TYLER
>breaking radio silence,
>
>so what's up in tokyo, hmm...cool spoon's got a limited edition picture disk
>of their latest lp out (only 2000 made). "two mohicans", great raw
>funk&jazz with a very heavy bottom. japanese jeep jazz. (jonathan, you
>want cool spoon or a ufo t-shirt? thanks for the beats, by the way!)
>if you see this album, buy it immediately, no questions asked, then
>run home and enjoy.
>
>multidirection2 will be out on the 25th. it's a--ite,
>probably more than good if you like housey stuff, higher tempo beats.
>standout tracks for me personally-the diet music track is dope, lotsa
>swirling ethnic percussion and a sweet wood bass. the kruder&dorfmeister
>track is nice, should rip up a dancefloor. samples the jungle bros "feel
>the vibe, feel the bass, c'mon!". love tko's on some ol'cowboy shit, more
>beat-poetry and steel geetars. dj milo's track is a straight up hip hop
>track, complete with authentic-american-rapper (tm), but it's nothing
>special. imma have to listen to the audio active track s'more, i'm
>still confused about it. these are all first impressions, i reserve
>the right to reverse any opinion stated here...
>
>matsuura's also got another compilation in the works, more on that
>when i hear it.
>
>krush's new album is finished and ready to be shipped, mid-july
>on sony here in japan. this'll be the first release on krush's new
>sony sub-label. this time he went to new york to record, used pete rock's
>studio and enlisted the help of a whole gang of hip hop folks. cl smooth raps
>on one track, nice, cuz it's not often you hear cl on a non-pete rock track.
>big l from the gangstarr family raps on a track. the usual krush beat tracks
>are brilliant, there's a duet with dj shadow, shadow gets crazy on the
>drums. krush fans will not be disappointed. the cover art is dope, too.
>
>back in the beginning of may there was a ufo organized mo'wax tour
>here, shadow and krush both on stage with 4 turntables between them,
>it was a dj's dream lemme tell you. the two of them were slowly joined
>by various members of mondo grosso, krush had a brilliant back-n-forth
>communication going with okawa on percussion. monday sang a few songs,
>james lavelle spun some jungle. matsuura got his hands on a sax somehow,
>and sent himself into outerspace for about 15 minutes, sitting in the
>corner of the stage with a sax and a mic, going "bweeee! eeeeeaaach!
>creeeeeaa" with the sax. you know, that fucked up sound.
>visuals were on point too, futura 2000 did a very cool piece on some
>huge panels, two space-dj's with funk dripping all over the place.
>
>i got called last minute to do an interview for bar-f-out between
>james & shadow & futura, i'll include the un-edited english version here.
>this was before the "trip hop debate" was burning here on the list,
>but there's a few things they had to say about it, too. sorry if
>this is too long, i figger since i only get around to posting once
>in a blue moon it'd be ok...
>
>anyone know anything about a group called "akasha"??? any info appreciated.
>
>oh, speaking of self-promotion, the band i've been working with lately,
>cub, we're doing a show at roppongi jungle bass, fri. june 30, with
>zooco from the escalators, momoko from costra nostra, ellie from love
>tamborines, muro from microphone pager, video art from ben list.
>
>bambi thanks for the tape, i've got one ready to send back to you.
>sounds like chicago's got a good vibe goin' on.
>
>imma virtually disappear again, here's the bar-f-out interview:
>
>later-rj
>
>may 6, 1995 shinjuku liquid room
>"battle royalle"
>
>-----------------------------------------------------------------
>s = dj shadow
>f = futura 2000
>j = james lavelle
>r = robert jordan
>-----------------------------------------------------------------
>
>[loud cheering sounds from outside the window]
>
>s:matsuura probably just strolled in
>f:mighta took his shirt off or somethin
>s:oh my god, tho. like in sendai? it was just rediculous.
>r:what's up with sendai? the crowd was on?
>s:it's like i told james, it was like a new kids on the block concert.
> so funny, anytime anybody'd say anything on the mic it was just like
> "wooooo!". after a while you're kinda like "yo whassup"...woooo!
