Bonafide issue 05 by Bonafide Magazine

Issue 05 Summer 2011 | ÂŁ3.99

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MAISON MARTIN MARGIELA | RICK OWENS | COMME DES GARCONS | SILENT

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DAM-FUNK | CFCF | GUIDO | ANDREW WEATHERALL | MARTYN

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â&#x20AC;&#x153;Deep, cerebral and inventive... the future of UK hip hop" - The Times

Out 2/5/11 CD / 2LP / DNL

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77A Charterhouse Street, London EC1. www.fabriclondon.com FAbriCLivE 57: Jackmaster — available 16th May FAbriCLivE 58: Goldie — available 18th July FAbriCLivE 59: Four Tet — available 19th September

Africa Hitech (Live) Alexander Nut Alleycat Andy C Baobinga Becoming Real Ben Ufo Blawan Boys Noize Break Brookes Brothers Caspa Chase & Status (Dj Set) Cyantific David Rodigan dBridge Delta Heavy Dj Die Dj funk Dj Hype Dj Marky

Dj Q elijah + Skilliam extended Players Goldie Hazard Hudson Mohawke Hyetal icicle instra:mental j Rocc jack Sparrow jack Beats jackmaster james Pants jehst (Live) jubei B2B vicious Circle Kryptic Minds Kutmah Loadstar ft texas Loefah Ltj Bukem & Mc Conrad

Martyn Mistajam Mosca oneman Pangaea Pascal Pinch B2B Distance Redinho (Live) Rockwell Royal t S.P.Y. SBtRKt (Live) Scratch Perverts Scratcha DvA Shed (Live) Spectrasoul Stretch Armstrong the Heatwave & Rubi Dan vivek Wbeeza (Live) Youngsta

RO£ C£ SIDE A – OLD-SCHOOL EL-P

Shooting the shit with hip-hop’s very own replicant

GRANDMASTER FLASH

We catch-up with the OG innovator and find out why he we wont be hanging up the wheels of steel any time soon

EPMD

Eric and Parrish helped usher in hip-hop’s golden era back in 1987 – with a little help from Run DMC

J ROCC

The L.A. turntablist extraordinaire talks crate digging, Dilla and why his ALBUM IS NOT A MIXTAPE

DEADLY AVENGER

Sit back, grab some popcorn and read about one man’s journey from making big-beats to scoring award winning HBO television

“Homeboy throw in the towel, Your girl got dicked by Ricky Powell.” Kicking it with the most charming man in hip-hop

RICKY POWELL JOSE PARLA

A profile of the artist also known as Ease

NEW SCHOOL

Flip over to side B for some New-school ish

STAFF

CONTACT

WORDS

VISUALS /PHOTOGRAPHY

Editor: James Griffin Associate Editor: David Kane Art Direction: Paul Allworthy Copy Editor: Kieran Hadley, Copy Editor: Becci Woods

Advertising enquiries: david@bonafidezine.com General enquiries: mailbox@bonafidezine.com Anything else, head to: www.bonafidezine.com

John Whybrow, David Farnsworth, Dr. Chris Renwick, Phillip Mlynar, Barry Smyth, James Ernesto Lang/ Groovement,Kieran Hadley, Chromeo, Milly Cundall, Oli Marlow, Adam Hutcheson, Aaron Jackson, Andrew Spragg,Chris Byrne, Joel Harris, Toby Hemming and KidKanevil.

Old-school cover photo: Ricky Powell New-school cover photo: Yev Kazannik Features: Ellie Foreman-Peck, Jimmy Mould, Gareth Bayliss, Ricky Powell, Josh MG, James Griffin, Yev Kazanik, Liz Ainge and Sam Donnison Fashion Stylist: P.C. Williams

DistributION Newsstands & bookshops: Native publisher services, Unit 9, Lidget Hill, Pudsey, Leeds, LS28 7LG For all circulation and distribution queries contact: keironjefferies@helpwithmagazines.co.uk

Independent record shops UK, US & Europe: Kudos Records Ltd, 77 Fortess Rd, Kentish Town, London NW5 1AG For all circulation and distribution queries contact: ben@kudosrecords.co.uk

SHOUTS James Heather, Katie De-La Fuente, Bayo, Maddi Moore, Calum, Jack & Richard@numbers, Kat & Freddy@protein and Ricky P!

The views expressed in Bonafide are those of the respective contributors and not necessarily shared by the magazine or its staff. Bonafide assumes no responsibility for unsolicited manuscripts, photographs, illustrations or promotional items. Worldwide copyright is held by Bonafide and unauthorised reproduction is forbidden without written permission.

BONAFIDE 05 Since starting as an annual relese in 2008 we keep hering te same ting two tings “prin is dying” and te “te Inernet is rendering physicl magzines impoten”. Maybe we should take notice of this sage advice. Or perhaps we should just trust our instinct, our readers and the people we work with. Not only are the labels, artists and brands we collaborate with supportive, and more importantly, enthusiastic about what we are doing, but it’s you, the reader, who is pushing for more issues. You’re proving to have an endless desire to connect to and discover more about the culture we all love. Bonafide set out with the aim to celebrate ‘oldschool, mid-school and new-school creativity’. Five issues on we’re proud to present the Old-school x New-school issue. In hip-hop chronological order we speak to the Godfather of it all, Grandmaster Flash, profile EPMD, the funky Long Island duo from the golden age of rap and get crazy with ‘the lazy hustler’ and fourth Beastie Boy, Ricky Powell. Still in NYC, we speak to a leading voice for alternative hip-hop, EL-P, who, nearly 15 years on from the release of the Funcrusher Plus (as part of Company Flow), reveals that there’s plenty of drive left in the tank. From the West Coast we catch up with the revered turntablist and Beat Junkie, J Rocc.

In the new-school side of the magazine, we break bread with those responsible for some of the most exhilarating new sounds in British urban music. We have exclusives with DELS and Ghostpoet as they launch their careers with original and nuanced albums. For this issue’s roundtable we speak with the men behind Numbers, the Glasgow based record label that has rewritten the rulebook on how techno, electronic, R’n’B, house and (in the case of offshoot label, Lucky Me) hip-hop music should sound. On the visual side, we delve deep into the Brainfeeder psyche, speaking with designer and artist Charles Munka about his contribution to the label’s distinct art direction. We don’t claim this to be a definitive tome but we hope we’ve captured the spirit of the old and the excitement of the new, delivering a reminder of how enjoyable reading a printed publication is. It looks good on your bookshelf, too. Let us know what you do and don’t like about the magazine via snail mail, email, Facebook or twitter (@bonafidezine), and help shape the next issue.

i’Ve Ve Been here V a long time and nd i’m si£ So ehow Som BleSSed enough to Be releVan. Bonafide’S VoigH-Kmpff tes wt wi el-p diScoVerS a human hip-hop machine insi£ed wt wi fierce ine£igence. no trceS of a.i. Jus a 100% og hip-hop hed.

I’ll probably do a movie of chase scenes. Chase scenes and sex scenes, that’s it. It’s gonna be people running and fucking.

WORDS: DAVID FARNSWORTH

VISUALS: ELLIE FOREMAN-PECK

After listening to the futuristic soundscapes featured on EL-P’s album, Weareallgoingtoburninhell Megamixxx3, I couldn’t help but feel like Deckard set to interview a replicant. My apparatus carefully set out before me. My phone rested on my trusty pad and pen, and alongside it, my laptop poised ready to record the call. It was like the bladerunner Voight-Kampff test. I dialled the number, set it to speaker phone with a bleep, which triggered the software’s soundwave. It was followed by a flat hiss, then the soundwave leapt to life.. EL-P answered live and direct from his apartment in brooklyn, in a warm, calm and re-assuringly human voice. I wasn’t talking to a machine or some futuristic freedom fighter but a man getting through his press obligations. To kick off, let’s start with Weareallgoingtoburninhell Megamixxx3. Was this Instrumental album planned, or is it just a collection of unreleased tracks? It was both really. The inception of the record was a collection of random shit I had laying around that I had never finished, I used that as a basis to produce a new record. But unlike the first two in the series, this one has been treated and I’ve tried to create a real album that’s got continuity. Also I actually mixed it [laughs], which I didn’t with the first two.

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Some of the tracks were scraps of things that hadn’t been assigned to anything, or were designed for me to write something to, or they were meant for someone else. So I re-approached all of the tracks and tried to fit them together, so there’s like three levels of productions on the album. Were there any beats on the album that you wanted to rhyme over and do you ever regret letting go of beats that you think might be useful in the future? No question. I always struggle with that, in the same way that I struggle when I’m producing for other people. When I’m producing for someone else or I’m inspired by someone else, I’m a lot freer. I don’t have the same mental block that I have with my own music, and it produces some great results.

I sometimes feel like calling someone and saying ‘sorry man my whole drive crashed’, or ‘you won’t believe this but my whole apartment caught fire and the only thing that was damaged was your beat.’ But, you know, I believe in the rule that you need to just believe that you’ll make something dope in the future. You can’t just hold on to something, because you made something that you like. But it’s certainly a discipline. Can you describe your process of collaborating with others? Do you hand a beat over and let someone run with it or do you like to keep the project under tight control?

But I’m the kind of dude that, if I’m doing a remix for someone, I will literally give them something, completely change it and hand it back to them without telling them. Which is kind of a dick move, but hey...I just can’t help it! I’ve often fantasised about doing a rap album, where the beats are totally produced by someone else. It would be cool to focus on one thing, and I sometimes think if I had that kind of arrangement, I’d be putting more records out. But they wouldn’t mean as much to me, to be honest. They wouldn’t feel like a full creative experience and that’s what I’m in it for.

I’m a control freak. Anything I do, I see the whole process through to the end. So I don’t really believe in ‘handing over’, and to some degree I think that’s annoying to most people.

You’re never hearing another Company Flow album; because I’m not gonna’ shit on my legacy.

A few years back, you did the soundtrack to, bomb The System. Is that something you’d like to do more of? Oh man, yeah I’d love to score more films! I’m a big film buff, and I’m really inspired by scores. I think in a way that’s why my music sounds the way it does, sort of cinematic in its scope and a bit dramatic, you know? Music from films was the shit that got me collecting records; my first record ever was the Star Wars vinyl. The Star Wars score was what I used to listen to as a child. Doing that movie [Bomb The System] was a great experience. I hope someday I’ll be able to do something like that again, because since then I feel I’ve come along way in terms of my ability. If you could pick or create a movie to score, what would it be? Oh man, shit that’s a good question. I don’t know, but that motherfucker would have a chase scene in it! In every movie score, the hottest shit is the chase man. I’ll probably do a movie of chase scenes. Chase scenes and sex scenes, that’s it. It’s gonna be people running and fucking. You could probably get a good zombie movie out of that. Oh yes, and they all happen to be zombies, which makes the sex scenes uncomfortable... but still necessary.

What composers influence you? Vangelis, Ennio Morricone, John Carpenter, Philip Glass and defiantly Moroder. Shit, I even loved Jan Hammer. I was the dude that bought the Axel F, Beverly Hills Cop theme on vinyl. Have you ever checked out Tangerine Dream? Of course man. No question. Tangerine Dream was my shit! The Thief score, you gotta check that out. As a hip-hop producer/artist, do you find yourself collecting odd records? Whether it be for sampling, or because an artist you liked sampled it? Oh yeah, I think that’s true, and something a lot of people don’t realise. A lot of people think hip-hop’s this insular thing, but the reality is that the real hip-hop head is one of the most openminded musicians that you could possibly come across. Because you’re constantly listening to different genres of music – for inspiration, for thievery purposes, whatever the fuck it may be. That’s why I find it strange when people don’t understand that genres cross, that all genres cross. Hip-hop is the centre point of every genre of music, you know? Hip-hop has always been a filter, and is inspired by everything, and we’ve always taken that inspiration and turned it into our music.

A lot of people think hip-hop’s insular, but the reality is that the real hip-hop head is one of the most open-minded musicians that you could possibly come across.

Do you think that mainstream music lacks this eclecticism? No, actually I really don’t, there’s some really cool production happening in the mainstream, there has been for years. The weird thing about mainstream music is that everyone starts copying whatever’s a hit. Then that becomes redundant. It’s like, ‘OK that was great the first time I heard it’. Even the fifth time I hear it, it’s OK, you know? By the twentieth time, I’m tapping my foot and I’m like ‘OK, let’s get to the next sound, the next idea.’ But that shit happens at every level, not just the mainstream, it even happens in the underground and emerging scenes. I’m sure even dubstep is getting to the point where some artists are imitating the originators of that sound. But you always get people that lead the charge and innovate, then you get people that just take inspiration from them. I guess for me, the important thing is to seek influences from outside of your genre, then you can change and contribute something [new]. If you only seek influence from people who are doing [the same] music you are, you’re essentially gonna end up making the same thing. As a producer it’s your job to be knowledgeable about music, to be open to music and to be inspired by it. I remember the first time I heard Tim Westwood play 8 Steps to Perfection. It stood out amongst the Azs and Smooth Da Hustlers. With the wave

of rappers touring classic albums, and as a lot of people cite Funcrusher Plus as a landmark album, would you consider getting Co-Flow back together and doing a hip-hop equivalent of Pet Sounds? Hmmm. My response is usually no. I tell you man, no disrespect for people that do that, it’s cool and a great way for people to make some dough. But I haven’t even begun! You know? I’m not ready to start being nostalgic yet. I can’t help but think when you do that, then you admit your better days are behind you. That’s why you’re never hearing another Company Flow album; because I’m not gonna’ shit on my legacy. Maybe we’ll do some songs here and there...but probably not. You came up in what could be considered the ‘new-school’ of hip-hop, but you’ve never felt the need to conform to set ideas of what hip-hop sound like and embody the spirit of the The Soulsonic Force sampling Kraftwerk and relentlessly seeking out fresh influences and future sounds. A true auteur. An old-school head, but not retro. I’ve always looked forward and to some degree my shit has been ahead of its time from the beginning, at least in my incredibly egocentric and ridiculous mind. But I have to think that way, it’s kept me in the game and I’ve been here a long time and I’m still somehow blessed enough to be relevant. I’d like to keep it that way.

