Keyser & Shuriken - newsletter #55: In through the door walks this f***ing legend
Newsflash 24.04.2001
Dear friends,
as life gets tough we get even tougher. This weekend we have entered the incredible
world of rock'n'roll by playing on VOLT festival in Sopron (a friendly town with
unfriendly weather in the western part of Hungary, close the Austrian border).
We have already seen it coming the weekend before when the first groupie have turned
up in the history of K&S. Maybe that's because we had played this gorgeous groupie
track on Nuphonic in the radio before we went to play at the Sweetbeat clubnight in
the sleepy, but sweet town of Szombathely. Too bad that we still have too much morals
to exploit this situation as real rock starts would do. Big shout to Zsolt Prieger
(of Anima Sound System) for inviting us to their lively club. Keep your eyes open for
their crazy dub side-project, the Dub City Fanatics. We were lucky enough to listen
to parts of their debut LP (still under production), and it really is amazing:
Drakula style string orchestration mixed with raw hip hop beats, spaced out echoes
and Jamaican (sub)basslines that either kill your car-stereo or blow your head off.
Scary, as owl-headed women (seemingly the local fetish thing we never quite
understood), believe us! (for promos and further info, write to prieger@index.hu).
VOLT festival (organised this year for the ninth time, one of the biggest and longest
running events of this kind in Hungary) was even crazier. We had it all: hotel, big
stage, backstage, hanging out (and exchanging rare beats) with big names like the
amazing Killer Kela & DJ Vadim (do check out human beatbox maestro Kela's Heavy
Artillery 12" on Vadim's very own Jazz Fudge label. It's killa!) and Jürgen from
Jazzanova. As we played both on Friday and Saturday, we have developed a heavy sleep
deficit till 4:00 AM the second night when we finally got it on after Jürgen's
splendid set. We spent our teenager years dreaming of situations like this, but now
we had to realise that even if it's fun to be backstage where only the chosen few
gets admission, in most of the cases everybody is too exhausted to really enjoy it.
And sure, another illusion is gone forever.
The Robust K&S Rock 'N' Roll Roadkill Show has just begun. Next week we do Trieste
and Zagreb (Kontrapunkt's 2nd Future Jazz Festival; check it out:
http://kontrapunkt.aquarius.hr). Hope we don't go totally crazy on the rockstar trip
and start throwing TVs out the windows and other such silly things!
This weeks reading goes out to other cats getting blinded by the glittering shine of
showbiz. Hip hop geniuses meet deep psychedelic rock legends:
"You'll never believe this... I went into the studio today- not to record anyone on
Stones Throw. Rather, I went to the Capitol Tower in Hollywood and told the guard at
the front gate "We're here for the David Axelrod session." "Right this way," he
replied, and he instructed me to park. Peanut Butter Wolf, Madlib and I (the former
two drunk off of Coke and Amarettos - it was four in the afternoon) rolled into
studio B. What we witnessed was fucking miraculous.
First off, I roll into the control room and see H.B. Barnum chilling in a chair. This
being the cat that has worked with Axelrod for years, and is an arranger of the
highest caliber. And he's talking to Willie Tee! Now I interviewed Willie on my
Origins of Hip Hop show when I lived in Nashville 'cause of the work he did with the
Gaturs in New Orleans, but he also cut a little-known record with Axelrod. He was in
town running post production on a gospel gig and he had called H.B. to play golf.
H.B. told him he was recording (H.B. is producing the new Axelrod record) and Willie
rolled to the studio. It's only then that he finds out that it's an Axelrod date. You
can imagine how hot this is.
So Willie sees me and bugs out; he had no idea that I had moved to L.A.. I introduce
myself to H.B. Barnum, and basically say "I'm worthless in your presence, but I'm
happy to be here."
By this point B-Plus, photographer extraordinaire, has told Axelrod, who was in the
recording room, that I'm here. In through the door walks this fucking legend, white
frizzy hair, big sunglasses, an oversized long sleeved shirt and a pair of faded
jeans. "Which one of you motherfuckers is Eothen?" he asks. I hold my hand up. He
rolls over, gives me a hug and says "Why are you all over six feet tall?! What the
fuck is wrong with all of you? Everyone here is over six feet tall!" I expected
nothing less."
From a letter of Eothen Alapatt (who's now chillin' out in LA and doin' his thing at
Stones Throw Recordings) to beat collector Soulman. Read the whole amazing piece at:
http://www.worldofbeats.com/old_site/new-wob11.html (We know that we have already
linked this page on some other ocassion, but couldn't help doing so again.) By the
way does anyone know when the new Axelrod joint's hitting the stores? We are
desperate!
Keep on rocking till next week!
