best horn line I’ve ever heard in a rap song (damn Lif, I didn’t know you could produce on that level). You also get a good idea of El-P’s new production technique, which remains thick, but less paranoid and industrial, instead, he brings the funk with a vengeance. Honestly, Mr. Lif has been the most consistent of anyone on the Def Jux roster, and this is further proof of that fact… cop as soon as you get a chance.

I for one am ridiculous excited about what’s still to come this year from the Definitive Jux. It’s refreshing because I had just about given up on the label; I should of known never to under estimate El Producto.

Non-Traditional African Music

Masanka Sankayi + Kasai Allstars feat Mutumilayi – Wa Muluendu – Congotronics 2 (Crammed 2006)


Michael Brook & Hukwe Zawose - Ntambalize Lijenje/Pumpkin Life – African Xpress (Shakti 2003)


The Yahoos – Mabala – Afro-Rock, Volume 1 (Kona 2001)


Last night, while doing my best not to over-heat in my sauna of a studio apt, I watched the accompany DVD to the latest Congotronics comp, Congotronics 2: Buzz ‘n’ Rumble from the Urb ‘n’ Jungle. Listening to the album is a treat enough as it contains some of the most truly original sounds and rhythms that I for one have heard in a while, but watching these groups in action was an experience in itself. These ensembles of musicians, recorded by engineer/producer Vincent Kenis, have left the Congo bush to settle in the capital and are bringing their individual musical styles with them. The need for more amplification has led the groups to concoct their own equipment of homemade instruments and amplifiers that has heavily influenced the evolution of their music. The result is a new genre of African music that is almost indescribable, less formulaic than afrobeat or highlife, more African than krautrock, less repetitive than ethnic dance music, and more modern than tribal music. Every one of the 6 groups featured on the disc is bringing their own style, instrumentation, equipment and culture to their music, so every song is one in it’s own. It makes for a very interesting and intriguing listen that is like nothing else; trash can percussion, layered harmonies, over-amplified electronics, lead singers screaming through megaphones and swirling, half-working keyboards all float in and out of the mix. Seeing the musicians nonchalantly fuse immensely complicated polyrhythms and harmonies is simply amazing, maybe because western music is so simple in comparison. On top of that, dancers accompany each loosely collected band and somehow move their bodies within the rhythm of the song. Again, they seem very calm and unconcerned, in a sort of rigid start-and-stop booty dance in which they only move their bodies from the hips down. It’s definitely something I wish I could witness live, and since Konono N°1 is playing in Chicago on July 11 I may just get the chance. I decided to include a track from Congotronics 2 as well as two more of my favorite non-traditional African songs.

Masanka Sankayi + Kasai Allstars feat Mutumilayi – Wa Muluendu – Congotronics 2 – Crammed 2006
This is the opening track from Congotronics 2, and it sets the raucous tone for the entire album perfectly. The song is centered around the overamplified likembés (or thumb pianos) popularized by Konono N°1 on the first Congotronics, which creates a strange percussive melody that sounds like a cross between a steel drum and an Atari. Proper percussion is handled by an array of traditional African drums, congos and a man tapping on the wide part of a glass bottle to create a high-pitched ting. It also sounds like there is some kind of over amplified electric guitar that is again played very percussively and rhythmically. Vocals are handled in a call-and-response manner as the front man, which is either Masanka Sankayi or Mutumilayi (I’m honestly not sure), chants/sings/screams into a megaphone or badly amplified mic while deeper voices respond from all sides thanks to clever mixing by Vincent Kenis. It’s a very layered and interesting song that is an excellent introduction to what is still to come on the album.

Michael Brook & Hukwe Zawose - Ntambalize Lijenje/Pumpkin Life – African Xpress – Shakti 2003
This song is a fun combination of traditional African music ridiculous 80s-inspired over-production care of Michael Brook. Brook, a producer, innovative guitarist and self-made ethnomusicologist, spent most of his career working with the like-minded Brian Eno and blended Western ambient and pop sounds with ethnic Eastern music. Dr. Hukwe Zawose is the championed musical icon of Tanzania, the biggest (land area) among East African countries. While gaining popularity in and outside of the country during the 80s with his mastery at the thumb piano and his reported 5-octave vocal range, Zawose also brought a lot of attention to his home country and developed music ensembles and musical education within Tanzania. Together the unlikely pair create and otherworldly sound taking the best pieces of their respected musical backgrounds. The production is so over-processed that it takes on a life of it’s own and the songs progresses in fractured segments. A truly ridiculous song that is probably my favorite product of the 80s.

The Yahoos – Mabala – Afro-Rock, Volume 1 – Kona 2001
This compilation collects an assortment of experimental African tunes recorded between 74-78 and is far from rock or traditional African music. Remember that during this time period, the music of James Brown and Fela Kuti dominated the continent of Africa, and this comp heavily reflects that giving you the chance to hear what Funkadelic would of sounded like if they called Africa home. I know absolutely nothing of The Yahoos except that they apparently are Booker T. & the MG’s apparent African counterparts. This psychedelic funk tune doesn’t sound nearly as ethnic as the previous songs but I’ll be damned if it does not find heavy rotation in your personal library. It makes you wonder what other kinds of amazing groups went overlooked during that time period from all over the world (you have got to love reissue compilations).

Numero Group

Ed Henry - Your Replacement is Here - Eccentric Soul: The Big Mack Label (Numero 2006)


Manhattens - The Feeling is Mutual - Eccentric Soul: The Big Mack Label (Numero 2006)


Bob & Fred - Bob & Fred - Eccentric Soul: The Big Mack Label (Numero 2006)


So I have been ridiculous busy lately not to mention my interweb has been down since Friday, so I apologize for the lack of updates. And sadly, they will be continuing for a bit longer since my sister is coming into town tomorrow and I will probably not get a chance to add something substantial till next Wednesday. Exciting news though, Napster has contacted me about maybe teaming up with the music wiki (Your Subculture Soundtrack) I started a little less than a year ago. That would be an amazing boost for the site that has been stagnating a bit as of late. We are over 2000 pages though, so I don’t think that is too shabby for a start up wiki in 10 months. Do you have some music knowledge? Why not drop a few pages on your favorite artists/albums/labels/etc? Jump on the bandwagon while it’s still cool to jump on. Check it out now.

