Stay tuned the coming weeks, as we try to bring you some other selectors with a different scope, while I am on a brief vacation.

Future Vintage 039 @ Red Light Radio 06-14-2011 by Red Light Radio

Prince – Just as Long as we’re Together
Young Montana – Sacré Cool
Skip James – Devil Got my Woman
David Sylvian – Words With the Shaman part III
Tyler the Creator – Analog (feat. Hodgy Beats)
Disclosure – I Love… That You Know
Quest – Smooth Skin
Inc – Swear
D-F – Keep Glidin’

-Lavendersss Set-

Space Ranger – Plastic Romance (Motor City Drum Ensemble Vocal Remix)
Was not Was – Wheel me Out

Our man Wouda, music lover that he is, brought Suzi Analogue over to Amsterdam for a while. About time because we never had a chance to see her perform here, and Suzi never rode a bike Amsterdam style. Make sure you don’t miss out: Deluge is hosting her on Saturday April 9 at Toko MC as start of his monthly Deluge endoses… nights. The week after (April 16) Suzi performs at Butter in Canvas. So you know the places to be.

To make it even easier for one of you (and a friend) there’s a little question, the right answer in our comments gets in with for free at one of aforementioned parties of choice.

The question: on which legendary producer’s alter ego did Suzi Analogue base her name?

Future Vintage 029 @ Red Light Radio 04-05-2011 by Red Light Radio

Playlist:
Orfeu Negro Soundtrack – Générique/Félicidade
Gichy Dan’s Beachwood #9 – On A Day Like Today
Orchestre Poly-Rhytmo – Pardon
ROB – Make It Fast, Make It Slow
Tom Trago – We Like Noam
JtotheC – Getta 2 Getta
Daphni – Mapfuno
Burnier & Cartier – Mirandolina
Andrés – Sing About It
Dirty – Ride (Maxmillion Dunbar Fix)
Rednose Distrikt – Dopehop
Protect-U – U-Uno

– Suzi Analogue Set

Suzi Analogue -Didn’t I?!1?!
Suzi Analogue-Pheonnxt
Brain Wave Projection – The Vision
JDilla- Flyyyyy x Suzi Analogue “Son”
LAVA -The Most Impt.
Suzi Analogue- Jump Roooooope

In search of the simple, not shallow

North Sea Jazz festival 2010. For one night the Yukon stage is transformed into Hyperrhythm, bringing together four descendants of the beat generation, each with an individual style. After Mike Slott, Dorian Concept and Hudson Mohawke, the final part will be in the hands of Dimlite. His music feels superconcentrated, looking for new shapes, without losing the emotion. Unknown rhythm patterns, haunting voices, always relevant – the Swiss  musician was often ahead of his time, but never much on the forefront. The people who know, know. Before Dimlite goes on stage, we have a little chat. While his early releases from 2005 still sounds fresh, I ask what has changed recently.

Dimlite: So much has changed. The music itself has changed ofcourse. And I have changed, I guess. Hopefully, no certainly. I can’t even describe because it’s my own music, it’s very subjective and personal.

R: I wonder if the older things were more sampled?

D: Simple?

R: No sampled.

D: Yeah, the older things were more half/half. And now there is no sample at all anymore, but not for the reason I would hate samples. I did this one song recently, where I took a whole song from the sixties and I kind of extracted the vocal track of it and I made a beat underneath it and a couple of chords, very simple. I released it as an mp3, as a gift for people who bought a digital single, and it seems people like this song more than the stuff that is closer to my heart. That is I think partly because I uses portions of someone else’s music, which is kind of funny.

R: And maybe a little bit painful too…

D: No it’s not painful at all, it made me grin. My flatmate asked if he could release the song on vinyl. And I explained him I don’t want this to come out on a serious format because I don’t want to sample anymore, I don’t want to release music that contains others people music just out of principle. And he was like, ‘yeah, you do your own piece of shit compositions yourself ‘ [laughing] so yes that’s the conflict I’m facing now a lot of times when making music.
Still, I think I’m doing the right thing, I believe in what I do without samples. It’s not that I hate samples. I really fucking love it when say someone like the Gaslamp Killer takes whole portions or whole songs and rearranges it, and has someone sing on it. That’s so radical and middle fingery that I love it.

