i was recently contacted by electric band marzipan, with an email entitled 'want to help a chill indie/trip hop group out?', which of course i did. I have been rocking a lot of old tricky, portishead, massive attack recently, so i was sort of expecting soulful female vocals, vibes maybe, maybe some dubstep flourishes or something. This turned out to not be the case. I would not describe this music as 'trip hop' (sorry guys), but they did mention Dilla/Stones Throw Records as influences, and i think this music wears the 'instrumental hip hop' hoodie pretty comfortably.
What this sounds like is a stroll through the collective unconscious of anyone born 1970 and beyond. It is warm and fuzzy, and utterly surreal. Rather than being a smooth, sexy hip hop mix, instead this is like a straight up BEAT TAPE, from someone with a prime record collection and possible psychic disturbances. Disco, funk, african music, old television shows, it all pops and hisses wonderfully. The tracks tend to be a minute to a minute and a half, and the mixes, the cuts, the segues, are weird and wonderful. Unusual combinations, that create new musical pathways in yr brain, but they are always MUSICAL, LISTENABLE, in a new and interesting and creative way that i find really inspiring. What Electric Band Marzipan know, along with many crate diggers and beat junkies out there, is that pretty much ANYTHING off of vinyl sounds fucking dope, so if you are sampling from the black wax, you can use just about anything. Its refreshing, really, to hear something aside from the clean, pristine minutae of an ableton live mix, where the details and possibilities are endless, can drive you to nervous exhaustion. This shit is all about FLOW, heart & soul; intuition.
The last night i spent in Olympia, before moving on to Portland and the next stage of my adventurous life, i was rocking Clocks on Fire on my headset, pacing the streets like a caged jaguar, exhausted and frustrated and utterly defeated. I had been trying to get to Portland all day, waiting for a ride from Craigslist to re-appear, but i'm pretty sure he was eaten by Venusians. I had the lions share of my belongings stolen that night, had been having frustrating interactions and miscommunications all day long. I was fucking over Olympia, and just trying to get down to see my lady. Slept on a porch of a house where my friends used to live, and felt like a homebum, felt friendless and cold and hungry and stressed-out. I settled onto the couch, on the front porch, in the nimbus glare of a cast iron street lamp, settling into the fuzzy beats and heady bass, letting this music transport me to my childhood, to another time, another place; a funkier place, a grittier place, a friendlier place. All of a sudden, a black cat from the neighborhood decided he wanted to be my friend, jumped up in my lap and started purring like a furry outboard motor. In that moment, all my troubles disappeared; i was happy to be sitting outside, happy to be sitting in the light of that streetlight. Happy i don't have a house, that i was in washington, that i was gonna get to see my lady, eventually. This music transported me, changed my way of looking at things.
These guys are legit. Talented, creative, unusual, yr probably not gonna hear these tracks on XM radio anytime soon, but if yr here, you know better than that anyway, don't you. These guys clearly have their heart in the right place, they're in it for the love, and for the art. They are making the world a stranger and more wonderful place.
The Clocks on Fire ep is the most recent release, but i feel like all three releases so far are part of a seamless whole. You can get them all off of Bandcamp, paying whatever you like. Give these guys lots of money, they deserve it!
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