Chicago’s amazing reissue ‘non-label,’ Numero Group deserves a lot more attention than I’m about to give it now, but as I mentioned earlier, I’m pretty busy at the moment. But they just released a new comp, Eccentric Soul: The Big Mack Label, and it is the best thing I’ve come across lately, so I will spill a few words on it.

Chicago’s Numero Group may very well be the best product of the recent crate digging epidemic infecting music lovers and audiophiles everywhere for the last 10 years. America’s only counterpoint to the UK’s amazing Soul Jazz records (except L.A.’s Now Again), Numero has been bringing lost eclectic music out of dusty crates and into eager ears for three years now and the releases keep getting better and better. The most popular of their releases are included in the Eccentric Soul series, rediscovered soul, funk and R&B gems that were ignored upon initial pressings for one reason or another. Included in the series are collections from Columbus, Ohio’s Capsoul Label, Chicago’s Bandit Label, Miami’s Deep City Label and the latest Numero release, Detroit’s Big Mack Label. Other releases include acts as diverse as French-Belgian electro-samba from Antena, power-pop curated by Jordan Oakes in his Yellow Pills comps, a collection of Fern Jones tracks cleverly described as ‘Elvis without the pelvis,’ amazing and much recommended Brazilian R&B, calypso, disco, funk, reggae and soul from Belize City and deep folk billed as ‘Ladies from the Canyon.’ Numero is one of those labels that you know every release is straight quality no matter whether you are into that particular album’s genre or not. It is certainly one of the few labels that I will purchase an album from without a screening first.

The latest installment of the Eccentric Soul series highlights Detroit’s Big Mack label, a record studio that doubled as an ice cream truck dispatcher and gave everyday people a chance to record whatever they wished for the more than affordable price of $14.95. Imagined and brought to life by music lover/business man Ed McCoy, Big Mack recorded anyone who was able to pay the fee, and thanks to it’s prime location in Detroit, the funk/soul capitol of the late 60s, McCoy recorded some of the most infectious music of the time, though the boxes and boxes of homemade 45s were never given a chance lost deep in the shadows of Motown and other majors. This comp features 19 tracks of butter funk, sugary doo-wop, driving instrumentals and pristine soul-pop, all featuring that raw, unpolished sound that is cherished among crate diggers everywhere. I’ve included three tracks to give you an idea of the amazingness you are in store for if you pick up the album.

Now 9 albums deep, Numero has not come close to letting us down.

Live Soul

Jamie Lidell – You Got Me Up (Live at the Scala, London) – Multiply Additions (WARP 2006)


Otis Redding – Respect – Live in Europe (Atlantic/Stax 1967)


Donny Hathaway – What’s Going On – Live (Atlantic 1972)


First of all, I absolutely love soul music. Everything about it appeals to me; the pure emotive power, the full-bodied, octave-scaling voice, the usual mellow funk accompanying as background music, the lyrics either filled with extreme longing, undying love or political prowess and the way it demands me to sing along with my constantly cracking, completely horrible voice and that squinty impassioned facial expression. Absolutely my favorite genre with vocals. The soul greats like Al Green, Stevie Wonder, Donny Hathaway, James Brown and Otis Redding are constantly on the top of my Itunes ‘Top 25 Most Played’ and Last.fm pages, because once you start listening to soul music, there is no turning back without a significant silence break.

My favorite album of 2005 was without a doubt Jamie Lidell’s Multiply, a futuristic take on Stax and Motown of the late 60s, early 70s. Goddamn did I wear that album out in the first few months I had it, but it still has yet to get old even with listen after consecutive listen and only at a brief 10 songs. Well imagine my excitement when in my office yesterday I opened a package from WARP and slowly slid out Multiply Additions, an accompaniment including live tracks, remixes and even a ridiculously amazing Mara Carlyle cover of ‘Game for Fools’ featuring just her deep soul voice (which is amazingly similar to Lidell’s) and a ukulele of all instruments. Since it has been a year since Multiply did drop, a new record would have also been more than welcomed, but honestly this is just as exciting. Lidell absolutely kills 2 live tracks, Four Tet, Herbert, Luke Vibert and Mocky all contribute quality remixes, the title track and the first single, ‘When I Come Back Around,’ are reworked for freshness, Herbert concocts a ridiculous instrumental version of ‘Multiply’ and of course the fantastic Carlyle cover. Needless to say, I am more than content, if not ecstatic. Lidell’s voice is pristine on the live tracks and is accompanied by a band of surnames (mostly Berlin scenesters) including Mocky, Taylor, Savvy, Shax, Feist and Gonzales on keys. It got me to thinking about some of my favorite live soul tracks, which I have included for your ears’ enjoyment.

Jamie Lidell – You Got Me Up (Live at the Scala, London) – Multiply Additions (WARP 2006)
Jamie Lidell is a skinny British late 20-something year old white kid who was blessed with a voice that conjures memories of Otis Redding with the vocal range of Al Green. Before this Multiply, and album 5 years in the making, he was part of the experimental electronica duo Super_Collider with Christian Vogel, which was a pretty far reach from his current material. Lidell inspirited the powerful soul music of the late 60s, early 70s from labels like Stax who were not afraid to experiment with their music. Multiply is far from retro though, it also enlists finely programmed electronics and playful synths to create a timeless sound that looks forward while embracing the past. The possibilities seem endless for the young Lidell, and I for one will be eagerly following him every step of the way.