R: You also make music under the name Misel Quitno, what’s the main difference between Misel and Dimlite?

D: With Misel Quitno I’m less considerate, about….everything I consider when I produce as Dimlite. Where I take care of every detail and the continuation of the tracks and the message of the tracks. Misel Quitno is not trashy, but it’s very reduced and simple and I don’t care too much about if people are going to like it or if anything comes across like I wanted to come across. It’s much more careless and free spirited – like it should be I guess. And that has gone away from the Dimlite stuff, long ago.

R: It seems with Dimlite you really want to get to the core of things. Do you throw away a lot of music?

D: Kind of. Not throwing it away but I let it sit there and consider it not worthy and stuff. Let’s say this one bit, on the last EP that came out, that’s just one minute or so [Can't get used to those]. It was sort of a joke, and the people from the label told me they really wanted it on the EP. And I said ‘Nooo..I don’t even have the proper files anymore!’. It wasn’t meant to be a Dimlite track. It was a short thing I did in about 10 minutes. And that’s the kind of stuff I outsource on discs. But I can’t judge if it’s any good or not.

R: Actually I loved it from the first time I heard it, and wanted to listen to it over and over again. It reminds me a bit of the Rico Suave Bossa Nova on Dilla’s Welcome to Detroit album, which I repeated many times, although I knew it was probably just a joke in the studio…

D: Yeah yeah yeah, that’s true and I love small interludes. I guess it’s a kind of sadistic tendency in me that I love to reduce things to one minute or 1.30 although I realise longer might be cooler and more satisfying for the listener. But I myself LOVE things that leave you longing for more – why is it over yet? It stopped right where it had to stop.

R: You still use quite some vocals. When I saw you performing at Viral Radio in Trouw, I expected a guy behind a laptop, and then suddenly you started singing. And I really liked it.

D: You did?

R: Yeah I loved it. But I can imagine it takes some confidence to do that.

D: I worked with other vocalists, but often I use my voice as an instrument. I myself don’t really like it, but it’s what’s always right there when I’m working. When I need a vocal harmony or a bassline or a melody that I want to do by voice I can’t call up someone quick and ask to do exactly this for me that I have in mind. That would be weird from several perspectives. About the whole singing stuff, I’m really insecure. But while on stage I have to stop caring about it. And I listen to so much weird and obscure music that has bad vocalists, like you know, let’s say….you know Can?

R: Yes.

D: They first had the American guy for a bunch of albums and then they had Damo Suzuki, the Japanese vocalist. They say they picked him up on the street where he was busking. And he’s not a singer at all. He writes his lyrics, but it wasn’t any mindblowing unless you let it be mindblowing in its simplicity. He’s a bad singer and he always uses a lot of reverb on his voice, standing away from the microphone and putting sparse vocals on tracks. And I LOVE these kinds of things that are completely, you know, average. Or even bad sometimes but much more soulful. Than lets say Beyonce Knowles, who has a perfect voice and can sing over several octaves..

R: ..but who feels a bit like a robot.

D: Yes, she’s the opposite, to make a big contrast. And for that reason I can stand behind my vocals and my singing.

R: Do you actually like performing?

D: One half of me does. The difficult thing is going back and forth between my home and stages. I notice when I’m on a stage for a bunch of days in a row I loosen up and I get used to become a performer. But what makes it difficult is that I play on the weekends and I go home, where I record music. It’s two worlds to me.

R: What does your home look like?

D: Right now it’s just a room. A tiny room in my mates flat. And there’s a bed that I roll up during the day and unroll during the night [grinning] and my table with my music stuff on it. But we have a nice kitchen and a livingroom so it’s cool.

R: Is it quiet there?

D: No not really. There’s a construction site near my window, right now it’s really tough, because it’s hot and I wish I could open my window, but then I get all the ratatatat and rrrrrrr and tuutuutuu.

R: You said you’re very detailed about your music, but also when I saw your website, or video’s, or even the pictures and the typography I have the feeling everything is really connected. Are you responsible for the visual output yourself?

D: I do my own stuff, or I used to do my own stuff for years. Now I’m at a point where I don’t like what I do visually anymore, so at least for recordsleeves I’m giving it to other people to do. But yeah the website I did, and that Roo video I did. But I don’t find the time now, I focus more on the music.

