You haven’t really lived – I mean, really reveled in this epic journey we call life, till you’ve been front row at a MSTRKRFT show. No lie, these cats from Toronto get really DEEP. Once again, to reemphasize, I’m not talking about regular “deep,” I’m referring to “six million leagues beneath sea level – with no sunlight” type of deep.
Like fine wine hermetically sealed in temperature-controlled underground vaults, the artiste known as Kamaal the Abstract (or Q-Tip) just continues to get better with time. And anyone who ever doubts his relevancy in today’s music pantheon had to be present at All Points West this weekend to see the Queens, NY native completely rip up the set.
It’s supposed to be the middle of summer on the East Coast, but if you were at New Jersey’s Liberty State Park on the opening day of All Points West, you’d swear you were on a monsoon-stricken tropical island.
Soul Sister, Street Soldier, Groove Goddess, Funk Empress, Esoteric Thespian- all these tags and many more apply when you’re referring to the always regal, Ms. Erykah Badu. All through her career, from the amazing soul swirl of “On & On” featured on Baduizm – her stunning debut LP- to, her triumphant resurgence with last year’s New Amerykah Part One, she continues to stand alone in a field filled with endless numbers of musical clones. She effortlessly channels the spirit of greats like Nina Simone and Billie Holiday and siphons it so soulfully through funk, hip-hop, jazz and rock to create a sound that’s uniquely hers. On a fine afternoon in late June, ChinaShop was granted some special one-on-one time with Ms. Badu where she fielded questions about her life, music, community outreach and the songs currently in heavy rotation on her I-pod.
Badu’s Soulful Alchemy:
The first topic of discussion is her new album that drops later this year. This is her second album in two years, and that’s a rarity in itself.
EB: It’s a continuation of [last year’s] record. I recorded it all at the same time – and just split it into two projects. This new one, Amerykah Part 2, is the right brain counterpart to the first one whereas last year’s was the left brain expression of where I am right now. This new project is for the emotional man and Part 1 was for the thinking man.
She goes on to explain the meaning behind the phrase, “Return of the Ankh” added into the title of the upcoming project –[the Ankh being the ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphic character that symbolizes eternal life.]
EB: It’s a rebirth of consciousness for us all,” she intones, “for the slaves and for the slave masters alike. It’s the beginning of a new thought process, a healing for our planet. That’s what I see in my mind right now. I’ve felt it for a while now, and as I grew more into adulthood I felt it more. I feel people are moving towards a state of more physical, mental and spiritual health.
One would think Erika would be feeling immense amounts of pressure dropping a fresh project after last year’s critically-lauded opus. Perhaps all the adulation for Amerykah Part 1 was because the fans hadn’t heard from her in so long, or maybe it was the buzz generated by interest in her personal life (even in her musical absence, the rumor mills were going strong about her May-December romance with rapper Jay Electronica). Regardless of what the underlying factors were, it’s a fact that damn near everyone loved her new stuff. Amerykah’s first single “Honey,” produced by 9th Wonder , was lovingly embraced, and music reviewers and journalists from both high and low brow publications sang the praises of Erykah’s return. When it came time to rank the top releases of 2008, influential DJs and radio personalities (including the UK’s well-revered Gilles Peterson) placed it at the very top of their lists. So yeah, there must have been some anxiety on her end …
No, this Budapest-hailing band wasn’t named after the synth keyboards of the same name (admit it China Shoppers, you know that’s the first thing you thought after reading the title). Rather, this indie, dance-rock quintet was named after a small club in Barcelona where one of the members got super-inebriated and had a very “memorable” night.
Yes, their sophomore LP titled Razzmatazz Orfeum is a delicious, exquisitely-produced slice of synth-infused, glam-alicious, danceable, rock tunes featuring slick riffs, precise drums, catchy melodies and addictive lyricism. It was recorded entirely in Seattle, Washington under the aegis of Geoff Ott (Queens of the Stone Age, Twisted Radio, Verve Pipe), and the first single “You Raised A Vampire” is an absolute scorcher.
I first heard about the Glasgow-hailing producer, Hudson Mohawke via one of my favorite BBC1 radio DJs, Benji B. Save perhaps Rich Medina and Gilles Peterson, Benji B is the best at mixing soul, funk, electronica, r&b, hip-hop and jazz selections into a seamless continuum of pure goodness. Before he played Mohawke’s track, “Overnight,” he warned the listeners, “This guy is so good, but his songs are so short, so I’m going to have to loop it back to back.” He was right. What followed was a terse cut that sounded like a Timbaland-esque, stutter-step beat spliced with Atari-style electronic blips, and the kind of melodic, syncopated, bass chops that made the Neptunes and J. Dilla household names. It was an instrumental that felt as if it was rising to some kind of head-busting crescendo, but that sweet release never came – instead it steadied to a frothy, simmering tableau … and just like that, it ended. DJ Benji B was right, it would be an unforgivable sonic travesty not to give this joint an immediate encore.
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Alison Buxton, the co-owner of Brooklyn’s Ad Hoc gallery is perhaps the nicest, most open-minded, welcoming person you’ll ever meet. Her gallery business card lists her as “Co-founder, Cat Wrangler and Problem Solver,” and one can only imagine her handling these duties with love and the utmost of human respect. In that light, there couldn’t have been a better venue than her avant-garde gallery for two great heroes of Graffiti culture, Daze & Crash, to show their latest collaborative retrospective.
Nestled in a non-descript location in downtown Manhattan’s kitschy Nolita area, on the cusp of the overpriced SoHo area is a bar called Botanica – a dive bar that gives all dives a good name. After walking through Nolita’s narrow (and expensive) side streets and coming across charmeuse blouses and wine lists that cost more than most outpatient surgical procedures, it feels great to enter a dimly-lit, affordable, no-frills spot that takes things back to the true basics.
“Our CDs definitely pack a lot of energy,” Wilder Zoby, the keyboardist for the organic jazz/funk/disco ensemble Chin Chin interjects. “But our live shows are absolutely wild – we like to involve everyone, and basically bug the fuck out!”
Chin Chin’s reputation is growing faster than a Mojave Desert cyclone, and new listeners can’t help but get totally sucked in. The band’s nucleus has three members: biological brothers Wilder and drummer/vocalist Torbitt with the third musketeer being bassist, Jeremy Wilms. However, for their widely-revered NYC shows, the band’s number can swell to upwards of ten players. The end result is an lush wall of sound made up of thick slabs of gooey Parliament-style funkiness, irresistible disco riffs and the jazziest chords this side of BirdLand. “We’ll play for as long as they give us,” Wilder says about their notorious performances. “But given the right circumstances, we could go on for about seven hours,” he adds half-joking. Chin Chin is also known for its thunderous, Mardi Gras-evoking horn arrangements, a feat they attain by incorporating trombone and trumpet players from another exceptional live band you might have heard of, Antibalas.
As mainstream rappers continue to spew couplets about how much swag they’ve accrued and how many shiny gems they can fit into their Franck Muller watches, the reclusive and prolific Doom has gone ahead and dropped the best hip-hop album this year – the aptly titled Born Like This. The new LP is a masterpiece any way you look at it; from the selection of exceptional producers (J Dilla, Jake One, Thom Yorke) to the sharp collection of wordsmiths assembled (Wu-Tang’s Raekwon and Ghostface, Freddie Foxxx, Kurious Jorge). But above all, it’s the Metal-Faced Villain’s amazing, choppy delivery, Ginsu-sharp diction and unrivaled imagination that make his latest opus a certified classic.