It’s been over a year since Jeremy Harding called the one they call Di Genius to set up an interview for me. Stephen McGregor is, of course, the son of famed artiste Freddy McGregor, but he built his own lane producing some of the most innovative dancehall of this millennium, taking over his fathers Big Ship studio and turning it into a hit factory. His style melded perfectly with upandcomer Mavado – whose “Weh Dem A Do“- made me start checking compulsively for Stephen’s productions around 05/06. I have great video of him and his crew going off to unreleased Shadetek riddims and talking about why he keeps an open bible on his mixing desk- but until I get around to editing that shit- enjoy the interview tracked out by question below and stay locked for interviews with Ward21, Natalie Storm + more.
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?
If ten dollars seems like a lot of money to go see a bunch of people who constantly lace the internet with some of the best music and lulz around…… remember real is a feeling so get out get up and get something.
>> FACEBOOK EVENT <<
Check Mixes from everyone playing HERE
FRIDAY JAN 27TH | SANTOS PARTY HOUSE | 96 LAYFAYETTE ST | 10PM-4AM
#HYPNOTICA
*A WORLD CLASS QUANTUM PHYSICIST WILL BE GIVING A QUIK 15 MINUTE TALK ON THE EXPONENTIAL EXCITEMENT OF THE FUTURE AND THE TRULY UNEXPLAINABLE OCCULT MAGIC OF THE QUANTUM COMPUTER.*
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Death/Traitors is the work of Alex Heir and it is fucking sick. I went to his spot on Delphi last week to get inside the mind of the genius behind my favorite New York brand.
T: You grew up in Jersey going to Punk shows and talk about how you see band shirts as this kind of holy grail of authenticity for design- how did band shirts inform your work with D T.
A: My initial interest in wanting to learn screen print and make shirts was born from my love of record and t-shirt art, and I think my idea of what makes a good shirt design is still largely based off that. A good band shirt is not just a random t-shirt with an image on it, it shows your musical taste and interest in a larger subculture, almost like wearing gang colors.
T: Whether it’s Japanese/Kanji characters that say Fuck Pigs, or your iconic Endless War Posters- you seem to hit an angle that’s 50/50 gothic vibes and anti-authoritarian anarchy. Is there any particular message that defines the brand?
A: I guess, as you said, “anti-authoritarian” sums it up pretty well. I’m not trying to spread a political message or anything, but I feel pretty angry about the state of the country and the world right now, and that works it’s way into my designs. I use the Anarchy symbol in the same way I use 666, I’m not a card carrying Anarchist or Satanist, but their symbols are a way to show what I am not.
T: While the 80 dollar t-shirt kids are gonna be happy to cop your gear at Mishka- you don’t go to trade shows or play the street-wear game- who’s your ideal audience for this stuff?
A: An army of leather clad rockers wandering the wasteland in search of food and water.
T: Do you have any fashion inspiration in terms of brands? What music or other design is most inspiring?
A: Vivienne Westwood and Malcolm McLaren had a store in London in the 70s called a variety of things..Let It Rock/Sex/Seditionaries. They designed a lot of the clothes the first wave UK punks wore and it was the biggest influence to me when I first thought about designing clothing. Alexander McQueen, who’s work I also really admire, definitely took a lot from them.
Nowadays I get a lot of inspiration from old occult and religious art, Japanese woodcuts, horror movies posters. I saw a show of old CRASS zines and flyers from their personal collection a few months ago…that was really inspiring and contributed a lot to the way the most recent designs have looked.
T: Can you talk about your process a little bit- your screen are everywhere around the house and most of your gear is there well- can you talk about hand printing all of your own work.
A: Once I finish a design and am ready to release it, I will shoot the screen and print a few samples to shoot on a model for the website. I keep a stock of screens of all my current available designs, and for the most part custom print every order as I get it.
T: Since images can move so easily between mediums- from stickers, to shirts, to bags, to textiles to whatever- how do you think about not overwhelming your customers.
A: I design the graphics specifically for each piece…An image might look great on a shirt, but not necessarily work as a patch or sticker. I re use a lot of the same imagery…skulls, kanji, swords, etc…but will do a different composition depending on what I’m going to print on. Less is more very often…I prefer to only release a handful of shirts and a few other items every season The artwork is very personal to me, so I would rather have a smaller amount of consistent, quality work then a ton of mediocre items.