R: When you make music do you see something?

D: Sometimes, usually it’s more concrete things than colors or shapes. What’s behind te music is more concrete like experiences, events, things that happened. But I don’t really see it, we see with eyes, music is more insidy stuff.

R: Where do you like to perform?

D: Places I always like to come is actually Holland, I really love Holland. I was here last week already. I almost wanted to write a corny entry on Facebook, I love the Dutch! [laughing out loud]. I really do.

R: How come?

D: I don’t know, it’s comfortable. People are nice. They are open and considerate. And it’s always refreshing. Being in Amsterdam with Yuri [Cinnaman] and Juha, it’s always connected to these people when I play here.

R: You also played at the Bimhuis.

D: Yes twice even. It was nice every time, and weird because people are seated there.

R: That makes it a different experience for you?

D: Yes it is. The audience is different I think. Not completely but there’s a part that comes out because it’s the Bimhuis, so you get to see 40/50 year old people in the audience and people who come out to see you because they know your music. And they’re al sitting down and stretching their chin and listening to the music instead of screaming ‘play some fucking house music! Play some hard stuff for the club!’. Some of those people might be in there, but they are not going to do that in the Bimhuis. It’s a different setting but it feels really good and comfortable too.

R: Do you feel connected to jazz music and the jazz tradition?

D: Yeah I do. I used to listen to much more jazz when I was younger, but what’s still there is the harmonic teachings of jazz music. Soloing in a jazz frame or jazz harmonies are much more exciting than a lot of other things that are worth exploring in music. Jazz has this raw emotional thing that I guess is always going to stick with me. Right now I’m trying to avoid it though, I listen to a lot of German repetitive Kraut music like Faust or Neu!. Can stands out from Krautrock a bit, it’s complex. It is repetitive but it isn’t like Faust or Embryo or Cluster, I fucking love Cluster. It is very simple, not shallow, it doesn’t go too deep in my opinion, but right now I discover that it goes deep in a different sector than I used to explore or like. So right now I’m moving to different places, but it mixes up with what I did before.

R: Do you have a project in mind that you didn’t do yet but wanted to do for a long time?

D: Not really. Well, silly things. With other people. Careless things. Right now I’m trying to do the Misel Quitno stuff and some more Dimlite.

R: Maybe collaborate with others?

D: Yeah I wish. Actually I just talked with Oliver [Dorian Concept] about doing a silly named project where we would just go in an inconsiderate manner and have fun and not take it too seriously. Which is very healthy I think. But we have to find the time and will to do it.

R: And a place.

D: We can do it over the internet. And we should involve Ross [Hudson Mohawke] too, I’m going to tell him about it.

——

Later this summer, interviews with Mike Slott and Hudson Mohawke. Make sure to see Dimlite at Appelsap this year.

Also check:

Dimlite’s website

Viral Radio

For two days the political capital The Hague is transformed into the international city of conflict, with art on interesting locations and a broad range of musicians performing. From the founders of house music in Chicago, Farley ‘Jackmaster’ Funk and Jesse Saunders, to Bomb Squad legend Hank Shocklee, female electronic producer Pursuit Grooves and uncompromising hiphop by Guilty Simpson.

As you might already know, Guilty has a new project with Madlib coming up, you can listen to the first single over here. Almost two years ago I had a little chat with him, mainly about his hometown Detroit, where the financial crisis already kicked in and casino’s took over the centre – providing jobs at the same time. Press play for more, the documentary I mention in the interview is  Detroit, Comeback City (from 1998). 

For more info on the programme of TodayArt, visit the website. Wether you’re a friend or foe, I hope to see you around in The Hague this weekend.

To get a glimpse of what a GLK set looks like, see him in action at Barcelona’s Sonar festival here.

Just before he entered the Melkweg stage I had a little chat with him. Listen below and visit Viral Radio for more radiofun with the GLK.