Otis Redding – Respect – Live in Europe (Atlantic/Stax 1967)
Otis Redding ranks up there with the likes of Buddy Holly and Jimi Hendrix as far as ‘what if’s’ are concerned in the history of popular music. At the time of his death, a very young 26, the Georgia native was just beginning to tap into his near endless potential, recording '(Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay' just days before the tragic plane crash that claimed his life as well as four members of his backing band, The Bar-Kays. Redding’s popularity at the time was so great that he was crossing racial and genre boundaries culminating with his breakout performance at the Monterey International Pop Festival in the spring of 1967 (the same year of his death). He single-handedly built Stax Records from the ground up with his record sales in the 60s, epitomizing deep soul in the process.

Backed by Booker T. & the MG’s, this is the opening cut from Live in Europe, a collection of songs recorded during his first (as well as the first Stax tour across the Atlantic) and only tour through Europe. It was the last album he would see released before his untimely and tragic death in 1967. ‘Respect’ in it’s original form has a quite different meaning than Aretha Franklin’s much more popular female-empowering version. In any form, it is a wonderfully written song.

Donny Hathaway – What’s Going On – Live (Atlantic 1972)
Hathaway is sadly often left out of the big soul names these days (Redding, Wonder, Green, Gaye, Brown) mostly because of his scant output and tragic suicide in 1979. His voice is extremely smooth and romantic, but he also has the chords to really wail on a song. Hathaway got his start in the 60s mostly behind the scenes, working as a session keyboardist, songwriter, arranger and producer for everyone from Aretha to the Staple Singers, but didn’t really start gaining momentum until teaming up with Curtis Mayfield. While working as the house producer for Mayfield’s Curtom label, he put out his own material including the socially aware classic soul cut, The Ghetto, which was a precursor to Marvin Gaye’s What’s Going On. Hathaway’s only stint with chart-topping success was while teaming up with Howard classmate Roberta Flack. His career slowly declined as the 70s progressed, but was revitalized in 1978 with another Flack duet. In 1979 though, Hathaway was found dead after falling from a 15th floor window with no apparent struggle (the glass had been removed neatly). Though the truth was never uncovered, investigators deemed it a suicide after finding no evidence of anything else.

I included Hathaway’s take of ‘What’s Going On,’ recorded less than a year after it was originally written by Gaye. I would of certainly used ‘The Ghetto,’ because it is certainly a much better track on the same album, but it is 12-minutes long. So do yourself a favor and go get this album, because it is absolutely amazing.

Covers are Fun

Thee More Shallows

Thee More Shallows – I Can’t Get Next to You – Monkey vs. Shark (Turn 2006)


Peter Herbolzheimer Rhythm Combination and Brass – A Day in the Life – Touchdown (Polydor GER, 1977)


Toots and the Maytals – Louie, Louie – Funky Kingston (Mango 1973)


Cover songs are fun. And for the most part, that’s about it. Rehashing your favorite bands’ hits has been a staple in the development in young musicians since… well since favorite bands existed I presume. You have to start somewhere, and if you are not fortunate enough to be able to afford proper lessons in your instrument of choice, the next best thing you can do is mimic other more skilled musicians. After perfecting song after song after song in your bedroom, eventually you should start developing skills of your own and in time begin writing your own compositions. Songwriting is a true test of musicianship, copying others is not. Now, truth be told, there are a couple of good cover bands out there, but they are few and far between, and not really worth more than a night of kitschy fun. Now an occasional cover song by an established musician (i.e. have proved that they have their own songwriting chops) can be a great thing as well. Songwriters’ influences are innately included in their own compositions, whether it is apparent or not; the only truly original piece of music would have to be composed by a person who has absolutely never come in contact with another note of music or deaf from childbirth. This is not a bad thing, its just fact; we are constantly influenced by our surroundings. So when a musician attempts to idolize a favorite artist by covering a song of theirs, its time to take notice because their songwriting skills and individuality is going to be on display. Do they just regurgitate the song note by note without any creativity at all? Or do they re-imagine the song, bringing new life to the composition while putting their personal stamp on it? This reinventing talent, in my opinion, is a characteristic of a truly good musician/songwriter.

Yesterday, while receiving new music in my office at the beautiful WLUW, I came across an EP from a band called Thee More Shallows. I was not familiar with the band or the label, Turn Records, but it came from a trusted promotion company and had an eye-catching press release. The selling point for me was that the band covered Al Green’s “I Can’t Get Next to You,” and being the rabid Al Green fan that I am, I immediately took notice. Thee More Shallows completely reinvent the song, turning the once deep soul unconditional love ode into a spooky, eerie, brooding, almost stalkerish rock song. I’m rarely sold on a band by a cover song, but Thee More Shallows certainly earned themselves a rip into my selective music catalog and obviously the inspiration for this post. I’ve also included two more of my favorite cover songs, including an amazing rendition of The Beatle’s “A Day in the Life” by the Peter Herbolzheimer Rhythm Combination and Brass and an incredibly addictive rendition of “Louie, Louie” by Toots and the Maytals.

Thee More Shallows – I Can’t Get Next to You – Monkey vs. Shark (Turn 2006)
Thee More Shallows are an indie-rock trio out of San Francisco consisting of Dee Kesler, Chavo Fraser and Jason Gonzales. For a relatively young band, they have a very mature sound, enlisting characteristics of chamber and post-rock with just a touch of goth and electronics strewn throughout. The perfectionists spent three years mixing their sophomore album, More Deep Cuts, and it has been well received causing a bit of a stir in the indie-rock press. This EP of loose ends was put out in only months and includes five new songs as well as the cover and a remix by Anticon’s Odd Nosdam and Why?

