World Famous Magazine

Sometimes it’s the people in the background of a conversation that have the most interesting things to say. It recently happened to me, while I was talking to Spinna’s longtime friend Joc Max. A tiny voice interrupted us and murmured something I couldn’t make out. “That’s right,” Joc answered in his best daddy voice. “He has a daughter now… and he understands.” The interaction got me thinking.

Maybe that’s the best way to describe DJ Spinna these days: “He has a daughter now… and he understands.” Granted he already understood how to make good music, but now Spinna is starting to understand what it takes to be a good husband and a good father. “He looks at things differently now,” Joc Max explains. “He views things differently. His hustle is different. His mode of operation is different. He hasn’t lost his drive. He’s still as intense, but he’s a dad, man, and I can just hear it and see it. It’s beautiful, man, actually. I think it’s making him a better person and a better artist.”

Spinna has been a good person for as long as anyone can remember, “I’ve always said he’s the nicest New Yorker you’ll ever meet,” laughs Joc. He’s also been a good artist for as long as anyone can remember. “I was the 5-year-old kid with the 45s in his hand,” remembers Spinna Continue Reading »

Tags: DJ Spinna, Joc Max

Most people give way more lip service to Brazilian music than they give actual time in their stereo systems. Even among the people who truly love the music, very few of them know a great deal about the artists they are feeling. Gilles Peterson is one of those rare people who both love the music and know it inside and out.

Gilles has been rocking Brazilian tunes over the airwaves and in the clubs for decades now. Back in Brazil is the iconic British DJs second foray into Brazilian compilations. This time out, he splits his focus on a double CD by dedicating one disc to legendary Brazilian musicians from the ‘60s and ‘70s, while reserving the second for modern Brazilian reggae, bossa jazz, and funk.

As I fall into the category of those people who love the sounds but have little idea about the artists, I’m not going to go into what is featured on this album or talk about stand-out songs. Suffice it to say, Gilles is an expert. If you are looking for an expert guide through some wonderful music, then this is the record for you. Back in Brazil is a wonderful introduction for novices and will probably fill some holes in the knowledge of more educated Brazilian music fans as well.

Tags: Brazil, gilles peterson

Ilhan Ersahin is the man at the center of an ever-growing circle of musicians centered around his Nublu nightclub in New York. Brazilian Girls, Kudu, Love Trio, and others have all spent time incubating in front of audiences at Nublu. Our Theory is Ilhan’s latest creative endeavour.

Born of a chance meeting with French trumpet player Erik Truffaz, Our Theory is the result of their chemistry. The two clicked after an initial jam session and decided to record some material. They brought in Thor Madsen, Jochen Rueckert, and Matt Penman to fill out the line-up and recorded for two days. Those sessions happened over two years ago.

In the intervening time, the original sessions’ funky jazz feel were embellished through the addition of electronic loops, effects, and samples. The result is a sort of beefed up jazziness that is wonderful to behold. While they are occasionally guilty of geeking out on the electronics and free jazz, the majority of this album provides potently good listening.

The title track is an easy-going course through what the group is capable of. A simple bass line and minimal electronic sprinkles provide a base for Ersahin and Truffaz’ horns to take off from. The result is a haunting song drawn as much from the DJ Shadow school of hip-hop as it is from its more obvious jazz heritage.

That last sentence is actually a good representation of Our Theory’s album. It is a marriage of DJ culture to traditional jazz instrumentation. Old next to new, acoustic with electronic, retro and progressive at the same time. Our Theory succeeds in looking backwards and forwards all at once.

Tags: Erik Truffaz, Ilhan Ersahin, Our Theory

Maybe Detroit wasn’t the best place to be in the ‘60s. They had a legendary wall built between a black and white neighborhood, a densely over-populated downtown, some extremely racist banking practices, and a notoriously violent police department. Combine that with the “pins and needles” feel of the civil rights movement, the Vietnam War, and the murders of Malcolm X and John F. Kennedy, and Detroit was a powder keg waiting to explode.

On July 23rd, 1967, the fuse was lit. After raiding an illegal bar on 12th Street, local police made some arrests - 82 people welcoming home two local Vietnam vets! As news of the arrests spread, the people of Detroit began to protest. For the next five days, the city was burned and looted. A curfew was imposed, the National Guard was called in, and Detroit’s best touring band couldn’t believe what they seeing. “We saw the army, the tanks and the soldiers,” remembers guitarist Anthony Hawkins, who had just driven home from a tour with Edwin Starr. “It was worse than we thought.” 43 people were killed, over 7,000 were arrested, and more than 2,000 businesses were destroyed in less than a week.

