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.

Le Peuple de l'Herbe

arthur, Christopher Montel — 2005-07-05T00:14:32Z

There are two kinds of pot smokers. In most cases, THC severely hinders your ability to focus and stay concentrated, which explains why so many pot smokers are social failures, even amongst themselves. THC can however have the reverse effect, provided that you are one of the chosen few who can appreciate this herbal substance as a sap for inspiration and creativity. You may still be a social failure as far as mundane conversations go, but that just gives you more time to spend on things worth your while.

As the Bill Hicksian precept goes, and unless you listen to Christian Rock Bands or Moby, it's impossible to listen and appreciate modern day music without recognizing the positive influence drug consumption has on musical creativity. Some songs have become emblematic simply because they openly praised LSD in the sixties or cocaine in the seventies.

Cab Calloway had already sung The Reefer Man back in 1932, but cannabis truly became the single most legally advertized illegal substance in the history of music with the worldwide expansion of Hip Hop culture. Whereas legislation toughened and made no distinction between marijuana and harder drugs (except for alcohol, which is legalized) a whole industry of cannabis paraphernalia sprung up, selling bongs, roach packs, t-shirts, posters with aliens smoking reefers at university campus fairs and concerts.

Cannabis was to become the first politically correct illegal drug. Cypress Hill amongst others could overtly publicize their sympathies for marijuana without any real fear of censorship. What would have happened had they put the picture of a guy lighting up a crack pipe?

And yet all these facts turn out to be irrelevant once you listen to Le Peuple de l'Herbe, which has brought since 1997 one of the most creative and innovative sounds from Lyon, France. At the end of the nineties, two DJs, Stani and Py (read it as Pee), got to work on their sounds together, and started already looking pretty far ahead by creating their own label Supadope.

Rule number one: Long-lasting plants are those whose blossoming is best prepared

Since 1996, the two DJs had been hosting the Groovambar sessions, where they freely developed what would become the foundation of their musical creativity, unrestrained eclecticism, with the ultimate aim of capturing a truly hybrid groove.

In the meantime, two musicians joined the band and made it what it is today: N'Zeng, the trumpeter, with a jazz-oriented background, and Psychotic, the drummer, more inclined towards rock beats. This partly explains Le Peuple de l'Herbe's unlimited eclecticism, although Hip Hop remains at the core of their sound.

Rule number two : make sure to have a fertile soil before planting your seeds

Their work, based in an underground music studio in Lyon, took three long years to blossom from down under. But these three years were anything but lost. The DJs and musicians had no problem blending in their talents, especially when it came to rework on sounds previously mixed. In 1999 three maxi vinyl albums came out of these first musical sessions: Reggaematik, THC T'aime and Raides Alertes, followed in 2000 by their first album, Triple Zero.

This initial blossoming was confirmed, less than two years later, with the release of PH test Two, in which all four reportedly learned to blend their skills more harmoniously. All sounds, recycled and original, were more carefully worked on and arranged. In this second album the band also started blending their work with Ukapache for the brilliant jungle based track No escape and JC 001, the human beat box, with whom they recorded the tracks 20 years gone and Mr Nice. Later in 2004 a separate maxi vynil devoted to Mr Nice will come out of this collaboration.

Rule number three : exposure is essential

In the meantime, Le Peuple de l'Herbe's performances on stage became phenomenal, and they remain today a band that must above all be seen Live. Outdoors, exposed to the wilderness of concerts, Le Peuple de l'Herbe still finds today the freedom to explore all kinds of variations and improvisations to its studio-based music.

Sold out, the third album (2004), was a very fortunate capture, as far as the history of music is concerned, of the energy released in their live performances. They simply made it available for you to listen back home with a "continous repeat" mode on. JC 001 has often been a special guest at their concerts, and we can only imagine his rendition of the entire repertory of beats - in beatbox, and hope its still not too late to catch both the band and its human beat box guest on stage.