> yeah, sendai was dope.
>r:let's get started then, shadow how old are you now?
>s:22
>r:you still in school?
>s:yeah
>r:how do you handle the touring and...
>s:i actually do better when i miss a month than when i just stay there.
> y'kno i've been touring for like 2 years now and i do better when i'm gone.
> it's like, ive been in school for five years and after the first 2 1/2
> years you get it, yknowhatimean, and anything after that it's just like
> you're repeating the same thing over and over...
>r:james i've been hearing talk about sam sever putting some stuff out on
> mo'wax...
>j:yeah,it's just a kinda semi-instrumental semi-vocal...mixing the idea
> of instrumental beat tracks with live vocal, sounding like it's sampled,
> should be out in a few weeks.
>r:any other new directions mo'wax is headed?
>j:yeah, it's build and destroy really, it's just taking shit in new directions
>s:let's talk about that concept
>r:build and destroy?
>s:you build yourself up, or you build up an idea or a concept or a paradigm
> that you wanna follow out, and then it's up to you to decide what direction
> that goes in and not have a bunch of other people come in and try to take in
> a direction you didn't intend to go. so you gotta be the one to destroy
> it yourself and start over. it's the phoenix.
>j:you know, the label's all about different styles, linked in a sense
> that it's all good music, it's all progressive and it's got a feel to it
> as a label, as a musical thing. we got money mark comin out, the keyboard
> player from the beastie boys, we're doin stuff with carl craig, we got
> this singer who's gunna be working with alot of different people, techno
> and hip hop people, linking it as a vocal project. it's a more commercial
> project, in a sense that it's a vocal project, which makes it more
> commercially viable in most people's eyes. we're gunna be starting a magazine
> at the end of the summer, kindofa mo'wax equilivent to grand royale type
> thing. it won't be like "mo'wax, the magazine", it'll just be like sponsored
> by mo'wax and we'll have different shit from anyone we're friends with.
> also we've got the u.n.k.l.e. album we're working on with mario c. [beastie
> co-producer], which is me, kudo and a guy called dj-tim.
> y'kno just different stuff
>r:more blackalicious stuff comin out?
>s:yah, they'be been in the studio alot lately, i'm engineering it again,
> gunna produce a couple songs too.
>r:asia born gunna produce too?
>s:yeah "lyrics" born as he's now known, he's got his own album comin
> out. he's got the album artwork done, i'll say that. as far as the music
> he's still working on it.
>r:are you gunna continue putting stuff out on solesides?
>s:yeah we put it out on solesides and then whoever gets it....we've
> only ever put out 3 records in three years, but it's like, it's cool,
> we're just all just kinda kickin' it realy, it's cool. everybody on solesides
> is on tour all over the place right now, blackalicious is in like norway
> switzerland, everybody in solesids is representing all over the world, it's
> all good.
>r:dope...james, when you started up mo'wax, as a teenager...you have any
> idea shit would get this big?
>j:nah you never know, you only ever kinda dream, i didn't go in with that
> kinda ambition...but y'kno, you sell 10,000 records,then you wanna sell
15,000.
> y'kno, i wanna sell a million records...of the type of music that we're
> making now. or the type we'll be making in 10 years time. when it get's
> bigger and bigger it's fine cuz you know you're changing the way
> people think about things, hopefully, in whatever way, wheter it be music
> art, lifestyle. i think it's the way you contribute to a scene, which
> is how mo'wax started out, contributing to a scene that i knew very well,
> which was y'kno the british kinda acid-jazz, well, jazz scene. then there
> comes a point where you wanna create your own scene your own directions,
> and you wanna be your own boss. i think that's the exciting thing with
> mo'wax now is that it's created it's own scene at home, it's become a leader.
> if it fell apart tomorrow it's alright cuz at least it created something,
> something new, and i think that's what's most important.
>r:there's a spiritual undercurrent to alot of the mo'wax releases, expecially
> some of the more recent stuff. talking about changing the way people think,
> is this part of that?
>j:yah i think it's just the way all of us are, most of the people in the
> label have in one way or another have got a certain set of values about
> things, y'kno, but i don't really like "preaching" about stuff.