iS it te Same quesionS? you Say ‘te hisory’ BU i’Ve Said it a touSand timeS. WORDS: CHRIS RENWICK It’s safe to say that things haven’t quite got off to the start that bonafide hoped when its crack team of question writers decided how to approach an interview with Grandmaster Flash. We thought we’d kick things off with some gentle praise for his formative role in hip-hop culture but Flash doesn’t want to go down that road – just a few hours before headlining the Rizla Arena at East London’s Lovebox festival. but this told bonafide something important about hip-hop’s original innovator: while the past made Grandmaster Flash what he is today, he’s more interested in talking about hip-hop right now and where it can go in the future. So, we start again and this time with the issue of template but also gave the world a new way creativity – an issue that connects past, present of experiencing music. And that way of and future. In many ways, creativity defines experiencing music eventually changed how Grandmaster Flash and explains what makes him it’s made. Is there anyone around at the moment such an enduringly fascinating figure. On the one who’s that innovative or creative, especially when hand, along with his legendary MCs, The Furious it comes to the turntables? Five, Flash gave the world a series of records, “ Wow!,” Flash responds. “That’s a big question. including White Lines and The Message, which People I think are quite innovative on the are stone-cold hip-hop classics. On the other turntables? There’s such a list.” The thing is, none hand, though, Flash did something more important of the names on that list are ones you might than make some great music. By taking his DJing expect. For Flash, it’s people like Fatboy Slim, equipment apart and learning how to manipulate 2ManyDJs, and Crookers who are doing the most recorded sound, Flash not only shaped the hip-hop interesting and important things right now … >>

The reason’s quite simple: “Back [in the 1970s] I found a way to combine pop with rock with jazz with blues with funk with R‘n’B. Since then music has become a mash-up – it’s become a fusion. It’s incredible and a lot of it’s done by DJs who are producers. These are like my peers. They think like me: they’ve done things to please masses of people.” Essentially, these DJs are like Flash, he explains, because “they don’t want to please just ten or 15 people; they want to please thousands and thousands of people.” But it’s only recently that he’s come to see these connections. “A lot of the people out there who thank me for what I’ve done and how it helped them become the superstar DJs that they are today. Until around ten years ago I didn’t really get what they meant. Then I diagnosed it by listening to what they did, which is to take my concept and take it to the next level, whether that’s by using some of the breaks that I found or using some of the DJing techniques that I created. They took these things and played them out to masses and masses of people – that’s really amazing.” However, as everyone knows, what people like 2ManyDJs and Crookers are doing now isn’t exactly

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the same as what Flash started. The music and way it’s made has been totally transformed by technological development. But Flash sees this as a positive thing. Technology, he argues, “ has really helped people keep the concept fresh and to constantly renew it.” And most important of all in this respect is time stretching: the technique that enables DJs and producers to change the speed but not the pitch of recorded music. This “has allowed people to take one sample that’s 96bpm and another that’s 110bpm,” Flash explains, and “put it through the computer and time stretch it and make it so they’re both matched.” And, for Flash, “that’s kind of what I did in my own way in the 1970s.” Yet one question that’s raised by the connections Flash sees between himself and people like Fatboy Slim is whether they are really doing the same kind of thing. After all, Flash’s reputation is as the ultimate live musician on turntables: someone who can take a handful of records and create something new right in front of you. For many hip-hop purists, some of whom you’ll find at Bonafide Towers, technology has undermined the DJ’s creative role and made their hard-honed skills redundant. But Flash couldn’t see things

I found a way to combine pop with rock with jazz with blues with funk with R‘n’B. Since then music has become a mash-up – it’s become a fusion.

more differently: things change but when they do new and exciting things are possible. Modern technology means “you can make so many things meet now in terms of beats per minute,” Flash explains. “Once you intersect two things, it becomes new.” For this reason, “a lot of these DJs – like 2ManyDJs, [and] Crookers” should be understood as Flash’s contemporaries and spiritual heirs: they’ve taken his thoughts and done “something new with them.” What excites Flash most about these kinds of DJs and producers is that he can incorporate their sounds and techniques into his own. And this attitude was in full effect later that night when he rocked the Lovebox crowd with a set built out of both the classics and breaks lifted from the latest hip-hop, dance, rock, and R‘n’B records. Looking around, what’s immediately obvious about the crowd, who lap all this up, is that they’re drawn from every walk of life. In this respect, Flash

has been an enthusiastic observer of the steps hip-hop has taken recently towards full acceptance in the rock music world. In particular, he’s a real admirer of Jay-Z – “one of the few rappers who really understands what it takes” – whose controversial but triumphant headlining show at Glastonbury 2009 was a landmark for hip-hop in mainstream British music culture. Again, though, Flash sees the breakthroughs that Jay-Z and others have made as being largely down to technology. Simply put, he thinks modern technology has finally enabled the full realisation of what he and others started in 1970s New York. “ Modern technology allowed all these different worlds to come together. We become one again and that’s what I was thinking early on when I was doing this in my bedroom: ‘there’s got to be a way to take this white rock group and put it with this funky black group, and take this funky white group and put it with this underground

black group, and bring all these things together’. Now all of these DJs have taken these things and taken it to another level by playing it to masses of people. I’m interested in learning from these people because we do the same thing: we’re all interested in bringing things together and serving the people. If a DJ thinks about things in any other way then they’re a legend in their own mind only.” It’s difficult to assess what this means for the relationship between hip-hop and rock, though. Does it mean that hip-hop has been fully accepted or does it mean that it’s allowed in only occasionally? As the controversy over Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five’s induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2007 showed, not all rock music fans see hip-hop as part of their world – as somehow not being ‘real’ music. But Flash sees things differently: “What we were doing early on, was rock. When me, Afrika Bambaata, and Herc were looking for records, we were looking in the rock bins at the record store. It’s a no brainer for me to see a rock band with a rapper up there because that intersecting was done successfully in the 70s. Now, with

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modern technology, you’re just seeing that on a massive scale. I think it’s wonderful but it’s a no brainer. If I see it, I think ‘oh, that makes sense. Jay-Z’s rapping on a Limp Bizkit beat, that makes sense’.” As Bonafide’s time with Flash draws to a close, he takes the opportunity to expand on what he thinks is most important about this situation and what it says about hip-hop. Being open-minded – that’s the key to making hip-hop music and putting it out there for consumption. Take the idea of a hip-hop beat. In Flash’s opinion; “There’s no such thing as a single hip-hop beat. The drummer was always the common thread running throughout all of the records I was listening to, whether they were from the pop, jazz, blues, funk, R‘n’B, techno or house section. I’m listening to the drummer and thinking ‘how can I take what he’s doing and marry it to this drummer?’ and ‘how can I take all of these things and make one big long groove for the course of the night?’” And it’s this attitude that sums up what he does and what he thinks is the core of hip-hop. “That’s hip hop,” he tells us, “from a DJ’s point of view.”

events!

E OUT “THE KINGS OF THE CAPITAL’S HIP-HOP SCENE” TIM

Every Saturday:

SubSoul @ The Social with residents Jazzie B (Soul II Soul), Spin Doctor & Chris P Cuts Thursday 26th May:

Just Blaze vs Alchemist @ Moho Live, Manchester Friday 27th & Saturday 28th May:

Just Blaze vs Alchemist @ Plan B, London Sunday 29th May:

Just Blaze vs Alchemist @ Coalition, Brighton Friday 17th June:

The Doctor's Orders Jehst Album Launch @ Fabric Jehst live, Spin Doctor, Stretch Armstrong, Mr Thing, Harry Love & more Friday 24th June:

Saigon live @ XOYO, London Sunday 10th July:

Spin Doctor's FREE B-Day BBQ @ Cargo, London

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23 yerS after teir firs london Show erick Sermon and parriSh Smit, aK epmd, reurn to te Big Smoke sill making do£a £ rS and haVing fun, aS phi£ip mlynar inVesigteS. WORDS: PHILLIP MLYNAR

PHOTOS: JIMMY MOULD

With a funk-saturated sound formulated way out in Long Island, EPMD took their place up front as part of hip-hop’s fabled golden era back in 1987. Now, nearly three decades deep in hip-hop history, rap innovators Erick Sermon and Parish Smith look back on the game-changing night they played London’s brixton Academy, how the business of hip-hop taught them to break-up to make-up, and the lasting lesson the legendary Run-DMC taught them about always embracing rap’s new generation. It’s 1988 and the Whistle Posse are in the house at London’s Brixton Academy. Their infernal siren fills up the venue’s atmosphere with a fevered anticipation. Back stage, Run-DMC’s Jam Master Jay is talking to Erick Sermon and Parish Smith, two rookie rappers and producers from

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the suburban climes of Brentwood, Long Island who rap under the name of EPMD, an amalgam of their monikers and mission: Erick and Parish Making Dollars. Jay tells the duo, who have been invited along on the tour after Run

is impressed by their debut album, Strictly Business, that they should consider using the talents of current New Musical Seminar DJ champion DJ Scratch to bolster their live show. It’s timely advice, with EPMD in need of a new vinyl-spinning back-bone after K La Boss, who’d established himself as the duo’s DJ-of-choice after Diamond J – who would eventually go on to spin for P Diddy – had briefly flirted with the position only to bail out of the tour and travel back to the US citing illness. Early commercial UK hip-hop success story Derek B had filled in for EPMD the other night, earning the respect of Erick and Parish for memorising their set. But, after witnessing Scratch perform an incredible set, the offer to become EPMD’s permanent DJ is made solid. After this, things will never be the same for EPMD, as the brothers from Brentwood take up their chance to perform nightly with not just Run-DMC, but also Public Enemy, DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince, and Stetsasonic. Things will never be the same for hip-hop either: the golden era is in full effect. Outside, the Whistle Posse salutes. It’s now February of 2011 and Erick, Parish and Scratch are once again in London together, this time at the Kentish Town Forum for the first of a 13-date European sweep. Back stage, they blend like their music: Parish, all studied monotone flow on record, exudes a cool calmness; Erick, known for one of rap’s most endearingly cordial lisps in rhyme, hops around and hams it up

I think once it hit its height for us in about ‘93 or ‘94, then it became less about the music and the culture and the art-form and more about the financial thing. for a photographer. As the duo seek quick sanctuary in the dressing room, they joke that they finally have an opportunity to pose for photos without Scratch interrupting. (Scratch has never been short of confidence in his own abilities or worth.) Asked about his time in the capital, Erick trots out the usual rap artist tourism line: He loves playing in London, the last time was with Nas for Rock The Bells, but is never impressed with the food or the weather. But for Parish, that fateful night at Brixton Academy seems etched in his mind, as he recalls “a stage filled with pandemonium,” the fullon horn-style wall-of-noise of the Whistle Posse, and bringing DJ Scratch into the fold at Jam Master Jay’s behest. “After that, it was history,” he says, proudly.

The symbolism of that distant night is strong, and sums up a hip-hop era when the defining momentum was with the music, not the images of individual artists. Run telling Def Jam executive Lyor Cohen to track down EMPD and invite them on the road, and Jay recommending a fellow DJ to fit the group’s vibe, seems like one generation graciously embracing the spirit of the next. Run-DMC themselves had already been in that position, kick-starting a new movement by trading up the (often) disco and dance-helmed grooves of hip-hop’s first recorded wave of old-school music for harsh and sparse drum machine beats and abrasive raps. EPMD heralded their own arrival with thick, mid-tempo funk grooves inspired by cruising around the expanse of Long Island in a car with the low-end frequencies cushioning the ride, not being cooped up on a rattling city subway train. The rhymes were just as comfortable, with the MCs prioritising the effortless way they said something over any allusions to content. As Erick declared on the Zapp-sampling You Gots To Chill: “Relax your mind, let your conscience be free/And get down to the sounds of EPMD.” It could be the group’s motto.

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As Parish tells it, this willingness of stylisticallydifferent artists to commingle was a main part of the reason the time would become enshrined as hip-hop’s golden era. So when he and Erick first walked in to Run-DMC’s tour bus, they reacted with the exhilaration of fans. “It was full of five huge TVs, Adidas sneakers with no strings all neatly lined up, nice meals the promoters would have waiting for them,” recalls Parish, who before that day had only seen Run-DMC on TV and in concert. But EPMD soon found themselves accepted as artists on an equal level of respect and camaraderie. “It was a tight clique that formed on that tour,” Parish continues. “Remember, this was Will Smith before he became a movie star, when he was hoping Parents Just Don’t Understand would take off, and then Public Enemy and Stet were there, and we’d all support each other and hang out. It was like one family.” Backing up the sentiment, he adds, “I mean, once you rolled up on those tour busses, we had basketball courts set up under the busses.” (Will Smith and his bodyguard, Charlie Mack, were kings of the court. As Parish remembers: “ They’d be dunking and we were just like, ‘Yo, we was just trying to do a little shoot up!’”)

We went from more or less just trying to define our art to taking care of business and touring the globe and not getting to see too much of what we were doing.

EPMD’s rise was quick, fateful, and a beneficiary and Rakim (Wyandanch), and the opportunity to of the times. Their profile was established after extend EPMD’s influence through the early-’90s by a first single, 1987’s It’s My Thing, was played putting on their collection of Hit Squad associates: by both DJ Red Alert and Mr. Magic on their Redman, Keith Murray, K-Solo, and tongue-twisting influential – but rival – New York City rap radio duo Das-EFX. shows; a debut album, the perfectly-composed ten But as the ‘90s moved on, EPMD started to notice track Strictly Business – the first in what currently changes in the industry around them, not least as totals seven “business”-punned titles – was roundly bonds that used to be formed through little more received as a classic. (Between the two releases, than keen creative integration started to fray. the group’s name and logo were solidified, after “ I think once it hit its height for us in about ‘93 either KRS-One or Biz Markie – the duo’s memory or ‘94, then it became less about the music and is hazy – told them the original spelling, EPEE MD, the culture and the art-form and more about the was too complicated, and designer Haze created financial thing,” says Parish. “When hip-hop first for them a logo as enduringly iconic as Run-DMC’s came out, the music industry largely looked at it own one.) Then came the tour with Run-DMC, the as trash, said it wasn’t gonna be around. But once chance to help define an era with fellow Long it looked super-lucrative to them, it was harder Island natives Public Enemy (Nassau County for the artists to stay on top of just the music – it became more about the money than the art. I remember meeting 2Pac out in the Bay Area when he was with Shock G and Digital Underground and thinking that it was a little easier for Erick and I to establish ourselves because when we came out you got respect simply on how dope your music was. But ‘Pac and those guys, they had a lot more to figure out.” During that time of change, EPMD started to make more money – but at the expense of not being able to enjoy it. “You were constantly working,” says Parish, “and in between our own albums, we had Das-EFX and Redman and K-Solo and Keith Murray to take care of. … >>

We went from more or less just trying to define our art to taking care of business and touring the globe and not getting to see too much of what we were doing.” After a fourth album, Business Never Personal, EPMD split up – business, sometimes, being capable of corrupting a personal relationship. It was 1997 before they released another studio album together, appropriately titled Back In Business. Back stage at the Kentish Town Forum, with show time looming, talk turns to the group’s future plans. Erick enthuses about his production work on an upcoming album from the Wu-Tang Clan’s gravelvoiced Method Man; Parish says he’s working with the Snowgoons production troop from Germany, and putting the finishing touches to an EP with Necro-associate Sean Strange titled Boondocks – “ some real underground music,” as he calls it. There is, of course, a new EPMD album being recorded, although since they’ve reunited the musical spark between Erick and Parish has never been as natural – as telepathic, even – as it once was. But that’s common: It’s hard for any hip-hop artist to stay relevant through so many years, eras,

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fashions and fads. Parish’s own history goes back to the early-’80s, when he called himself DJ Eazzy “P” and rolled with his older brother, Smitty D, the founder of the Rock Squad. “He had a good relationship with Afrika Bambaataa even before Planet Rock came out,” he says, adding that he’s “seen hip-hop since before they even called it hip-hop.” Instead, Erick and Parish are attempting to embrace their experience – their vintage status – without turning sour and bitter to the modern scene around them. Looking back over EPMD’s career – ups, downs, break-ups, reconciliations, and all – Parish says they have “no regrets.” Instead, he figures, “Now that we’re older, it looks like everything is a learning experience.” Then, with a similar humility to the way Run-DMC embraced EPMD’s generation back in ‘88, Parish invokes the wisdom of an icon of the wave that followed them: “But I know this – if we stop writing, if we stop producing, then we don’t have a right to complain about the state hip-hop is in. So like I always say to E, ‘We need to keep on that 2Pac work ethic.’”

