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Maestro Knows D.C.

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Maestro Knows - Tour Edition (Episode 5) from Maestro Knows on Vimeo.

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Couch Sessions in Montreal

So if you didn’t know from the Twitter, I’m heading out to Montreal this weekend to cover the 30th annual Montreal Jazz Festival. Last year I had the opportunity to hang out with Chuck D and Flava Flav of Public Enemy and discovered some new and upcoming talent. This year, I’m checking out Joshua Redman, Thunderheist, Wale, Esmeralda Spaulding, and Femi Kuti among others. Look for more photo diaries and video interviews too. While I’m in MTL, I’m definitely going to peep the latest in streetwear and culture as well.

Montreal readers, hit a brotha up at articleonline [at] gmail [dot] com or @couchsessions on Twitter.

Check out Last Year’s Coverage Here

Tags: Montreal

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VIDEO: Rye Rye - Bang

We’ve been following Baltimore artist Rye Rye for a hot minute now and I’m glad to hear that she’s FINALLY put out a video for her track “Bang,” which has been making waves on the club circuit. The vid, directed by Mrs. Maya herself, has that grainy, gritty B-More quality we come to expect from the Charm City. Will this track make waves in the mainstream? I hope so.

Tags: M.I.A., Rye Rye

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DJ Mix

NACEY AND STARKS EP - Hot DJ Collabo from the Capital City!

Nacey (l.) and Steve Starks. The most potent DC connection since Doug Williams to Ricky Sanders. Photo by Sexy Fitsum/iLLIMETER - http://illimeter.com

Nacey - Lose Your Love

What DC has known for awhile now is that Columbia, MD natives and friends since high school Nacey and Steve Starks, two-thirds of the Nouveau Riche triumvirate with Gavin Holland, are two of the most underrated DJs and producers in the country. The reason why the rest of the country didn’t know, is, well, Nacey and Steve Starks are also two of the most humble DJs and producers in the country, opting to let their mixing and skill speak louder than their marketing and voice. However, with a less than inspiring Winter Music Confernence spurring on the talented duo to replace thir humility with quiet confidence, Starks and Nacey have rolled out the most consistently solid remixes of the year, Nacey gaining the big prizes from Mad Decent and Discobelle, along with tracks rapped over by former Yo Majesty! rapper Shunda K, and Starks quietly honing his craft, a musical viper waiting for the right time to attack. Amd that right time was this past Tuesday, as the duo released their debut EP, a six song compilation of completely original tracks and reworkings of popular tunes as well, a clear shot to DJs everywhere that the duo are forces to be reckoned with.

Nacey’s three songs reflect his diverse interests, with a particular investment n his love of Southern bass and appreciation of an upbringing saturated in Bmore club. The EP kicks off with “Lose Your Love,” where Nacey deftly handles one of the most emphatic disco breaks of all time from the extended mix of The Emotions’ “Don’t Wanna Lose Your Love,” where the sisters sing the title as chorus over horn stabs, and with the aid of the break from “Doo Dew Brown,” and ambient noise, creates a perfect track that doubles as the perfect breakdown at the height of a Bmore club specific set, or to jazz up any disco mix. It’s a hit for sure, and I FULLY expect to see it showing up all over the place this summer. “Money on the Dressa” turns a sample of Bun B’s iconic voice from “International Playa’s Anthem” into a gangstafied house banger, replete with samples of a shotgun loading and shooting, squealing car tires and violin strings over a futuristic and hollow breakbeat, creating the perfect soundtrack if Major Lazer wasn’t a Jamaican freedom fighter but a Dolemite clone. “Work For This” may be the most sonically lush and mentally stimulating of the three tracks he delivers on the EP, taking what sounds like a sexed out Trina sample and creating a classic house jam, lush Arabian horns mixing with jazz horns over a syncopated bassline to create a sexy, sexy, sexy club heater that is certain to get the ladies moving seductively on the dancefloor.

