Sounds Mag'

Duman - Inspiring Turkish rock

Paul Kirkness — 2008-06-08T22:13:29Z

Assiduous readers will have noticed your reviewer's sudden obsession with Turkey. I work in bursts and after my interest in Greek pop-rock, I decided I should enter the world of Turkish rock. After falling in love (almost literally) with singers like Sevval Sam and Sezen Aksu - who possess truly unique voices - I decided to examine the world of rock n' roll a little more closely... It was my greatest pleasure to discover a really great band: Duman.

Let us start with the beginning... What does ‘Duman' even mean? Well, it in fact means ‘smoke' which tells you exactly about Duman's beginning. The band's first record was heavily inspired by the likes of Nirvana and Pearl Jam. Videos of the band at the time are almost confusing - were it not for the Turkish lyrics, you might even confuse the band members with an early 1990's grunge band of your choice. There is one pretty good reason for this. Kaan Tangöze, the band's singer and lead guitarist, lived in the town of Seattle during the early nineties... Meanwhile his friends Ari and Batuhan lived in Turkey and fed upon all the music produced in the USA's West coast. And this explains in large part the seemingly smoked induced compositions - mellow music that often breaks into trance-like intensities.

The first album, Eski Köprünün Altında (Under the old bridge) was released almost ten years ago and has since been followed by... almost shockingly, only two albums! However, the low number of releases is easily explained by some difficulties that were experienced along the way by the band. One good example is the fact that Kaan was pulled out for almost a year to do his military service (perhaps he should have stayed in Seattle!?).

Frankly though, the three albums are very addictive. It would clearly be a pleasure to discover their coming records and I am standing by impatiently but Duman's motto is simply ‘Quit work; Make Music'. And this is exactly how the band has pursued its existence. If you want to hear Duman, the albums are all well and good but you truly need to get your arse off your chair and see them live. The number of gigs that Duman does is almost inhuman. Their time ‘working' (i.e. actually recording stuff in a studio) is relatively limited. They truly come across as a live act... and recently the band has taken to touring the rest of Europe (and even the USA for a few dates) where the Turkish immigrants are devout fans. How could you not appreciate a band of great friends who get together and have fun like they did ten or fifteen years ago... and who happen to have been succesful enough to make a living of their music?

A compilation entitled En Güzel Günüm Gecem was released in 2007 (actually a brilliant way of getting to ‘know' the band). However, I would almost recommend you checking out the band's live album as a first-hand introduction to the world of Duman. It is so rare to hear a live recording that tells you so much about a band... Usually, the sounds are muffled and the energy is lost in the screams and roars of stoned under-age kids. Konser is a rare exception... A demonstration of Duman's abilities as a live act as well as a confirmation of the trio's (they usually play with drummers that are friends... this changes fairly frequently, hence ‘trio' for a four-man band) ability at song-writing. Key-words are dark and - paradoxically - energetic! A song like “Bu Akşam” (Tonight) is a testimony to this paradox, with Kaan singing that tonight “he drinks” on a superbly catchy rhythm.

Seriously, not understanding Turkish is not a problem. Duman is a great band that deserves to be listened to beyond boundaries, whether these be territorial or linguistic!

DJ Shadow - Our favourite DJ saviour [part 2 : Collaborations]

arthur, David Charlot — 2006-01-23T21:35:40Z

The first part of this review was dedicated to show DJ Shadow as a stand alone artist... This second part should reveal Shadow's ability to collaborate with artists of his own genre, eg. Cut Chemist, as well as with seemingly musically distant artists such as Thom Yorke from Radiohead.

Drum roll... after waiting for more than a year for this review, here it is finally!

All right stop, Collaborate and listen "Shadow's" back with his brand new edition!
Collaboration... Even before surfing on the top of success as a lone DJ, Shadow played for other musicians, or with other celebrities. But his energy is also spent in producing his friends' albums or by mixing with famous DJs.