“I Can’t Get Next to You” was written by legendary Motown writers Barrett Strong and Norman Whitfield, who were also responsible for “I Heard It Through the Grapevine” and “Papa Was a Rolling Stone” among many others. It was originally written for The Temptations and first appeared on their “Puzzle People” album in 1969, but did not receive the attention it deserved until Al Green’s rendition of it heard on 1971’s “Gets Next to You.” Since then, it’s been covered numerous times by artists as diverse as Annie Lennox, Toto and Savoy Brown.

Peter Herbolzheimer Rhythm Combination and Brass – A Day in the Life – Touchdown (Polydor GER, 1977)
I copped this song from the amazing audioblog, Soulsides, a few months back. Trombonist and progressive big band leader Peter Herbolzheimer completely re-imagine the song into a 7-minute prog-soul epic. With Don Adams on vocals, the RC&B bring out some amazing fusion and R&B chops in outbursts while somehow the tempo remains steadily mellow throughout; a wonderful late-night bring-the-party-down track.

As the cinematic closer to Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, the song remains the epitome of what The Beatles could create utilizing both John Lennon and Paul McCartney as songwriters. Juxtaposed, it’s easy to hear the differences between the more withdrawn, cerebral Lennon and the more jovial and jaunty McCartney. A classic Beatles tune no doubt.

Toots and the Maytals – Louie, Louie – Funky Kingston (Mango 1973)
The least restructured of the covers songs I’m including, Toots and the Maytals’ version of the classic reggae cut “Louie, Louie” is incredibly infectious to say the least. Incredibly energetic and utilizing the best characteristics of reggae-soul, Toots Hibbert screams and belts James Brown-stylee over the Maytals’ heavily percussive backbeat and striking brass punches. Two blasting sax solos act as bridges to the energetic chorus, and the song closes with a strange, almost guttural vibrato. One of my favorite all time songs.

Made infamous by the slurred vocals of Ray Davies and the Kinks, the song was actually originally written in 1962 by Richard Berry and The Fabulous Wailers and found on the heavily influential rock’n’soul record, The Fabulous Wailers at the Castle. The Seattle group was one of the very first American garage rock bands anticipating the British Invasion and have either directly or indirectly influenced every rock & roll group to come out of their parents’ garage since.

From the Underground of Chicago to São Paulo

São Paulo Underground - Olhossss... - Sauna: Um, Dios, Três (Aesthetics 2006)


São Paulo Underground - Afrihouse - Sauna: Um, Dios, Três (Aesthetics 2006)


This is an article I wrote this weekend on Chicago's Rob Mazurek's new project, the São Paulo Underground. It is really an amazing album, and deserves all the attention it can get. I am hoping to get it published, especially since it has such strong local roots, but I am trying not to get too optimistic about it. It certainly wouldn't be the first time I'd be let down. Anywho, it was a fun exercise and a well spent Sunday afternoon, followed by a busy evening at the WLUW radio station. My show, Soundtracking Your Insomnia, is now officially alive, airing sunday nights/monday mornings 2-4am (cst). A shitty time slot I know, but I'm new to the station and have to pay my dues before I move into prime time. At least I'll be making a few cab drivers' night a bit more enjoyable. Feel free to stream the always magnificent WLUW here.


From the Underground of Chicago to São Paulo
Michael Ardaiolo

“…I am trying to find those frequencies that project both visually and sonically. I have a history like anybody has a history but I choose not to think on this but to constantly move in one of many directions and none at all. I am a human trying to locate things and crack them.” - Rob Mazurek in an interview with Italian weekly Succoacido.

Mazurek describes his musical approach in contradictions, “how to evolve that and get to an area that is wide as it is tall, as small as it is big and dense as hell and not at all… A thing with time not really existing but perhaps constantly folding on itself or in on itself, etc.” The forward-thinking proto-Renaissance man spends his life creating in a variety of mediums from his magnificent cornet playing to abstract paintings to digitally constructed soundscapes to multi-media projects of every kind. He tends to combine these methods whenever possible as well, like his “Music for Shattered Light Box and 7 Posters” installment, where a light source is reflected off his paintings and the resulting light-wave manipulation is translated into sound frequencies creating a aural-visual experience like no other. His music, whether with any configuration of the Chicago Underground collective or Mandarin Movie or Isotope 217 or as simply a contributor, always adheres to this multi-medium aesthetic, transforming his surroundings into music. That’s why his current home in Brazil is especially important, because you can guarantee that he is absorbing his environment and the influence will present itself in aural form. And as if on cue, the São Paulo Underground appears, a project featuring percussionist and electronics manipulator Mauricio Takara of Hurtmold and M. Takara as well as a slew of local Brazilian musicians. The music, as expected, his heavily influenced by Brazil and it’s wide variety of traditions and customs, especially the rebellious Tropicália, the heavily percussive maracatu and Brazil’s most famous native style, samba. Of course Mazurek and Takara also enlist their personal styles deriving from free jazz, minimalist electronica and dub. The Underground’s first album, Sauna: Um, Dios, Três, was released on May 9th through the Portland’s Aesthetic label in the US.

Rob Mazurek is a true product of Chicago’s immensely variant music scene. He was schooled at the Bloom School of Jazz and at a young age developed an acute ear for improvisation and the ability to transfer his cornet into a wide variety of musical styles. His initial influence was with Blue Note’s premier hard-bop trumpeters, Lee Morgan, Kenny Dorham, etc. But, as with any absorbent young mind, he began to explore further into the wide possibilities of jazz where he discovered free jazz cornet player Don Cherry and local avant-garde heros, the Art Ensemble of Chicago. In the mid 90s, with his ever-growing repertoire of styles, Mazurek formed weekly jam sessions that resulted in the Chicago Underground collective featuring Tortoise guitarist Jeff Parker, Brokeback bassist Noel Kupersmith and drummer Chad Taylor among others. Also during this productive time period, he contributed his skills to bands of all genres including Tortoise, Gastr del Sol, Stereolab and Sam Prekop to name a few as well as being a main force in the cultivating of Chicago’s popular fringe-rock scene. Shortly there after, the jazz-funk fusion band Isotope 217 was formed, letting Mazurek, Parker and others stem out into even further musical ideas. His latest project, other than São Paulo, is Mandarin Movie, a Sun Ra-influenced escapade of experimental electronica, free jazz and hard-bop also released on the Aesthetic label. All the while, Mazurek continually traveled, making friends all across the US as well as in France, Italy and Brazil, taking bits of influence from each person and location he came across.