Steve Starks on the other hand is similar, but with his deep house and funk explorations is a different DJ entirely. “So Sexy,” his first EP track, plays as an homage to Green Velvet (i.e. Cajmere of “Percolator” fame’s later project), all distinct spoken word vocals, deep synthy basslines and tinny hi hats with congo drums, it’s a classic deep house track, a retro fit for these most interesting times. “You Don’t Want None” follows next, a far more bass heavy and big sounding Bmore club exploration than Nacey’s smooth as silk “Lose Your Love,” it sounds like a Brick Bandits type club cut, the enormous filling sound mirroring what Philly has done with the early 2000s work of Debonair Samir and others. He closes his section and the EP itself with his most accessible for the current sonic atmosphere track, “Don’t Let Me Go” (Dub Mix f/ Manulita) featuring samples of heavy and orgasmic breathing, it’s a very dubbed out mix of a classic sexy club jam, and certain to be a necessity in the Serato boxes of any DJ looking to create the perfect mood as nightcapper to a night of playing nerve pounding wobbly basslines.

The EP is clearly aimed at creating noise and being relevant to the current set of producers and DJs presently making noise in the mainstream. At the same time though, neither Nacey nor Steve abandon what stylistically brought them to the forefront, instead weaving it into a set of tracks that are certain to continue the trend of DC infiltrating the club music mainstream.

DOWNLOAD EP HERE

Tags: Nacey, Steve Starks

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House/Electronic

Interview: DJ Will Eastman

If you didn’t know, Will Eastman is one the DMV’s most prolific DJs. The name is in your consciousness, because Eastman has been on his grind in the city for a hot minute, opening for such acts as Moby and MSTRKRFT. This FRIDAY marks the annual Blisspop EXTRAGAGANZA this FRIDAY with Tittsworth, Nadastrom, Dmerit, and SPECIAL GUESTS. Check him at Blisspop.com or @willeastman on Twitter. Buy tickets here.

So yeah man, you’ve been in the game for a while, doing indie rock and such, how did you get started DJing??

I played in bands and spun music at house parties in high school, did college radio, etc. but didn’t really step behind the decks until grad school when I started hosting parties with bands and DJs at the old Black Cat. The notion was to pair like-minded bands and DJs. I picked up DJing duties and quickly fell in love with it. Since 2007, I’ve been a full-time DJ.

Are you a vinyl or Serato man? And why?

I use Serato because it’s the closest you can get to playing with vinyl and still having 10,000 tracks at your finger tips.

You started Blisspop over 5 years ago, and it’s become one of the mainstays on the DC party scene. What was the idea behind that party? How has it evolved?

The basic notion behind Bliss is a no-attitude, no velvet rope party that merges DIY punk spirit with dance music. The musical format has changed over time as my own tastes and abilities as a DJ have evolved. The party has a free-form format and it’s not uncommon to hear house, hip-hop, indie, and classic punk in a night.

What was it like to open up for Moby??

He’s an incredible artist. I mean, Play alone. It revolutionized dance music. He has tremendous presence. He played hard and deep, as one would expect from someone with as much experience, but he also played a really “now” set, not resting on his laurels. I admire that alot. Frankly, I didn’t expect my set to go over as well as it did warming up for him, but I’m thrilled it did. People still come up to me and say “Aren’t you the guy who opened for Moby?” During his set the power went out and we ended up banging on beer kegs and plastic garbage cans on stage for about 15 minutes. It was surreal. There’s a video of it on YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s8eQw1yDoUE)

What do you think about the DC DJ Scene in General?

There are a lot of really live events happening now, and, more important, a lot of DJs are getting into the production game and doing it well. It’s a welcomed trend and I see it blossoming further next year.

What is your favorite spot to play in DC?

9:30 Club has one of the best sound systems in the county. I’ve been fortunate to play some really fun Blisspop parties there with Tittsworth, Nadastrom and a ton of others and great shows with the Ting Tings, Ghostland Observatory, etc. The Black Cat back stage is always fun and I like that you’re so close to the floor and you get a real feeling of connection to the crowd.

