Just Blaze
did a set on Tony Touch’s Sirius radio show for about an hour and
played some of his classic productions (“I Really Mean It”, “Flipside”)
while also debuting some very new, very exclusive shit. The full set
can be heard via Miss Info here
and is worth your time, but the highlight is the premiere of Jay
Electronica’s “Exhibit C”, easily his best production in three years.
I’d
heard a lot of internet talk about Jay Electronica, some of it hyping
him as a savior, some of it saying that he puts on a horrible live
show—basically, the kind of polarizing opinions that are inevitable
online. In listening to this track over and over last night, I was
reading the relatively little press there is on him and was intrigued
by his near-total ambivalence to the industry and his heavy interest in
film. In particular, an Urb cover story clinched my respect for him when he cited his mother as a big musical influence because she “bumped Steely Dan’s Gaucho non-stop growing up.” (Probably says more about me than him, but regardless…)
So,
yeah…I don’t have a lot of analysis to offer, just because I’m
overwhelmed. Jay Electronica has a bad stage name, only one song with
an official release, a baby with Erykah Badu, and no date scheduled for
an album anywhere in the near future. But “Exhibit C” is astounding and
made me feel like I witnessed something epochal--not a word I throw
around often. Hopefully we won't have to live off this mp3 ripped from
the radio for too long, but who knows?
On the heels of his recent gig at the Guggenheim, I caught up with multi-instrumentalist Jesse Cohen to talk about music, life and his new band, Restless People.
What bands have you played with in the last 3 weeks? We
did a bunch of shows in October with both Tanlines and our other
project, Restless People, as well as playing in Glasser while she was
in New York. We played with a lot of really good acts in the last three
weeks: Delorean, Washed Out, Ted Leo, MNDR, and many more. Tanlines
also played with Yeasayer in the middle of the Guggenheim Museum, which
was a really special opportunity.
What's your favorite thing about the radio? There are a lot of things that I love about my radio
specifically, but one of them is that there is a place on the dial
where if it's set to FM it's on Hot 97 and if it's on AM it's on NPR.
The dial almost always stays in that place. I think Mike Bell-Smith
(from Restless People) used to talk about an imaginary radio that just
went back and forth between those two stations, I should tell him that
I basically have that.
What culture makes you feel most like an outsider? I dunno, probably people who are into fan fiction for a movie that I never saw.
When people ask you what kind of music you play... A
couple genres that I've made up to describe our music are: Crossover,
Experimental Pop, Seltzer. Sometimes I'll say that it sounds like pop
music from a country that doesn't actually exist. or just "new music".
What makes a great remix?
Our approach to remixes has always been to rework the song so
that it sounds like it was written by a fictional band that we would be
really into. We usually do this by keeping only the vocals and their
structure, keeping them intact, not cutting them up at all, and then
rewriting the music around them. So, I think, in general, a really
good remix is one that the casual listener cannot identify as a remix.
Strangest sound that you've sampled recently? Really
really wanted to sample our drums in the middle of an empty Guggenheim
because they sounded absolutely crazy, but we didn't get a chance. On
our very first remix, for "Chromes on It", we used the sound that your
cellphone makes when you leave it on top of a radio or something and it
starts to feedback a little bit, which I guess was a little goofy, but
it happened while we were doing the song in the studio and we just
decided to incorporate it.
Favorite festival and why? Transmusicales in Rennes, France,
because it was in an unused airplane hanger in the countryside in
Brittany, the food was fantastic, and they genuinely seemed interested
in booking new acts. When we were there, the group that was easily the
most talked about was being described as "the Romanian Amy Winehouse".
Tell us more about Restless People. Restless People is a brand new project featuring members of Tanlines and
Professor Murder. We just started playing shows last month, and I'm
really psyched about the live setup and show. I think the vibe is
kinda Operation Ivy 2010, watered down youth crew vocals over sped up
bedroom dancehall beats. I think you can sing along to pretty much
every song the first time you hear it. We plan on releasing a record
of these songs as soon as possible.
Obama still appears to be pushing for new climate change reform, but by all measures, the fight for climate change reform in Copenhagen is going to be an uphill battle. What strikes me is that this debate isn't solely about climate change, it's also about the economic disparity between countries and peoples: the world's poor are least responsible for climate change but they are at the greatest risk because of its adverse effects. For more info, check the BBC's dedicated site to the rapidly approaching climate change summit in Copenhagen.
The Very Best finished strong last night at Santo's after a mini east coast tour. Sleigh Bells opened the show. Photos courtesy of Pitchfork. More here.
Jahdan Blakkamoore is a fixture in the light-show of Brooklyn music. I often see him at multiple shows in one week, performing, vibing, sharing his roots music with the city. He appears with groups like Major Lazer and 77 Clash, and also holds it down on his own Dutty Artz-affiliated debut, Buzzrock Warrior. Jah and I connected recently via email for this Mugshot Monday exclusive.
When I say "environmentalism", what do you think of? I think of burning out all those ugly corporations that cut down our beautiful trees to build up their factories. I say fire burn izm and skizm.
Tell us about a few of the rhythms on your newest album? Buzzrock Warrior is MADD yo. It is made for the people who want a bit more than the norm. For my people that can vibe out to tunes like "The General", I recommend you check out "Come with me", "Run a round" and "Broken in Brooklyn". Also for my peeps who love those wobbly bass lines check "What you know about this".
How has dub music influenced your own music? Dub music is the music that sparked my love for the bass, how it influenced my music is that my music always has to have dubbed out bass frequencies in there that are rugged like dub music.
Who would you could collaborate with if you could work with anyone? And what would it sound like? I would collaborate with Janelle Monae if I could right about now. I really dig her music. I'm not sure if I can say what it would sound like. It would have to be hot.
How does cooking and food inspire your sound? Preparing food is an art-form, and how it taste is what gives me the inspiration to create great music.
Why is reggae -- a form that was invented many decades ago -- still something that's modern and relevant to people today? I think people love reggae music because they identify with the roots in the rhythm. Reggae has been very consistent since it's origins from rock steady and ska music, but it has changed with the times and a slew of new producers.
What's the weirdest thing about your new album? It was not supposed to be an album.
"Copenhagen was always going to be a nail-biting
experience, but if we abandon Kyoto and try to reinvent the wheel you
might end up gnawing your fingers off too"