Sauna: Um, Dios, Três is as collage of Brazilian influences and ideas, taking as much significant inspiration from Pernambuco’s colorful Afro-Brazilian maracatu nação performances as São Paulo impossibly dense traffic jams. In just one song, styles weave in and out of electronic noise while Takara holds down a drumbeat buried softly in the background, Mazurek’s cornet appears sporadically adding a splash of color to the musique concrète, and instruments are reversed creating sweeping brush strokes that lavishly paint over mysteriously dubbed vocals. You can hear Gilberto Gil’s mutinous Tropicália calling for a just government, Lee “Scratch” Perry’s quirky dub giving comic relief to his people living in extreme poverty and John Cage’s aleatoric compositions leaving audiences both confused and intrigued. Mazurek and Takara masterfully fuse these otherwise unconnected genres into as Mazurek would put it, “constantly [moving] in one of many directions and none at all.”

The opening title track introduces the album with panning electronic hum, a detached, ghostly voice and brooding free jazz attacking from every side. This surprisingly evolves into an enchanting musical array that decomposes into a coda that wouldn’t be out of place on a Tortoise album. “Pombaral” begins with a samba-flavored cornet solo before Takara’s engrossing drums and dual subdued guitars point the song into a post-rock direction. The latter half of the nine minute track deteriorates into eerie electronic noise before coming full circle. The third song, “The Realm of the Ripper,” acts as an unfocused transition of repeating synthesizer lines and various ethnic percussion into one of the album’s most enticing tracks, “Olhossss…” Being the only song that solely features Mazurek and Takara, you would think that it would be more restrained, but these are musicians of many talents and the song reflects that perfectly. Beginning with layered snyth pads and a buried and reverberating drum pattern, “Olhosss…” completely changes directions at the three minute mark, sparking an animated blend of vibrating cornet, twinkling sine waves and flickering programmed percussion. “Afrihouse” is definitely the most ethnic song of the bunch, and at times even reflects Fela Kuti’s afrobeat, “Balão De Gás” strategically combines musique concrète with Afro-Brazilian percussion and chanting, and the album wraps up with a very quiet track featuring the manipulated voice of a man simply credited as ‘Chico.’

Albums like this one are significant because such rich musical explorations don’t come along everyday, but neither do musicians like Mauricio Takara and Rob Mazurek. Sauna: Um, Dios, Três in a way draws a direct line between Chicago and São Paulo revealing similarities we would otherwise never even consider. It is extremely important to not only realize other cultures, especially ones as artistically rich as Brazil’s, but to also embrace them as our own, because while we may be separated by thousands of miles of land and sea, we are all human beings and all share that same instinctive artistic sense. In this case, Mazurek is acting as a sort of diplomat, showing both sides the similarities between themselves, all the while creating something completely new we can both claim as our own. Because just like all of us, Mazurek is just “a human trying to locate things and crack them.”

Guillermo Scott Herren

Prefuse 73 - Storm Returns - One Word Extinguisher (WARP 2003)


Savath & Savalas - Rolls and Waves of Ignorance - The Rolls and Waves EP (Hefty 2002)


Delarosa & Asora - Airbrush (Clogged) - Crush the Sight-Seers (Pearineel 1999)


Piano Overlord - Walk Home - The Singles Collection 03-05 (Money Studies 2005)




I’m extremely excited because tonight I will be trekking my way (a long way via a decent walk to the train, a timely train ride, a lengthy bus ride and another more than likely damp walk) to the Empty Bottle to see Prefuse 73 do his thing. Guillermo Scott Herren is one of my favorite artists and it’s been a good three or four years since I’ve seen him perform live. Last time it was at MacRock located somewhat nonchalantly at James Madison U. somewhere in the many foothills of Virginia. It was my first time seeing Herren, and I was a pretty big fan at the time but nowhere near the obsessed follower I am now (in fact that was probably the turning point from interest to infatuation). He performed in a small bar outside of most of the MacRock stages, I think so that the audience could drink, and confusingly followed a Dischord showcase (El Guapo, Beauty Pill, Antelope and Decahedron I believe, and a ridiculous set from Books on Tape). Accompanying Mr. Herren on turntables/samplers/random electronic equipment was Nobody along with a fantastic female Japanese drummer who would pick up any beat he threw out her in a matter of seconds. I stood on a bench in the corner on the right side of the room with the drummer from Christiansen and bobbed and shoulder-popped and attempted to look cool (I’m sure I just looked ridiculously white). After being completely blown away from an hour-long set, like the dork I am, I made my way to the stage where Herren was packing away his equipment. I climbed up on stage, introduced myself, and bluntly let him know that he was my hero. Being the amazing person that he is, he shook my hand and said that was dope and we chatted for a few minutes before I left an enlightened man. Ever since that moment, I have been a diligent and faithful fan and loyally pick up every album that he puts out or appears on and scoffs at any unpleasant review I read. I really owe him a lot as far as being pointed in the direction of electronica, hip-hop and jazz and away from the silly effeminate screamy art-punk I was into at the time (though that genre will always have a special place hidden deeply in my heart).