Nine months later, when Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated, riots broke out in almost every major city in the country. Fearing one at work, Anthony Hawkins’ father hurried home. “He jaywalked for the first time since working at Cadillac, across Michigan Avenue,” explains his son Anthony. “He just jumped right out and jaywalked. He got to the last lane, and got hit.”

Anthony’s father was killed instantly. “After that, it was a whole change of life and mindset.” He immersed himself in drugs, his friends and his band: the Soul Agents. “I’ll tell you, being high and having friends kind of helped me get through that period.” Hawkins spent most of his days with his childhood buddy V.C., and a drummer name Tyrone Hite. Since 1963, the band had been one of the busiest session and touring groups in Detroit. “We were so damn tight,” laughs V.C. “We had been out on the road playing with the best musicians, so when we came back to town, we were like a razor compared to the local yokels!” Continue Reading »

Tags: Black Merda, Mashall Chess

Marshall Chess is one of the most hated men in blues history. “That’s the power of the press,” chuckles the now 64-year-old Chess. Maybe it’s because Marshall was born with a music industry silver spoon in his mouth. (His family started what might be the single most important record label in U.S. history). Or maybe it’s because Muddy Waters, Howling Wolf and Chuck Berry were basically his first baby-sitters. Whatever the case, the controversy around Chess got started early in 1967.

After his first project on his first label was a success (Rotary Connection, Cadet Concept) Marshall Chess began working on a big follow-up: “I wanted to make my second album a psychedelic kind of a blues album.” Without thinking much about it, he enlisted the help of Muddy Waters, and the two created the controversial album, Electric Mud.

“Initially, it took off like a fucking rocket ship,” explains the still-embittered Chess. “Then this guy wrote a horrible article in Rolling Stone about it, and the headline was ‘The Worst Blues Record Ever Made.’” The article crushed the album’s sales, and even accused Marshall of trying to “change” Muddy Waters and disgrace the blues itself. Electric Mud immediately lost support. “Rolling Stone was like the bible to those FM radio programmers in that era, and when that article came out, the airplay just stopped, and the sales stopped.”

Unfazed, Chess continued with his psychedelic vision of bringing the blues to a wider audience. He released a total of three psych-blues albums on his label before it was sold in 1970. Today, these records are either viewed as masterpieces or pieces of garbage depending on who you ask. Most of your favorite artists consider them essential listening, while outlets like the All Music Guide to the Blues continue to label them “Classically wrongheaded” or “Another psychedelic mess.”

“A lot of people love it, and a lot of people hate it,” chuckles Chess, who still blames blues purists for starting the controversy in the first place. Chess is currently preparing to release a new project called Chess Moves, which features Keith LeBlanc, Doug Wimbish, Skip McDonald and remixing some of the first mono blues recordings ever made. So what will the blues purist think about his new album? “Oh, they’re going to hate it!” He laughs, “But I’m still doing it. I’m still a blues criminal, and I don’t give a fuck what anyone says!”

Tags: Marshall Chess

How do you review an artist as renowned as Omar? I think with the following disclaimer. There’s not a song on this album that I don’t like. Well, I’m not all that hyped about two of the four MCs on “Gimme Sum”, but other than that I love Sing.

The record is simpler than I remember Omar’s music. Very often it’s almost stripped-down to its most basic essentials. Songs like “Sing”, “Kiss It Right”, and “I Want It” show a sensibility that relishes in leaving space in the track. Nothing is jumbled, nothing is forced. Moving in its simplicity, much of the album is brilliant musical minimalism.

Created and recorded mostly in Omar’s home studio, Sing very much has a solitary feel. It’s an emotional record that tugs you along with it. “Get It Together” is the perfect internal dialogue of a man chasing an unresponsive woman. Omar telling himself to get it together over a lonely melody featuring a plaintive Spanish guitar is devastating. It captures the emotions of the situation and puts you in that mood whether you’re currently chasing anyone or not.

The only slow spot on the album is after Common finishes his verse on “Gimme Sum.” The production is real dope and the song is crazy through two MCs. But after that, the last two can’t manage the necessary quality.

With that out of the way, let’s talk about Omar and Stevie Wonder. I’m not sure whether “Feeling You” is more like classic Omar or classic Stevie. Either way, it’s pretty damn good. It has that big, epic soul sound that Stevie was so good at creating, but it’s updated ever so slightly. Some things are just meant to be and this song is a fusion of styles that was made in heaven.

Sing is just an incredible record. Omar fans will love it. The uninitiated happening across it will love it. Now it’s just a question of whether radio will play it so Omar can blow properly in the States after all these years. Maybe he should have had Lil’ Jon remix something.