T: you started doing these amazing varsity jackets- can you talk about your more indepth approach on that process.
A: I was lucky enough to link up with a tailor here in NYC that helping me through the process of of getting these jackets made. I initially was getting them from China, but once I stumbled upon this opportunity to have the jackets made here I leaped on it. I get to choose all the materials myself, from the wool and sleeve fabric to the lining and snaps, and the overall quality is much higher. Of course the costs to produce the jackets is much more than if I had them made in China, but I think people will appreciate the quality and the fact that they are made in the USA.
T: Beyond the clothing line, can you talk about the label a little bit and your other screen printing work and how you manage the balance.
A: Besides Death/Traitors, I do commercial screen printing for other people under the name Funbot Press. The nice thing about working for yourself is you get to set your own hours and make your own schedule, but it also means you never really stop working. Unless I’m at a show or hanging out with friends outside my apartment, I’m always working on SOME thing, be it printing, designing for D/T, or making other artwork or music. Every day is different, but it usually is a combination of everything. I love what I do, at least most aspects of it, and I enjoy being constantly busy.
T: Anything else you want to include?
A: I will be showing some new pieces in a group art show entitled Input/Output opening Sat, Jan. 28 at Booklyn, 37 Greenpoint Avenue 4th Floor. booklyn.org And I will be showing more work at the Mishka Store, 350 Broadway, BK, on Friday, April 6.
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My girl Juliana Huxtable LaDosha was one of the first people to hold it down for me when I started DJing on the east coast. Pure Genius. Check the rest of her Bcalla looks cover shoot.
COP THAT SHIT(h/t @LanaLana) ]]>
CLICK FOR FULL SIZE
Grab a 20th Anniversary copy of Dazed- there’s 20 different covers that all look kind of like ours with Pharrell.
Love to Tim Noakes for the editorial look and Terence Teh for the write up. It’s the little things like staying up until 3 in the morning packing a $1k box (and collaging the shit out of it) to a Japanese distro or finding your slothy flyers finally leave the internet that keep us moving. Always upward. Been strategizing tonight on new designs for the amazing Chants vinyl and some dope new apparel collabos with renegade atelier Hello Bad Mind. Can’t wait to share them all- but this year is all about less talk and more touch. If your in New York Friday (1/6/2012) come say what’s up at Cluster Mags new party. Brooklyn Fireproof Gallery///119 Ingraham Street (In the Alley)///Brooklyn, NY 11237 ]]>
I can listen to this BACK2BACK2BACK2BACK
But besides what’s keeping me all polyriddimic on the escalator out into time square every day- there has been some heavy drops in the last couple weeks of dope new free music. I’ve been trying to figure out for a long time just how free music works on the internet. Call yourself a net label and you risk failing b4 you even start. Give away free mp3s of pay to own releases that almost no one buys and suddenly you are a legit record label. Along with his dope fake NY-Times review Tracky Birthday also released a manifesto of sorts about net labels and free music… choice quote “Net Labels are Like Hookers, Only Cheaper.”
Body High just dropped a killer set of free edits which u should grab ASAP I screwed down the Game Over edit at Sweatlodge and it was NEXT.
The other freelease that I’m feeling comes from Austin (h/t to Wayne for the headsup) LOTIC MURDERSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS listen 4 urself
NYE in NYC is known amongst club owners/promoters as amateur night, a night of ripped off all inclusive deals, drunkin debauchery, served with a side of nonsense. Sorry to sound bitter, but if your coming into NYE in NYC without knowledge of the club/bar scene you can either have the worst or best night of your life.
That said, I am super excited and thankful to have been invited to perform at Dreamtime 2012; an underground warehouse event curated by friends and circling bodies of communities I’ve performed with/for throughout the years. This event is the meeting ground for music, fashion, healers, art galleries, organic catered food, yoga, workshops, installationsfilm screenings and more.
LOCATION/ DETAILS/ TICKETS:
It will take place throughout a 2 floor/10,000 sq ft warehouse located in Williamsburg, at 75 Frost Street (Walking distance from the Bedford L stop). You can purchase tickets here.
For me, it is events like these that really speak to me when thinking what New York has to offer to artists, performers, and creative thinkers. NYC artistic landscape is constantly evolving and shifting throughout the boroughs and at times NYC seems to have lost its edge due to stricter policies enforced over the past 20 years. I do feel that NYC has choked the performance space to death with rules and regulations, which has lead to underground warehouse events hosted by courageous individuals and groups of people that are willing to invest and possibly loose a few bucks if the 5-0 comes to break up the fun.