Guillermo Scott Herren is a man of many faces. He drops meticulously sliced and sequenced hip-hop as Prefuse 73, paints avant-glitch soundscapes as Delarosa & Asora, embraces Spanish folk and ethereal post-rock as Savath & Savalas, tinkers with Rhodes, Wurlitzers and other acoustic keyboards as Piano Overlord and occasionally remixes rebelliously with friend and collaborator Nobody as La Corrección. None of his projects sound alike, but they all secrete a sort of mystic and omnipotent vibe that simultaneously embodies musical pioneers of the past while always sturdily looking forward. According to the ‘about’ from his and Peter Rentz’s Eastern Developments label’s website, Herren’s musical influences derive from Thursday night radio shows on WREK while a high school student in Decatur, GA. College/independent radio is truly a wonderful source for expanding your musical knowledge, it’s been the single most important influence to me as well and without it… well I certainly wouldn’t be doing this. He developed his craft during the usual early 20s shit-jobs hysteria, and broke on the scene in the late 90s with releases under the Delarosa & Asora and Savath & Savalas monikers. His 2001 release Vocal Studies & Uprock Narratives, the first as Prefuse 73, is what launched Herren to the elite producer status though, and the momentum has not slowed down since.

Prefuse 73, derived from Herren's biggest musical influence, pre-fusion jazz circa 1973, is synonymous with incredibly creative hip-hop that pushes the genre to the outer possible limits. Equal parts hip-hop, electronica and jazz, Prefuse's sound is characterized by the meticulously sequenced barrage of samples that would be considered overwhelming if not so perfectly in step with each other. Basically, Prefuse 73 is to a song what a mosaic is to a painting. It does not matter what the original source is, be it a sample, vocals, an acoustical instrument or a sine wave; it will be sliced, chopped and manipulated into completely new, even more intriguing sounds. This method keeps Herren's music fresh because with each spin, the listener hears something different every time. As quoted from his WARP bio, “The name Prefuse 73 comes from my devotion to pre-fusion jazz circa 1973. A lot of records that I cherish and get the most inspiration from were recorded between ‘68 and ’73. During that time there seemed to be an extreme amount of exploration and integration of new sounds drawn from electric and foreign instruments into an otherwise traditional format, “ eulogizes Scott. “This new approach went hand in hand with these musicians’ emerging spiritual awakenings,” he continues. “In my opinion, there isn't another area of time within any genre that holds such a prolific outpouring of beautiful, mind expanding music.”

Herren describes his folk infused side project as this, "if Prefuse is my best friend, then Savath & Savalas is my baby." While listening to any of his releases under this moniker, one can immediately understand the tenderness and love he puts into each one of these albums. Each song sounds like it has been intensely studied, understood and deciphered into a series of acoustic melodies and electronic excursions. Of all Herren's projects, Savath & Savalas is the most acoustic based, though there is without a doubt no lack of electronic manipulation. In fact, this is the only moniker prior to Piano Overlord that lets the glitches and white noise take a backseat to experimentation with an array of acoustic instruments. Each album has its own unique sound from the pastoral and glitch-lite post-rock of Folk Songs for Trains, Trees and Honey to his Spanish-roots seeking Apropa’t, but they all share a very patient aesthetic and the ability to transport the listener into a state of cathartic bliss.

Delarosa & Asora is a far cry from his other aliases, exploring the darker and less song-based characteristics of electronica. Herren creates large palettes of minimalist trance where every speck of white noise in an essential part of the moment. A sort of breeding ground for his early ideas, Delarosa may not appeal to some of his more recent and less in-depth fans, but they are crucial elements in his musical evolution and on each concurrent listen, each song reveals another subtle layer of inspiration.

Piano Overlord is his latest side project, and features Herren’s music at its simplest level. Usually just stripped down cuts of assorted pianos, Rhodes, Wurlitzers and other non-synthesized instrumentation accompanied with little bit of boom here, a tiny bit of bap there. Apparently started as a favor to the label Money Studies for ‘fucking up and losing the parts to remix my man: Diplo’s first 7” on the label,’ some fans may be confused by the simplicity of the music; but when taken at face-value, your left with an assortment of very enjoyable 2 and 3 minute consciously straightforward tunes. How can you hate on that?

Piece-ing and Layering

Alice Coltrane – Journey in Satchidananda - Journey in Satchidananda (Impulse! 1970)


Squarepusher – Iambic 9 Poetry – Ultravisitor (WARP 2004)


Battles – Ipt-2 – EP C (Monitor 2004)


I spent the afternoon wading through a sea of sawdust while helping a new friend of mine shoot some extra footage for a project he is working on. The woodshop, the renown Bauhaus Institute run by an amiable and quirky German master craftsman, had a character all it’s own. Located unassumingly on a not-so-elegant street in North Chicago, flanked by a number of authentic Mexican restaurants and Asian dry cleaners, the Institute was an older warehouse stacked to the roof with countless varieties of wood, circular saws, half-made furniture and enough sawdust to asphyxiate a pair of asthmatic lungs (like mine) in a matter of seconds. Add in the fact that the room was softly lit by a series of slightly damaged, overhead frosted windows, and the word texture repeatedly flashes in large, bright red capital letters as far as descriptions go. I listened to the award-winning furniture maker and artist, Berthold Schwaiger, talk about his work for a few hours, and never have I been so inspired by woodworking. He approaches every project individually, enlisting century old math theories and philosophical ideas into each one of his pieces. To give you an idea where he was coming from, his office bookshelves were stacked with obscure art collections, D.H. Lawrence novels and trigonometry textbooks. From his adjacent window, he watched his young apprentices behind his graying beard and with one good eye, the other permanently staring to the left.