Rule number four : plants must be dealt with care before growing too high

Ph Test Two had raised the stakes extremely high for the next album. Unsurprisingly when Cube finally came out after a few maxi vynils, its very large and very demanding fan base, including Soundsmag, were dissapointed not to feel the same magical touch and energy in the sound mixing. The initial blossoming of sounds had grown into a more mature and complex musical creativity and Cube eventually grows on you.

Funny thing to leave you on : Le Peuple de l'Herbe have a blog! It makes kind of sense, since a band always gives some form of feedback to its fan community, but it's the first time (and certainly not the last) we see this on the web. To be honest with you, the content wasn't thrilling but the concept is kind of neat (whatever you think about blog culture and the blogosphere). So if you want to follow what they are up to... you know what to do.

Dillinger Escape Plan in Oslo

Axel Butler — 2004-08-24T12:24:13Z

Just so you know, bands don't often make it to Oslo. Although this is the capital of Norway, I often have to wait for years before a band decides to swing by for a quick concert. This is exactly what happened with The Dillinger Escape Plan. And they finally came! My expectations where high to say the least. Anyone who has heard of this band will know that they have a reputation for their live perfomance... and I now know that they indeed are something special!

Let's just say I was excited. I discovered The Dillinger Escape Plan with Calculating Infinity and have followed them closely ever since. This gig was to be interesting. First of all I was excited about the way the new vocalist was to sound. I had only heard him on the track "Baby's first coffin" and I must say that I really liked what I heard but I was curious - could he pull it off live? Secondly, I had enjoyed the latest album (Miss Machine which came out earlier this year) most of all and I wanted to hear some of these new songs.

To my dissapointment they didn't play that many songs from the new album, so I didn't get to really appreciate the vocal abillities of Greg Puciato. They did however play some songs from their EP Irony is a dead scene, without Mike Patton, but Greg pulled it off impressively well! He definetly adds a new dimension to their sound.

This was a hectic concert and objects were flying throughout. At the very beginning, somebody managed to hit one of the lights that light up the stage so that it was barely hanging on and lit up the crowd instead of the band. It made for a bizarre concert atmosphere... But the band just rolled on... without even noticing, I believe...

Dillinger are known for their stage presence, and even though they were not as extraordinary as I had expected it is difficult to be dissapointed.

From what I had heard, they normally tend to use lots of differents lights like flashing strobes and color lights. They have even been known to breath fire onstage (but had to stop due to the Great White incident in the US where a whole club burned down). Here in Norway we didn't get those luxuries, instead I had the feeling that half the lighting was on the crowd, and it was often hard to see what was going on stage. Obviously, I didn't come to see a lighting show - I came to see an ingenious band play their music live and, thanks to their music and the sheer energy they manage to create, I had a great time! Just seeing them play their instruments live, with all the technical genius that they give off, is and impressive sight enough.

The whole thing lasted almost an hour and I appreciated every minute of it. To sum it up in one word: Intense!

Word of warning: to really enjoy their live experience, one should really have heard their songs beforehand. Not being able to recognize one jewel from another during a live show may well turn your experience into something close to a noise fest. If you meet up prepared you'll get an experience of a life-time!!

Axel

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].

Stereo Pictures - a growing collection

arthur, Christopher Montel — 2004-04-04T20:47:18Z

The Stereo Pictures project was started back in the late 1990s in France, by a newly created musical division of MK2 ( an 'independent' film distributor). But at first glance, the idea of compiling movie and sound samples may sound rather cheap, a step further in a tendency for sound recycling and revival since the 1990s, and was first recieved rather sceptically.

Nevertheless, Jean-Yves Leloup, the project initiator, brought out and affirmed in the music scene a form of sampling and mixing which has been burgeoning for years but never got the credit it deserved. Instead of simply borrowing the evocative power of cult movies and soundtracks, several groups, such as The Troublemakers in Marseille, have used movie and sound samples to structure virtual films of their own.