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DJ KENTARO SMERINS ANTI-SOCIAL CLUB MR THING

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All pro from th fits will go to is night a Earthqu Japanese ak Tsunam e and i Relief Fund

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Saturday 21st May XOYO Old St. Tube Station

Tickets: www.soundcrashmusic.com or call 08444 771 000

WORDS: JAMES ERNESTO LANG // GROOVEMENT.CO.UK J Rocc, a name probably unknown in the mainstream yet is one of the most fundamental cats in hip-hop. A founder member of L.A. turntablist crew the World Famous beat Junkies, J was the third member of Jaylib and is part of the Stones Throw family. He also makes number one in many heads’ DJ lists. After years of being known solely for his selective and manipulative powers on the turntable, he’s now turned his hand to releasing an album, Some Cold Rock Stuf. “ Dilla was still alive when this album was signed,” he recalls down the phone from his L.A. crib. “That’s how long this has taken. Egon [who runs Stones Throw Records with Peanut Butter Wolf] was like, ‘ You know we paid you in advance for that album? Where is it?’ Then I realised he was serious.” It’s taken a while for others to get their head around it too, with J recently resorting to tweeting, “MY ALBUM IS NOT A MIXTAPE”, all caps to

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emphaise that, while he’s thrown out more mixtapes than most DJ’s have records, this is his first album proper. The album is old-school through and through, and an encyclopaedia of breaks. It both demonstrates J Rocc’s reputation as a digger of crates extraordinaire and his ability to suck-up new technology like a hip-hop hoover. The LP is both contemporary and like something that

Egon was like, ‘You know we paid you in advance for that album? Where is it?’ Then I realised he was serious.

would have been played out loud from a boombox supposed to be sharp but you can damage back in the day. “I used CDJs on the album for yourself. I actually just picked up vinyl shaped looping, time stretching, all that stuff. But I use as a fan by A Taste Of Honey – that’s pretty crazy looking. I have a ‘50s Disneyland record that has Serato to make beats too. I use anything. I used each record in a booklet… to use a 4-track before I had a sampler, layer those beats on top of each other. I got no problem “ I know my vinyl’s expensive. That’s why we made looping a break by hand – it’s 2011, you can use it some other shit, we tried to make it so you whatever you got.“ get a couple other things like the poster and stickers. Jeff Jank designed the album packaging “ Me and Egon went back and forth with it. Jeff and Wolf agreed it was a good idea – Wolf didn’t hear with Gustavo Eandi, who did the drawing. Jeff it until a week or two after mastering. He wasn’t as submitted a number of covers but wasn’t happy with any of them. Now he’s spent so much time hands on as he is with Dam Funk, Hawthorne and going back and forth with the printers because those dudes. I’m different – I don’t pull out my stuff they kept fucking it up. He had to make the jewel for him to listen to in the car like those guys might. case for the CD by hand and took that into the CD Some tracks I definitely had an audience in mind, place, a prototype, because there simply wasn’t like the megamix cut-up, to make it danceable. But anyone that could do that. Jeff went really all out; some of ‘em I was just trying to make beats, not he put time and effort into it to make sure it all really for a certain audience. Just making it for me made sense. He wouldn’t settle for the first try, in the hope that people will listen to it and dig it.” he always wanted to change it up.” Part of what makes this a real album, in J’s The casual vinyl buyer can certainly be caught in terms, is that it is a vinyl release. “I can just put a difficult situation, with new albums often costing a download up on Soundcloud anytime and call it between £20-30 on wax (J’s included), while the an album. This [album] had to be more concrete.” same download can be as little as £7. Unsurprisingly, making the physical product look But you don’t go to these design lengths for a sick was a priority. If you owned tens of thousands download. What if Stones Throw had said they of records, wouldn’t you want yours to stand out wanted to do download only first, then see how a little? Both the vinyl and CD versions of the it does before a vinyl release? “I don’t know, man. album come elaborately packaged. “The It would have to be my second or third album. DangerDoom vinyl on Lex Records was dope. My first album has to be vinyl, be official. … >> Oh No and Alchemist did a chainsaw – it’s not

Photo: B+ Even if you don’t have fancy artwork, if you can just do a limited press, then that can only be a good thing. You gotta take care of the vinyl purists – there’s always somebody out there that wants the vinyl, not the CD or download. “ The vinyl pressing plants, they’re the last of the Mohicans. But as long as someone’s pressing records up they’ll be in business. Unless, like Technics, companies stop making the parts. Even that equipment is ancient though! They’re probably working on a new edition made in 88…” J Rocc took much inspiration from Dilla during their friendship and since his passing. “Donuts was made in Pro Tools for the most part. All the time stretching, plug-ins and crazy shit, all done in-house. He didn’t care what he was using – whatever was available. If I came over to his house hyped about Ableton, he would have tried Ableton. When Madlib bought some little in-house sampler, Dilla went out and bought one too. He didn’t trip, he was definitely a technology head. He’d be like, ‘Yo, J Rocc, you didn’t get these plug-ins yet? Man!’ He would use keyboards and all that shit too, but… if I could show him what Ableton could do now he’d be like, J Rocc, what! “ If he was here now, he would have been on some other shit.. Probably like Flying Lotus plus him plus Madlib plus a frickin’ dash of Questlove, Alchemist… everyone who is influenced by him. Imagine all the dopest elements of those people.

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That would be him right now, ‘cos all those dudes were influenced by him. He switched it up every fucking time. The beats he was playing me just before he died were some other shit! The last batch, man. They were like Donuts, but a different style. Still chopped loops but… I can’t even explain it. I would go to Dilla’s at least once a week just to kick it, play records, smoke… just chill. Common would be there ‘cos they lived together, Ma Dukes would be there… he would definitely, definitely be on some other shit. He just got his keyboard back, his Voyager, just before he passed… MAN. Then he would’ve took it somewhere else from there! All this shit now, he would have done three or four years ago. You would know who the father of the style was. “ With Stones Throw he went back to the underground. ‘Fuck all this major label shit, these fools fucking with me. Just put my shit on Stones Throw. They wanna release a beat tape? Go ahead, release the beat tape.’ He was close to everybody. From Jeff Jank to Wolf, even probably some of the people that were in the office at the time — everyone was hella close.“ J Rocc is in the right family when it comes to vinyl appreciation. Stones Throw could run a great business solely out of digital sales, but they’re one of the few last bastions of keeping wax alive, and J and his mates still make the time to wade through the vinyl underbelly of Los Angeles. “ But I don’t really run into anybody if I go record

I think hip-hop is terrible now because no one wants to sample. It’s easier to make a whole beat using just your laptop, your keyboard, your frickin’ iPhone. I listened to the radio the other day and they were playing T Pain or somebody and it sounded like 98 Euro-trash.

shopping. Usually I’d go with Madlib, [Beat Junkie] Rhettmatic… L.A.’s so spread out. Everybody goes, just they don’t tell each other when. Everybody tries to be secretive. There’s a lot of good records still out here man. “ Going everywhere and digging just opens my eyes, you know. Going to Brazil [for Brasilintime] got me into Brazilian music. My friends and how they listen to stuff, going record shopping with the homies, getting beat tapes from people like Madlib and hearing him flip the originals… it all influences me.” Outside of beats, J worked in a comics store for a time, and we reminisce about the industry boom of the early nineties and its subsequent downfall, seeing shops close in a way not unlike the plight of local record stores. “Aaron’s Records man… I still have stuff that I find with a dollar ninety-nine price tag, and I look online and it’s a fifty dollar record. All these other stores were wiped out by Amoeba [Music, L.A.’s largest independent record store] when it opened. They sell everything, music, DVDs… there was no reason to go anywhere else. Aaron’s Records was one of the dopest. They had all the boogie records before everyone tried to buy ‘em.” When J Rocc plays what he finds around the world, it’s mostly Serato he does it on, recording the wax into his laptop. He’s rocked Serato “ since maybe the second year it came out”.

What would he say to a DJ who would never entertain the thought of going digital? “They’re being stubborn. I tried and just remember the joy of having instant doubles of everything. I was making mixtapes galore when I first got it – a mixtape for myself just to drive around to! Doubles of everything! Got doubles o’ that! And that! I was still bringing records with me, it was still a new product with some glitches. But as soon as it got more stable – shit, I was rollin’. I’m still rollin’! I still buy vinyl, and play vinyl and all that stuff… but I remember the times going through the airport in Japan with a metal box of 70, 80 records and with Serato I don’t need to worry about records making it off the plane or going missing… homey Shortkut had his records stolen that way, his Big Daddy Kane and De La Soul disappeared at check in! Serato is dope and fun. The only problem is everyone’s a DJ now. Boo. Even rappers are DJing… c’mon, you serious everyone?” So what about the DMCs allowing Serato, rather then only vinyl? “Might as well. Shit! Technics closed up shop, got no other choice... I mean, there will be no more, period. They are not making any more – companies have gone to them and asked to buy the design. ‘Nope, uh-uh. We’re just stopping.’ Technics been making turntables for 30 years. The companies making the parts aren’t even around now! We used to be sponsored by Shure when they had a DJ department. It [Serato] didn’t just change record stores, everything

He would have been on some other shit... Probably like Flying Lotus plus him plus Madlib plus a frickin’ dash of Questlove, Alchemist...

changed. You can’t even get needles any more. If that whole culture [vinyl buying] dies, the whole business dies with it. “ I think hip-hop is terrible now just because no one wants to sample – everyone’s on computer keyboards. It’s easier to make a whole beat using just your laptop, your keyboard, your frickin’ iPhone. I listened to the radio the other day and they were playing T Pain or somebody and it sounded like 98 Euro-trash. The attitude – that’s what we grew up on, so that is what we are going to sample was the old-school approach – is not there now.” Don’t take this as bitterness on J’s part. Far from it. He’s excited by the ‘new’ beat scene that L.A. is spewing out, seeing parallels between the postDJ Shadow turntablism explosion of the nineties and the beat scene in L.A. right now. “In terms of creativity with Brainfeeder, Low End Theory, the Smog crew… it’s similar to that DJ scene. Everyone knows each other, or at least there’s six degrees of separation. Do I consider it hiphop? Yeah, for sure, they have hip-hop attitude.” It’s a brave new world. Magazines like Big Daddy (“I love that smart ass, dry British humour”) and Hip Hop Connection no longer exist physically, but Bonafide carries the torch in tandem with our website. Serato for the most part has replaced DJing with vinyl records, but its respect for the artform enables easy switching between the two

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and requires vinyl control records for it to work. And a certain attitude in hip-hop might have passed away a long time ago, if it wasn’t for the open-mindedness of cats like Dilla and J Rocc keeping it alive by absorbing the new and taking inspiration and parts from everywhere else – and that’s the attitude that created hip-hop in the first place.

Some Cold Rock Stuf, the first album by J Rocc, is out now on Stones Throw Records. www.stonesthrow.com/jrocc

few SurViVorS from te primordial Soup of te grndly ctegorized ageS of Big-Bet, downempo dance and trip-hop haVe enJoyed te creer arc of damon BaXter aK dedly aVenger. WORDS: bARRY SMYTH

Setting the scene A stalwart of the big-beat scene, Deadly Avenger alongside artists like Fatboy Slim, the Wiseguys and Jon Carter, filled dance-floors with beats that tipped a hat as much to hip-hop, breaks and reggae as they did the 4/4. This provided a welcome break if you weren’t that into big house and techno that, at the time, were the dominate sounds in most clubs, and enjoyed dancing with people who actually knew what a good pair of sneakers were. Any scene, however, whether it be broken-beat, dutty house or grime, reaches a peak and, no matter how all-encompassing for those involved at the time, it begins to dissipate; the nights become less frequent – moving from the big clubs with the decent soundsystems to small ironic gatherings in function rooms above the local pub; the records no longer dominate the racks and in many cases the devotees are left sitting in their living room staring at a stack of records they have been spunking their hard-earned on for the last two years and admitting to themselves that a good 60 -70% of the records are actually shite. Many artists involved, and rightly so, tend to make hay while the sun shines, but sadly the names that seem to be on everyone’s lips begin to fade until you can’t remember anything but the most anthemic tunes of those salad days. But, there are always exceptions to any rule. In many ways, unlike some of his peers who in the glory days of the scene appeared regularly on fashionable labels such as Wall Of Sound, Depth

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Charge, Pussyfoot, Freskanova, Deadly Avenger’s talent has left him more sought-after as an artist now, than then. So while Damon, under his sinister moniker, may not be the club-filling name he was, the skills that made his music compelling have led him on to the enviable position of becoming the go-to arranger and composer for some of the biggest media companies in the world. From playing to thousands to being listened to by millions So how does an artist make the shift from successful club DJ releasing records to scoring for BBC dramas and big budget films? What is the secret to this transition? From playing ecstasy soaked Mixmag wet-dream nightspots, such as Fabric, Damon then hopped, skipped and jumped into the shiny alloy armour of a remix warlord, re-jiggin’ tracks for the big boys, clocking up an enviable roster with the indie hoi-polloi of the time – Manic Street Preachers, Stereophonics, Charlatans — before taking the next step and launching his own label, Illicit.

In the early stages, the music I released was based on my hip-hop influence, so I was sampling old breaks, records etc. But the way I construct the finished piece remains the same. I concentrate a lot on arrangement, and how I can make an OK piece of music sound great.

