When your working on new projects – do you distinguish between what will be big in the Jamaican market vs the foreign market?

Wa Dem A Do- which is the first riddim you built that I heard in NY- has this crazy cinematic density- but since then it seems like you have been hitting on all bases- why move away from the sound you built?

Who are contemporary producers that you look up to? I hear neptunes and early timbaland, but who else are you checking for?

Are there young producers or other producers that you work with, or is it just vocalists that you keep in your camp?

  

Whats the deal with the Island Pop sound that is dominating the radio right now in JA?

What do you think about the fact that anyone with a computer can download a cracked copy of Fruity Loops and start building riddims ?

How much do you think radio payolla affects what tunes get big or make it onto rotation?

You’ve pretty consistently had your riddims on the charts for the last couple years- how many riddims are you building a week, and how many of those ever get voiced?

Can you describe the process from building a riddim to finishing a riddim pack goes?

Is there anything outside of hip-hop and dancehall that you check for? Are you listening to trance and house directly or just hearing their influence through rap?

Do you think your work ethic seperates you from other producers, or young musicians?

Some artists claim not to listen to the radio or other media- but you say you like to keep up with whatevers new?

What’s your process when you start to build a new riddim?

Besides Jeremy (who manages Stephen)- whose the team at bigship and Di Genuis recordings?

Given your success as a producer- why push to voice more of your own riddims?

Friday December 9th @ El Globo in LA:

Saturday December 10th @ Elbo Room in SF:

AND PART TWO HAS ARRIVED Russian goes in on some Afrojack sounding pressure. I listen to this every day.
Kartel Freaky Gal pt2

HYPER NORMATIVE MEETS ITSELF IN THE MIRROR
SHE ONLY DANCE – blk.adonis + rizzla by rizzla_dj

From the insanely good free collabo EP from Blk.Adonis and Rizzla DOWNLOAD IT
“This is for the boys who bruk out when the dj drops Chi Chi Man. WE SEE U”

I’ve been on the road lately trying to get my worldwide airmiles up like the Jetlag King- DJ /Rupture. Miles to go before I sleep or even come close on that one, but the result thus far has been getting to play with a lot of ladies and gents I respect and admire and making friends of them along the way. Coming up in a couple weeks here in NYC, Que Bajo?! and Conrazon are collaborating with SOB’s to debut a friend and inspiration of mine by the name of Humberto Pernett. I wanted to take the time explain to you all who this guy is on a personal level as I’ve recently spent a great deal of time with him in Cali for the Petronio Festival and got to know his story.

Pernett’s dad was one of the founders of el Carnaval de Barranquilla. He grew up around amazing musicians his whole life. His aunt Carmencita Pernett was one of the first artists to take cumbia to mexico. Artists born in this type of conditioning? Femi Kuti comes to mind..

Click here to view the embedded video.

I think just by looking at the record cover you can tell dude’s family were some serious party people.

It was inevitable from his upbringing that Pernett would go on to explore los ritmos de la costa. Tambora, cumbia, bullerengue, puya, mapale sound more like the names of root vegetable or ingredients to a sancocho stew than names of rhythms but then all these styles are so distinctly satisfying on the dancefloor that their cohesion only make sense when you think about them that way.

Taking a blessing from his musical godmother, Toto la Momposina, Pernett would go further south to Bogota where he would meet Richard Blair, a UK-born producer and they would go on to form the band Sidestepper whose 3am: In beats we trust album would reverberate worldwide.

As someone who listened to the 6 degrees music label early on, and a researcher of world music fusion for quite some time I can say with confidence that the music from that album would go on to inspire a great many producers for years to come. Our global/tropical bass scene has a lot to thank them for. Electronic music, indeed, but at its essence their sound was a less mechanical and rooted deeply in Colombia’s rich musical heritage. It was a clearly defined turning point for Latin music.

Moving on to work on his own projects Pernett has continued folding time and space to create his own blend of psychodelic caribbean sounds. Carving a sound very much his own.

Click here to view the embedded video.

