Artist of the Day: Eric Lau

Eric Lau is a London-based producer who has been busy making musical waves for others. He may well be a producer you`ve heard, but not heard of, by way of his productions for the likes of Lupe Fiasco, Dudley Perkins, Georgia Anne Muldrow, Guilty Simpson, Wildchild, Tanya Morgan, Hil St Soul, and a family of upcoming artists who feature on New Territories, his debut solo album.

His slick and edgy productions have turned the ears of Gilles Peterson (Lau appeared on his Brownswood Bubblers release of October 2006) and Fat City Records who released Eric Lau presents Dudley & Friends in January 2007. Tastemakers and peers like Benji B (BBC Radio 1Xtra) called Laus soulful street sounds Heavy, Phonte (of Little Brother) added that Lau is One of the illest beatmakers.

New Territories has a double meaning. Its the area in Hong Kong that the Lau family are from and regularly visit. People have a vision of Hong Kong being sky scrappers and high rises everywhere, says Lau. However, the area known as New Territories is full of mountain ranges, sea, villages and farm land. Its very peaceful and pure there, and these are qualities I try to incorporate into my production. Also, the title refers to the album and the global musical connections it made. There are many young artists on the record and our roots are from around the world, explains Lau. Even though we are from different backgrounds we approached the album with the same mindset and all want to help each other get to where we want to be. This record is a new territory for us as a group of artists, and I hope that it is, in turn, a refreshing listen.

UK born Lau has only relatively recently got into music production, but delved-in neck-deep. I dont really have a very musical family or musical upbringing, he says. But apparently my mother used to sing Chinese opera during the revolution in Hong Kong. Moving to London at the age of 19 his time at University there turned him on to the possibility of music as a way of life. Just being in London, with an open mind, thats all it took, he explains. Now 26 years old, Lau is either in the studio, or can be found teaching at RollingSound, a youth-led multimedia education company.

At RollingSound under-privileged inner-city kids get to learn music production, DJ-ing, video gamed design, photography, film and web design. I ve been their head tutor and artistic consultant for the last 3 years and have had a big say in the design of the courses and delivery, says Lau. If I was not doing the music thing I would definitely put all my efforts in to teaching and work in the youth sector as I have seen so many talented young people take their skills in multimedia and more importantly life to the next level (Last.fm, 2010). 

You can listen to Eric Lau's music at:
http://www.last.fm/music/Eric+Lau





Released Albums:
Eric Lau - New Territories
Eric Lau - Makin' Sound
Eric Lau - Kilawatt V2

Reference:
(2010). Eric Lau. Last.fm. Retrieved from http://www.last.fm/music/Eric+Lau

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Artist of the Day: Nobody

Nobody (Elvin Estela), has been a fixture in the Los Angeles music scene since the early 1990s, first as a producer for many of the premier emcees at the Good Life Cafe/Project Blowed, and then as a remixer, producer, and important member of the global electronic and indie-rock communities. He has worked with, remixed, and toured in support of the Postal Service, Prefuse 73, The Mars Volta, Aceyalone, Mia Doi Todd, and many others.

His releases for Ubiquity and Plug Research have garnered him not only critical praise, but the clout to define and redefine his sound as he sees fit. His productions effortlessly flow from the hip-hop themes of his early career to the psychadelia and rock motifs of his most recent work, and his vast musical vocabulary allows him to deliver with each and every mix (Last.fm, 2010).

You can listen to Nobody's music at:
http://www.last.fm/music/Nobody



Released Albums:
Nobody - Soulmates
Nobody - Pacific Drift
Nobody - And Everything Else...
Nobody - Revisions: The Remixes
Nobody - One For all Without Hesitations
Nobody - Earthtones EP
Nobody - Porpoise Song EP

Reference:
(2010). Nobody. Last.fm. Retrieved from http://www.last.fm/music/Nobody

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Artist of the Day: The Clonious

Somewhere between the past and the distant future, sparked by dusty old jazz records and beat generation hip hop, at the sonic cross-roads of Detroit and Vienna, lies a series of sound stories steeping in the head of 23 year old beat navigator Paul Movahedi, also known as The Clonious.

The Adroit Adventures EP, released on Ubiquity in June, was the first set of tales to exit his studio and hit limited edition wax. It was immediately picked up by the likes of Mary Anne Hobbs (who aired a Clonious mixtape the week of it’s release) and Benji B on BBC Radio. DJs from Helskinki to Tokyo to New York also gave thumbs up to his unique blend of bouncy cosmic vibes and glitchy shoegazer funk. On Between The Dots his debut album, Movehadi continues his development of sounds that are at once new and classic, soulful and striking, organic and electronic.

“If a regular hip-hop head and the biggest IDM nerd both find a track on the album that they like, it would make me happy,” says Movahedi. “The album is the sum of what I like. These tracks are little adventures that just want to say hello,” he jokes.