So if you are in search of something fresh, exciting and innovative; and you are looking to experience an event bought to you by local artists of all crafts, this is the place to be on New Years.
The folks responsible for this event are Unitribe, Get Your Dance On, Evolver, Beyond Kombucha, City Life Wellness, and more.
Links to hear and see some of the performing acts of this Event:
CLICK LINK BELLOW TO HEAR SKYTREE’s LATEST ALBUM:
Crystal Consciousness (name your own price DL on Bandcamp) by Skytree
EARTHRISE ft. SRIKALA
]]>Its a simple idea.. but if we can get enough people to participate it will lead to more conversation and exposure for a lot of these artists. We’ve heard a lot of feedback from ladies in the scene about how hard it is being a female DJ or producer and we’re doing our part to help balance that. In a post lecture conversation with DJ Rizzla last week (thanks for curating Ripley!), Rizzla pointed out how if we’re to eliminate bias the majority need to first surrender some of their power to the minority. We like that idea.
There are a ton of people who have never heard of Fairuz, Mercedes Sosa, Cesoria Evora, La Lupe or any number of well established female artists. But there are also contemporary electronic music producers and vocalists like Jahcoozi, Flore, Ekova, Zuzuka Poderosa who have worked really hard and recorded some amazing music. These ladies are sometimes huge within their hemispheres but this is an attempt to bring some of them to light to wider audience.
I’m posting the video below and others to get the word out. Please share if you feel comfortable but more importantly share videos by your favorite divas and unsung heroines. There are some amazing women out there from all over the world.
Click here to view the embedded video.
You can also help by sharing the facebook event page or inviting your friends.
Following this experiment… on Saturday here in NYC, we’re hosting a fundraiser soundclash for an organization called Just the Tip of Feminism. DJ’s are battling out playing sets of strictly female vocalists.
Dutty Artz fi di gyal dem.
Free Download –> Pa la Escuela Nene (Geko Jones vs Frikstailers)
As an impulsively random blog reader I find myself constantly and randomly skimming, reading, and searching through my long list of bookmarked blogs. Among those blogs, I seem to always find some kind of material contributed by Caballero, whether it be music, criticism, some kind of compilation he put together, and everything in between. He is a writer for Mad Decent, Generation Bass, Tropical bass, Hat & Hoodies, Folcore and many more. He is one of the founding members of Latino Resiste aka The Rebel Records, which has put out some tasteful compilations over the past few years. He always has something cooking thats for sure. So keep an eye out for Mr. Caballero.
A few weeks ago he shared this track he did with Dany F, a Colombian based producer. Both being from Colombia, Caballero and Dany F fused elements of deep funky house, with champeta and some beautiful vocals. The dog bark you hear in this track is typical champeta sound. While in Colombia I had the honor to hang with Champeta man aka Lucas Silva’s (founder of Palenque records). Lucas has his nickname for a reason. Anyway he shared with us the history behind the use of this sound. Basically, a cheap casio keyboard was a popular instrument amongst the Afro- Colombian champeta community. This dog bark is a sample that comes with the keyboard, and it is used quite often as a solo sound that musicians rock out on throughout a champeta track.
Check out Caballo’s collaboration. And be sure to keep up on his compilation releases:
Dany F & Caballo- La Nave (only 100 DL) by caballo
Champeta-Man Interview
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Dreams come true! Sometimes it’s confusing bc I assume everyone that reads DA also reads and follows everyone else that I follow and then I realize we haven’t been repping our close friends nearly as much as we should be. BUT FOR REAL IF U DONT PAY ATTENTION TO THIS BUNCH YOU ARE LOST AS FUCK. BUT IT IS NEVER TO LATE TO GET ON BOARD. We need more genius level thinkers giving their minds to think about media and what our futures SHOULD/CAN look like. XLR8R made a weird/clueless April Fools joke about Angela Davis inviting Venus to a conference as if to undermine any possibility of the political in cultural practice- which then begs the question that when they ride for Kingdom or Mike Q or ball room or anything if it is just purely about positioning within the emergence of cool and totally devoid from any sense of the importance of building safe spaces or supporting radical aesthetics. Whatever, dude’s probably just feel uncomfortable. ANYWAYS- this is a great week for music and one step closer to the global think tank I dream about.