Because of my audio production background, I tend to see music the same way he would look at furniture, in pieces and layers (especially sample-based music) finely chosen and crafted into a seamless final whole. A good musician should compose music the same way Schwaiger would create a bureau or a chest: 1. Know your customer, don’t just take assignments, sit down with each particular customer and get to know them, come to understand exactly what they have in mind and use that as your starting point. 2. Select the perfect materials, individually choose every single piece of wood so that the grain, flow and natural beauty will accentuate the overall piece of furniture. 3. Devise an unconventional method, don’t just repeatedly use the same process, draw inspiration from a variety of sources and incorporate them into your work. 4. Don’t rush and make sure the product will withstand the test of time. Schwaiger was also insistent that each piece of custom-made furniture would take on a life of its own, outliving the initial buyers and creating it’s own legacy. I believe that a good piece of music should meet these criteria as well, except maybe not the first one word by word, maybe replace ‘customer’ with ‘idea.’ So I chose three songs, built mostly in layers, where I think the artists met the parameters and succeeded in creating a song that not only takes on a life of it’s own, but can (or have) withstand the test of time.

Alice Coltrane – Journey in Satchidananda - Journey in Satchidananda (Impulse! 1970)
Alice Coltrane is without a doubt one of my favorite musicians, sometimes I think even more than her late husband, John. Always deeply spiritual and infusing ethnic Eastern instrumentation into her compositions, the songs project an earthy drone, a meditative tunnel if you will. This is the title track to my favorite album and its built in a series of thick layers. Cecil McBee’s extremely deep bass, remaining the somewhat consistent anchor throughout, roots the track. The other consistent sound is the rhythmic drone of a tambura, and unfretted string instrument usually found in India; it adds a definite character to the song. Glittering bells and tambourine accentuate Rashied Ali’s sparse drumming, and Pharoah Sanders adds a welcomed solo on soprano sax. Ms. Coltrane plays the meanest harp I have ever heard, meticulously and passionately plucking the strings to create an indefinable sound. Each layer complements the next, combining to form unprecedented depth.

Squarepusher – Iambic 9 Poetry – Ultravisitor (WARP 2004)
Firstly, this song sounds nothing like Tom Jenkinson’s early music. Coming from an experimental IDM background where each manic drum skitter and synth blast came quicker than the next, Jenkinson’s much calmer ‘Ultravisitor’ was a breath of fresh air. Utilizing his jazz drumming background, his father was also a jazz drummer as well, he created a much more ambient and thoughtful album than his previous urgent outings. This song is the best example of what Jenkinson can do with acoustic instrumentation if he gives it time to grow and breath on it’s own. Beginning very quietly with a soft bass line, the song progressively builds layer by layer into a rampant array of scattered jazz drumming, brooding synth pads and echoing organs. This is without a doubt my favorite Squarepusher song, and makes a case for breaking into my all time top 10.

Battles – Ipt-2 – EP C (Monitor 2004)
I wanted to include something a bit different into the mix, something utilizing not only layers by unconventional design and math as well. Battles is the closest thing you can find to musical mathematicians. Featuring John Stanier of Helmet/Tomahawk, Ian Williams of Don Caballero/Storm & Stress, David Konopka of Lynx and always-inventive solo artist Tyondai Braxton, Battles is essentially a math-rock super group. This song can be found on EP C and is a prime example of what unorthodox design can bring to music. The drumming is played through one speaker, then reversed and played out of the other speaker after a slight delay. A simple guitar riff is added on top of that, then also reversed, and just like that, and incredibly interesting song is created. There is nothing too complicated here, but the overall effect is compelling.

From Funk to Thunk

Georgia Anne Muldrow
James Brown - Get Up (I Feel Like Being a) Sex Machine (Parts 1 & 2) -
Revolution of the Mind (Polydor 1971)


Georgia Anne Muldrow - Lo Mein - Worthnothings EP (Stones Throw 2006)


Dudley Perkins - Testin' Me - Expressions (2012 A.U.) (Stones Throw 2006)




I came home at the end of last week in a good mood. One of those effervescing moods that can only be accentuated with a hardy helping of bread, wine and wonderful music. So I purchased a $1.50 loaf of bread, broke out my gallon of cheap, but remarkably tastey table wine and put on my newest acquistions from Stones Throw Records, a personal favorite label of mine. Needless to say, three glasses and half a loaf later, my effervesing mood was now boiling in a pot full soulful expressions and future-funk breakdowns. It got me thinking about the roots of funk music and how it has evolved into it's current state. So I did what I always do in situations like these, I broke out the laptop and sent my thoughts on a rollercoaster ride starting at my brain, down my arms, through my fingertips and on to the keys. After my creative outburst I slept for a good three hours to recover. When I woke up this article was meandering on my screen and all in all, I am impressed with my inebriated composing. I'm attempting to get it published in The Reader, Chicago's weekly free newspaper, but they have not responded. Oh well, I live to drink and write another day, and in the mean time enjoy the samples from Georgia Anne Muldrow and Dudley Perkin's amazing new albums along with a classic James Brown cut.

From Funk to Thunk
From its very conception, funk was the epitome of sheer emotional outburst. As James Brown continually upped the energetic ante of each concurrent soul single, an extremely powerful genre began to take form. Brown understood what his people felt, what his people needed, more rhythm, more blues, more soul. These innate feelings were always there, they just needed a catalyst, a vent to let the boiling expression free. Musicians had attempted this before; great voices like Otis Redding understood the possibilities of endless energy and unsuppressed emotion and the unparalleled power that came from combining the two. Maybe Redding would have been able to unleash this primitive spirit if he was only given the chance, but its time had not come just yet. Then, in the mid-60s, James Brown had an idea. What if he played the music he wanted to, what if he played the music he could feel stirring in the deepest regions of his soul? Fuck restrictions. There is no template for pure expression. Songs needn’t be confined to just three minutes, if he feels like jamming for seven, eight, fifteen minutes, he would; he embraced that freedom. Brown understood where he came from, where he was going. He knew that he was free, no matter what society told him. He reached back and embraced his roots enlisting African rhythms into his already powerful Southern soul. He understood the entrancement of a deep electric bass line, he understood the bright accentuations that blaring brass horns provided. He championed his fellow black musicians, infusing their personalities into his music. He heard Jimi Hendrix’s intoxicating psychedelic blues and shared his penchant for epic electric guitar solos. He heard Otis Redding’s unprecedented soul scream and shared his vocal urgency. He heard Coltrane’s deafening tenor, Grant Green’s intricate guitar, Ornette Coleman’s early explorations into discordant sounds, Art Blakey’s perfectly timed groove. He heard the preaching of Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X and understood the need for a singular voice. He heard black America and he manifested it into what we now call funk. And great musicians like Sly Stone, George Clinton and Curtis Mayfield heard it too, and innately came to the same conclusion, but in styles each their own. Popular music would never be the same, and this new funk energy spread like wildfire from southeast America to Chicago to New York to L.A. to Africa to Europe to every corner of the Earth that had ears and a soul.