Sound alone is here both the basis for a story and its expression. Words and conversations are deliberately stripped of their initial context, to be used only for the evocative power they represent. But the album is structured not according to a definite scenario, the whole idea being to allow new and spontaneous creations of stories and situations.

[VOLUME 1 - Radiomentale - the cut up scenario]

The first volume of the Stereo Pictures is hard to find in stores as well as the internet. Its an introductory work to the Stereo Pictures project, made by Leloup himself and collaborators.

Out of the three volumes already released, Radiomentale-The Cut-up Scenario is by far the most abstract and experimental, first of all because it is obviously the first installment, and was made more to inspire as well as laying the basic structures for future projects.

But this volume is highly experimental most of all because it the most structured: the basic idea behind the Stereopictures is precisely to experiment the creation of an imaginary movie out of a patchwork of sounds. Whereas the following albums will follow this line in a more subtle and implicit way, Radiomentale wants to make these goals blatantly apparent.

You can clearly understand the beginning/climax/end structure of the album, most of all since the soundtracks used are so abstract- most of them being excerpts from abstract jazz music.

The names of the album's seven sequences evoke maybe too precisely the storyline, with titles such as "A crash in Alaska", "the polar conspiracy", or "party at the arctic club", and thus confines to a specific context the potentially unlimited interpretations. But Radiomentale-The Cut-Up Scenario remains an excellent introductory work to The StereoPictures.

[VOLUME 2 - The Troublemakers]

This second volume of The Stereo Pictures was given to The Troublemakers, from Marseilles, a group that had already proven its particular talent in combining music and movie excerpts in their previous albums. Their work goes well beyond simple testing of voices and sounds.

The Stereo Pictures had no problem giving The Troublemakers entire freedom in how to shape their vision of the movie-sound combo, since these guys have worked on it from day one as their main musical inspiration and structure. They work essentially on an ever-growing sound libray, samples and movie tracks.

The stereo picture according to The Troublemakers, particularly their archiveman Arnaud Taillefer, is about Black Civic activism and popculture- namely the 1970s Blaxploitation movies. The Troublemakers' inspirational talent however resides in their ability to suggest a mindframe- The Black activist community of the 1970s and the culture which has developed out of it ever since- out of a fairly diverse sound patchwork.

Only one sample, Donald Byrd's Wilford's Gone, actually comes from a Blaxploitation movie soundtrack. The rest ranges from Yussef Lateef's oriental jazz masterpiece Passaglia (Also used by Iam in l'Ecole du Micro d'Argent as a background sample for a revival of Sergio Leone's Western movies) to Eddie Hendrix's People...Hold on. And its what makes the difference.

A Trouble-made sound remix is sufficiently blurred to have a significance of its own. The diversity of the material used testifies that for from wanting to stereotype their message, The Troublemakers open new and unprecedented ways to interpret their chosen theme. They remind us that sound, as well as image, is only an instrument, and can be used, stretched and distorted at will as long as the idea behind is clear.

[VOLUME 3 - DJ Vadim]

For this third installment, The Stereopictures has (finally) managed to get one of Ninja Tunes' most authoritative artists, DJ Vadim, to compile a scenario of sounds of his own, which came out in October 2003.

DJ Vadim starts off his mix brilliantly with a sample which goes a little something like this : "[...] and by the way our rock'n'roll craze came from France in the beginning [...]". I don't know if these allegations are correct but as the mix unrolls it feels more like the "craze" is emanating from some turntables in Russia.

The DJ Vadim mix is a bit disappointing for those who know the artists that revolve around his musical world. Skinny Man, Slug appears once more on the side of their russian friend. The tracks are good, but the "added value" doesn't transpire, the mixed transitions are not amazing.