His debut album Deep Red dropped from his nimble hands in 2002 and garnered critical applause in record shops across the land. Its sweeping arrangements, skillful use of brass and beats gave a nod towards the cinematic. A nod that became a vigorous head spasm when taking into account his masterful re-imagining of Bill Conti’s Going the Distance into his own track We Took Pelham. A second album Blossoms and Blood followed in 2007. Once again it throbbed with luscious string arrangements and its all round unctuousness gave it a gold star with those who actually give a tinkers about what they put in their ears. Its sound rang of cinematic vision and ambition, so much so that in retrospect Damon’s shift from a floor-filling DJ bunging out some records, to his final home as successful arranger/composer working for the big and small screen, now seems inevitable. All the old reviews mention Damon’s flair for the cinematic and his name is bandied about with other musicians who cross the boundary from stereo to cinema, heavy hitters such as Lalo Schrifrin, Curtis Mayfield or John Carpenter. Sashaying through the music business with the same smart steppin’ as platinum haired Soderburgh fave David Holmes, he is now so in demand that he spends the majority of his time scoring music for films, TV, adverts and trailers. “ The whole thing came about not long after

I released the very early Deadly Avenger tracks. I got a lot of remixes for bands like Travis, Manic Street Preachers, Stereophonics and started to get known for a certain sound. “ From then my music has been used on adverts/TV shows and started to move into scoring. I just did the trailer for Danny Boyles’ 127 Hours’, some more of the CSI shows, and am currently working on a secret ‘alien’ project.” Despite just releasing his new album Destroy All Planets digitally, Damon said he now finds composing his main challenge. “ I stopped making records a while back. I was fortunate enough to travel the world and meet some great people, but I got to the point with the whole DJing/putting records out thing that I’d sort of done it all,” he added. “ For what I do now the track always starts for away from the studio, usually after watching a movie. I get inspired by a certain scene or image and then have ideas for my own take of it. “ I think the content of my music has changed, but the style remains the same. In the early stages, the music I released was based on my early hip-hop influence, so I was sampling old breaks, records etc. But the way I construct the finished piece remains the same. I concentrate a lot on arrangement, and how I can make an OK piece of music sound great.”

Deadly Avenger typography and Illicit Records identities Currently artists in the vein of Trent Reznor and the RZA dabble with a bit of making music for the screen but, whomever you choose, it must be said that Damon has made the leap from our ears to our eyes with near un-equalled success. Enter the soundtrack Most people will have the odd crackin’ soundtrack or score in their collection, Reservoir Dogs, Enter the Dragon, Hair, not to mention a few mingers (Judgement Night anyone?) and a man in Damon’s position has listened to more than his fair share, both old and new.

“ I’m working on another collection of trailer specific music with Tamara Schlesinger from 6 Day Riot on a couple of vocal tracks, along with Brooklyn based violinist Kono Michi.” For those wanting to check out some of Damon’s work you only have to turn on you telly. “ My music can be heard all over the BBC shows from drama ads to Match of the Day. You can also hear it on CSI Miami, CSI NY, ads for Jaguar, Intel, and Beyond the Rave. But more impressively I heard it on Ray Mears programme the other day.”

“ The 1970s were a big influence, I’m an original Star Wars kid and grew up around all the amazing TV shows that were on during that period. Pretty much all of them had awesome music.

Linkage

“ If people are keen to check something then I’d go for obvious stuff like Lalo Schifrin, then maybe a bit of Goblin and then more recent scores like the one Clint Mansell did for The Fountain. There are some great B-movie scores out there, some great Blaxploitation music and also some great commercial summer blockbuster soundtracks. I tend to listen to them all depending on what jobs I have on at that moment.”

For more Deadly Avenger visuals check broadcastgarethbayliss.blogspot.com

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Listen to Deadly Avengers latest compilation Destroy All Planets @ deadlyavenger.co.uk

If talk of soundtrcks is putting you in te mood for a lil’ lisen you could do worse tan checking tese made-for-film gems…

Repo Man Soundtrack Various Artists MCA

Across 110th Street Bobby Womack & J.J. Johnson United Artists

Ghost Dog – The Way of the Samurai The RZA Victor Entertainment, Japan

This crazy little wingnut of a film not only has Harry Dean Stanton, Emelio Estevez (not being shit) and an alien but also a banging punk soundtrack that fits so well with the off-kilter storyline. Hardcore may not be your thing but these songs belong to the confusing, exciting atmosphere on screen. Black Flag’s TV Party is a winner and the Spanish version of Secret Agent Man by The Plugz is immense.

You, of course, get the sweet soul of the title track bled from the heart by Bobby, but also an uptempo instrumental and harder, version on the flip. More for the funkers among you is Harlem Clavinette and a strange, but compelling, horn and wah wah thing in the instrumental Hang On In There.

Of the two versions released it is the Japan only version that needs to be procured. Predominantly an instrumental soundtrack, it features the RZA on top form using stabbing beats, baroque horns and everything else he thinks would suit the rhythms of a modern day, urban dwelling Samurai with a pigeon fancying fetish. Like Forest Whitaker’s excellent turn, this is a heavyweight and killer piece of work.

One of those landmarks of New York culture. You might not know what they really do but the energy they give to this shit is what makes it what it is. Dante Ross WORDS: KIERAN HADLEY

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Ricky Powell epitomises the confidence and swagger of the archetypal New Yorker. He describes his photographs as a “time capsule” and is surprised they’ve become so widely regarded. But widely regarded they are. Powell’s epoch-defining images of Def Jam artists, New York street life and celebrities have become synonymous with a particular brand of cool. If you come from England and wore fat laces in the 80s, chances are it’s down to the influence of Powell or his friend Henry Chalfont (“Hank… lives around the corner from me…cool dude...very chill”). Taking his camera everywhere, Powell has a “natural knack for documenting interesting people”. This isn’t restricted to celebrities and artists, and Powell’s lens seems to treat Madonna and Warhol no differently to New York’ less renowned citizens. Whereas Glen E. Friedman provided covers for many of the iconic Def Jam covers in the early days, Powell is responsible for some beautifully candid moments outside the studio. Deciding to become “official” in 1985, Powell’s Minolta point-and-shoot and a “manual camera which I bought from a crackhead in Tompkins Square Park” seem entirely secondary to being in the right places with the right people. When discussing his street photography, he’s much more likely to refer to his “smarts and intuition” or “the process and interaction” than equipment and it’s this unbounded love of people that gives his pictures so much life and value.

Originally a Frozade vendor on the streets of New York after finishing college, he hooked up with the Beastie Boys for an early tour after introduction through a mutual friend. Later he was regularly referred to as “the fourth Beastie Boy” (a title also bandied about for DJ Hurricane and Money Mark) and immortalised on Paul’s Boutique: “Homeboy throw in the towel, Your girl got dicked by Ricky Powell”. Continuing to be Def Jam’s unofficial photographer and accompanying the likes of Run DMC, LL Cool J and Rakim. Working for the LGI Photo Agency in the 80s, Powell learned about “the hustle” in photography and gained access to a galaxy of famous faces, although he is keen to distance his approach from today’s paparazzi “roaches”. As well as his photography, “the lazy hustler” has released books and exhibitions, commercial work, slideshow tours and, with Rappin’ With The Rickster, a widely bootlegged cable-access TV show that recently made it to DVD. Here, in honour of our Old-School x New school issue, we’ve selected six Def Jam-related pictures by Powell with exclusive commentary and memories.

Top: The Tour Bus. May,1987.

Bottom: Run with Rick Rubin. NYC, 1987.

Somewhere during the European leg of The Together Forever Tour with Run DMC, Beastie Boys and Russell Simmons. I thought itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d be interesting to capture how the groups sat in certain spots. The two groups loved each other and this trip was like going to teen sleep-away camp.

I was riding around with Run in his beamer and we came upon Rick somewhere in the Village. Rick joyously came over to say hello. Theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d had a big hit with Walk This Way, among other songs, and were sharing a moment of happiness. I had to catch that moment.

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Eric B and Rakim. The Apollo Theatre, Harlem, NYC, 1988. Rakim looks classic in his custom made Dapper Dan outfit. They were one of the best rap groups at that time. I like the back drop, that was a regular thing for shows then.

Flav and The Biz. Studio 54, NYC, 1990. When I saw these two kicking it in a boisterous manner I had to capture it, because they were two allstars of rap and i had to preserve Â the moment.

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Top: Run & Mike D chilling in Hollis, Queens, 1987.

Top right: LL Cool J. Los Angeles, 1988.

During a break in shooting a promo for their upcoming tour in Europe. I thought this picture of these two chatting along like this was classic looking, and thought it should be preserved for interracial harmony.

I was flown to L.A. to take a photo of LL rocking his new line of hip-hop gear. He was Big Willie Green at the time and I felt lucky/honored to be doing an important shoot with him. He was cool with me, and I appreciated it...

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RICKY POWE£’S TOP TREE DEF JAM COVERS

Bigger and Deffer (1987) LL Cool J

The Great Adventures of Slick Rick (1988) Slick Rick

Yo! Bum Rush the Show (1987) Public Enemy

Another 1987 release, with Powell showing his glory days. This 2.5 million-selling release had another classic cover featuring photography by punk and skateboard photographer Glen E. Friedman, most frequent contributor to 80s Def Jam covers.

Another late 80s classic and another Friedman cover. The Great Adventures… is one of the most heavily referenced albums in rap and the cover casts an especially dapper MC Ricky D against a pastiche 30s New York backdrop.

Stone cold classic debut, sonically and artistically. Yo!.. featured design by NY graffiti writer Eric Haze, who also designed logos for Public Enemy, Beastie Boys, EPMD and Tommy Boy Records. And yet more Friedman lenswork!

José Parlá is pretty unique – an artis who TRVERSES te demands of te ART G£ERies AND TE CONCRETE CNVAS OF TE SREET WIT APLOMB. BONAFIDE SALUE’S an original sreet (FINE) ARTIS. WORDS : James griffin With his ability to represent two different artistic sensibilities José Parlá cuts an intriguing and exciting figure in modern art. From one perspective he’s an artist in the traditional art history sense. His paintings exhibit the touch of the artist as an author, crafting an original piece with multiple layers of paint and ephemera. This is applied through instinct but within a framework of considered theory. The way he articulates his ideas and conveys his passion in interviews, and the spaces where his work can be seen, indicate that we’re in the presence of a heavyweight fine artist who’s art is at home rubbing shoulders with some of the great pieces of modern art. At the same time Parlá retains an edge. He is a serious graffiti writer. Under the guise of Ease he learnt the skills and techniques to write graffiti, and today is an exponent of styles and a living encyclopedia of spray-can history. He is undeniably cut from street fabric. When I try to establish whether an event made him use his given name for his art practice by asking “Whether there is a point in your transition from writing the name Ease to choosing your given name José Parlá that stands out?”, the reply is disarming and frank: “ Being a writer and having a second name is not like having a multiple personality disorder. Ease is an artist name and when my father passed away,

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being that we shared the same name, I decided to use my given name to sign my work. Those who know me as Ease know I will always be Ease.” He is clearly an individual — if you excuse the pun — at ease with his work and approach. He isn’t going to be pigeonholed or weighed down by genres, labels or expectations. It is this ability to oscillate between these two areas of art that make his work stand out — there are few artists who can carry off being a respected figure in the street-art fraternity and be accepted by the old-school art world with its pre-occupation with theory, big name art galleries and power networks. Feeling for the streets “ My work pays homage to writers and crews, but also random people who I’ve never met that leave their traces on walls and around the city. My work also pays homage to contemporary and modern artists.” Parla’s practice see’s him recreating the city canvas using mixed media. It is this layering of materials in an instinctive but painterly fashion that echoes artists who have used the city as their

inspiration — original oil-workers such as JMW Turner and Atkinson Grimshaw, modernists such as Piet Mondrian and the contemporary city painter Sarah Morris. These artists attempted to synthesise the city the experience, re-imagining the feel and flow of it for the viewer. Mondrian with his work Broadway Boogie-Woogie draws on the bright lights of NYC, the grid system that the city was built around and the chic rhythms of life in the city. Morris similarly draws on the graphic shapes of the cities geometric architecture and the colour and reflections of the windows. Parla draws on the city but his pool of inspiration is different: “ Both Morris and Mondrian painted [sic.] in a very graphic, architectural way when it came to their depiction of the city. I love their work. My interpretation and inspiration comes from a different place.” An expert exponent of hand-styles and innovative user of mixed media, his paintings chronicle his experiences of urban life and the ghosts of the past that have left their residue on the city’s concrete walls. His recent show at NYC’s Brye Wolkowitz Gallery, Walls, Diaries, and Paintings, features an “installation made up of two large-

Being a writer and having a second name is not like having a multiple personality disorder.

scale paintings in a corridor resembling an alleyway or a narrow entrance to a subway station.” The work is made up of found posters and layers of paint, while writing and signatures to cover the surface. Like the stories contained within the detritus of the city he hopes “the audience can make the paintings a story all of their own, however abstract. I want the viewer to read the work through feeling.”

Above: The Struggle Continues plaster and ink on wood (4ft x 6ft) | Next page: De Kalb Avenue Station

Watching the videos of him at work there is a rhythm and vitality to his process, that brings up the recurring word ‘feeling’. Like Jackson Pollock and Antoni Tàpies, two heavyweights of 20th century modern art, he seems to be pouring his own recollections, techniques and inspirations into his art. I ask whether he uses music for inspiration and to help him find a rhythm and he responds that: “ There is a rhythm to my work that comes primarily from music in my life that has African roots. For example, the music of Celia Cruz, Muñequitos de Matanzas, Ultramagnetic MCs, and Los Zafiros. I also like all types of music, there could be a mix from Okinawa playing one day to Giorgio Moroder, The Clash or Led Zep., the next. I love good music no matter what it is or where it comes from. But I also paint in silence when I need to.” A victory for both style and substance This all sounds very cool but, could it be suggested that his hip-hop background and — to use the parlance — dope visuals make it all about style? As the question goes, does style beat technique in his work?

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“ The idea for this question comes from an essay by Greg Tate, that appears in my new book by Hatje Cantz, where he quotes artist and friend Doze Green. Doze said, ‘In hip-hop, Style beats technique.’ In my work however, both style and technique collaborate to make cohesive mixed media paintings that reflect experiences in my life and the traces others leave behind.” Looking at his work afresh I am struck by how he seems to channel graffiti, the spirit of Pollock and Cy Twombly, and combine it with his own unique style to bring contemporary, urban influenced work into the established world of fine art. In being able to understand, reflect and express the rhythms and spaces of urban life, it could be argued that he is making a sustained play to be this era’s Mondrain and in years to come students may well be flicking through art history books and referring to José Parlá as an ‘old-school master’. For more art visit www.joseparla.com

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WHATS UP!?