Music was never the same, and the world was never the same; and both were far better for it. Funk had an essential hand in the birth of everything from hip-hop to disco and was now a permanent staple in popular music and black culture. Today funk lives on in many different shapes and forms, but there is a specific niche that is moving forward by embracing its roots, just like Brown had done in the 60s. Sometimes dubbed ‘future-funk,’ the style stems obviously from the foundation eagerly set by George Clinton and later, Prince, but with the opportunity of being able to look back, especially on the now well established rap genre, with 20/20 retrospective vision. The style may contain some of the musical characteristics usually associated with rap and the more party-oriented funk, but definitely not its superficial qualities. Deeply introspective and observational, this new approach would be better called thunk than funk, which still retains the original connotations as being a slang word for ‘stink.’ And where is this music coming from? Well, all over thanks to our newly interconnected internet-oriented worldwide society, but more specifically, L.A.’s premier indie-hip-hop label, Stones Throw Records. DJ/producer Peanut Butter Wolf’s record company has been growing exponentially since the mid-90s thanks to its addictive and highly creative hip-hop and electro-funk output, and especially thanks to its most ambitious and extremely productive artist, Madlib. But last week, Stones Throw released two amazing records from two of their lesser known artists, new signee Georgia Anne Muldrow and soul singing oddball Dudley Perkins.

Stones Throw’s roster is as diverse as it comes, but they have been missing an essential component of any good ensemble, a strong-minded woman. Georgia Anne Muldrow’s future funk-soul sound fits so snuggly into the Stones Throw niche its eerie. Written, composed and produced solely by her lonesome, the debut EP, Worthnothings, is an emotional, multi-layered take on deep soul with a gritty hip-hop pulse that echoes back to free jazz and more specifically, Sun Ra vocalist June Tyson. Coming from a deeply musical family, her fathered invented instruments for Eddie Harris and her mother performed with experimental soul-jazz pioneer Pharoah Sanders, so its easy to decipher Muldrow’s influences, but her strongest characteristic seems to be the freshness she brings to the hip-hop/soul/funk genre. The EP, originally self-released in 2004, sounds simultaneously modern and classic, not to mention light-years ahead of what the now 22-year-old singer should sound like at her age. For the limited experience, she sounds abnormally mature and a bit jaded by the every day’s of life, which is reflected heavily by her poignant lyrics. With only one EP, Muldrow already seems to be distancing herself already from the forward-funk collective that’s groomed her (L.A.’s Sa-Ra Creative Partners, Detroit’s Platinum Pied Pipers), and I have a feeling that this is only the very beginning for the blooming songstress. She has that unteachable talent of being able to absorb and utilize her surroundings into her music without copping someone else’s style. You can easily hear her more successful contemporaries like Madlib and the late, great J Dilla within the EP, but it remains to be distinctively Muldrow. It seems unfair that Stones Throw is now not only the home to most creative male mind in modern hip-hop/soul/jazz/funk, Mad ‘there is no genre I can’t create’ lib, but also his possible female counterpart.

I don’t know if anyone was really predicting a significant amount of progression from Stones Throw’s warbling crooner Dudley Perkins; in fact, I’m pretty sure most people took his confusingly addictive debut album as Dudley (he also used to rap under the moniker Declaime), ‘A Lil’ Light,’ as nothing but humorous kitsch. But as his sophomore album Expressions (2012 A.U.) blatantly states, whether by Madlib’s A-game beats and production or Dudley’s progressive strides in songwriting, Mr. Perkins is a significant force all his own in modern funk-soul music. Carving an immensely individual path, Dudley pairs a truly distinctive voice with mischievous lyrics about his favorite subjects: weed, music, women and his god (whom, in the final track, he has a conversation with about his proud addiction to marijuana). While the album is solid as a whole, just the first few tracks are simply amazing in comparison to his sporadic debut. Madlib paints a colorful canvas of 70s funk and soul, while Dudley enlists his strongest assets to the nth degree, unconventional note-hanging and scatting with unparalleled adlibs and vocal layering. ‘Funky Dudley’ is the perfect introduction, as he repeatedly asks himself over Parliament funk, ‘how’d you get so funky, Dudley?’ ‘Testin’ Me’ with its instantly familiar piano loop may be the pinnacle Dudley Perkins track, simple, laid back and chock full of rhetorical questions and comments about the hardships of life and the pursuit of personal happiness. On ‘Inside,’ Dudley speak-sings deeply introspective observations about himself, and in turn reflecting his surrounding society and aptly concludes the song with ‘one day when you listen, you might be a better person.’ His debut definitely left questions about where he could go, if anywhere; ‘Expressions’ is a potent answer, but only really entices more questions about the possibilities of Dudley and his beloved music.

Georgia Anne Muldrow, Dudley Perkins and Stones Throw all share the same forward-thinking characteristic with the original pioneers of funk music. They are embracing rather than shedding all of their truly individual characteristics, just like James Brown did in the 60s. There is no limit to the possibilities for these creative minds, and with a growing audience, they will soon enough have a sturdy enough platform to support yet another musical revolution.