I invite you to listen to his soundcloud where he has over 100 original tracks and remixes uploaded

Change isn’t an overnight thing. The last car in the roller coaster sees the turn before it happens. But from where I’m standing, Pernett is a largely unsung hero who has and is helping shape the future of latin music.  He’s someone that we should pay a lot more attention to. He’s so far ahead of the pack that it will probably be another couple years before the world catches up to his sound let alone his performance capabilities.  His ableton live set up lets him trigger and effect tracks, while playing gaita or any number of traditional instruments which he can also effect, while singing and dropping some surreal visuals using his filters on his laptop cam. He’s one of those artists that keeps pushing himself to do more. To be more. And you should too. Be there to see him Oct 9th and feel more.

Que Bajo?! & Conrazon Present

Pernett (Colombia)

Oct 9th @ SOB’s $10 /10pm

“Count C cemented his status in his West Kingston community, and in Jamaican music and cultural history, when he launched the Count C Sound System in 1947. Radio was nonexistent and, even when it did arrive in Jamaica in the late 1950s, few in West Kingston could afford either the box or the pay-as-you-go service. In times like these a sound man like Count C really was royalty. His was a small sound (a few horns and an over-sized, 5ft+ speaker, familiarly called a ‘house of joy’), but he was tough. Count C would never back down from a challenge, even when Duke Reid and the “big dogs” arrived on the scene.” – Soul Of The Lion

If you missed Josh’s perfect post on Count C earlier in the year- check it here.

It was an honor and privilege to be at 6 Wellington for Count C’s Nine Night. Skanking until dawn for one of the men who started it all.

Last Sweat Lodge was our best yet!  Big shout to DJ Beto for coming through and throwing down with me, Geko Jones and Atropolis.  I had a blast.  The next one is approaching quickly and I am super excited to announce that we’ve got Brooklyn’s own Dre Skull as our guest.  Dre Skull runs the Mixpak label and just produced an amazing record with Vybz Kartel.  Kartel is to me one of the best and most interesting artists in dancehall music right now and I cannot overstate how impressed I am with Dre for his role in creating Kingston Story, their album.  Read all about it at Taliesin’s post here. On the night your’s truly Matt Shadetek, Geko Jones and Atropolis will be raising the temperature with your favorite tropical sounds so come dressed to sweat.

DUTTY ARTZ: SWEAT LODGE JULY

DJs:

Dre Skull

Matt Shadetek

Geko Jones

Atropolis

Friday July 8th 10PM-4AM

FREE PARTY

The Cove, 108 N. 6th St

Brooklyn NY

L train to Bedford Ave

Click here to view the embedded video.

Here’s a video from Dutty Artz family and habitual transnational/borderless bass collaborationist Maga Bo. Filmed in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, the beautifully shot video for the track “Gondar” which from Maga Bo’s most recent release Ransom EP out now on Senseless Records. Not only providing a glimpse into Bo’s recording process and collaboration with the two Ethiopian musicians – masinqo player Eritbu “Solomon” Agegnehu and singer Entenesh Wassié, we are treated with some wonderful Addis ambiance, plus some beautiful girls dancing to the traditional Azmari song, which Bo laced up/reinforced with some dancehall-like riddim! Stream to the entire Ransom EP on Bandcamp – with remixes from Filastine, Timeblind, Teleseen, Pacheko, and Fletcher.

It also goes without saying that Bo is repping Dutty Artz extra hard in this one! We’ve some some incredible gear coming your way soon too.

Cyril Braithwaite ca. 1960

In a recent Jamaica Gleaner article (for the Japanese translation click here), writer Howard Campbell refers to me referring to the recently passed sound system operator Cyril “Count C” Braithwaite as an “unsung hero” in Jamaican popular culture. Looking back, I have to clarify that his praises have been sung from Ken Boothe to King Sporty—both of whom claim Count C as their mentor. It’s just hard, I believe, to adequately sing the significance of a soundman who never left his community in over 60 years. The ephemeral nature of a few quotes and newspaper articles do not do justice to the lasting influence of a man like Cyril Braithwaite. Indeed, sound men like Count C don’t just shake the earth with sound, they shake the status quo with their social and cultural power.