So I know you’re stepping your production game up this year. Can you share with us what you’re doing with Baltimore’s TT The Artist and the DMV’s Helix Queen? Also, I hear that you’re working on an album soon?

Yes, I started working on the album last winter with Micah Vellian from Dmerit. A single, “Feelin” is coming out in September on Plant Music with remixes by Tittsworth, Nadastrom, and Dmerit. I hope to release that and at least one more single before the end of the year, and the album will drop when it’s ready. There’s an electropop/Hip-Hop track with Helix Queen and T.T. the Arti$t called “If U Like” and a funk/house song, “No Sleep In Brooklyn” that T.T. raps lead on. We debuted those songs live last week opening for Thunderheist and are doing them again this Friday at 9:30 Club for the DC Summer Extravaganza. T.T. and Helix are on point and it’s great fun working with them in the studio and on stage. I’m also currently working on a remix for Outputmessage.

We all know that last year’s Blisspop Summer Extravaganza popped off real well. What surprises do you have in store for Blisspop this year?

If I told you, homey, they wouldn’t be a surprise! Hahahah, well I just mentioned one, which is the live vocal performances by Helix and T.T. Y’all have to come out to find out what else is up. It’s Dave Nada’s birthday so you know some crazy things are gonna happen.

If someone were coming to DC from, let’s say NYC, where would you tell them to go?

It depends on where their interests lie. If they’re cocktail fans, I’d tell them to go to The Gibson. If they like house music or reggae I’d tell them to go to ESL Sundays and Wednesdays respectively for Sam Burns and See-I. If they like records, I’d tell them to visit Neal at SOM Records and if they like wearing flip flops to clubs I’d tell them to go to Arlington and stay there.

And finally, what are the top 10 songs on your iPod right now??

Oh snap, I guess I can’t fudge it! According to my Top 50 Most Played automatic playlist:

1. Friendly Fires “Paris” (Aeroplane Remix Feat. Au Revoir Simone)
2. Wale “Sweating Out Weaves” (ft. UCB)
3. Van Morrison “Sweet Thing”
4. Major Lazer “Pon de Floor” (feat. VYBZ Kartel)
5. Catherine Wheel “The Nude”
6. Classixx “I’ll Get You” feat. Jeppe
7. Outputmessage “Resurface”
8. Ryan Adams “When The Stars Go Blue”
9. Little Boots “New In Town”
10. The Glass “Wanna Be Dancin” (Nadastrom Dub Edit)

There you have it. The iPod doesn’t lie.

Tags: Blisspop, Will Eastman

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Hip-Hop

VIDEO: Drake - Best I Ever Had

Yes, the video is kind of juvenile, but this is one of my favorite songs of the year, and I gotta admit, I love boobies LOL. Directed by Kanye West.

Tags: Drake

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DJ Mix

BLACKsummers night

The Maxwell Mix

I remember Maxwell being the dude who’s music everyone would play when we had female visitation at the dorms in Hampton. Anyhow dude has always kept it very cool, very soulful and did it the right way. Not a whole lot of flashy videos and/or ad campaigns, just soul music done properly. I know he is a heavy part of the downtown NYC scene now, constantly letting his art evolve and mature. His newest album drops July 7th so pick that up, but give this mix a listen (and download) because its done well, its a nice (re)introduction to his music, and its something else to listen to other than “beat beat beat beat beat”.

Tags: Maxwell, Uncle Q

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Butterflies, a reflection on Michael Jackson’s brilliance…

Michael Jackson is a musical genius. Those words are fact and will never be disputed. And of all the wonders that his genius unleashed upon the universe, none, to this author, may be more beautiful than his last major impactful sonic treatise, “Butterflies,” from 2001’s Invincible. At the time of Invincible’s release, it must be duly noted that Michael Jackson was anything but. For the last eight years, his good name had been besmirched, and the artist went from beloved legend to punchline for jokes by hack comics worldwide. Invincible went to #1 on the Billboard charts in the US as an album in spite of all of this, of course, as Jackson is universally beloved by just as many, or in some cases, the same people that lampoon him, but certainly the album’s status was more a tribute to the man instead of any thought by the average music listener that the artist was attempting to further his musical career.