>s:i think it's just that alot of people involved in mo'wax that really really
> care about music, y'kno. we're all in it trying to give something back in
a way,
> to the music that raised us. for james it was a combination of hip hop and
> techno and jazz, for me it more just hip hop. i had something that i felt
> like i wanted to give back, it's just like respect.
>r:futura, you were telling me last week about finally tryin' to get a
> collection of your works out--a book or a cd-rom. it's about time, huh.
>f:yeah, if i think of the artists from my movement, y'kno keith, jean-michael,
> alot of time has been taken in documenting what they did. but in a sense
> people from my particular background, my school of art--subway art, if you
> will, no one's really gotten their just due in terms of anything real.
> well, you got _subway_art_ and _spraycan_art_ those two books are pictorial
> bibles of the movement, plus a book called _the_faith_of_graffiti_ [by
> norman mailer]. when that came out, that was really the first wave of the
> movement back in the 70s back when i'd just started writing. but now,
> just the fact that i'm here with james, doin' this ongoing project with
> visuals and whatever, it's fantastic for me, that someone's that interested
> in my work to wanna take it to that level. when the time comes to actually
> put it all together...
>j:there's a few interesting ideas being tossed around, me and 3d from
> massive attack have been talking about puting together a really good
> graffiti art collection in the form of an interactive, um...
>f:an interactive game, a cd-rom, and not only that...for me computing
> and cyberspace is the new medium of choice, it really exciting cuz
> you can do a visual thing, have individuals interacting with it,
> it's just really open. i look to that particular medium as the medium
> of the future, i mean i'm already late in developing something, but
> at the same time, i've been able to look at what's out there now and
> see what _not_ to do.
>r:that's a long jump from paiting subway cars to talking about being
> late catching on to the digital revolution...
>f:yeah, oddly enough, i can reminice about the days when we just went out
> and painted from the heart, when there wasn't any cash reward involved,
> and now, things...
>j:i think things just progressed, tho. the reason i got involved with
> futura was i didn't just want the same ol' wild style again. things just
> move on, just cuz he wants to progress doesn't mean he's still not down
> for doing graffiti or bombing or whatever.
>r:you've been doing this for what, 20-25 years now right?
>f:yeah, it's kinda cool to look back, and look ahead as well. my whole
> story, i've always been looking ahead. that's why i called myself
> futura 2000 back in '70, i was projecting something that i thought
> was gunna be very wonderful. now, technology's there and communication's
> so immediate, we've been talking about setting up a web site for mo'wax
> on the net, i mean that's the shit right there, a kid in melbourne,
> somebody in karachi, a gal in oslo, a homeboy in the bronx could all hook
> up--i think those are avenues that need to be explored.
>r:evolution, taking things to the next level, that's what it's all about,
> right. shadow you too, in the 2 or 3 years you've been puttin' records out,
> you've been stretching the boundaries of hip hop too.
>f:that's why me and shadow are boys, yo.
>s:yeah, it's like, why we're all 3 sitting here together now, we all had
> visions that we just needed to manifest and right now the way for
> us to do that is to help each other out as we climb up. we all have a
> respect for the power of communication, futch is visual, with me i
> communicate with music. i always loved subway art and spraycan art, cuz
> it's just something you sit there and trip off of, you get the same
> feeling of realness that you get listening to real old school hip hop.
>r:lets talk about what we call "trip hop". i don't know a single person
> who ... well, how do you feel about the name being applied to your music?
>s:yeah, me and james sat around back when we were getting started together,
> and said "you know someone's gunna come up with a stupid little name for
> this shit" and sure enough, a couple of months later the name trip hop
> started to catch on. it certainly means nothing to us, it's just another
> convenient way for the public to find, like if they want something with
> a hip hop feel without the gangster lyrics, they can look for trip hop.
> personally...well, we were in a record store in shibuya today and i
> look at the trip hop section--all the music in there, i've never heard
> of it, and i don't see the connection to hip hop. it's not something i'd
> buy, from the cover art to the song titles, i'm just not interested. i've
> always maintained that my view is just hip hop, but i'm selecting a certain
> combination of influences with maybe a little more emphasis on the deep,
> cerebral, but that's not even a conscious thing, it's just the influences
> i've chosen over the years.