News roundup from across the globe, including StreetFest 2011, Sub Pop’s venture into hip-hop, Lil B and more

CHARLES MUNKA

The French born, Hong Kong based artist talks us through his working practices and the Brainfeeder aesthetic

CHROMEO

Dave1 reveals the five rap records that helped shape the bands distinct p-funk sound

DELS

The young MC with a refreshing perspective talks Murakami, garage and GOB

FOOT PATROL

2.0, the celebrated sneaker spot re-opens to fanfare, keeping Londoners feet fresh once more

NUMbERS

You’ve got to be in it to win it. Jackmaster, Redinho, Deadboy and Spencer show us how

GHOSTPOET

An understated MC with big ideas, Bonafide gets the lowdown

SELECTED LISTENING

Separated into bass, beats and rap section henceforth. Ramadanman, J Rocc and Raekwon’s new albums get a grilling among others

Check out our exclusive Bonafide Beats series of free downloads, not to mention regular competitions, exclusive interviews, news updates, reviews and more. Only at www.bonafidezine.com

WHAT’S UP!? Bonafide’s tem of crck reporters roundup te ltes news, evens and views in te world of concrete culure. London: Bonafide are proud sponsors of StreetFest 2011. The country’s leading live art festival celebrates its third year, and second in the Hearn Street car park space in Shoreditch, taking place on bank holiday Sunday, May 29th. StreetFest is a truly organic experience that encourages creative interaction, encompassing ‘music, art, film, street sports and fashion’ you could say it is the physical embodiment of our very own ‘documenting concrete culture’ mantra. Which is why we’re hyped to be involved. Keep an eye on www.bonafidezine.com for updates on the line-up and an exclusive competition. Bristol: Aside for being the home city of Andy Cole’s second club and Skins, Bristol has a deeprooted musical culture. It is for these reasons and more that Bonafide is pleased as punch, or Old Bristolian Cider, to be a media partner for the inaugural We The People festival. Spread over two days the festival (taking place on Saturday 4th & Sunday 5th June) features star names, The Streets and Chase & Status, although it’s DOOM, DELS, MJ Cole and intriguingly Ultramagnetic MC’s that we’re most excited about seeing. Seattle: Sub Pop, the record label best known for its grunge rock traditions, having released music by the likes of Nirvana and Mudhoney is making its first tentative steps into hip-hop. The Seattle based Shabazz Palaces collective lead by Palaceer Lazao (aka Ismael ‘Butterfly’ Butler, also of Digable Planets) will release their debut album,

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Black Up in June. The sampler we have been sent - which includes a track by the title of; a mess, the booth soaks in palacian (sic) musk, palaceer (sic) in vintage LRG, yes pure NS, uppowndet (sic) watermelon lips beat - offers an enigmatic formless sound with a rap style somewhere in between Gonjasufi and the Freestyle Fellowship. Leeds: DJ Baboon, Bonafide’s very own copy editor and author of this issue’s Ricky Powell feature, has produced an exclusive mix for Welcome Skateboards (www.welcomeleeds.com) made exclusively from tracks featured in skate videos by the Girl and Chocolate companies. Every track has been re-edited, remixed or juggled and runs a musical gamut from Bob Dylan to Bob James via 80s metallers Diamondhead. Hit up soundcloud.com/dj-baboon for a free copy. Soul that makes the brothers want to roll... UK, nationwide: If breaking, popping and locking is your thing you should be sure to check out this year’s The iDance UK HipHop Dance Championships. The five regional heats take place throughout April and May culminating in a final at Thorpe Park in August. The winners will go on to represent the UK at the World Hip-Hop Championships finals in Las Vegas, as well as collecting thousands of pounds in cash and prizes. Head to www.ihiphopdance.com for more information.

Lil B

Los Angeles: With his hippyish ‘based god’ positivity philosiphy Lil B is attempting to confront the oldest tabboo in the rap book: by naming his new album I’m Gay. The Bay Area based MC insists the title isn’t intended as a literal statement but rather some sort of sociological liguistic experiment. Responses have varied from the sceptical, GLADD (The Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation) are concerned that it’s a publicity stunt - which it probably is but at least he’s got the kahoonas to try it - to outrage as Freddie Gibbs chastised the young rapper onstage at a recent show comparing him to ‘a minstrel show’. Talib Kweli, fresh from sending one of our hacks into a deep sleep during a recent interview with bonafidezine.com, offered this insight: “Regardless of what your stance is on gay people, homophobia or the act and practice of it, is extra wack.” Either way the news doesn’t seem to have detered his legion of fans as one excitedly tweeted: ‘Lil B isn’t homo, he f**ked my girlfriend!’ Brighton: If you are in the Naples of the south of England during May, why not avoid the plague of Stag and Hen Parties having it large and ruining your time on the beach by popping into the Ink_D Gallery and admiring art that is full of rude, crude and wry social commentary? Modern Toss, aka Jon Link and Mick Bunnage, are back with *!?£!*! good art exhibition entitled Modern Cloth. Snearing and snark (such a British past-time) through art doesn’t get much better than this.

StreetFest New York: Seeing that half of this issue is dedicated to the old-school, it’s only proper that we feature something from the Mecca. If you are in the Big Apple (between now and 30 May) and are chomping to see an exhibition that joins the dots between music and art then Looking at Music 3.0, at MoMA, is for you. The third in a series of exhibitions, this version explores the influence of music on contemporary art practices and mines the rich seam of the 80s and 90s, a period of time that gave birth to sampling and remixing and the aesthetics of the street. Los Angeles: Art in the Streets at The Museum of Contemporary Art. Billed “the first major U.S. museum exhibition of the history of graffiti and street art,” this show manages to name drop a Who’s Who in the graff and street art world. Those involved include; Fab 5 Freddy, Lee Quiñones, Futura, Margaret Kilgallen, Shepard Fairey, Os Gemeos, JR, Martha Cooper, Henry Chalfant, Estevan Oriol, Ed Templeton, Larry Clark, Spike Jonze, Keith Haring, Jean-Michel Basquiat, RAMMELLZEE, Todd James, Barry McGee, Steve Powers, Geoff McFetridge and, repping the UK, Banksy. Crumbs, imagine having a piece of work by each of these artists on your walls at home. Running until 8th August, like any good exhibition Art in the Streets is sure to stimulate debate and inspire those that visit.

Each new project is a new experience as the music brings the mood I try and translate it into visuals.

Profiling Charles Munka (Ques to some) makes you pause and reflect whether, deep down, you really always play it safe with important decisions. Munka appears to be an individual characterised by an impressive mind-set best described as ‘get on with it’. Whether it be moving countries, flitting between making video games or producing pieces of fine art to connecting via the internet with like-minded heads on collaborative projects. From the outside-looking-in, Munka has made a success of playing fast and loose with the challenges and opportunities thrown his way. WORDS: JAMES GRIFFIN Originating from Lyon, France, where he studied art before moving to work in Tokyo at a video games company. Since then he has also spent time working in Shanghai, China. His current home/studio is buried in the jungle on an island a short distance from central Hong Kong. All this and he is still only 29. “My move to Tokyo was a huge change for me. Suddenly living in a place where everything is to be discovered again brings so much inspiration. It’s like starting from zero. You suddenly have access to an infinity of new colours, shapes, sounds, new experiences and people... everything needs to be learned again. Cities in Asia are very graphic.” Reinterpreting the city His appreciation for the evolving composition and texture of cities has informed his work. “Travelling around and discovering new places, new visual

languages, city landscapes… has always been a source of inspiration for me. When I move or travel I like to see the city and feel the colours, sounds, smells.... Maybe that’s why I’ve been settling down in a couple of different cities in the past few years. It’s a whole new universe to explore and de-cypher every time.” The signs, languages and shapes of the city can be detected in his output. The series of paintings he produced for his Double Knock Out show at HVW8 Art & Design Gallery Los Angeles, are like the urban canopy of the city, multi-layered and complex. Using paint, marker pens and anything else to hand, they showcase his distinctive visual language that includes graffiti influenced handstyles written frantic and large in potent, contrasting colours, repeated motifs, comic book stylings and shady video game characters. … >>

Photography: Paul Rodriguez

Befitting the fast-paced organised but chaotic dynamic of the city his approach is “very instinctive, I like to work on first drafts, spontaneous ideas and find balance in those raw elements.” At the root of it all he is an explorer and devours the visual in the world. He is, by his own admission, fascinated by the art world in general: “ From street-artists to the old masters... Every day I find out about new works and artists, that inspire and push me to keep exploring.” Munka has a sensitivity for the city and, like many street-artists, the materials that he uses relate to the concrete jungle. He uses everything from household paint to office supplies from local stationery stores to specialised markers. His recent work incorporates: “Japanese comic books magazines the size of phone-books that are filled with amazing material. It’s like going through an endless library of samples.”

Feeding the artistic mind Munka’s fascination with concrete culture and synthesizing its aesthetic has seen him become an integral member of the Brainfeeder collective. In 2005 he began working with Andrew Meza on the influential BTS Radio (station). Soon he was introduced to Flying Lotus and started to contribute to the visual representation of the L.A. beat scene, his distinctive style adorning Brainfeeder releases and posters. He also began bringing a colourful dimension to the gigs Brainfeeder were putting on by painting live in-situ. His work has helped visualise Brainfeeder and contribute to the overall aesthetic of the collective; experimental, left-field, distinctive and consistently ill. “ They are the graphic dimension of the spirit of the Brainfeeder music, it carries the same type of message but in a different language. Each new project is a new experience as the music brings the mood I try and translate it into visuals.”

When pressed about embracing Asian culture, The collective thrives off collaboration and this is from the magazines to Kitano films (Sonatine is echoed by Munka’s perspective on work. He works his favourite) and the neon graphics of street-signs, with fellow French art director Claude Weiss through he also exhibits a reverence and respect for things their LCP United agency, producing print and beyond his understanding. Ancient artforms, such digital work for clients that include MTV, One World as calligraphy, he admits hold an attraction but Films, Stones Throw, Warp and Jazzy Sport. While cannot be acquired in a DIY-lite fashion: “To write his Double Knock Out show featured work created calligraphy you need to understand and feel the with multi-talented producer and artist Teebs. language... perfectly. I am still learning those “ It is important not to get stuck in your own world. languages and enjoying playing around with I like to feel some evolution in my work and … >> writing but it’s a long way from calligraphy.”

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Collaboration with Teebs for for the Double Knock Out exhibition.

Japanese comic books, magazines the size of phonebooks... filled with amazing material. It’s like going through an endless library. of samples

Clockwise from left: Finest Elements illustration Collage from his Optimo exhibition 2011 Rap Beats (Intro) 2009 mixed media on canvas Charles Munkaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s studio

being involved in a project alongside other artists is a great way to share and learn new ways to approach your subject.” Taking the finest elements of hip-hop Unsurprisingly for a music and art and design afficinadio he doffs his cap to the way Mo’Wax and Lex fuse the street aesthetic with the practical demands of record sleeve packaging. “The works of Futura for Mo’Wax are some of my favorite covers. They are amazing in terms of relation between art and music. I’m always trying to achieve this result when working with musicians, producers etc...not only supporting the music with visuals but bringing my own aesthetics to create a place where they meet with the sound.” Indeed, when we move on to discussing his Finest Elements project things come full-circle. Finest Elements pays homage to the pioneers of hip-hop and related culture and feature caricatures of the musicians, including James Brown, DOOM and Dilla, rendered in a brilliant comic book style. Finest Elements demonstrates his passion for hip-hop culture. When we pop the question “ What is your favourite hip-hop record and who is your favourite MC/act/group?” it emerges that

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Japanese electronic pioneer and Mo’Wax artist DJ Krush is one of his favourite artists. “I really enjoyed following DJ Krush, I found inspiration in the atmosphere he was creating through his music. It was at the time I was planning on moving to Japan and the music had that feeling from being out there. It was like a preview and it made me want to live it. His album Kakusei is one of my favourite albums. Madlib is also definitely another, his music goes to so many different places.” That is something that can also be clearly said of the life and times of Charles Munka. Clockwise from top left: Flying Lotus promotional image, Brainfeeder gig poster

For further info check • lcp-united.com • btsradio.com • brainfeedersite.com

ART SIDE OF TE BRIN

Ardour Teebs Brainfeeder

I Spit on Your Grave Mix The Gaslamp Killer Obey Records

Los Angeles Flying Lotus Warp Records

Charles Munka’s favourite Brainfeeder release, the artwork for Ardour is also produced by the album’s creator, the multi-talented Teebs (Mtendere Mandowa). Munka’s sometimes collaborator showcases his super fresh artistic language; repeated organic shapes, tasteful painterly smudges and bright colours.

The Gaslamp Killer’s un-relenting sounds are complemented by artwork by Obey street-legend Shepard Fairey. The packaging is in keeping with Fairey’s recent move of updating his monochrome, propaganda style by using different layers of imagery. The finished result is a visually arresting piece with a historical, antiquated feel.

Echoing the artwork of an equally influential release, Massive Attack’s Mezzanine, London agency Build were inspired by the title and “the idea of the high-gloss exterior with a gritty undercurrent, represented by the sculpture in various states of decay, offset by minimal typography.”

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Black Thought was at his sharpest and the band went for a hardcore edge that rid them of the acid jazz-hop stigma once and for all.

Recently I’ve been reading the Wind Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami, I like the way he writes because it treads the line between fantasy and reality. I’m also really into film, David Lynch and Tim Burton’s movies in particular. I love storytelling, and that’s why I fell in love with hip-hop, you know. Words: DAVID KANE

PHOTOS: Yev Kazannik

Running enthusiast and celebrated Japanese author Haruki Murakami is perhaps an unusual influence for a rapper, but then again Kieren Dickins, aka DELS isn’t your typical rapper. He may be reading Murakami but DELS’ debut album, GOB, is reminiscent of another cult literary figure with its Burroughsesque cut and paste, fold-up fiction style. Lyrically it is ambitious, even more so for a debut, running the gamut of emotions that confront a mid-late twenty something urban male living in recession hit Britain, and then some. Homelessness, child abuse and shady politicians are among the heavier subject matter tackled with authority. Yet this is no ‘conscious rap’ album, as bounce-your-head-throw-your-hands-in-the-air-andgo-bananas tracks like Trumpalump, Shapeshift and Eating Clouds prove. Kieren was born and brought up in Ipswich to a “Jamaican family with affection for bass music.” He grew up on a steady musical diet of Wu-Tang and Nas before London-based family members began sending him cassette tape recordings of the blossoming garage scene of the late ‘90s. “ We didn’t have pirate radio in Ipswich so my family started posting tapes to me from Hackney, there wasn’t Internet back then.” At the MC driven end of the two-step sound Kieren had found something he “could relate to”, with a certain future label-mate being a particular influence; “ I didn’t really like the hype-hype garage scene but Wiley showed a different potential.”