While “Fogged Spacesuit,” the ideal tune for astronauts on a spacewalk, and the outerworldly soul of “One At A Time,” (featuring DC-based vocalist Muhsinah, and remixed for the album) swell and bump, tracks like “Emora” are more angular and to the point, building around a focussed theme. Keeping the beats edgy, Movahedi lets the jazz and improv fly between the dots on “If Joe Had The Power,” and even more on the short “Agenda” and “Hang On.” There’s a Herbert-like warmth to the cut n’paste style of the more uptempo “Bugs N’Fools” and “Leaving Belief” should please the ears of Jazzanova and Atjazz fans with their floor friendly beats.

“I don’t really care how people explain my music. You will most definitely find references to others, and that’s cool with me,” says Movahedi. “You can’t invent the wheel a second time. It’s about your mix of influences, and with every record I have ever listened to I inhaled a piece of the world. Searching in the past always felt like looking in the future for me. The past and the future have the unknown in common - and I hope I also captured “the jazz” that make this music timeless,” says Movahedi.

Other guests on the album include Dorian Concept and Cid Rim, with whom Movahedi frequently collaborates. Los Angeles-based Georgia Anne Muldrow and partner Dudley Perkins round out the collabs, injecting some of their own brand of West Coast fonk.

Beat generation artists are smashing the boundaries and connections between electronic music and hip hop worldwide, making something new with every release. “I hope to achieve that fine balance between a superficial forcefulness and a striking deepness. I come from a musical background that is heavily influenced by the jazz era of the late 1950s and 1960s. But a big part of my sound is sampling. Everything I record or produce eventually ends up in a sampler. As I see it the art of sampling comes close to a cloning process. So add my love for sampling with my love for old jazz records and the name The Clonious makes sense…I guess!” he adds (Last.fm, 2010). 

You can listen to The Clonious' music at:
http://www.last.fm/music/The+Clonious



Released Albums:
The Clonious - Adroit Adventures
The Clonious - Between The Dots

Reference:
(2010). The Clonious. Last.fm. Retrieved from http://www.last.fm/music/The+Clonious

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Artist of the Day: Greyboy

Greyboy is San Diego producer and DJ, Andreas Stevens, he makes spacy acid jazz with hip-hop roots. Also variously known as Dj Greyboy and also contributed to The Greyboy Allstars.

“Soul Mosaic” is the latest Greyboy album, and was recorded 10 years after the release of “Freestylin’,” the first Greyboy full-length album for Ubiquity. The tracks crafted into this fourth Greyboy album include groundbreaking territory for the Southern California based producer/DJ. For the first time he recorded full vocal songs adding a new soulful dimension to his music. The trademark laid-back West Coast Greyboy beats remain central to “Soul Mosaic” but are now enhanced by collaborations with folks like Sharon Jones, Bart Davenport (Honeycut), and Bing Ji Ling.

A decade ago “Freestylin’” became a surprise underground hit, it was a building block of the early acid jazz movement and still holds cult status today. Since then Greyboy has released the equally jazz-based instrumental “Land of the Lost” and the soundtrack and hip hop inspired “Mastered The Art”, which featured musicians and MCs in a prelude to the “Soul Mosaic” album.

Greyboy has recorded with AG (Showbiz & AG), and the Greyboy Allstars (whom he helped put together and produce). His music has been featured in movies like Get Shorty, Celtic Pride, The Kelly Slater Surf Pro video game, Budweiser commercials, and he was handpicked to provide a mix CD for DC shoes.

Over the years Greyboy has DJ’d in Japan, Europe, and across the USA. His largest DJ gig was to 5000 people in the countryside outside of Rome, but throughout the summer of 2003 he played to over 20, 000 people a night on tour with Ben Harper and Jack Johnson. His DJ philosophies have never changed, he practices to stay technically on top of his game but never practices a set for a specific night preferring to put together tunes and based on the vibe at each gig.

Working up the rough drafts for “Soul Mosaic” Greyboy recorded parts, solos, and lyrics with guests returning to the lab in his Long Beach home to deconstruct and sift through all the elements. And just like the aesthetic of Killingsworth, the well-known Case Study House architect who built the house which Greyboy recently restored (it was featured twice in Dwell Magazine), less is definitely more. In fact the process of restoring the home is not unlike his approach to making music. His mid-century modern building has been altered, remodeled and added onto over the years, Greyboy is currently putting it back the way it was supposed to be.

Vocalists like Bay Area underground favorite Bart Davenport sings on the two sold-out singles “To Know You is To Love You” and “Genevieve”, cover versions of a Stevie Wonder tune (originally recorded by Syreeta) and Cymande respectively. “Genevieve” was nominated as one of the songs of the year by Radio 1’s Worldwide host Gilles Peterson. East Coast based Sharon Jones has made a storming come back with Daptone Records over recent years and also appears on two tracks. San Francisco up n’comer Bing Ji Ling adds a lil’ Shuggie Otis folksy soul and guitar while MCs like Mainflo (TVT), and musicians and turntablists like D-Styles and Ricci Rucker (Sound In Color) maintain the hip hop pressure, and Robert Walter and Karl Denson (of the Greyboy Allstars) add a touch of jazz. Rounding out the mosaic are co-producers like the UK-based Quantic and West Coaster Mike Andrews, who recently had a hand in the Christmas #1 spot on the UK charts with a version of Tears for Fears “Mad World” from the Donnie Darko soundtrack (Last.fm, 2010).