Tags: omar, sing, stevie wonder

The word “tweener” in sporting vernacular is usually employed to describe a player with a long list of “not quites.” Not quite tall enough to play a certain position, not quite fast enough for another. Not quite this or that. The normal result is that a versatile and talented athlete washes out for their talent’s lack of specificity. But every once in awhile, one of these gifted “tweeners” lands in a situation where player, coach, and team are on the same page and the results prove magical.

Aloe Blacc is a musical tweener. Not because of what he’s “not quite”, but because of a refusal to draw parameters around his creativity. While this results in an incredible array of quality music, it also makes him hard to pin down for fans, critics, and labels. Just as fans get used to him as a hip-hop artist, he starts performing calypso. Just as people decide he’s one hell of a Latin artist, he turns into a folk singer. Aloe’s creativity demands versatility from him, and his music in its turn, demands the same from listeners.

“It’s not contrived at all,” Aloe says of his wide frame approach to creativity. “It’s just whatever hits me in my heart or in my mind or I may see something or hear something and out comes a hip-hop joint or a folk song or a salsa joint. It’s been like that for a while now. I can’t deny myself anymore or at all. Continue Reading »

Tags: Aloe Blacc, Emanon, Shine Through, stones throw

This talented trio has a knack for combining sounds in an unusual way. Big band funk meets psychedelic new-age? Throw in a quirky synthesizer with soulful trumpets and percussion and I Believe in a Thing Called Soul could make a believer out of you.

Julian MacDonough keeps things going with skillful percussion. Not only capable as the support for trumpet runs and organs, Julian is very capable of stealing the thunder all by himself. But probably the most distinctive sound coming out of the Megatron stable is rovided by keys player Delvon Dumas. He manages to push the band one notch higher as he alternately mans a piano, a Hammond B-3 organ, and a synthesizer. On the trumpet, Paul Chandler shows a nuanced ability to blend with the group even when blowing intricate and difficult licks.

Megatron is a hodge-podge of musical styles with something to please virtually every type of listener. Their funk with flare just might make “I Believe in a Thing Called Soul” your groove for the week.

Tags: Delvon Dumas, Julian MacDonough, Megatron, Paul Chandler

Malena Perez is trying to make you cry. Some artists want platinum sales, others want Navigators and Expeditions, Malena wants tears. Even if it’s just once. “[When] you’re in a live performance and you see somebody actually cry, that is priceless,” Malena says. “If that even happens once on this tour then I will consider it a success.”

It’s a perspective that treats music as a message and an inspiration. It’s the perspective of a child who saw her father lose his homeland, but never lose his love for the rhythms and melodies that defined its musical heritage.

“My father is from Cuba,” Malena begins. “He came here in his teenage years without his parents. He was part of a movement called Pedro Pan, which is Spanish for Peter Pan, where nearly 20,000 children came to the U.S. without their families. I really respect him for having to go through that struggle. What he brought with him was an undying love of the music of his country. So much so that he started his own radio show when he finally made it to Atlanta at [local community radio station] WRFG.”

For her father, music was a way to maintain a connection to his heritage even while he couldn’t experience it directly. For Malena, music is a way of honoring her heritage and sharing her take on it with others. Continue Reading »

Tags: Carlos Nino, Malena Perez, Osunlade, Stars

Will Holland aka Quantic has a DJ’s sense of rhythm and it shows throughout his production work. This makes sense considering he is a sought after DJ on both sides of the Atlantic. The rhythm section of each song on An Announcement to Answer is geared to moving bodies on a dancefloor. Whether Latin, African, or jazz-infused the predominant musical influence of this record is club culture.

Horns are as omnipresent here as they once were in Pete Rock productions. There’s nothing on this album that doesn’t feature a large helping of horn play. The normally stabbing, almost percussion-like horns compliment Holland’s own incredibly funky play on the bass and drums to create a rhythm triumvirate that drives Announcement’s production.

As with any production album, a large part of its success or failure will rest in the selection of vocalists. While less than half of this record features vocalists, they are chosen perfectly. Label mate and stand-out left coast MC Ohmega Watts provides the album’s dose of virtuosic MCing. Ohmega’s ability to flow effortlessly on pretty much everything serves him well as he takes Holland’s left-of-center production efforts over the top on “Blow Your Horn” and “Ticket to Know Where.”

Reaching further into the west coast stable of talent, Holland taps Rebirth vocalist Noelle Scaggs for a beautiful turn on the Latin inspired “Politick Society.” Scaggs not only blows things out of the water, but also delivers a heavy message of self-empowerment.

The second of the album’s most obviously Latin tracks also features guest vocals. This time Tempo of the Candela All-Stars does the honors and the result is something as likely to move hips in San Juan as in the UK.

Holland says the sound on this latest album is a result of where his musical tastes have taken him recently. If so, An Announcement represents a very, very good direction.

Tags: Quantic, Will Holland