We must note that the track by DJ Food "The breaks" is an absolute most of sampling culture. The phat bass line is awarded to super furry animals with "touch sens". As will all editions of this collection a number of voice samples catch our attention. "Communism is a religion. Communism is the religion of the devil.[...]" is one of them, a long reverentious attack of communism which is quite in context with character, you figure out which way it's supposed to go. Follows a sample of "back to mother land" repeated over and over again.

To conclude, this is more a compilation than a transending journey through a motion picture influenced musical trip. Yet, the compilation is composed of exquisite content.

[VOLUME 4 - Howie B.]

The fourth opus will be mixed up by Howie B. (Pussyfoot records.) and we are patiently waiting for it. Detractors have already been politely dismissing this future release, the artist supposedly being unable to meet the challenge left by these first three albums. But no need to speculate blindly any further on something that could be, once more, a strike.

Sage Francis

Paul Kirkness — 2004-02-18T18:54:39Z

Sage Francis is launching into his own personal "Fuck Clear Channel tour", aimed against the huge american corporation and its manipulations. This gives us the long awaited opportunity to give praise to this genius of the underground hip-hop scene. When it comes to slam or spoken word, Sage Francis is a reference. But he has shown himself to be a great artist with the heart of a political animal...

He's at it again... Sage Francis is simply an embarrassment as an American citizen. First, what got me were the lyrics he had in the Makeshift Patriot EP where he basically hammered at the basic lack of US culture and the supposed disappearance of individual liberties. This guy can't keep his mouth shut! And now what is he doing? Well, he is launching a tour around the States, with the crude name of “Fuck Clear Channel tour”! No respect...

For those of you who read this first paragraph and thought, “What's wrong with that...?”. Perhaps I can reassure you by underlining the fact that what actually got me listening to Sage Francis was the fact that he was politicised.

The man has won practically every competition and championship that he entered. He became famous all along the East coast for his amazing qualities as a spoken word artist. Already his lyrics and rapping was political. During the numerous freestyle battle championships in which he took part (and which he won) he made a point of getting at the “system”. All this, and more, has made him the equal of a Saul Williams when it comes to slam. But to get to that level takes time... and Sage Francis spent that time practising and jamming with other artists at gigs. In the first years, it is said that he had to go around selling his own bootleg CD-R's and demo tapes to pay for his rent. I think we can clearly say that, even today with the respect he has acquired, he still isn't exactly a millionaire. The least one can say that Sage Francis has earned his great reputation.

But above all, Sage Francis forged his name through hard work and through the evolutions he has made as an MC... We know enough about Sage Francis is a sort of super ego for Paul Francis. And Paul Francis - the real Sage - just doesn't seem to stop. He has toured the US with both Atmosphere and Anticon. He has recorded material with the band Art Official Intelligence (AOI) and proceeded to go on tour with them.

More recently, he has become a member of the Non-Prophets, his Rhode Island side-project, with Joe Beats and DJ Perseus. This has led him to move away from the Anticon crew which he seems to be rejecting recently. The bands web-site features an mp3 labelled the “Anticon Diss Song” (which is not written by the Non-Prophets). This may well be a reaction he developed while the critics and the press persists in viewing him to be one of the Anticon gang. Well he isn't... Doseone (one of the most famous singers from Anticon) qualifies his own music as emo-rap. That is not to the liking of our friend Sage who feels far away from any label on his music, especially if its going to be called “emo-rap”. Any chance he gets, he'll tell you he feels as far apart from Anticon's music as he does from gangsta rap and Ice-T...

Indeed, his reputation is not that of a friendly, laughable character. According to the rapper Buck 65 (another genius when it comes to slam and spoken word), Sage Francis can go for weeks without talking to anyone. It is no surprise. Francis is a strong believer in Straight-Edge culture and lives a live of an ascetic when it comes to drugs and meat. But he also appears to have other powerful messages to put across - sex and spirituality are subjects which he approaches with great honesty and intelligence.

So what was all this about the strangely named "Fuck Clear Channel tour"? Well, it is basically a tour against the homogenization of the media.