“We have a crib in the UK so we stay here all summer”, sprak een van de leden van het Hypnotic Brass Ensemble gisteren op het podium van Paradiso. Ja, nadat ze even verdwenen leken zijn de broers uit Chicago weer terug in het vizier en komt er nu eindelijk een volwaardig album uit via het Britse label Honest Jons. Hypnotic is niet bepaald een standaard brassband, maar vermengt hiphopinvloeden samen met de nog grotere invloed van hun vader, de jazz trompettist Phil Cohran, die ooit met Sun Ra speelde. De familie Cohran woonde in southside Chicago, waar alle zoons verplicht een blaasinstrument moesten leren spelen en op straat hun geld verdienden. In 2007 hoorde ik voor het eerst van Hypnotic en traden ze enkele malen op in Nederland (waaronder op het North Sea Jazz festival). Destijds deed Future Vintage twee uitgebreide interviews (eerst telefonisch, een paar maanden later in Paradiso). Mocht je die toen niet gehoord hebben, beluister ze dan nu alsnog. Op 1 augustus staat Hypnotic Brass Ensemble op het Raw Rhythm Festival.

Part 1 – June ‘07

Part 2 – Dec  ‘07

Eigenlijk houdt Dâm-Funk van veel verschillende muziekstijlen, ‘but you gotta stand for something’. En dus is Dâm-Funk ambassadeur van de muziek waar hij het meeste van houdt; de funk en boogie uit begin en midden jaren ‘80. Muziek om op te dansen, maar wel ’sophisticated’. Muziek die nog niet werd geloopt, maar live ingespeeld. Prince, The Time, Slave, Rick James, Cameo. Dâm draait deze artiesten (en veel onbekendere) iedere maandagavond op zijn Funkmosphere feesten. Daarnaast produceert hij ook zelf ‘modern funk’, zijn debuut  album komt later dit jaar uit op Stones Throw. Tijdens de Stones Throw tour sprak ik Dâm-Funk even in de kleedkamer. Hij was leuk en bescheiden. Genoeg is al in andere interviews gezegd, zoals het  video interview op On Point. Misschien is de laatste minuut wel het meest relevant, ‘that’s how true I’m trying to keep it for y’all’.

Beluister hier Maybe So, Maybe No van Mayer Hawthorne & The County (uit de show van Mark Ronson)

Ter introductie een kort interview met Mayer over zijn muzikale verleden en toekomstplannen:

The first time we heard of you was through the single Just Ain’t Gonna Work Out, but you were already making music under the name Haircut. What are the main differences between Haircut and Mayer Hawthorne and in what way do your musical alter ego’s apply to different parts of your character?
“I was joking with some friends yesterday about how Haircut can curse, but Mayer Hawthorne cannot.  I think everyone has different characters that they play in life.  I’ve been making hip-hop music as Haircut for years and when I created the Mayer Hawthorne alter ego it was just for fun, for my close friends and family.  I never imagined I would be recording a full album or performing it live.  I didn’t put much thought behind it until I signed to Stones Throw.

”

In what way is the music you make inspired by music your parents maybe listened to? Or songs you heard as a child? “I was very fortunate to have such musical parents.  They would always be listening to records or playing and singing songs.  They exposed me to all kinds of music – rock, folk, country, jazz – but it was the soul music that hit me the most.  Growing up just West of Detroit, I definitely heard a lot of Motown, and then when I started digging for records I discovered so much incredible local soul.  I’m extremely proud of the musical history of Detroit. It’s had a major impact on the music I make and I’m thrilled to have the opportunity to represent that, and to introduce a new generation of people to that sound.

”

If your music is called retro, do you consider that as a compliment or as criticism? “People will call it whatever they want.  You can’t get mad about it.  As long as I know I’m pushing the envelope and being creative and trying new things, that’s what matters to me.”

You are not a trained vocalist. The first time you recorded yourself singing, how did that feel? Did it come naturally or is singing something you have to train by yourself? “Anyone who knows me knows that I sing all the time, every day – so it’s always been a natural thing for me, but I would never consider myself a great singer.  I think that is part of the charm of Mayer Hawthorne.  Marvin Gaye once said “I still want to become a GREAT singer someday.”  Of course I’m always working to be a better singer, but ultimately, if people connect with the music, that’s all that matters.

”

Who are The County? “The County is basically anyone who plays an instrument or sings on my album.  It’s also my band when I perform live.”

Do you produce and record everything by yourself or with the band? Could you describe your studio?
“I record and produce everything in my bedroom.  I play as many instruments as I can myself, but sometimes I bring in other musicians for a particular part.  That’s how The County really came about.  It’s very lo-fi – you’d probably laugh if you saw my “studio”.  I’m sort of a “neat-freak” so I keep it very clean, except for the dusty records everywhere.