Keyser & Shuriken
Playlist
Tilos Radio (http://tilos.hu)
Kristalykert (Crystal Garden - 18.04.2001) - DJs: Keyser & Shuriken
Listen (hurry up, it's online only for a couple more hours):
Lo-fi:< http://tilos.hu/mp3/24/Wednesday/0000.m3u>
Hi-fi: < http://tilos.hu/mp3/96/Wednesday/0000.m3u>
1. Os Brazoes - Tao Longe De Mim (Throrn)
2. Serge Gainsbourg - En Melody (Philips)
3. Lafayette Afro Rock Band - Darkest Light (Strictly Break)
4. Quantic Soul Orchestra - Super 8 (Tru Thoughts)
5. Kool & The Gang - More Funky Stuff (De-Lite)
6. Luigi Pellignioni - Komponiert aus den vier Tönen B, A, Es, F (BASF)
7. Attica Blues - Test Don't Test (Columbia)
8. Rae & Christian - Trailing In The Wake (Grand Central)
9. Ty - ? (Big Dada)
10. Sly & The Family Stone - If You Want Me To Stay (Epic)
11. Kool & The Gang - Wild & Peaceful (De-Lite)
12. Charles & Flats - Isztorija Ljubvi (Melodija)
13. Ahmal Djamal - Stolen Moments (Impulse)
14. Sandor Dobsa/Balazs Berkes - My Favourite Things (Qualiton)
15. Ahmal Djamal - Dolphin Dance (Impulse)
16. Studio 11 - Theme of Ahmal Djamal (Qualiton)
17. Ahmal Djamal - You Are Everything (Impulse)
18. All Natural & Lone Catalyst - Renessaince (Fat City)
19. Jimmy Smith - ? (Verve)
20. Lyrics Born - Always Fine Tuning (Quannum)
21. Rae & Christian - Hold Us Down (Grand Central)
22. Dynamic Syncopation - Dedicated (Ninja Tune)
23. Afu Ra - Drop A Jewel (Grand Central)
24. South - Broken Head II (Mo Wax)
25. Hefner - Chocolate Beauty (Inertia)
26. Ben Human - The Lawgiver Bleeds (Unique)
27. Richardo Ray/Bobby Cruz - Lamento Boricano (Vaya)
28. Grupo X - Eye 2 Eye (Loft)
29. Kenny Rankin - In The Name of Love (Counterpoint)
30. Donald Byrd - Chant (Blue Note)
31. Serge Gainsbourg - Flash-Forward (Philips)
32. Gabor Szabo - A Day In The Life (Impulse)
33. Gabor Szabo - Beat Goes On (Impulse)
34. Lionel Hampton - Blackout Pt. 1. (Vantage)
35. Cannonball Adderley Quintet - The Scene (Capitol)
36. Sergio Mendes & The Brazil 66 - Crystal Illusions (A&M)
37. Serge Gainsbourg - Melody (Philips)
K&S events in the near future:
28.04. Trieste (I): Electro-Sacher
29-30.04. Zagreb (CR), Aquarius: Kontrapunkt Festival /w Eddy & Dus; Da Lata; Mark De
Cliwe-Lowe; Gotan Project; Boyz From Brazil; Karl Injex; Paolo Scotti; Tom Wieland;
Lil Tony; Seiji and Domu
02.05. Budapest, Rigoletto; 2001 Funk Odyssey /hosts: Mr. Tristram Shandy & Pedro
Traquillo
04.05. Veszprem, Syrup Club /host dj: Döme
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Keyser & Shuriken weekly newsletter
If you don't want to get this newsletter, just write an e-mail for us.
Contact: E-mail: keyser.shuriken@freemail.hu; Phone: +36 20 9329279
Thanks for the support: Alan Brown (aka Cukipapa); Tom (Les Gammas crew); Eddy & Dus;
Anna @ Acid Jazz; Martin & Antibalas, Paul @ Afro Art; Paul @ Blow Up; Pat @
Chocolate Fireguard; Manu & Eric @ Comet Records, Rainer, Michael, Kaisa & everybody
@ Compost Records; Zeljko @ Cosmic Sounds London; Vlado & Mario @ Couch Records;
Micke @ Diesel Music; Ecco Chamber; Paul @ Fenetik; Jonny & Grupo X; Iain @ Grand
Central Records; Vadim & Kela @ Jazz Fudge; Christian @ Klein Records; Andre @ Jazid
Club & Records; Jazzland Records; Chris @ Nuphonic; Jürgen, Barbara & Sonar
Kollektiv; Nicola & Filippo @ Fez Jazz/Schema; Gak Sato & Rocco @ Right Tempo; Nat @
RhythmLove; Marcus, Oscar, Reini & Toasta @ Spinning Wheel Records; Oli & Sammy @
Stereo Deluxe; Alex "Reggie" @ Straight Ahead; Heinzi & Chris @ Sunshine Enterprises;
Ali @ Switch; Rob @ Tru Thoughts; Hannes & Flow @ Twentysomething Tunes; Laszlo @
UCMG Hungary; Tim @ Tummy Touch; Yonderboi & Trevira Modern, Ambi & Amorf Ördögök;
United Future Organization & Kaori; Vinnie @ Ubiquity; Nik @ Universal Jazz; Unique
Records, Werner @ Uptight; Pita @ ParaRadio; Gilb-r & Didier @ Versatile/Future Talk;
Rune & Dag @ Voices of Wonder; Tosha (Pencilbrain); Enrico Riva & everybody else who
we forgot to mention
Respect: all people @ Tilos Radio
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Tue Apr 24 2001 - 18:07:02 CEST