Europeans may not know them (yet) but Clear Channel is a huge corporation over in the States. They have been investigated for violating the anti-trust laws in the US but evidently the current government does not seem too worried about giant corporations getting larger. Clear Channel buys radio staion after radio station, hence controlling most of the radio-wave information in certain States. When it comes to passing bands on these radios, you can be sure that the Clear Channel record label (what they own seems endless) has a word here.

So the tour is also in defense of the independent music scene which is under attack in the USA. And here Clear Channel comes in and lends a hand. With corporate dollars and dirty tricks, the company has succeeded in sinking many underground music clubs... So lets all hope that Francis' message will take on...

“All those people said I wouldn't last... Don't make me laugh”

Polo

Personal Journals

From Makeshift Patriot to the 2002 release of Personal Journals, the evolution is enormous. This is not to say that the first LP was poor in any respect. Rather, it is to underline the enormous variety that one is exposed to with Sage Francis. The album is extraordinary - it is a concept album relating the life of a ficticious guy. The genius is the way Sage Francis puts it accross as being his own.

We discover that Sage is not only a political singer. Personal Journals has entire tracks dedicated to the insides of his refrigerator or mullet hair cuts.

The beats are really efficient and combine brilliantly to the vocals and lyrics. A particular favorite of mine: "Inherited Scars" and the great sax parts which, intertwined with the drum beats, give the track a superb touch...

A master-piece.

Polo

2 Sounds from Britain in one evening- Radiohead and ADF Live

arthur, Christopher Montel, Paul Kirkness — 2003-11-20T19:00:22Z

Both are from Britain, and at first glance that's as close Radiohead and Asian Dub Foundation seem to get. But having already met a few years ago, Radiohead chose the Foundation as its supporting group to play in Paris on November 17th.

We came in a few minutes late, but as the Sounds crew hedged its way through the centre of the pit, Asian Dub Foundation had already started. Still, the group managed to bring in the crowd fairly quickly to their sound, and their calls for alternative globalisation. They played some new tracks very much on a drum and bass line, as well as excellent Live versions of Digital Underclass, and Collective Mode.

Asian Dub Foundation only played for an hour, and that was really a bummer. They deserved more than a crowd which had mostly come for Radiohead, but you could see they had given the Oxford boys a Royal Way by warming up the place just right. A beer and a couple of spliffs later, Radiohead came on, and for two hours almost uninterrupted, they lived up to the occasion. They gave the public what it wanted, its best tunes. Most were from OK Computer, Airbag, and towards the very end Karma Police. But the best was their extended version of Creep, probably one of their most intense songs.

Radiohead is not only an incredibly good band, it also gives excellent Pop-rock concerts. The singer, Thom Yorke, switched perfectly between his piano, guitar and voice, and had cameras following him which he also found time to stare into, showing and showing them on massive screens.

It was really a cool concert, both groups spoke out against Bush Junior's visit to the UK on November 20th and greeted us in the French words they knew. ADF kept saying Qu'est ce qui s'passe!, Thom Yorke, ca va?...Guys, come back here more often, you'll see how French language and people are easier to learn than it seems!!

Interview with Schlaf

Christopher Montel — 2003-08-20T00:00:00Z

Japanese music generally does not export itself easily out of home, most of the time it is so bad you understand why but unfortunately it is also the case for groups there that deserve a lot more. After listening to Schlaf you realise that all you need to do is to dig a little deeper to find the good stuff...

It was hard to find the meeting place with Naho. The group Schlaf had a photo exhibition of its previous concerts at "The Sugar Water", a tiny bar off the main boulevards of downtown Shibuya in Tokyo. Now this neighbourhood is usually known for its bustling nightlife, but I was wandering in a very quiet area, one of those small residential neighbourhoods that make up most of Tokyo, and make you completely forget you are in a megalopolis.