Collaboration

Lavelle and Shadow for UNKLE

U.N.K.L.E. (DJ Shadow and James Lavelle): Psyence Fiction (1998 - Mo' Wax) :

This album fits perfectly in this section.
Behind the enigmatic 5 letter word suggesting either a UN branch or a pack of cereals, hides a mysterious group or non-group. In order to understand UNKLE one has to turn over to James Lavelle's ambition to participate in the development of abstract Hip-hop, of which Mo' Wax had a major role.
Between 1994 and 1997, Tim Goldsworthy (now working with David Holmes) and Kudo (the japanese from Major Force), accompanied James Lavelle on a series of maxis.
But the real event occurred in 1998, when Lavelle found his new ally, the most ingenuous abstract hip-hopper around: DJ Shadow. Most accustomed to working solo, Shadow demonstrates here his adaptable talents in collaborating with others. Psyence Fiction reveals itself as a superproduction with a great casting. You can find Richard Arshcroft from The Verve and Thom 'Radiohead' Yorke, or even Mike D. from the Beastie Boys.
This album was certainly one of the most eclectic records to emerge from the electronic world that year, mixing hip-hop, alternative, and electronic styles in one and proving that these cultures can adequately blend in together.
Unfortunately I find that as a whole this album lacks homogeneity, and thus soul... the same upset can be felt concerning all other compilations I've heard so far.
Nevertheless you can take a look at the funky UNKLE web site: http://www.unkle.com/

Quannum crew

QUANNUM

Quannum is a collection of some of the most interesting hip hop artists of the 90s. Located in the area of the Sacramento, California, artists such as Blackalicious, Latyrx and DJ Shadow had worked together under the wing of the Solesides collective, of which you can find a compilation called Solesides Greatest Bumps.
So in 1999, Dj Shadow creates the “label” Quannum projects with his friends from Solesides, where he produces, and accompanies artists on the turntables.
Well... since Quannum is one of Shadow's most important projects, one where he can play a part in making the underground hip hop scene break through to the light, there should really be an independent review written. In such a case it is better to leave this project to later!

DARK DAYS
In 2000, DJ Shadow contributed to the making of the music of the amazing film Dark Days. As far as we know, there is no bad pun. Dark Days is a documentary about the Mole people who have made of the New York Underground their home. It is truly moving and the Shadow's music helps create the necessary atmospheres while Pray's camera sways in and out of the ground, interviewing the people of the dark.
Only two tracks were made for this movie, “Main Theme”, and “Spoken for Mix”, and the less he does, the better it gets. The first song is melancholic and eerie, whereas the second is darker and more manic, just imagine the underground coming to you.

[DJ SHADOW & CUT CHEMIST]

Cut Chemist and DJ Shadow

Separated they are brilliant, together they are unbeatable!

First of all, Cut Chemist: he DeeJays for Jurassic 5 and Ozomatli; he's done some solo mixes such as Lesson 6 and you can find some other collaborations on The Ultimate Lessons notably with artists like Steinski, Shortkut, and Dj Shadow; The Litmus Test, which is a 26 minutes mix of all his work with his different bands over the years. This last mix is the essence of Cut Chemist's art and the real hip hop fans should have this in their personal collection.

And Cut Chemist has eventually played with DJ Shadow for different shows such as Freeze or Brainfreeze or Product Replacement which you can find live on video or in the studio whilst rehearsing for the live show.

Briefly we could just say Cut Chemist has a vitality of his own whereas DJ Shadow is more subtle and ingenious.
The first one tends to put dancers on fire whilst the second one will send your mind outta space.

One day a friend of ours comes by and tells us that there's this piece done jointly by DJ Shadow and Cut Chemist, that it's a recording of a rehearsal they did for this show they were putting up together. Now that sounds cool already. Add to that the concept of only playing 45inch vinyls... So the album has two tracks that both amount to 25 minutes of pure pleasure and mixes. We love it! It's the BRAINFREEZE! "a non stop live mix of strictly 45's and exercice in vinyl destruction". Slurp slurp!!

Gathered in front of our two genious' 50 people could appreciate the destruction of the 30 vinyls each!
With hard groove like Hey Joyce by Lou Courtney or The Nu People : I'd be nowhere without you , funky songs such as funky DJ by Fried Chicken.

To get a glimpse at both of these artists work and habits, just take a leap into the brain tickling movie called Scratch.