>j:you have to realize the power of the media, and to keep everything alive
> you have to sell records. at the end of the day it all boils down to
> economics, and the label "trip hop" is just another way to sell records.
> i think this year will be interesting, tho, because not everthing we do this
> year on mo'wax is going to be what people are expecting. we're gunna be
> pushing artists, not labels. that's why i wanted to bring shadow to
> japan, i'm tired of just promoting me, time to see more of the other people
> involved get theirs.
>f:this labeling thing, from my own experience, when i first started
> painting, when the movement first kinda surfaced, around '80 we
> decided we'd blown up the underground and it was time to let people know
> about us. so one particular artist "crash" had the idea to
> do an exhibition at this funky spot called "fashion moda", we painted
> on whatever we could find, wood and found objects, none of us had any
> idea how to stretch a canvas or anything like that. so people showed
> up and one of my painting sold, and someone wrote a critique of the
> exhibition and made reference to kendenski, about _my_ work. at that time
> i was like who the fuck is kendenski? i had to go ask my boy downtown,
> about bauhaus, russian constructivism, whatever...the point is, whatever
> you do, it's out of your control what label they're gunna apply to it.
> there's this assumption that i've gone out and copied this artist and
> i've never even fucking heard of the guy. the same thing's happening
> all the time with music and art, we need to have a reference to something.
> but why can't you be seen as your own thing, why can't you have created
> something new? but no, it's always gotta be referenced to something that's
> already happened, it's rediculous.
> the "graffiti" label today, too, it's the ball and chain that's on my
> leg, a paradox i have to come to terms with. i mean today i don't want
> to be considered a "graffiti" artist all the time, i think my potential's
> much higher than that...
>r:you've taken it to the next level...
>f:and sometimes people wanna dis you for that, it's like you're a sellout.
> but how true can you stay to a movement without growing? let me do what i do,
> what i might do next might be a total departure from what i've done
> previously. music falls victim to the same sorta circumstance sometime,
> it's really a problem. it's back to the question of money and marketing,
> you can't be too new cuz you'll scare people. i think if you're really
> creative it's fucking frustrating sometimes, cuz you wanna bust outta the
> molds. fortunately, the graffiti community in new york is very small, there's
> no bullshit about it--there was only a capsulated moment when it happened
and
> either you were there or not, it's a very pure family.
>r:shadow, how's the reaction been from the hip hop community to your taking
> shit to the next level?
>s:well, i started out thru very normal hip hop channels, i hooked up
> with funkenklien in 88, mailed a tape off to the source when i was 19 and
> they put it in "unsigned hype". i wouldn't be sitting here now if i hadn't
> mailed that tape. i used to really pursue that, i'd mail records to red
> alert personally, y'kno talk on the phone, be very "hip hop". but i kinda
> got bored. the first record i did was straight up b-boy shit, but then i
> was like what would i wanna hear as a listener, and i wanted to hear
> something different, so that's why i did the "zimbabwe legit" single,
> and that's the one james liked, and that's why i'm here now. but
> touring now, walking around the record stores in countries i've never
> been to before, and seeing my record in the window wherever we go,
> it's a good feeling...the press has been good, the tour with krush
> was dope, it's nice, it's like alot of things have been coming together.
>f:if i hadn't met this man in berlin _i_ wouldn't be here now.
>r:berlin?
>f:i was in berlin for this international bicycle messenger race, i had
> my tight racing bmx pants representing america over there, and james
> was djing...
>j:some kid got stabbed in the club, two records into my set, they closed the
> place down immediately, police sirens all over the place,it was hell. i was
> standing there with two crates of records, like "take me home!",
> and then i met futura.
>f:it was all good after that.
>r:more futura 2000 cover art on the way?
>f:mad covers, stupid covers.
>r:cool...a'ite then, thanks for the time...
>
___________________________________________
Tyler Askew 404-351-0582 tyler@america.net
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