(GIF via tutclearwater)
Ayo, it’s Iswayski yet again. I’ve noticed that R&B is taking up more and more space in my playlists lately, so I’m going to zero on that for today.
I won’t front – R&B wasn’t always my favorite thing. When it would come on Hot 97 or Power 105, I used to flip to other stations in search of rap. But things and people change. And regardless of whether it’s the first time, the genre is currently in the midst of some great creative energies. Production is more daring, fresh vocal styles are being explored, and the line between rap and R&B is constantly blurring. (I think that last point brings things in line with where dancehall is at. You rarely have a popular vocalist who doesn’t pay close attention to melodic development in JA.)
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My new album — the first under my own name — was released last week! The Julius Eastman Memory Depot. There’s been a wave of great, thoughtful press: an action-packed feature on my work in The Guardian, a 7.8 Pitchfork review, a spot on NPR, and lots more. If you’d like to buy the album, Bandcamp offers downloads & physical CDs for the best price/money-to-artist ratio, or you can use iTunes | Amazon etc. This WQXR album-of-the-week profile is an excellent introduction to the project.
I’m doing 5 performances of The Julius Eastman Memorial Dinner this April, accompanied by a dream team of talent: pianists David Friend and Emily Manzo, vocalist Arooj Aftab, and special guest Sharifa Rhodes-Pitts. Arooj wrote the closing song with me, and it gives you a taste of the additional scenes included in the live performance version. These shows are not to be missed! Two grand pianos and electronics makes for lovely sonics, the musicians are top-notch… plus my actorly debut?! April dates below:
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On TUESDAY, April 2 from 7-9pm at the FAT Lab (hosted at Eye Beam) DA will be repping hard on a panel called “Rights, Rogues and Refugees†– as part of this week’s celebration, by the Free Art & Technology Lab, of over 5 years of “thug life, pop culture, and R&D.â€
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Geko Jones turns in a wicked mix for Societe Perrier, showcasing his unique take on Latin American, Caribbean, and electronic club music. On it, you get a blended combination of remixed Afro-Colombian folk styles that he’s known for, alongside Samba, Kuduro, Nigerian Pop, Dominican Tipico, Salsa, Dembow, Reggaeton and even Chicago Juke filtered through a UK Bass lens. You can almost imagine this as the part 2, or response from the American side of the ocean to the Africa Latina mix that he and I did last month.
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(Photo of Shaggy by Daniel Boud)
Yes, yes, it’s time for more Iswayski. Let’s get into some dancehall this time around. Since we’re on that New York Tropical tip at DA, I’ll zero in on the local stuff. Jamaica is obviously where it’s at, but there’s plenty of tuff sounds coming out of NYC. And since it was recently the 20th anniversary of Flatbush-bred Shaggy’s “Oh Carolina” version, it’s fitting moment.
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My album The Empire Never Ended is finally out. The weight of waiting has lifted! Â Waiting to release things drives me crazy so I am super super happy to be able to finally share this music with you. Â I put a ton of time and effort into this record and I feel like it’s some of the better stuff I’ve done, sonically, song writing wise and in the way it all fits together. Â I’d love to hear your thoughts on it.
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It was a great full weekend of Dutty Artz performances and events. We started out partying hard at Glasslands for Matt Shadetek’s album release party, and ended up Sunday night all winding down over cheap drinks and stretching out our musical legs at Bushwick’s Bossa Nova Civic Club.
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In support of Matt Shadetek’s The Empire Never Ended album, Dutty Artz is hitting the road! The tour kicks off in Brooklyn tonight with Matt’s album release party at Glasslands in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Details on individual shows below:
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Yerp. Iswayski here once again. Today I want to talk about this new internet flare up, Zouk Bass. Apparently this is a thing now. Buraka Som Sistema went on Boiler Room – the best place online to watch people dance awkwardly to good music – and spawned the whole mania. They say it’s a slower, more electronic version of zouk they “created.” Really, it just kinda sounds like moombahton.
Of course we could just ignore the whole thing and let it blow over next month when the kids get distracted by Bollystep. But it raises a lot of meaty issues we like to talk about over here.
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Tomorrow at the Winter Music Conference, Mr. Jahdan Blakkamoore will be rockin the Winter Music Massive Stage alongside Reggae legend Johnny Osbourne and Jovi Rockwell. There’s a host of DJs from the Rice and Peas, and Electric Punanny crews in New York. If you are in Miami this is a must see show!
RSVP Here:Â http://wintermusicmassive.eventbrite.com/
This month, Dutty Artz kicked off a series of monthly livestream/podcast events called the Duttycast.
The Duttycast will alternate between conversations/interactive experiences where we dig deeper into some of the issues all of us, as artists crossing borders and boundaries, have to deal with; and live musical experiences representing the wide range of Dutty Artz talents.
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One of things that connects fellow Dutty Artzer Thanu and I is that we both see dancefloors as political spaces. This doesn’t mean that people spend much time talking or signing petitions or getting out the vote in the club, it only means that the ways people relate to each other in the club (or warehouse, or open field, or basement) can shape what kind of power we have access to, individually and collectively. Some time after playing and dancing together and experiencing each others’ skills at building those moments through smashing dance parties, and finding more and more like-minded people (like Anthology of Booty, in DC, for example) we decided to organize a session for the Allied Media Conference called “Radical Organizing from the Dancefloor” where we got together with a crew of folks and strategized about how those liberating, connecting, transcendent, and unsettling moments on the dancefloor come about.
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Friday March 15th we’re welcoming EL FREAKY from Bogota Colombia to NYC. Having just wrapped shows at Moombahton Massive in DC, and Tormenta Tropical and Afrofunke on the West Coast, we’re looking forward to hearing some of the new material they’ve been working on featuring Colombian Dancehall artists and Reggae veterans Tanto Metro and Devonte.
Brooklyn’s iBomba party is hosted by DJ Beto and our very own Ushka, whom a lot of you got to meet digitally last month via her Foreign Brown mix for our Mixtape Mondays series in February. She and Beto’s residency at Bembe has been turning it out on Mondays and bringin out some really great acts over the last year, so I’m looking forward to hearing what’s in their crates.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GCiEPsjRCi4&[/youtube]
I just wrote a long piece on the Somali-American Rap group Malitia Malimob over at Africa is a Country. I won’t write too much more here so you can head on over to check out the post, but you DA readers should know that Malitia Malimob will be playing alongside Matt and myself in Seattle at the Dutty Artz Showcase at The Crocodile on April 3rd. The show will be the first out of town stop for Matt on his tour to promote The Empire Never Ended.
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(Image via Brandi Muffins, because we got firrre.)
Yooo! Iswayski here. Nice to meet you, loyal DA legions. I used to help /rupture out on Mudd Up!. But now that the show is a part of history and fondly remembered by the present, I’m going to use this here space as my new excuse to go hunting for strange and wonderful tunes. I’ll be here once a week from now on, bringing you a collection of heat, wrapped neatly into a fresh blog post for ease of digestion.
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