As a "Gaijin", or foreigner, I did not know my way around town and had been as such restricted to the more obvious and accessible forms of entertainment, like nightclubs and Karaoke (Being a Catholic, I already absolved myself for that one).

But on May 19th 2003 I saw Schlaf playing Live at La Mama, Shibuya. Only then did I have the same kind of evening I really missed back in Europe: Concert halls and bars, and believe me Schlaf is a powerful antidote for anything you may have come across in Japanese mainstream music.

Toru, the group drummer, admitted Schlaf didn't care much about categorisation and refused to call itself anything. And though their music is definitely inspired by the better sides of pop-rock music, he did have a point.

Three guys, one girl. Drums, bass, guitar, vocals and a classical flute. The first album, Effects, starts with the flute in Instrumental, but is followed by heavier beats. By the time you reach the fifth song, the hardcore guitar riffs make you wonder what happened to the flute, until Naho's voice comes back to replace it, a clear voice brought back and forth by a willful breathing. It is truly beautiful to listen to her sing even if, like me, you can't understand the lyrics.

The second album, Holy, Holy has definitely more energy and intensity, but you can also clearly hear the instruments balancing each other in a more subtile way. Naho switches more regularly between vocals and flute playing. The main part of the tracks is followed by the four instruments going solo or in pairs of two, exchanging and passing on the song.

The bad thing is that the two first albums have only 4 to 5 tracks. The third album will have a lot more and will be out at the end of 2003, but now back to the interview made after the concert, in May...

A Mexican beer each in our hand, I sat with Naho across a bench in the middle of the white exhibition room. The walls were covered with pictures of their sessions, concerts, and the time spent in between.

What is Schlaf?

Naho: Well it means "Sleep now" in German...The group started in 1998 and the bassist we had at the time was basically the one behind the idea. Since then, he had to leave and we've had a hard time finding bassists since then...we've had four bassists so far, and the present one, Ryuugi, has been with us since summer 2002.Toru was on and off the project at first but then became a full time drummer.

You use your voice in a particular way, and the flute gives the songs a really original tone. Have you looked into other musical styles and instruments in your music?

Naho: When the band started and we were able to play live, I actually played keyboards, but that was only experimental, I must have played three or four times. I think we feel comfortable now with the regular drums, bass, guitar and vocals, and the flute comes in regularly for the special touch we like to give to our music.

You've been playing live for nearly five years, and by listening to your first two albums your music has definitely evolved. What do you think the future will bring?

Naho: Well Music has been in my life since childhood, and I really can't imagine doing anything else besides composing, playing and most of all listening to it. We do one or two concerts a month, but the thing is that we still can't live off our music, and all the band's members have an arubeito, (another German-inspired word...) the part-time job which helps us make ends meet. Our first album was self-produced, and the second was produced by Heinee which allowed us to sell in music shops and department stores. For our third album we were able to sign a contract in summer 2001 with Scudelia Elektro, who also produce Spiral Life, a band we all in Schlaf look up to.

By the way, what are your influences?

Naho: Well apart from various Japanese bands, we listen a lot to Radiohead, and Bjork definitely inspires us a lot...I guess I am also still very much influenced by the amount of Western 60s Rock music my father used to listen to when I was a kid. We listen to a lot of music separately but when we compose I guess we don't feel like really imitating others. We are right now in a heavy writing period for our next album end of 2003.

If you want to know more about Schlaf, their music, or even better have the chance of being in Tokyo to listen to them play live, go to Schlaf's Website in Japanese and a little bit of English

Boog-ia interview

Paul Kirkness — 2001-05-04T22:50:54Z

I hope I don't have to introduce Boog-ia to the French readers... If I do, it's a scandal! I'll overlook it for now but I want all of you to pay great attention to this extremely gifted band... Boog-ia have a mere two years of existence behind them but they sound like they've had a dozen. We managed to scrape some time of Winny's (bass) heavy time-table to answer a couple of questions...