At 16 Kieren formed The Alliance, a garage group with friends, although just one person attended the group’s first show – ‘he just happened to be in the bar, in fact he was the only person in the bar’ – it was the right person. The sage like figure of John Peel, who was so impressed with the group he got them to perform on his Radio 1 show. The Alliance has long since disbanded but in many ways that meeting set a precedent for individuals outside of urban music having an impact on Kieren’s musical lineage. Fast forward ten years and DELS’ adventurous ideas are brought to life by indie cool kids Micachu (of The Shapes), Joe Goddard of Hot Chip and the bulk of production by the Young Turk affiliated Kwes, with official remixes courtesy of TV On The Radio’s Dave Sitek and the techy dubstep of Untold. As he acknowledges: “ when I went to Uni I was exposed to different types of music, that’s how I came across people like Hot Chip. More recently Caribou and Flying Lotus’ albums have stood out for me. People who are trying to create their own worlds within their music.”

I think the single GOB best reflects where I am at in life right now, trying not to succumb to perfection it’s about a man on his journey, getting to where he thinks he needs to be.

On an unseasonably warm and sunny day in early spring we met for a photo shoot at a studio in Harringay, east London. In person Kieren is, by his own admission, reserved. Fame or the relative fame that should greet DELS upon the release of his excellent debut album doesn’t sit naturally in the early stages of this dress rehearsal. At first the photographer struggles to coax the sort of macho styling and boastful posing typical of a young rapper. As the shoot wears on – we catch a sneak listen of the forthcoming Wiley album, keep an eye on the BBC football updates (Arsenal rescue a two goal deficit, much to the relief of Kieren and I) and several changes of outfit later – the transition from Kieren to the country’s most exciting new rapper, DELS, is complete. After the shoot, it is onto Camden’s legendary Roundhouse where Kieren is performing alongside his band at the Taste of Sonar festival, a precursor to the annual event held every summer in Barcelona, which he is also booked for. As we snake our way through the dense north-east London traffic by bus, Kieren, the genial Big Dada PR and myself talk football, festivals, street art and, briefly, the second album; “I want to incorporate Polish communist era art.” Not before settling on the subject of ageing rappers. Kieren is adamant that he will only release three albums over the next three years and retire at 30 (as a rapper, at least). But why is it a rock act can carry on performing and releasing music until well into his 50s or 60s

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but a rapper doing the same in their 40s is a stigma? “I suppose it’s because hip-hop is such a youth orientated music,” he acutely observes. Despite his casual demeanour Kieren (a graphic designer by trade) has a very lucid vision for his career in music, even preparing for a potential fallback. As he explains backstage at the Roundhouse: “I’m taking risks with my music by not appealing to the masses, if it fucks up I guess I’ll have to get a design job again. So in three or four year’s time I might need to show how the music is an extension of that (design work). So I see DELS as a design project, too. Where the music, videos and artwork are all part of me trying to build my own world.” The plan b can surely wait for now, more so as urban music continues to gate crash the charts and dance floors en masse, has there ever been a better time to be an MC in the UK? “No, I don’t think so. 2011 is the perfect time, music is all about timing.” But where does GOB stand in the torrent of current UK rap releases - The Streets, Wiley, Ghostpoet, Durrty Goodz and Jehst have all either released or are scheduled to release albums within six months of each other - and more importantly if he’s to put a full-time return to the design world off for a few years, why should people buy it?

I’m taking risks with my music by not appealing to the masses, if it fucks up I’ll guess I’ll have to get a design job again.

“ First and foremost it’s forward-thinking music, I’m not saying it’s a reaction to the state of UK hip-hop at the moment because I wasn’t writing it with that in mind but I think it stands out for the culture. “ I didn’t want GOB to be a hype album; I wanted it to be my perception of how I see certain things. I think the single GOB best reflects where I am at in life right now, trying not to succumb to perfection it’s about a man on his journey, getting to where he thinks he needs to be.” Photography: Yev Kazannik Assistant: Siru Kivistö Stylist: P.C. Williams Grooming: Adjhani Barton Location: Green Lens Studio 4a Atterbury Road, London, N4 1SF Clothing: Previous page: Beige Shirt; Carhartt This page: American Apparel Viscose Twill Welt Pocket Pant, Boxfresh Pocket Detail Tee, Insight 54 Beat Club Jacket, Vans OTW Pritchard shoes

WORDS: MILLY CUNDALL

PHOTOS: JOSH MG

Speculation of a come-back began early last year and hit fever pitch just before stealthily opening the doors to its new look Soho store in July 2010 – a stone’s throw from its previous home in St Anne’s Court. With new financial backing from the parent company of JD Sports and Size?, this once Mecca for sneaker geeks and freaks had quite a legacy to live up to. As new manager John Brotherhood explains, Foot Patrol “was the place where you could get sneakers that weren’t available anywhere else, stuff from Japan and America. Stock that the normal UK market couldn’t get hold of, like Hyperstrikes and top tier products.” Retaining the brand’s core values and carefully built reputation was steered by founding partner of the original shop Michael Kopelman who stayed on to oversee the entire process. It is clear that everything from its new location to the design overhaul by the Wilson Brothers, has been carefully thought out and executed. Not only is the space more welcoming and customer friendly compared to the cage-dominated design of the old shop but it also helps retain its identity as a standalone brand. When asked if it feels markedly different being an ‘Independent’ shop owned by a massive company John says “In terms of the looks and the whole ethos behind it, we’re running it as an independent”. It also can’t hurt to have the backing of a major player, levelling out the playing field. “It’s made it better because

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obviously we get access to more stuff now, brands are more willing to do stuff with us because they know we’ve got the power behind us. It allows us to get involved in more projects." Sneaker geeks sometimes being the unforgiving lot they are, were initially sceptical to entrust their feet into the hands of a former independent that ‘sold out’, as they saw it, to the big boys. But time heals and the carefully handpicked team at the new shop are both approachable and personable, they’ll happily talk to you passionately and honestly about the merits of a Nike Lava Dunk or an Adidas Hawaii: “We get a lot of sneakerheads coming in, it’s a space they can come and talk to us. The team here is quite knowledgeable – that’s why they were handpicked” The team also select and order all the stock as well as overseeing the online side of operations. The proof is in the pudding and the clientele they attract are a combination of the loyal older heads seeking out kicks of the bygone days as well as the new kids trying to find something that isn’t on offer on the ever-saturated high street. “This is used as a testing ground for new concepts and products that aren't readily available, which

brands then filter down through the market.” In such a fiercely competitive market place, where the audience is always looking for an edge and brands like Nike dominate with a death grip, how do they keep one step ahead and retain the legacy? “The best way to keep people hooked is to work hard to try and create a point of difference, with collaborations and exclusive products. Which is what we’re working on!” Long-standing relationships with brands like New Balance and Asics also help to pull in the crowds. The reality is, in a world dominated by large companies, small independents across the board are turning to outside investment in order to survive. Former independent, one-stop-onlinesneaker-spot Crooked Tongues has been bought by ASOS but continues, thanks to this cash injection, to retain its independence and trade as usual. As John puts it: “It’s a shame independents are closing down, but It's getting harder and harder for them to survive.”

John’s Top 5 Old School kicks 1. Nike Max 87 (max1) 'Atmos' 2. Nike Blazer 'Stussy' 3. Adidas Campus 4. Nike Pocket Knife OG 5. Nike Huarache OG John’s Top 5 New School kicks 1. Nike All Court 'Fragment' 2. Nike ACG Terra Lunar Vengeance 3. Vans Vault sk8 Hi 'Taka Hayashi' 4. Adidas Stan Smith 'Kazuki' JAM Home made 5. Nike AF1 Duck Boot cargocollective.com/joshmg | josh-mg.tumblr.com Milly Cundall: airsngraces.com

ONE TOOMANY: NUMBERS

Nobody really needs a label to get their music out but a good label is a mark of quality.

WORDS: OLI MARLOW PHOTOS: JIMMY MOULD Since their rebirth in January 2010 as a singular label, the component parts of the Scottish collective known as Numbers have vibrantly changed the face of the landscape they operate in. As a club night, powered by their party-happy residents and forward-thinking guests, they’ve travelled the globe working doors across Europe and America. As a label they’ve highlighted a curve in club music that no other label seems able to do better. Giving steam to artists like Deadboy, Redinho, Mr Mageeka, Ill Blu, Kasrave and SRC and powering music retailer’s pre-order lists with work from artists like SBRTKT, or Untold collaborating with Roska, they’ve defiantly carved their niche. The shape and setting of that niche though is hard to describe and somewhat impossible to predict. Formed as much through coincidence as through continued partying, Numbers now stand the best of friends and seven members strong. Prior to their involvement the core members, Calum and Neil Morton (who DJ as Spencer and Nelson respectively), Jackmaster, Richard Chater and Adam Goodhand were all involved in different

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The clubs we would go to were 100% about the music. No one was there because it was the cool spot to be seen. We were out because we loved the music being played and we loved dancing to that music.

projects. Calum and Jack ran the Wireblock label, with Jack running Dress to Sweat on the side; Richard was running Stuff Records with help from Adam; Neil, meanwhile, was working hard with Adam on the Remote Location project – the design vehicle for most of the label’s artwork and online presence. In the first instance – before they were programming stages at highly recognised festivals like Bloc Weekender – Numbers was a club night, held in a small 100 capacity venue in their native Glasgow. Inspired by local venues like Club 69 – according to Richard the only place in town you could hear “all the best Detroit stuff (Drexciya, Direct Beat, 430 West, DJ Assualt, UR), Euro/UK stuff like early Clone, Skam, Sabotage and then The Selector or the odd Italo number” – and their ever extending record collections, they invited Actress, “before Actress was Actress,” for their very first night. After running the night for a couple of years the crew realised that the club held the key to future success - the night brought everybody together under the banner and encouraged them to work hand-in-hand towards a unified goal. “ We were always buying music when we were younger,” explains Neil, sitting on the beaten-up sofa of a whitewashed gallery in East London. “ All of us are record collectors, most of us DJs, so it’s natural to do parties first and play music out. Over time, we would all meet up and get drunk. Slowly but surely it became just what we did…”

“ The after-parties were always where the main brunt of socialising was done,” Jackmaster offers. “ The clubs we would go to were 100% about the music. No one was there because it was the cool spot to be seen. We were out because we loved the music being played and we loved dancing to that music, so when you only had three or four hours to do so, that would take priority and you’d generally do most of the socialising later at someone’s house.” Their commitment to their cause has worked. Numbers have slowly seeped into the wider world’s club calendar over the last few years with branded club nights in Paris, Tokyo and Barcelona, as well as pop-up events at London’s Plastic People and an irregular residency at clubbing institution fabric. Having come from such a humble and musically motivated beginning, their parties remain, in the simplest terms, a shit load of fun. The programming of their gigs display their passions perfectly, with the reverence they hold for their guest DJs reflected in the promotional flyers and posters that exclaim their guests attendance in bold type. The residents’ sets veer beautifully through everything from meditative techno to thick, seismic bass music, future dancefloor anthems and er… Toto and Fleetwood Mac; and that endless enthusiasm for a party and their combined enjoyment of music is represented perfectly in the label’s releases, and the breadth, in terms of breakthrough dance styles, that they cover.

Nelson Goodhand

Deadboy

Still, ask them to describe what it is they look for in terms of sound from the producers they sign and they’ll look at each other blankly, sharply take in a breath and proceed to each offer a different answer.

the time to properly incubate material, offering encouragement and direction to bring the essence of the artist out properly.

“ All the new stuff I’m writing now is really me,” offers Numbers signing Redinho from across the room “ It’s always been dance [music]… like stuff you can who, at the time of this interview, is on the verge dance to… but it’s always hook based,” Jack muses. of his second EP for the label – called Edge Off it’s a hyperactive mash of talkbox driven funk and “ I find it pretty impossible to define but I think it all full tilt beat music. Speaking quietly, considering his makes sense to us,” offers Neil. words carefully, he continues, “I never thought anyone would even like that stuff, they knew that “ It sounds obvious, but it needs to excite us,” Calum I did some talkbox stuff but I’ve really gone in states., Richard backs this up. “You just kind of on that. Without their encouragement it probably know when it’s right. Sometimes the ones I like the would’ve still been sitting on my hard drive.” best don’t hit you straight away but kind of sneak up on you...” “ I think nowadays labels aren’t really as important,” Deadboy – the artist who’s anthemic If U Want Me “ In anything we do, the fact we’re all long time was the inaugural release for the label – chimes friends remains central and that’s really important in. “Nobody really needs a label to get their to us,” Rob explains. “It can take a while to get music out but a good label is a mark of quality. decisions made but we normally end up with If it’s made it to the label then it’s obviously worth a pretty balanced view at the end.” releasing. You’re buying into someone else’s taste From talking to them, spending time enjoying if you follow any sort of label.” their parties and learning a little about the “ Society is really impatient and it’s harder to have democratic processes behind their decision a long term game plan with a focus on quality making, it’s obvious that they take the way they and innovation when so many around you are represent themselves and the music they release looking for that instant success,” counters Redinho. incredibly seriously. For all the joking, behind all “ I think that’s one key rarity about these guys; they’ll the wry smiles, banter and anecdotes, lies an go in with a long term plan and they’ll focus on overbearing drive to work with and host the work their genuine passions. That’s the key to everything of musicians they love. Choosing the artists they they do, and it comes naturally.” work with carefully, they seldom rush things, taking

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Redinho

Jackmaster Spencer

With a seemingly endless list of releases that “ That’s one of the privileges of working with these are coming out on Numbers they’re more than guys,” Redinho offers when conversation turns to a safe bet to follow, emphatically presenting each his forthcoming live commitments. “I tend to be vinyl release properly with custom artwork and pretty selective now in terms of what I do and heavyweight pressings. With so many personal they’ve got that in their mind the whole time as interests collected in the one pot, the crew have well, they’re strategic. It’s not throwing everything already proved their reach and tastemaker out like spam, it’s selective.” credentials housing anthems like Mr Mageeka’s Numbers have consistently proven themselves bandied legged Different Lekstrix, Taz’s Gold Tooth to be one of the best crews doing what they do. Grin and SBTRKT’s break away collaboration with Their reputation for both throwing a wild party and Jessie Ware, Nervous. With rumours abounding spotting great talent precedes them at every turn about releases with Mosca, Jamie XX and Lory D but the guys keep their sights locked on new and they’re decidedly staying tight-lipped at this time, bigger things. working hard on putting together club lineups for the summer and beyond. “ I think we’re quite reactive in a sense; just from DJing and performing live I suppose,” Neil states “ We’re currently in the middle of a US Tour,” methodically, entertaining the theory that they Richard explains on a direct line from the work better under some kind of pressure or Rubadub record store in Glasgow, a place where expectation. “You have to react to what’s going almost all of his compatriots have worked for on around you and adapt what you’re doing or with at one point in the past. “The guys have slightly; be quite flexible and changeable and already spent a week at SXSW in Austin; then it’s quite easy with things. Maybe there’s an element onwards to Low End Theory in Los Angeles, then of that [in what we do] but it’s hard to say…we just Chicago, New York and San Francisco. Then we’re don’t think about it that much.” doing our first official showcase at this year’s Sonar Festival with Redinho and Lory D playing live, Jessie Ware hosting and singing with DJ sets from Deadboy, Jackmaster and Spencer. Remote Location, Thomas Traum and Novak are working on something special for the visuals.” Catch Numbers at Sonar Festival in June.Redinho and Deadboy have EPs out on Numbers now and Jackmaster’s Fabriclive 57 is released in May

GHOSPOET

urBan poetry and diSappering BetS, Bonafide haS a cloSe encouner wit an unwordly mc. WORDS: ADAM HUTCHESON

VISUALS: JAMES GRIFFIN

Live at The Cockpit, Leeds, Ghostpoet is about to take the stage as Jamie Woon’s support act. The gig was moved to a larger venue due to a sharp increase in demand for tickets, possibly to do with Jamie Woon’s recent swooning, crooning exposure, or possibly because of the ‘double-headline’ vibe of the gig. Emerging in his own time is a tall, suave chap with a domineering Stringer bell calming quality and likeable attitude. “Do me a favour come forward, right to the front, cheers... nice one.” The hipsters’ anxiety is eased as he sidles up to some impressive technical equipment that indicates that he’s not just an MC. His LP, Peanut Butter Blues and Melancholy Jam, is a triumph of the experimental talent the UK seems to be housing in 2011. Atmospheric and gloomy, Ghostpoet’s debut drains away from genre descriptions like rainfall from tiles and guttering. Spilling over in lyricism, his expression feels never ending – a subject approached on Finished I Aint. But like a literal stream of consciousness it is difficult to pin-down Ghostpoet in terms of subject matter. His album is primarily a headphone piece, its playful sense of rhythm and spectres of song-structure toying with us like a lyrical poltergeist and lending themselves to isolated listening. Listening closely we are shocked second or third around to find punchlines, hooks and chorus we weren’t initially aware of.