Count C cemented his status in his West Kingston community, and in Jamaican music and cultural history, when he launched the Count C Sound System in 1947. Radio was nonexistent and, even when it did arrive in Jamaica in the late 1950s, few in West Kingston could afford either the box or the pay-as-you-go service. In times like these a sound man like Count C really was royalty. His was a small sound (a few horns and an over-sized, 5ft+ speaker, familiarly called a ‘house of joy’), but he was tough. Count C would never back down from a challenge, even when Duke Reid and the “big dogs” arrived on the scene.

Almost more than the music, it was Count C’s commitment and connection to his West Kingston community that stands out. Cyril Braithwaite was born in the 1920s into a family residing in Back-O-Wall, the West Kingston area which became the center of Jamaica’s nascent political power struggle during the transition to independence. Back-O-Wall was subsequently razed in 1963 to make way for the Tivoli Gardens housing scheme. Cyril Braithwaite died January 26, 2011, a resident of 6 Wellington Street,  just a stone’s throw from Tivoli. (Indeed, when the Wednesday night/Thursday morning street dance, Passa Passa, used to be held just outside Tivoli on Spanishtown Road, Count C lived so close he could claim to have attended every single one.) Decades after Back-O-Wall was transformed into Tivoli Gardens, the infamous focus of the manhunt for Christopher ‘Dudus’ Coke for much of 2010, current residents still find themselves in a struggle with authorities despite the passage of time and the fact that Dudus was caught last June.

Wellington Street is relatively short and narrow, with just enough room for a moving vehicle to slide by another parked to the side. About 100 yards long, bordered by Charles Street on one end and North Street on the other, Wellington Street is more like a lane. In this area, Count C was the first to own a television, a car (which he would trade out whenever a new one caught his fancy) and a two-story home (which Hurricane Gilbert brought down to one in 1998).

Fast forward to February 2011.  The security forces patrolling the area at night in their jeeps had to squeeze by the line of cars that brought out the people from uptown and downtown for Count C’s ‘set up’, a Jamaican celebration traditionally held the night before the funeral. Count C’s set up involved the earth shaking frequencies of Exodus Nuclear Sound System (which was started by Count C’s son Father Romie), a photo slide show and enough rum, beer, soup and curried chicken to feed neighbors, friends and family as well as friends of neighbors, friends and family.

Father Romie (2nd fr L) and Gary Exodus (R) with members of Exodus Nuclear in Count C's West Kingston yard, Feb 2011

Father Romie, the oldest of Count C’s 17 children, says, “West Kingston was a place where kids could run loose. They would go into the market, take the country people’s things, gamble. Most of my friends dead out now. They gambled, thiefed, picked up a gun and end up in a coffin. Count C’s kids didn’t do that. That’s why I have to love my father.”

By all accounts, Count C, aka the Wizard of the West, was a tough man. Romie says Count C led a “rough life”. Count C’s grandson, Gary Exodus, thanks C for teaching him “how to be a no-nonsense person”. In black and white photos from years gone by beamed in front of the deejay booth that night, Count C looked the part of a convincing street tough. The dead pan stare perched on a muscular neck portrayed a relaxed physical readiness that oozed “tough” without even saying a word. This was colonial Jamaica. In the 50s and 60s, the era of rude boys, dancehall crashers and budding downtown political violence, toughness was a virtue.

But toughness alone could only get you so far, and perhaps straight to jail or the cemetery. Cyril Braithwaite had bigger things in mind.

I first met Count C in 2007, the same year I started studying at the University of the West Indies in Kingston. Zeke Stern of Green Lion Crew had done an interview with Count C in 2006 and I followed up when I got to town. I knew Count C had outlasted ‘vintage’ contemporaries like Duke Reid, Sir Coxsone and Sir Nick. I was not aware of the breadth of his influence or the depth of his connection to his community.