ZACK DE LA ROCHA AND DJ SHADOW

In 2003, DJ Shadow was designated as producer for Zack de la Rocha's first solo album after leaving RATM (RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE). Although no album has yet been released, one famous song, freely distributed on the net, was released in opposition to american military actions in the Middle East, and especially in Irak. The March of Death is a hard flavoured rock song in the verve of RATM, although we find DJ Shadow behind the wheels of saturation. Whilst Zack de la Rocha is preeching against a blinded america, and for the eradication of ignorant violations of american's right to information, Shadow musically hits us in the face to make Rocha's words penetrate harder. Because this song is a pamphlet for our awakening it's raw and brutal... just what we needed to get the message!

Three other titles were produced at the time but never issued... and we're still waiting for their official release!

[SIX DAYS and WONG KAR-WAI]

Most surprisingly, Shadow invited Hong-Kong's reknowned film director Wong Kar-Wai to shoot a video for the Private Press' most melancholic song Six Days. Among other films, we know Wong Kar-Wai for In the Mood for Love and more recently 2046, and for this magnificient video he concentrated a series of colourful sequences full of sadness and languidness.
The script tells the story of a man trying to erase all traces of his former lover only to realize the futility of the attempt.
Beautiful but short, this video brings Shadow's song to life and confirms that DJ Shadow has lots to express in his eclectic and heterogeneous repertoire.

Six Days Video

DJ Shadow's hybrid personality has led him to collaborate on many different grounds with some of today's most influencial artists whether it be musical or cinematographical domains. As a child of hip hop he has carried freely the beacon of a multicultural identity necessary to his work; diversity is the key word of this prominent artist.

In the next part of this review we will take a closer look at DJ Shadow's live appearances, some extra bits and pieces we'd like to promote and last but not least: his production projects, the bridge to more fantastic music made in shadow land.

DJ Shadow - Our favourite DJ saviour [part 1 : The musician]

arthur, David Charlot — 2004-07-14T13:03:53Z

Where should I start endtroducing this shadowy yet bright creative composer ? Here in France who knows about my favorite DJ Savior except the underground circles of what they call "abstract hip-hop" ? Just a few fans of the Quannum crew or Sole Sides listeners... Well the man doesn't want to be part of the mainstream anyway, but then who would ?

INTRODUCTION

The Shadow, aka Josh Davis, is prolific, avant-gardiste, savior of hip-hop... a genius and musik-art maker.

The man works with vinyls, and vinyls that he's been collecting since his first "Street Beats Two", a Sugar Hill Records compilation he bought with his own money in 1982. Endtroducing... DJ SHADOW (1996, Mo Wax), his first full LP contains nontheless about 1000 samples !

Yes, Shadow is serious, and good at it; he has played with a wide range of artists, with pop-rock singers on Psyence Fiction with UNKLE (1998, Mo Wax/London records), as well as with the Quannum MC's. His instrument by essence is turntables, but he masters the accompagnying tools, also necessary for his composition, I mean MPC, samplers and other electronic loop making instruments.... His sources? Mr Shadow uses music to make music... from funk to old school-rap, using Bjork's voice, Shadow uncovers all sorts of rhythms, melodies forgotten or hidden tapes are digged out and blended, heated, chillied or fried, but never burned... the sauce is usually perfect!

But let me not be misunderstood, the epicenter stays music, no abusive scratches, only a will to make hip-hop survive, evolve in a non-street-to-media type of music, what I would call evolutive or progressive hip-hop as opposed to voyeur-radio-hip-hop. Endtroducing... DJ SHADOW, mainly "instrumental" LP gives us an idea of what Shadow is capable of producing and composing: a well wrapped sensitive mix of fresh-aired songs, unstoppable drum rhythms, sweet melodies between depressing moods and funky beats, Shadow opens hip-hop to old-rap listeners, older generations could also find their marks in rock attitudes....

How it starts : The vinyl digging.

As seen in Scratch the documentary by Doug Pray, DJs spend more time in their local vinyl shop than at their girl friend's place!! These music geeks spend their time searching for that sound or that beat that they'll put on repeat mode for our greatest pleasure. Four notes of a guitar, or a lovely "Hey YOU ... Martial Arts Fan are you ready to get your guts kicked out?" in Brainfreeze are not as easy to find as you think. Actually it seems easier to ask someone to play those four notes on the guitar rather than spending an entire year searching for it in a store's basement. But that what Shadow does for a living!