LQQK!
DJs Ripley, D’hana, and Rizzla!
10pm, 21+, FREE
Public Assembly, Back Room
70 North 6th Street, Brooklyn
BEGIN FACEBOOK C+P
This Thursday, come celebrate with us as we party with three of our favorite DJs: D’hana (NuLIfe/Chubrub) Rizzla (NuLife productions, Fade To Mind) and the soon-to-be-New Yorker Dj Ripley (Surya Dub). All three are in town taking part in the Radical Aesthetics and Politics Conference at Hunter. (There sounds like a bunch of dope presentations at the all day Friday conference event- but they are saving the best for last in what hopefully will be a dope panel discussion 4:30 – 6:00 PM Panel 8: We come alive: making exilic spaces for remixing social life) SIGN UP FOR FREE
http://chreculture.blogspot.com/
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D’hana Perry came of age as a DJ in Boston’s queer nightlife scene and has evolved, transcending expectations and catering to a wide range of diverse crowds. S/he was nominated as best DJ in the 2010 Boston Phoenix Reader’s Poll, and the mixtape NU LIFE Vol. 1, released with Rizzla, garnered attention from Fader Magazine, and Discobelle among other notable online publications. Perry has worked with rising stars in global bass and house music, queer culture icons and media studies mavens including: NGUZUNGUZU, Total Freedom, Robyn, M.E.N, Kingdom & VenusX.
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“By night DJ Ripley is a bass music luminary, sharing stages with everyone from DJ Assault to Dizzee Rascal and Flying Lotus, and has been an instrumental member of some of the world’s most forward-thinking DJ collectives. The rest of the time, she is Larisa Mann: journalist, legal ethnographer and economic historian, wrecking the ivory tower of intellectual property law with her research on music production in Jamaica.” – Fader Magazine
http://djripley.blogspot.com/
http://soundcloud.com/ripley
http://www.thefader.com/2011/11/23/interview-dj-ripley
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“Rizzla, aka Brian Friedberg, is an M.A. student in the curation of the carnivalesque…a regular at Zuzu’s, Milky Way and Middlesex, mixing and matching the slinkiest and slackest of hip-hop, dancehall, soca, house, nu world beats and unexpected rave musics, Rizzla will do everything he can to keep the party going.”
http://www.facebook.com/rizzladj
http://soundcloud.com/rizzladj
https://twitter.com/rizzla_dj
Nu Life Mix – Jan ’11 by rizzla_dj
Favorite Hook
I heard this everywhere in Ghana and then Benji from Awkwaaba gave me the mp3 and now I listen to it all the time.
Favorite Banger
I’m pissed this dropped when I was still in Africa caus I would have been dying hearing funk flex pull it back endlessly.
Favorite Throw Back
I watched Barrington Levy war on stage with Big Yute as they did greatest hits medleys at a show at Edna Manley and then during a later Magnum Tonic Wine fueled bout of youtubery I remembered how hard this kills.
Best Artist-
Shabazz Palaces – When I first heard Shabazz Palaces on the radio in Seattle I pulled over and called KEXP to get a track ID. Since I got the first two self-released EPs on my ipod they have not left. Seattle’s answer to Baldwin. Perfect soundtrack for 6 A.M. dazed-treks along Ipanema beach coming home from bailes in Rocinha.
Best Project Beyond Digital -
For years Jace and I have dreamed about a time intensive on location multi-disciplinary residency project. With the magical powers of concurrent dreamers Bo, Juan, Maggie, Carolyn and Colin we made it happen. We spent a month in Casablanca researching auto-tune, pirate cd-r covers and tagines. Various crew members are dreaming future iterations in Ethiopia, West Africa, Colombia and back in Morocco. Dreams come true.
Best kick it spot-
Busua, Ghana. I took a week off from the city hustle of studio visits and A&R research in Accra this summer to bus to Busua. After falling in love with surfing in the last year this was the perfect spot to relax – spending like four dollars a day to kick it, eat banku from the elementary school lunch ladies, and surf. After a few epic evenings djing on the beach, I hope I can make it back for the Asabaako festival next year. (Video is of one of the closest cities)
Best Crew
Bada Bada Gang – I spent a bunch of time last spring at Kunley from Ward 21’s apartment in Kingston and the various studios they work in. After spending the last few years hustling and grinding with Shadetek, Geko and /Rupture it was great finding a crew of like minded producers and musicians on their own DIY-OR-DIE journey. Timberlee and Natalie Storm especially inspired me to stay on my path.