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How can this translate into a live performance? The hipsters aren’t here for beat poetry, jazz, or some kind of MC set. Eyes closed, Ghostpoet connects with the audience through the initial confusion his album offers. Bursting straight into I Just Don’t Know, he comes alive in a performance setting. Throughout the improvised set we witness that magical moment of creation. A simple set up of guitar, drums and an effects station satisfy the James Blake heads, but the most important realisation is that the music is a mere platform for everything that Ghostpoet is. Indeed the music isn’t that impressive on it’s own. Like the carpentry that went into building the wooden stage, it seems the music is a support for something altogether bigger. Now signed to Gilles Peterson’s Brownswood label it seems he’s made it his way and the sheer volume of his material indicates that this music cannot be anything else but 100% sincere expression.

He’s very cool at the moment, it’s unavoidable, but he’s bringing real character to the trendy sonics of Jamie Woon and James Blake and probably a few other James’ we’re yet to hear of. Character, I would wager, that will continue to overwhelm all other aspects surrounding him.

Writing the LP, did you wonder how the album would translate into live performances? No, not really because I feel the album is a different sphere of thinking. Once the live experience started, me, my drummer and guitarist experimented away until it seemed to click right.

What does Peanut Butter Blues and Melancholy Jam taste like? A mouthful of sweet and savoury emotions.

If you could be characterized by someone from The Simpsons, which character would you be? Ha ha maybe Captain Horatio McCallister!

What is your favourite sandwich ﬁlling? At the moment Brie, cranberry and grape.

What was the last thing you bought, which you never would have before you were signed? Probably some new clothes, modestly priced... used to be a charity shop fiend... still am a little.

What is the track you are most pleased you on the album? Longing For The Night, because it nearly didn’t make it. Finished I Aint hints that there’s much more material, how much didn’t make the album? There’s always idea’s I guess, maybe three or four tracks but resigned to history now... time has made them redundant I feel.

Do you still have a social life? Not really, too much work to be done! Spending time with the Mrs and gigging is my social life these days. Favourite record of all time? Badly Drawn Boy – The Hour of The Bewilderbeast Favourite ﬁlm? Oldboy Favourite book? Papillon

SELECTED LISENING BURGLED BETS, BOUNDARY PUSHING BASS AND FLOATING VOCLS; WE CUPPED OUR ERS TO TE SOUNDS OF TE NOW AND SELECTED TE CUS TAT DESERVED TO BE SAMPED 100% BONAFIDE. WORDS: Aaron Jackson, Adam Hutcheson, Andrew Spragg, Chris Byrne, David Kane, James Griffin, Joel Harris, John Whybrow AND Toby Hemming

BETS Beats, Treats & All Things Unique Benji Boko | Tru Thoughts Beats, Treats & All Things Unique is the debut album from big haired, Brighton based DJ/producer Benji Boko. In recent years Boko has made his mark with his live ‘Can I Mix It?’ DJ shows, “On the fly, off the cuff, completely improvised live remixing,” sets that have been championed by those in the know and done enough to convince Tru Thoughts that he’s ready to release an LP. And Beats, Treats & All Things Unique, as expected from a label that know’s its onions, is an album that wears a big grin and aims to please your ears. Standout tracks include the reggae tinged No1 Sound featuring Ricky Rankin (Mr Roots Manuva) that has a summer soaked, feelgood vibe and is tailored made for an open air soundsystem, the short and sweet I Had A Dream (Mini Obama), inspired by a fortunetelling vinyl record found in a charity shop (backed up a great video promo), and instrumental tracks Charuuna, Glider and Bokomania that display sleek, atmopsheric touches and demonstrate Boko’s ability to move hips, heads and feet. Nice work. JG

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Beat Generation Various | BBE Few labels join the dots between house, disco, soul, funk and hip-hop quite as congruously as BBE, releasing albums by the likes of J Dilla, Jazzy Jeff and revered compilations from Gilles Petterson, Masters At Work and The Kings of... series. With a loose, ‘Real Music for Real People’ A&R policy and an almost irreverent regard for marketing the north London based Barely Breaking Even (to use the label’s full moniker) has quietly and effectively gone about its business. Putting out music that speaks for itself, growing “organically from a small desk under the stairs in my tiny flat.” As co-founder Peter Adarkwah states over email: “Our releases stand the test of time, we work with music lovers, and don’t try and tick the commercial boxes that so often majors do.”

The Beat Generation series focuses on hip-hop, and with it a stellar role call of producers – Marley Marl, Pete Rock, King Britt, DJ Spinna, Jazzy Jeff, Jay Dilla and Madlib – and in the case of will .i. am, a modern day pop star who was able to express some of his more leftfield leanings on Loose Change. The Beat Generation 10th Anniversary Collection is a double album compiled and mixed by long-term label cohorts DJ Spinna and Mr Thing. The highlights are numerous; Pete Rock featuring The UN (with Cam’ron at the helm) on Nuthin Lesser is an artefact of the fecund ground late 90s/early 00s rap trod (the single was originally released on Rawkus in 01) before reaching a jiggy quagmire. Indeed much of Spinna’s mix focuses on this period and earlier. Spinna is generally recognised as a DJ rather than producer but some of his own productions here demand recognition, such as Drive with its spacey synths hinting at a sound that has gone on to influence future funk producers such as Funkineven. In an act of synergy side two begins at the same point as Spinna’s effort, with Madlib’s Stop. Mr Thing goes on to explore the more soulful aspects of the Beat Generation series including the seminal Are You Ready? by Jazzy Jeff ft. Slum Village with its lush strings and will i.am’s stuttering falsetto courtesy of Terry Dexter on Lay Me Down. Jay Dee keeps it funky on African Rhythms and the stripped down snares and meticulous percussion on Beej-N-Dem became a signature of the much fabled, and increasingly influential, Jay Dee/Dilla sound. Even by BBE’s liberal standards the artist requirements for the Beat Generation series was informal; “do what you want,” the press release proudly states. And as an artistic endeavour it worked, making for a diverse and interesting collection of producer albums. For those familiar with the series The Beat Generation 10th Anniversary Collection comes as a welcome reminder, and for those who aren’t it is an essential snap shot of timeless beat makers. DK

Cold Rock Stuf J Rocc | Stones Throw As hip-hop DJs go, J Rocc ranks easily as one of the best. Striking the balance between technical wizardry and a highly attuned ear, his work is characterised by it’s consistent quality. Some Cold Rock Stuf, his début album, comes with the disclaimer that it is “NOT A MIX-TAPE”, which seems a fair assessment given its immaculately realised nature. Owing something to Endtroducing-era DJ Shadow, Some Cold Rock Stuf starts with a collage of vocal samples (Rocchead’s Delight) before kicking off in earnest with Don’t Sell Your Dreams Tonight, a down-tempo track hazed in layers of psychedelic echo. The sumptuous opening signposts the woozy tone that underpins the entire album. The range of samples on display is staggering. From the brassy melancholy of Thru The Tulips to the monkish vocals that intone through Chasing the Sun, the individual elements perfectly complement one another, and immerse the listener in an colourful aural wonderland.

Some Cold Rock Stuf’s real accomplishment lies in its emotional pathos, a rare quality in DJ albums that often place their faith in technical flair. J Rocc, with his connoisseur’s ear, remains leagues ahead of the rest; as débuts go, Some Cold Rock Stuf is a triumph. AS You Drive Me Plastic Bullion | Young Turks A cursory glance of any broadsheet these days will invariably throw up a Music Company sponsored article about how the industry is being brought to its knees because we no longer want to pay £15 for a piece of plastic. This, they suggest, is the final nail in coffin of 10,000 years of melody. But as anyone with an intellect bigger than an A&R man’s attention span can clearly see, the rise of affordable equipment and connectivity has been a boon for exciting new music. Much of this activity is being driven by studio-quality technology available for a relative pittance to anybody with a MacBook and an enquiring mind. And it’s from this culture that Bullion (AKA Nathan Jenkins) first hit our consciousness in 08. His new LP You Drive Me Plastic is a compact (21 minute) player and shimmers with a melody, harmony and groove that calls to mind a hip-hop Phil Spector. Due to the sophistication of the production, many the tracks glide effortlessly into each other. As the underground swirls of Lol Express slide into the soothing pulse of Too Right, and the spiritual charm of Spirit Mighty, Bullion demonstrates a mastery of his art that swerves genre in favour of graceful soul. With is this remarkable album Bullion has set his stall out as a contender for the title of next bright young thing. TH

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Toomorrow Wagon Christ | Ninja Tune Wagon Christ AKA Mr Luke Vibert AKA King of the Ridiculous returns with Toomorrow. Or should that be ‘Tunemorrow’? For this LP is chock full of highvoltage tune-age. Vibert has sampled a whole range of sounds, borrowing sirens from the emergency services, dialogue from films, snippets from hip-hop tracks, guttural noises from the female of the species and (if I am not mistaken) the twittering of garden birds, and blended them into 15 tracks of funky fresh electronica. The breadth of sounds and genres he plays with would overwhelm lesser ‘heads’, but Vibert’s ear for composition and rhythm, knowing and experience, has resulted in Toomorrow being an electronic tour de force. Best enjoyed through headphones whilst gazing out of the window whilst on the train, or, glass in hand, while lounging in a smokey den during the small hours. JG

BASS Back and 4th Various | Hotflush Records Hotflush Records have made a pretty hefty contribution to the shaping of dubstep and related bass music in the UK over the past eight years, showcasing talents such as Joy Orbinson, Mount Kimbie and label boss Scuba. Their latest 2-CD release compiles landmark tracks on one disc, while using the other to chart the future of the label in the form of new music. Given that information, the title takes on a somewhat literal meaning, though it is through this simultaneous Back and 4th that the label shows its strength in anticipating the curve. New tracks reveal the various in-roads dubstep is making to sidestep its own engorged tropes; true, the wobbling bass is present in tracks such as Sepalcure’s Taking You Back, but it is demoted to a supporting role alongside the reverb-inflected vocals and shimmering cymbal work. Other tracks, such as Scuba’s Feel It, appropriate the tightly contained synth sequences of techno, rendering any fears of genre orthodoxy obsolete. The new music feels undeniably fresh, alive and (perhaps most vitally) well chosen. The second disc’s retrospective offers similarly exciting nuggets; the filter excess and steady stomp of Jamie Vex’d’s remix of Scuba’s Twitch a highlight in any context. Without doubt there is little to fault about Back and 4th – it forms a fabulous document of what Hotflush have brought us before, as well as hinting at the future of dubstep and beyond. AS

FabricLive 56 Pearson Sound/Ramadanmann | Fabric Dave Kennedy is a man with seemingly more aliases than Jason Bourne. Whether it be the stark, post dubstep tribal workouts of his Ramadanman guise or the lusher, more 4/4 inclined efforts as Pearson Sound, his startling production values have been sharply turning heads for several years now. Part of the second generation of bass music producers, he falls within a loose collective of early twenty somethings who are redefining the musical spectrum. Like many of his peers, his musical Shangri-La was to be found at FWD, the pioneering London dubstep night. His sound pays homage to numerous genres yet succumbs to none. Taking the skeletal rhythms of early jungle, the synth soundscapes of deep house and the meticulous drum programming of Detroit techno, this is a fusion bass heavy sound that avoids cheap thrills and gimmicks. Fabric, a barometer for all things on trend, has handed him the reigns for the 56th edition of their series. Cramming 30 tracks into the mix, Kennedy opens all slow and heavy, the subterranean house sounds of New York’s Levon Vincent giving way to the raw, analogue funk of Marcello Napolentano. Slapping the South African township yelps of Tiyiselani Vomaseve’s Vanghoma straight over the top shows balls and a cheekiness beneath all the intricate rhythms Fellow young Turks Julio Bashmore and Joy Orbison add drive and melody with their take on the future 2-step sound before the later half of the mix steps into darker, more low slung territory. Burial’s haunting, hollowed take on post apocalyptic garage sits easily with the simplistic, ping pong bounce of Mr Mageeka’s Different Lekstrixa Marcus Nasty UK funky anthem. Weaving between disparate genres with ease, this is a refined snapshot of bass music at its most vital. The kids are certainly all right, excellent stuff. JH

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Bespoke Daedelus | Ninja Tune Daedelus, the L.A. based producer, has always had a charismatic approach to album making. Past outings have thrown in conceptual references to Dada parlour games, Victorian secret societies, and a miscellany of other curiosities, all of which are indicative of Daedelus’ commitment to musical eclecticism. With Bespoke he continues with a template developed in last year’s LA Series 6 split EP. Dense layers of disco strings and rich sample textures form the order of the day, this time juxtaposed with vocal contributions from Busdriver, Baths, Bilal and others. These additions serve to highlight Daedelus’ way with melody and his ability to get the best of his collaborators. Penny Loafers and One and Lonely in particular make for a magnificent brace of lovelorn electronica; the former a compelling amalgamation of Golden-Era radio backing vocals and surging analogue synths. There are a few moments where the album loses focus, In Tatters, for example, proves a little too torturous in its delivery, layering up a slurring set of keyboard lines that bury the lead vocal. Thankfully, equilibrium is regained with Slowercase D, a pulsing titan of a track with a push-me, pull-you mix that draws out all of its epic elements over the space of 6 minutes. At one moment it is all wobbling wall of Jericho bass, the next a clattering arrangement of 8-bit electronics and bossa-nova percussion. It is followed immediately by a star turn by Bilal (Overwhelmed) finishing the album off with a hyper-kinetic one-two punch. Bespoke is a consistent treat, an album that shows off Daedelus’ talents as both a song-writer and a beat-maker. AS