Like KBILLY'S Super sounds of the 70s, DJ Shadow diffuses groovy bits of the music from that period of time, music that has got soul. His digging of vinyls is carried by the thought that amongst the load of crap that lays in all basement there is always a part of genious, a series of notes of music that sounds marvellous. Like a researcher, one has to analyse the music not as a whole but as a series of notes that follow each other and that can be dismantle... like judging a computer program by looking at its code. He builds up a new puzzle with an old one.

But don't worry, he makes music, he doesn't copy it or make a simple patch work...

His solo(ish) work...

Shadow started as a DJ for Erik B & Rakim, of Ultramagnetic and of Public Enemy.

Preemptive Strike 1998

Preemptive Strike was released in january 1998, this album was in fact post-dated after Endtroducing... DJ SHADOW but was made before... the songs are remixes but still offer an interesting look at Shadow's debut. Whereas Endtroducing is a well shaped album, ready to be sold to the masses, this preemptive strike sounds more sketchy, more familiar, more touching. The 12 minute "In/Flux" song leaves you asking for more of his powerful melodies, and the simplicity of it all is addictive... This album is his most beat-centric work, the love of jazz and funk drummers is overwhelming, cut and paste artist will find a paradise of samples...

The cover by Phil Frost - San Fransisco painter - describes the song "What Does Your Soul Look Like?". (check out the site : Phil Frost)

The masterpiece : Endtroducing... DJ SHADOW

Endtroducing 1996

Released in 1996, Shadow struck hard with this must-have album... The genious revealed himself as a DJ and proved that DJs can also be artists... a revolution in the world of Hip Hop. Actually, it's neither rap, nor hip hop, nor funk nor ambient alone since it can be all of these genres or simply none. It breaks through the boundaries of genre, and he sets itself as a pioneer opening people's minds to modern music made with music... I started with DJ Shadow, then discovered the japanese DJ Krush. Powerful, dramatic, but gentle and subtle, available to all listeners, this album is a piece of art. Soothing in times of rush, "Transmission 2" or "Midnight in a Perfect World" could make you cry ; or hard beat funky percussions for the more energetic moods, "The Number Song" and "Mutual Slump" will remind you that Shadow is worthy of his title of DeeJay. And if you are familiar with Shadow's works, you will recognise the samples he himself can only find : "Organ Donor", "Stem/Long Stem" ...

Simply Beautiful, this album has nothing to lose, and every DJ should learn from Shadow's musical skills... One of the admirable talents he has, is putting forward other people's work with his humble touch. Filling his work with the respect he has for other people's art.

(If you were wondering who were the guys on the cover : On the back is Beni B, founder of ABB records, front left is Chief Xcel of Blackalicious and front right is Lyrics Born of Latyrx (in a wig!))

Blending musics and sounds, Shadow has created an original form of music.

The Private Press 2002

In 2002, after a great number of collaborations (that we will look into in following parts), comes out unexpectedly his 3rd album : Private Press. Unlike Endtroducing, this album does not bring instant pleasure. I must say that the first time I heard it I was a bit dissapointed. The learning curve is not that steep. We know there is genius hidden away behind those vinyls and samples. And you obviously end up loving it. Shadow remains in the shadows and keeps on searching for the little artists: "'The Private Press' is my homage to all those unheralded musicians who produced their own output and presented it earnestly to an often indifferent public" says he. I like that! (Says I!). Why is it that albums that grow on you always end up being amazingly good?

This album distinguishes itself from his previous work. As he masters his tools and can detach from his (positive) geeky reclusive workhoolic music making, he opens his studio to fellow 'living' artists... As if a film maker, after creating his own universe (Endtroducing..., Preemptive Strike), moves on to participating to collaborative work (Unkle, all collaborations up to 2002), finally reach the stage of directing his own personnal project.

Conclusion

I hope one and each of you will have realised that DJ Shadow is, by essence, an artist, not just a DJ, a pionneer in the world of Hip Hop music and of contemporary electronic music... But the man, who already knows how to give homage to unheralded musicians, also likes to share his talent and always lends a hand to his fellow rappers [see part 3 : Lives and Productions] or share his skills [see part 2 : Collaborations].