Count C at his yard in 2009 (photo courtesy of Roy Sweetland)

The last time I saw Count C alive was in early 2009 when I visited with Roy Sweetland – “photographer extraordinaire”. (If my word isn’t enough, Tarrus Riley wants you take his.) Roy’s photos capture Count C in a new light. Now into his 80s, the deadpan stare is still clearly there, along with the relaxed readiness. This time though, the two-dimensional black-and-white photos from his youth have been replaced by a colorful, multi-dimensional man confident in his own experience. A few snippets…

On slackness: “I rebuke those things”. On music: “Music keep me alive til now”. On sound systems: “Sound systems really make the people unite.” No longer physically dominating, Count C was regal nonetheless.

Further interviews with Count C in 2007 and 2008 provided the basis of a forthcoming article in the 2011 July/Aug issue of Wax Poetics. I had wished he would be able to read the article, hold the magazine in his hands, appreciate how his influence and example extended and extends beyond Wellington Street.

Although Count C has passed, the Braithwaite cultural lineage is by no means over. Father Romie’s sound system, Exodus Nuclear, was of the earth shattering type when it was launched in 1986 and still plays out regularly. Father Romie has also hosted much of Vybz Kartel’s prolific recording over the last couple years at the studio Romie built next to his home in Kingston’s Havendale neighborhood. And Gary Exodus runs the Exodus dubplate studio, a social and creative hub where sounds from Paris to Poughkeepsie load up on musical ammunition with the hope that they will follow in the footsteps of the Wizard of the West, representing for their communities and making the impossible seem possible.

Busy Signal – Wine Up (Nuh Pop Dung)

File this one under things that make me happy. Busy Signal is in top form and Washroom deliver a gorgeous reggae flavored dancehall riddim entitled Bad Suh. I’ve been starting my sets with this one recently and also playing a few other cuts on the riddim including the Tifa and Voicemail. People in my Prospect Heights neighborhood may have been confused to see a tall red bearded man gesticulating and shuffling his way through the black grimy snow on his way to the subway to the sound of hot dancehall in his headphones.  Anti-winter music.

Next Tuesday the 18th I’ll be talking along with Ricardo Moncado from Halcyon at Netmix a new meetup started by Corey H Maass aka Secret Agent Gel.  I’ve known Corey for a LONG time here in NYC and recently reconnected with him in talking about some of the topics that I’ve been writing about lately.  He asked me to come and talk about it and I’m happy to do so.  It’s billed as ‘creative process in today’s music industry’ I think my talk will be more creative and less industry but who knows?  All the info is here.

Immediately afterward I will be hightailing it over to DJ at DJ Still Life’s one year anniversary for his Worldwide Smash radio show on East Village Radio (which I have appeared on).   The lineup is myself, Still Life, Jubilee, Shigeto, and JoJo Mayer.  I just looked in my email and somehow don’t have the venue info but you will be the FIRST to know (after me).

EDIT: Here’s the info it’s at Tammany Hall, (Formerly The Annex) which is at 152 Orchard St New York, NY 10013.

The following weekend on January 22nd I’ll be at Kingdom and Dre Skull’s Club Infinity party.  These two are some of my favorite producers in NYC covering a lot of the styles I’m into ranging from dancehall to housey stuff and so I’m very excited to play this.  I know that Tim Dolla is also playing and that Kingdom and Dre will play too,but little else.  I’ll add the flier here as soon as I get it.

Lastly, the following week I’ll be playing with Dub Gabriel, Noble Society w/ Jahdan Blakkamoore and Subatomic Sound System at Littlefield on Saturday Jan. 29th.  I think I’ll be playing a bit more dancehall and dubwise for that.  But who knows!?  Anything could happen!

And of course, perhaps most excitingly the REVENGE OF THE SLOTH!  We’re restarting New York Tropical at The Cove on Friday, February 11th.  I’m very excited about this one, it’ll be the first time the family will play together in NYC in a good while.  For all of you who have asked me about when we’re going to do another New York Tropical, here is your answer.  More crazily the party is FREEEEEEE.

Matt Shadetek returns to “minimalist grime principles” this week with the killer Dutty House EP! Check out the addictive “Wonton Garden” riddim (which refused to die and here in its official/proper release) + the recent refix of Blak Ryno’s “Nuh Tek Talk” on Eddie Stats’ essential weekly roundup of heaters Ghetto Palms.