93 Million Miles Africa Hitech | Warp 93 Million Miles comprises of rhythms and sounds that will make Andrew Lloyd Webber turn in his grave (once he’s in it), and are capable of rocking your neurons, whether you are in club, pub, or bath tub. If Africa Hitech doesn’t hit the spot then nothing will. Some tracks are more Africa, think the shiver-inducing minor piano and flute riff backed by stirring tribal percussion of Cyclic Sun; some are more Hitech, think the 8-bit marching band madness of Our Luv – I’m not recommending it but if you were on drugs listening to this you would find it hard not to feel like you were actually in Castlevania; others are a beautiful balance of the two. You know what Endtroducing is to that weird instrumental prog-hop genre? Well that’s what 93 Million Miles is to that weird instrumental whatever-it’s-being-called-this-week bass music genre. Undefinable does not mean undistinguished. This is BANGING. Go buy it yesterday. JW

RP Peanut Butter Blues & Melancholy Jam Ghostpoet | Brownswood Ghostpoet’s debut LP is a success due its quality British lyricism. An art once thought lost with The Streets, he revives and revels in our love for chip-shop level rap references. He also updates things, adding a dash of social intelligence and poetic, philosophical insight that can only be described in this analogy, as imported balsamic vinegar. Throughout the LP he prods us with subtle punchlines that we finally pick up at the third or fourth listen, and when we get them Peanutbutter Blues & Melancholy Jam wallows in the back of the mind for days. The music is current and cool but with a firm grip on a jar of stuff (probably some jam jar shaped vessel) containing a magic ingredient known as quality. It works because the man produced it himself; knowing his vital stream of consciousness flows needed loose rhythmic limitations and smoky ‘jazz-club-of-the-future’ atmosphere for us to be able understand it and keep up with it. With his debut Ghostpoet has led listeners inside a new space within British music. AH

Shaolin vs. Wu-Tang Raekwon | Ice H20/EMI There is always apprehension after every significant Wu-Tang solo release. It seems that whenever the Clan are required to follow up a Fishscale or Liquid Swords, they will inevitably fumble the ball, producing something that diminishes the impact of its predecessor. As a consequence Shaolin vs. Wu-Tang has been greeted with scepticism; Raekwon’s last outing Only Built 4 Cuban Linx II was a genuinely thrilling return to form, meaning its follow-up is predestined to be an absolute duffer. The good news is that the album isn’t that bad. With the RZA conspicuous by his absence, production is farmed out to a number of names (Oh No, Alchemist, etc) who then, via cinematic horn samples and martial arts dialogue, have some success in aping his distinctive style. The music proves an agreeable foil to Raekwon’s gruffness; Dart School and Silver Rings feel like classic Wu, the beats forming a relentless march while our hero offers his usual mercurial take on life.

Shaolin Vs. Wu-Tang may not be ground-breaking but Raekwon has managed to turn out something that remains consistently pleasing. It is a pleasant surprise, given that ‘consistent’ is a word fairly unfamiliar to the Wu-Tang Clan.. AS

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End It All Beans | Anticon End It All is the fourth solo album from the Brooklyn-based Anti-Pop Consortium member, featuring production by Four Tet, Ade Firth, In Flagranti, Son Lux, Sam Fogarino of Interpol, Clark, Tobacco, Bumps and Fred Bigot. It also features guest vocalist Tunde Adebimpe of TV on the Radio fame. This is Beans’ first album release on Anticon, his first three albums were on Warp Records. It’s a little short at 33 minutes but there’s no filler. Personal highlights include the Nobody-produced Deathsweater, where Beans shows he’s not afraid to address the dance floor with a Neptunes-style beat and Pharrell style falsetto vocal. There’s a variety of beats here and an 80s vibe to some of the material. It seems his day job influenced his music — he worked at Other Music (one of the main record shops in Berlin, Germany) – the beat for the track Electric Eliminator is Dawn at Dawn, first heard on the Bumps album put out by Stones Throw. It’s hard to believe the press release’s claim that he had recently considered retiring – this release seems to be a rapper near the height of his powers, reminding us that the New York underground is still flowing strong. CB

W.A.R (We Are Renegades) Pharoahe Monch |Duck Down Pharoahe Monch, one of hip-hop’s most respected lyricists, has created another classic album. Monch has put out good music consistently since dropping Internal Affairs (1999) and it’s refreshing to see an artist display such longevity. W.A.R (We Are Renegades) is Pharoahe’s third solo album; it is politically charged but not to the extent that the music is compromised through over-preaching. Pharoahe yet again displays an impressive level of vocal dexterity and the album flows logically; making it a pleasure to listen to. Highlights include the albums second promotional single Clap (One Day), produced by musical powerhouse M-Phazes. The song possesses the anthemic qualities that Monch has become so renowned for; think of singles such as Desire and that charmingly titled ditty Fuck You. Guests include Jean Grae, Immortal Technique, Royce Da 5’9 and more. Jean Grae excels on Assassins (which also features Royce); proving she is one of the best MC’s in the game (regardless of gender). A chorus-less structure, each MC displays a highly evolved level of lyricism. W.A.R comes recommended without exception for anyone that is a fan of intelligent, well-constructed hip-hop. AJ

GOB DELS |Big Dada Is DELS the future of UK hip-hop? Nope, no way because Kieren Dickins aka DELS is very much a man for the moment, an inquiring voice for uncertain times. Sonically it is hip-hop though, typically of the more interesting contemporary releases, it blurs genres, breaks them down only for hip-hop to re-emerge in its most vibrant form. The production trio of Joe Goddard (Hot Chip), Kwes and the classically trained Micachu (of The Shapes) provide an electronic setting. Stand out tracks include Shapeshift, with its curious Carpenters style harmony intro into Goddard’s fuzzy keyboards and staccato cymbals. A nostalgic DELS returns to an imaginative childhood where he is able to shape shift into anything of his choosing, he needs some new shoes, ‘about to turn my feet into some Jordan Threes’. Although there are no explicit references there is a latent trail of psychedelia that runs through GOB. Micachu’s off kilter xylophoneled production on the bad trip adventure of Melting Patterns being a prime example. Capsize is DELS’ attempt to dissect something of the current political malaise and features the only guest MC on the record, Roots Manuva. Although it doesn’t quite match the claim of being the ‘Ghost Town for a new generation’ the press release promises, it is a noble effort and the final three tracks – DLR, Droogs and GOB – reveal depth to Dickins’ rap persona. On these songs DELS addresses subjects of child abuse, family unit breakdown and a nation in a state of sedation, and he handles them with a deftness of touch that belies the album’s debut status. Not so much one to watch, but one who has watched. DK

Gutter Water Gangrene | Decon Gangrene is the new collaboration from the producers/rappers Oh No (Madlib’s bro) and The Alchemist (Eminem’s DJ, producer for Lil Wayne etc and associate of Dilated Peoples and Mobb Deep). The LP draws on their industry network and features guests aplenty including the likes of Raekwon, Guilty Simpson, Evidence, Twins Gambino, Planet Asia and Fashawn.

Gutter Water engages this listener with a strange manic energy and some arresting spoken word samples, but no one song stands out. There are some strong head nodders here too such as Wassup and Take Drugs – watch your neck! Yet no one song stands out with weed song and boasts aplenty, Standing In The Shadow attempts to break the mood with reality raps.. There are videos included with the digital release. The green vinyl double LP release comes with a free download coupon. CB

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FROM TE CRTES BONAFIDE REGULR KIDKNEVIL DIGS TE CRTES AND DUSS OFF AN ALBUM TAT DESERVES GRETER LOVE. Words: KIDKANEVIL

PHOTO: LIZ AINGE Acid Massive Musical Kankick | Grey Label Recordings

I picked this up back in the day at Fat Beats (RIP!) in Amsterdam. Nothing else in my record bag made me wanna run home to my decks quite as much. I’d been a Kankick geek for years, it was all about Jay Dee and Kankick for me back then. For a period I pretty much listened to nothing else, and this was the release that really got to me. Perhaps the first time I’d really heard a proper ‘beat tape’ album, all the tracks being super short n sweet. Not as prolific as Madlib and with no big name props or Stones Throw publicity smart behind him, he sadly seems to have fallen into ‘slept on’ territory. But this album is the motherfuckin shit I swear. The finest in raw soul crusty neck snap instrumental hip-hop goodies and way ahead of its time. The beats are just sonically beautiful, like a classic 60s jazz album, but kinda subtly weird as hell too, and completely bangin’. Joints like Say, Sun Soul and Airtime are pure fuzzy gold, hitting you deep in the heart and causing serious screw face at the same time. And no one does ill out of tune bass quite like Kankick. So much respect.

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FROM TE CRTES BONAFIDE REGULR KIDKNEVIL DIGS TE CRTES AND DUSS OFF AN ALBUM TAT DESERVES GRETER LOVE. Words: KIDKANEVIL

PHOTO: LIZ AINGE Acid Massive Musical Kankick | Grey Label Recordings

BLOC WEEKEND aS Bonafide Scrpe togeter te memorieS from 2011’S Bloc weekend, we look Back on a weekend of electronic goodneSS wit much fondneSS and hazy nosalgia. WORDS: JOEL HARRIS

VISUALS: SAM DONNISON

The wind beaten, barren Somerset coast was the setting for this years festivity, where again a shiny butlins complex became the focal point of this eerie Indiana town. For those of the electronic persuasion, bloc is now firmly established as one of Europe’s strongest festivals, albeit one that swaps fields and mud for lazy rivers and 60’s seaside chalet chic. Resolutely purist, its focus remains largely on the individuals within techno, dubstep, bass music in all its shape-shifting forms, house of the left field persuasion and until this year’s event, electronic leaning hip-hop. Creamfield superstar DJ’s this is not. Friday’s highlights included Loefah, a lynchpin of the now worldwide dubstep scene, Loefah kept things nice and bouncy with an uplifting, tight selection of bowel-moving cuts. MC Pokes commandeered the speaker stacks, demanding numerous rewinds and offering various insightful remarks along the lines of “You’re looking mighty fine Bloc”. Stumbling into the Jak: Bloc arena, a pub by day, a compact, lager stained venue by night, the sticky floors and damp stench were reminiscent of a Wetherspoons on a Friday night. Luckily for us, Jamie xx’s sound doesn’t suit chain pubs. Rather, he treated Bloc to a concise and playful synopsis of bass music in all its current forms. Playing strictly off vinyl, he switched from own his own, sparse, drum-heavy mix of Adele’s Rolling In The Deep to the rump shaking, bloc party vibes of Lumidee’s Never Leave You with immaculate ease.

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Post dubstep/future garage is the phrase that’s been bandied about by many to describe what Joy Orbison is doing. Whilst it’s a convenient tag-with his skipping baselines, lush pads and bubbling hi hats -there’s a depth and variety to his hybrid sound that hints at much more. By this stage of the evening, memories are somewhat vague, however it would be hard to forget Sam Shackleton’s live one hour set that followed Orbison. Hard to pin down, his sound is a warped, trippy, moody, apocalyptic hybrid of dub, techno and industrial. Congas, flutes, tribal drums and vacant vocals all came and went. A unique and amazing set, this was twisted music to truly get lost in. Saturday’s highlights were left to two older statesmen and one newcomer: holding court in the compact Resident Advisor room, 20 year-old Irish native and former Red Bull Music Academy

prodigy Jack Hamill was this reviewer’s most eagerly anticipated set of the weekend. He didn’t disappoint. Sporting a rather ridiculous gold chain he worked his midi controller with consummate ease, creating a unique live sound that sits somewhere between Detroit techno, classic electro and cosmic house. Future boogie perhaps? A refined and patient set climaxed with the sublime Mercurial Attraction, a track that ended up in many a jock’s 2010 end of year charts. Blissful and dance floor friendly at the same time, he was one of Bloc’s most hypnotising performers. It seems like Daedulus has been around forever, but with his manic dandy energy and poignant electronica he is still relevant. Proving himself to be incredibly ‘on-trend’, as fashion insiders put it, by blending James Blake’s The Wilhelm Sream into Tyler the Creator’s menacing Yonkers early on in Red:Bloc.

bouts of extreme tension, rhythmic jazz structures and numerous moments were the order of the day. As the bass in Love Cry finally dropped, a group of topless men inches away (girlfriends in tow) embraced-sums it all up really. Bonafide scooted off early on the late Sunday train back to London, but not before we donned our Speedos and goggles for an energetic swim in the on-site pool. OK, correction, we don’t do Speedos, and there wasn’t much swimming, but we joined hundreds of other ‘refreshed’ revelers for a trip down the lazy river and a scoot on the Black Hole slide. As we exited the pool, a group of rather worse for wear Spainards, sunglasses firmly on, were being eyed up and down by a rather bemused life-guard. Her famous last words? “ Have you guys been drinking?” You don’t know the half of it love.

Kieran Hebden’s come a long way since his formative days as studio nerd/producer. Commanding a packed room in the theatre-like main arena, his stunning live set consisted of drawn out renditions of his most club friendly tracks. Long builds, looped samples,

ADIDAS X SENNHEISER Street style is about more than just clothes or hair, it’s an attitude to life – and one driven by music taste. Sennheiser and adidas Originals have teamed up to bring that style to life with a range of headphones that blends iconic looks with awesome sound quality. There’s a choice of compact in-ear or comfy headband designs, both with powerful bass performance, so you’re sure to find the ideal pair, no matter what your style or music tastes are. CX 310 ORIGINALS These in-ears may be tiny, but they pack a serious bass punch with a full-bodied sound. They’re more discreet than the HD 220s, but show off the same classic adidas Originals style. • Headphones are engineered for an optimum bass sound • Compact, ear-canal design reduces outside noise so you can focus on your tunes • Carry pouch and extra ear tips included

HD 220 ORIGINALS On the street or on the decks, these slick headphones combine great looks with the audio quality your tunes deserve. Their punchy bass-driven sound will add bang to your beats, while the striking blue and white adidas Originals styling will help you stand out of the crowd. • Powerful, high-quality drivers for brilliant sound quality, even with the heaviest basslines • Perfectly matched to iPods, iPhones and other MP3 players, with a 3.5mm jack plug • Lightweight design with adjustable earcups

‘NO MORE IDOLS’ TOUR

OCTOBER 2011 THU FRI SAT MON TUE THU FRI

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