(GIF via Art Becomes You)
Got some more Iswayski for ya! Today’s focus is Azonto beats.
The Ghana dance that’s been wildly popular for the past few years continues to result in a lot of good music. The beat that’s generally associated with it is a super dancey and effective pop formula blended with traditional Ga drumming. Who made the first beat is up for debate, but E.L‘s “U Go Kill Me” is what brought it to the masses.
I’m still surprised I don’t hear more of this in US club sets outside of African nights. It’s impossible not to move your body to, has high production standards, and a lot of the lyrics are even in English. Maybe it’s because so few Western artists are producing it? The UK has Fuse ODG bringing it to the Grime crowds and the whole Afrobeats thing is probably helping to spread it over there. But there’s not much of an American counterpart to any of that. Not that any of this matters as a symbol of the sound’s success, I just personally fuck with it and would like to hear more of it.
So let’s go over a few recent tracks that are doing pretty well that I like a lot:
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This Friday the Bombeat crew and myself are excited to hold it down at The House of Yes, an amazing event space, and non-profit organization located in Bushwick, Brooklyn. We are looking forward to hosting Quantic aka Will Holland, a man of various diverse musical projects. If you are unfamiliar with his work, do yourself a favor and dig into his wide selection of productions created over the past decade.
APRIL 26th 2013 // House of Yes // 342 Maujer St  New York, NY 11206
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I’m speaking today about a topic that I’ve been living for years, and only recently (and with the help of awesome Dj/Activist/thinkers like DJ Ushka) been able to articulate in a public way, and combine with my other scholarship: “Rocking the Body Politics; Musical Spaces for Resistance & Survival.” This is an extension of the workshop Thanu/Ushka and I organized at the Allied Media Conference last year on “Radical Organizing from the Dancefloor,” combined with ideas from my research and dj experience that I also presented at the Clandestino Institut in Göteborg, Sweden last year (Exile, Resistance, Occupation, Music).
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On Sunday April 21, come join us for the NYC debut of Jace Clayton’s The Julius Eastman Memorial Dinner! Featuring pianists David Friend and Emily Manzo, vocalist Arooj Aftab, special guest, Sharifa Rhodes-Pitts, and Jace /Rupture pulling the whole thing together/apart.
4pm at MoMA PS1. Performance is free with museum admission.
The album version is called Julius Eastman Memory Depot – Bandcamp | iTunes | Amazon. Pitchfork review.
This past week, during our West Coast tour, Matt and I spent a significant amount of time hanging with Tendai Maraire of Shabazz Palaces at his home in South Seattle. He was a great host and seems to know everyone around town, so we got an impressive tour of Seattle’s cultural history and local music scene. One of the highlights of the week was being able to check Tendai’s proteges Malitia Malimob perform live at our gig at The Crocodile in Seattle:
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We travel in circles. Our lives move in cycles. Our dreams spin us around. This is something that artist Rafi El understands intuitively. Through his life and music, he’s been constantly circling back to the source of his creativity, the mountains of South America – long a source of cultural wealth and shamanic power. Raised by parents from Argentina’s historical Jewish communities, Rafi was born in Israel and grew up in Los Angeles, where he currently lives. His earliest days were steeped in the sounds and cultures of three continents.
In anticipation of the release of Rafi El’s debut full length album this summer, Dutty Artz releases the lead single “Tra Ba” as a free EP:
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Aspiring jazz musicians are brought up to believe that DJs are the enemies of ‘real’ musicians. The logic being that people who play real instruments are loosing all their gigs to these interlopers that just play their favorite tunes all night.
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(I painted this over the weekend.)
It’s me, Iswayski. This time around we’re going to dive into some New York rap.
In general, hip hop is in a good place right now. Whether you’re looking for some ignant club joints, deft lyricism, or skater comedy, it’s probably available. There’s a gang of different styles floating around out there. And here in NYC, things are in a similar state. You’ve got the turnt coke boy rap of French Montana, some pretty flacko rare shot from A$AP Mob, and the late 90s throwback flavas of Pro Era. It seems we’re finally starting to climb out from under the weight that years of tradition and hierarchy that the genre’s birthplace had imposed on the game. So let’s go over a couple lesser known recent efforts.
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[youtube]http://youtu.be/qyMJGE0ZcLo[/youtube]
Old Money and Lamin Fofana present the video for “Ethiopia” (shot, directed & edited by Olivia Seally), the single they released on Dutty Artz last fall. The video also includes the B-Side from the release, Nãga.
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[youtube]http://youtu.be/1uAwtT8Qa3A[/youtube]
Matt explains a little bit of the process behind making The Empire Never Ended above.
Also, VIBE Magazine just premiered Matt’s version of French Montana and Waka Flocka Flame’s “Chopper Down“, one of his many secret weapon bootleg remixes, and it’s available for you to download here:
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(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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