”

Who are the first people you show your new music to and you take serious for their opinion? “I usually play it for my family first.  They’re brutally honest and will tell me if it sucks.

”

How does it feel to be part of Stones Throw? Did you follow the history of the label, do you have favorite Stones Throw records? “I found out about Stones Throw from the first Quasimoto record.  It’s still one of my favorite albums.  They’ve always been a great label and I’m definitely fortunate to be part of the family.  So far, so great.”

We only know 2 songs by you – what are your plans for the near future? “My new single “Maybe So, Maybe No” is coming in March, and the full length album is looking like Summer 09.  I’ve also just released a new album with my Hip-Hop group Now On called “Tomorrow Already”.  It’s weird and futuristic and quite different from the Mayer Hawthorne project – check it out.”

What kind of liveshow can we expect, in Amsterdam 10th of march? “I’ll be mostly DJing on this tour (I was a DJ long before I ever started singing) but if the crowd is live I may sing a few songs with James Pants’ band.”

Je weet dus wat je te doen staat de 10e. Download hier als toetje Hawthorne Radio, een podcast van Mayer Hawthorne vol soul uit de Motor City.

Ze loopt overdag voorzichtig met een felgkleurde wandelstok, maar op het podium, als ze haar glitter ensemble aanheeft, blijft de stok in de backstage en staat ze fier rechtop. In de hotellobby maakt ze grapjes met iedere musicus die ze tijdens haar lange zangcarriere heeft leren kennen. Ooit maakte ze haar debuut in het Appollo Theater in Harlem, in 1952. Later was ze de eerste vrouw op het Blue Note label. Ze is ook een vrouw met zelfspot. Toen een dronken barklant steeds weer haar liedje uit de Juke Box wilde horen, de eigenaar zei dat deze zangeres die avond op zou treden en de klant uitriep: Who’s this bitch, anyway? – toen besloot ze haar album maar gewoon zo te noemen.

Wij kennen haar meestal van twee nummers: California Soul en Woman of the Ghetto. Nu ze jaren later beelden terug zag van de rellen en het politiegeweld dat haar in 1969 inspireerde Woman of the Ghetto te schrijven, vindt ze het nummer nog gematigd. Maar dat was het in 1969 niet: “You may be sitting up there, in your ivory tower, 60 stories tall / I know that you may have checked out at least one ghetto, but I wonder have you lived there at all“. Er is een live versie van het nummer, waarin zie net iets anders humt. Die versie is gesampled in een jaren negentig hit van Blue Boy. Ze schrijft het nog maar eens op een papiertje, want haar geheugen laat haar soms in de steek en ‘het publiek wil nu altijd dat ik de live versie op de manier van die sample doe’.

Ze koopt weinig nieuwe muziek, maar koestert nog steeds haar vinyl collectie. Ze heeft een goed leven, toert de wereld rond en zit thuis het liefst dingen te bestellen van het Home Shopping Channel – al vindt haar man dat maar niets.

Zij is Marlena Shaw.

In 2007 sprak ik haar op het North Sea Jazz festival, en nu staat Marlena Shaw op 4 februari in Paradiso. En voor de kenners: Finn Peters speelt ook in haar band. In de komende Future Vintage hoor je een kort interviewfragment en via dit blog geven we 2 x 2 kaarten weg voor het concert. Als je voor dinsdag antwoord geeft op deze vraag: “Welke award heeft Marlena Shaw de afgelopen week gewonnen?” Mail naar info@futurevintage.net.

The day after his legendary New Age show (which I unfortunetaly couldn’t make, being at the North Sea Jazz festival) James Pants went thriftstore shopping in Amsterdam and met for an interview afterwards. We had a tea near the canals, he tried to do a Dutch radiodrop that sounded German and we talked about his first album Welcome, how to avoid sounding retro and the beauty of bad recordings. Thanks Mark for the hook up!

James Pants will be performing in Amsterdam again on the 3rd of October, this time with full band, upstairs in Paradiso (accompanied by the Kindred Spirits soundsystem and DJ 1.1).

http://www.futurevintage.net/audio/jamespants072008.mp3