What is Boog-ïa ?I know that its noisy, that it doesn't sound too friendly…

Winny (bass): Well… Actually, it doesn't mean anything at all… We just liked the way it sounded… I guess that's it really.

And do you think that its clear what you are when we listen to Poohland…? My granma didn't think so… She thought you dudes were nuts…

Poohland was recorded one year after my arrival in the band. I guess that this 4-track is a little like a melting-pot of all we listened to back then, from Mariah Carey to VOD but also Radiohead and Mr. Bungle. In Poohland, we are still searching a little bit, sometimes it is obvious that we don't know were we are heading… But in the last eight months, we have a direction. It is a lot more precise and the rock we play is more what we are… The new Boog-ïa is a sort of mix between pop passages (Radiohead, Cave In) cut up by riffs which are a lot more aggressive (Strife, Snapcase or even Converge sounds).

When people listen to Poohland, do they click then ?

It depends, but in general we had some pretty good feedback.

Maybe you think they would rather see you live… where the energy is more… present.

It is true that most people prefer to come and see us rather than listen to our CD… The thing is not that the CD is bad I think but that we are fucking raw energy on stage. We let it all loose!

If we wanted to see Boog-ïa play live… Where should we be? Do you actually move a lot?

We have only been around for two and a half years, which makes us a pretty young band I guess. So it's a lot easier to see us if you live in Paris or around it… But we've done some gigs in the rest of France and from the month of June 2001 we should be able to "export" ourselves a lot more.

Where do you see yourselves in say two, three years ? Super rock stars with loads of groupies

It is a bit early to answer your question I guess… The only thing is that I can say we are full of fucking ambition and we are ready to tear shit up.

Does Boog-ïa take up a big part of your lives?

We are in Boog-ïa full time now. As soon as we have some free time we go in to practice and write songs… Our guitarist doesn't think we do enough but you know… Otherwise we try to organize gigs…

What do you do apart from that as in for work ?

Emo, our singer and guitarist… Well he's in the system of French Facultés. That's like a free university really. So he is a student. Strife, the drummer, is a mechanic. Dumby (guitar and backing vocals) works on and off when he gets stuff to do and me, well I work in a pharmacy.

Are you straight-edge?

Fuck yeah !

I thought that's what I'd heard… So you have the little cross on your hands and shit !

What do you mean little cross ! We have huge mother fucking crosses on our hands man!

What gave you the impulse to become straight-core ?

We saw the shit that alcohol and drugs do to people and that gave us the desire to cut all that crap. We used to do some shit… Now, no way man.

Since I just used the word 'core' and that I dig doing that… You guys like hard-'core'. Would you say that you are a hardcore band… ?

Yeah man, we really dig hardcore. Most of our bands of reference are in hardcore: Snapcase, Strife, Converge, Cave In, Bbotch, Code Seven, Big Blue Monkey… There are shit-loads. I won't go through all we listen to but it's true that a lot of the bands are underground hardcore. However, I don't think I'd label our music as being hardcore. It's true that we always try to outline that particular influence though. Not so much on Poohland but on the stuff we do today. If you really want a label then I guess you could say we play post-hardcore like Botch, Cave In or Glassjaw…

So is there going to be a following to Poohland…?

Yup! From the beginning of May we will be recording a five-track but only two tracks will go for sales. We need the three other tracks for the record companies and stuff…

I'll give you some words and you tell me the first thing that comes through your head… So let's go Mo!

Chirac: Cunt

McDonalds: Fucking gross

Lofo: Fora

Hot Dog: Chien chaud

Politics: Nothing to do with it. All thieves and cunts…

Message: Xstraight edge for lifeX!

Mobile phone: Practical but expensive

Last angry shout-out !

Could people please stop listening to the shit that they serve you on a tray on the radio or television. Dig a little deeper in the musical style you like and I'm sure you can find stuff that you will really like rather than being spoon-fed music!

Band's URL: www.boogia.com