As mentioned, trapped on this album is the songmaster’s final cause celebre, “Butterflies.” Written by former Floetry member Marsha Ambrosious four years earlier in 1997 as a tale of unrequited teenage infatuation, Michael Jackson wraps a sinuous falsetto around these lyrics in such a way that they don’t just tug at heartstrings, they pull them, and loose and open the heart to the message, creating melodies that evoke the passion, yearning and meaning within. Ambrosious, at that time, was easily one of the top five songwriters in ALL of music at that point, Floetry’s debut album with “Say Yes” and “Floetic” as two epic cuts of that era, accentuated with strings and sweetening, are just true standouts. But “Butterflies,” well, that’s just once in a lifetime brilliance.

Jackson takes a song that when recorded by Floetry is simply amazing, but, with his graduated knowledge of vocal inflection and emphasis, creates emotions hard to qualify in recorded sound. At the first chorus, you hear the sound of the very moment as a lovestruck teen when you cross from hoping to like, to hoping to love, to knowing the situation is futile to having a broken heart, but holding on to hope because knowing the other, the unrequited love, is pain too great to want to feel. As anyone who has felt it knows, it’s all one feeling, just like that, and Jackson, in “Butterflies,” creates that hopeless tumult with note perfect perfection.

It takes the same child that ironically belts out the grown man blues tale “Who’s Lovin’ You” to do this. It takes the dreamer that sang “Ben” to do this. It takes the same man that argues love with Paul McCartney in “The Girl is Mine” to do this. It takes the man that charms his way through “Lady in My Life” and “You Are Not Alone” to do this. It takes the man that contemplates the ties that bind and assuages the heart that breaks in “She’s Out of My Life.” It takes the man that sings both “Billie Jean” and “Dirty Diana” to do this. “Butterflies” completes the love saga that Michael Jackson laid out in his magical career. For a man who lived his life in many ways as a tale of unrequited love, as a living definition of hope in the face of heartache and heartbreak, hear “Butterflies,” feel “Butterflies,” know “Butterflies.” Above all his other hits, Michael, to me, is a maestro of love, and this is the master’s final and greatest stroke of genius.

In death, find life. Long live the King.

Tags: Michael Jackson

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R&B

New Music: Ryan Leslie - You’re Not My Girl

Ryan Leslie - You’re Not My Girl

R&B Song of the Year, hands down.

I’m mad that Ryan Leslie isn’t getting the rightful attention that he deserves.

The Harvard educated R&B artist who tought himself how to produce, dropped two bangers last year with “Diamond Girl,” and “Addiction,” but the album never was the chart topper that it neeeded to be. It’s all good, because Leslie is back with his new album Transition, and his pro-player anthem “You’re Not My Girl,” is straight fire. Check it. (via herfection)

Tags: Ryan Leslie

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New Music

Photos: Peter Hadar, Black Spade, and W. Felton at Bohemian Caverns

Photos by Danielle Scruggs (@dascruggs). Check her website at daniellescruggs.com.

Last Thursday was an unfortunate time do have an event. Just mere hours after Michael Jackson was pronounced dead, W. Ellington Felton, Black Spade, and Peter Hard took the stage for the Hip-Hop Soul Brothers event at Bohemian Caverns. It’s not worth saying that the mood was not condusive for an event of this magnitide, even still, the trio managed to get the small, but entusiastic crowd to get down to their tunes.

W. Ellington is a staple around town, but I’m hoping that Hadar and Spade return to DC again under better circumstances.

Peter Hadar

Black Spade

W. Ellington Felton

Tags: Black Spade, Peter Hadar, W. Ellington Felton

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