STRAIGHT UP FUCK THE 2012 NATIONAL DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION ACT. This is the sort of shit that matters deeply even if you don’t read Prison Planet or listen to Coast 2 Coast. This is the shit that should unite tea partiers, I live in a silo with ten years of water people, the dude that serves you zips AND YOU. The bill passed late last night in a 93-7 vote, declares the entire USA to be a ”battleground” upon which U.S. military forces can operate with impunity, overriding Posse Comitatus and granting the military the unchecked power to arrest, detain, interrogate and even assassinate U.S. citizens with impunity.
If you were surprised by how militarized our police were during the last few months of #OWS don’t worry. If this bill goes into law we will just have the military straight up dealing with protests and other “terrorist” acts. Lets hope Obama vetoes this shit.
]]>When I talked to Ripley a couple weeks ago in Amsterdam she’d just played a show the night before, where I’d shaken my ass so hard that by the time we actually met up I was too exhausted to piece together a proper sentence. That didn’t stop her from being wonderfully articulate, of course. Read a bit of our conversation on the Fader blog: http://www.thefader.com/2011/11/23/interview-dj-ripley/
And check her out in action:
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Boima has been absolutely killing it
Boima has been giving a lot recently, burning through school, putting together compilations in West Africa, producing most of one of the dopest releases of the year, steady attending and updating the world on #OWS, drinking bloody marys in Fort Green, getting his full length debut together for DA and working on a remix album with street impresario Sorie Kondi. DUDE IS BUSY. So when he takes the time to go in on one of the biggest, but least talked about undercurrents in the self-reflective bass/tropical/hood synthetics world- what the fuck is a/(wrong with) Wesley Pentz and why we all want(ed) to be him, but also don’t, or maybe never did, but maybe that major label beat money would be nice…..etc. U SHOULD PAY ATTENTION. Another pretty white face stands in for so many sexy/violent/not available black/brown/redbone faces.. but B draws out the nuance of the thing in a way that’s missing from pretty much every other summary/criticism I have ever read about Diplo. Read an excerpt below or click over to Africa is a Country for the whole thing.
]]>“Around the start of Occupy Wall Street, an international DJ called Samim tweeted, “Did you know that the richest 1% of DJ´s control over 80% of the industry´s wealth and over 70% the media coverage?#occupyDJs”. Perhaps it was meant as an off-hand joke, but the fact that the DJ industry is an unbalanced place in terms of representation is clearly a reality. Nothing materialized this notion more than DJ Mag’s annual Top 100 DJs list, which read like a Forbes’ top 100, but for wealthiest DJs. Many people noticed the racial, gender, and wealth imbalances of the list, which in today’s music world almost seems preposterous (or maybe not.) Also, considering that House and Techno music’s roots are in the Black and/or Gay communities of the Rust Belt urban centers in the American Midwest, it becomes a curious example of cultural appropriation.
Noticeably absent from the list was popular American DJ, Diplo, who is also a successful producer, record label owner, and style icon. Perhaps the reason why he didn’t show up in the list is because he explicitly prefers to align himself with a global contemporary “underground”. Most recently he has done so in a series of travel journals for Vanity Fair magazine. The first one about this past year’s Carnival in Trinidad and Tobago and the latest where he “Discovers the Last True Underground Club Scene in New York.” In these travel journals Diplo makes clear his critical stance to the mainstream. But, with all the structural inequalities inherent in the industry, and qualifying statements like, “I don’t know a lot about being black and gay and cool…” Diplo’s critique mostly ends up sounding a lot like someone looking for redemption in a pure, untouched, uncontaminated, Other.
Why should you care about this? Because, no matter where you are in the world, if there’s an underground dance scene or marginalized community, Diplo has probably “discovered,” re-framed, and sold it audiences in another part of the world. If he hasn’t yet, he’s on his way, and your local scene might just end up being the next European House or Techno.
Beat Research is an exploration of sound, an emphasis on experimenting/fusing various styles. It was started in March 2004 at the Enormous Room, which was just recently closed! It has relocated to Good Life, 28 Kingston Street- Downtown Boston. For more information visit: Beat Research.
For those who are unfamiliar with Wayne and Wax, be sure to check out his blog.
The event starts at 9pm and ends at 1am
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