Blak Ryno – Nuh Tek Talk (Matt Shadetek Dutty House Rmx) by mattshadetek

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Here is a mono radio rip from a live DJ mix on WFMU a couple of weeks back. It’s jam packed with unreleased, exclusive killer Shadetek tracks! The tracklist is a little rough, but the unreleased joints – opening track “NIC U” and “Pterodactyl” are gleaming freshness not to be slept on!  Look out for his Dutty House EP coming out Tuesday!

TRACKLIST

Matt Shadetek – NIC U
Matt Shadetek – This Is Love
Matt Shadetek – Pterodactyl
Contakt – Not Forgotten
??? Dubbel Dutch Remix
Matt Shadetek & Lamin Fofana – Sunshine City
Black Ryno – Nuh Take Talk (Matt Shadetek Remix)
Matt Shadetek – Delta
Kingdom – Bust Broke
Mayster & Contakt – Korak
??? Secret Agent Gel Rimix
Maxwell D – Going Away
SBTRKT & Sampha – Evening Glow
Matt Shadetek & DJ /rupture – Sunset B35
Chief Boima – Techno Rumba (DJ /rupture & Matt Shadetek Remix)

Click here to view the embedded video.

Solid handles artist management and booking, as well as being involved in events and just about every other facet of the industry. Kevin ‘Payday’ Green’s Alliance aligned studio is in the back- and even though it’s a humble affair, it’s nothing for Bounty Killer, Elephant Man, or Mavado to roll through in a day, along with ’nuff artists waiting their chance to run up the ranks. When no one’s voicing, the studio door opens and the near-fields get turned up to 11, pumping the latest tunes and unreleased riddims into the yard.

Early at the Payday Yard

I’m hoping my updates can be more regular now that I’m down here. First order of business is to start making some radio rips. You know when you’re driving through BK, or picking up Boston’s Hot 97 and you don’t want to finish you trip for fear of losing the pirate signal? It’s like that all the time, every day down here. Except you never drop the signal – of course Daggering and Gun Man lyrics are all officially banned- you have to get to a session for that- but it’s still fresh to death.

And don’t sleep on Natalie Storm’s new mix. She said she made it after a rough break up and a period of abstinence and it’s dripping with sex. Between her calculated dive into house, electro and dancehall, and Dylan Powe’s burner Wiley voiced Showa Eski Riddim. Good things soon come for Prodigal and Federation.

If you have people down here, or spots you love, and want to get in touch. I’m always down to build. TallyBower AT GGGGmmmmmAALLLE. Already looking forward to Dre Skull, DJ Ripley,  The Mad Decent Boyz, Toddla T and a few others being around. I’ll be here until March. Respect to Erin Hansen and Erin MacLeod for getting me sorted so far.

Blak Ryno – Nuh Tek Talk (Matt Shadetek Dutty House Rmx) by mattshadetek

My new EP entitled ‘DUTTY HOUSE’ will be out as an early exclusive Dec. 7th on Juno and everywhere Dec. 14th on Dutty Artz. In advance of it I’m giving away this remix I did of Blak Ryno’s ‘Nuh Tek Talk’. The original is on Chimney Records’ Death Row Riddim. Blak Ryno is an exciting new Dancehall artist who came up under of Vybz Kartel’s Portmore Empire / Gaza movement. He uses a lot of interesting eastern sounding melodies in his singing which sets him apart from the new crop of Dancehall artists coming out to my ears. The original was 120bpm which is a little slower than I’ve been playing lately so I decided to speed it up to 128bpm and add some grimey house beats. I didn’t have an acapella so I actually just took the whole tune and EQd out the bass, adding my own drum and bass parts making it more like a mashup than a true remix. I’ve been playing it for a bit and thought it’d be appropriate to share it in advance of my new EP dropping on Dutty Artz. It’s my first time in a while busting out my distorted kicks and badman lyrics vibe in a while, so fans of Brooklyn Anthem may be pleased.

Dutty House Cover Art, designed by me

Blak Ryno Artist page:
http://www.myspace.com/rynodgreat

Chimney Records Label Page:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Chimney-Records/