You can listen to Greyboy's music at:
http://www.last.fm/music/Greyboy



Released Albums:
Greyboy - Soul Mosaic
Greyboy - Mastered The Art
Greyboy - Freestylin'
Greyboy - Land of the Lost
Greyboy - Shades of Grey
Greyboy - 15 Years of West Coast Cool

Reference:
(2010). Greyboy. Last.fm. Retrieved from http://www.last.fm/music/Greyboy

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Artist of the Day: Sa-Ra Creative Partners

Sa-Ra Creative Partners is the trio of well accomplished musicians and producers, Om'Mas Keith, Taz Arnold and Shafiq Husayn. Sa-Ra arrived into scene after being previously signed to Kanye West's G.O.O.D. Music label. Sa-Ra stands out from their music peers as they have that "uniqueness" in their sound as well as their unique fashion sense. Their sound comprises of jazz, soulful elements, electronica, Euro pop, synthesized space-age sounds blended with a pinch of hip-hop making them out of this world or "futuristic". Being high-profile producers, they have contributed remixes and collaborated with many artists in various genres in the music industry. With their success, they have ascended from the underground scene causing such an instant buzz which has boosted them into the limelight (Discogs, 2010).

You can listen to Sa-Ra Creative Partners' music at:
http://www.last.fm/music/Sa-Ra+Creative+Partners



Released Albums:
Sa-Ra Creative Partners - The Hollywood Recordings
Sa-Ra Creative Partners - Dark Matter and Pornography Mixtape
Sa-Ra Creative Partners - Sun Drums and Soil
Sa-Ra Creative Partners - The Second Time Around
Sa-Ra Creative Partners - Sonic Seduction Volume 1 and 2 Ep
Sa-Ra Creative Partners - The Decadent Dimensions Ep
Sa-Ra Creative Partners - Nuclear Evolution: The Age Of Love

Reference:
(2010). Sa-Ra Creative Partners. Discogs. Retrieved from
http://www.discogs.com/artist/Sa-Ra+Creative+Partners

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Artist of the Day: Clutchy Hopkins

Who exactly is Clutchy Hopkins? That's the million-dollar question that became a favorite topic on various Internet chat boards when a dozen undeniably funky and up-to-date instrumental beat tracks, each one titled only by its running time, appeared as The Life of Clutchy Hopkins in 2006 from the Misled Children imprint. Hopkins, it appeared, was either a clever media creation or actually an aging revolutionary savant effortlessly in touch with the music of the 21st century. A mystery man dressed up as a stylish enigma, he really seemed too good to be true.

The "official" bio for Hopkins seemed preposterous at best, telling the story of the son of a Motown recording engineer who traveled to Japan in his twenties to study with Rinzai monks, then to India to study Raja yoga, and from there Hopkins, so the story goes, journeyed to Nigeria to study percussion, becoming as well a gun-runner and revolutionary. Returning to the U.S., Hopkins reportedly recorded with numerous jazz, funk, and avant combos from the early '70s through the late '90s, always refusing to have his name cited on any of the projects. Tapes of his own music were supposedly uncovered at a swap meet in the Mojave Desert on reels simply marked C. Hopkins and accompanied by a handwritten autobiographical manuscript. Hopkins is now, so the story continues, either a busking beach hobo in Southern California or a recluse living in a cave in the Mojave Desert. All of this was understandably difficult to swallow, and theories about Hopkins' actual identity have ranged from MF Doom to DJ Shadow, Cut Chemist, or one of or all of the Beastie Boys moonlighting and pulling the wool over everyone's eyes.

The one clear thing is that the music on The Life of Clutchy Hopkins is a marvelously concocted and amazingly fresh and contemporary mesh of funk, hip-hop, jazz, and straight-out weird orchestral psychedelia (Hopkins reportedly played all the instruments, which include drums, bass, guitar, organ, flute, melodica, and assorted percussion, himself) that suggests Mr. Hopkins must have had a pretty good Internet connection in that Mojave cave. The Clutchy Hopkins legend continued when Ubiquity Records released the set Walking Backwards (a CD of music and a DVD of supposed "confessionals" from folks who reportedly knew or met Hopkins) in 2008. Music Is My Medicine, attributed to Hopkins and Lord Kenjamin, appeared in 2009, again from Ubiquity Records. The story continued in 2010 with The Storyteller, which was reported delivered to Ubiquity on a banged-up iPod complete with a spoken word reading of the history of the recording done in ten different languages (Leggett, 2010).
 
You can listen to Clutchy Hopkins' music at:
http://www.last.fm/music/Clutchy+Hopkins



Released Albums:
Clutchy Hopkins - The Life of Clutchy Hopkins
Clutchy Hopkins - Clutch of The Tiger
Clutchy Hopkins - Walking Backwards
Clutchy Hopkins - Fascinating Fingers
Clutchy Hopkins - Music Is My Medicine
Clutchy Hopkins - The Story Teller

Reference:
Leggett, S. (2010). Clutchy Hopkins. All Music. Retrieved from
http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:dpfexqurldfe~T1

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