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Jam Master Jay Feature - The Guardian | October 2012

Originally published in The Guardian - October 2012

The Scratch DJ Academy in New York was the first place in the world where aspirant DJs could learn their trade when it was opened in May 2002. A decade on and it has schools in Los Angeles and Miami, as well as touring to reach more people. The results are impressive: every year it teaches 50,000 people how to DJ.

But one of its founders never got to see its legacy. At around 6pm on 30 October 2002, Run-DMC's pioneering DJ, Jam Master Jay, returned to his 24/7 Studio in Queens to work on material for one of the acts signed to his record label – and to play Madden NFL on the Xbox with his friend Uriel "Tony" Rincon.

At 7.30pm, two men walked into the studio. One of the intruders, masked and armed, approached Jay and shot him from close range straight through the head, killing him instantly. Rincon was shot in the leg but survived. Jay died wearing a white pair of Adidas Superstars, or "shell-toes" – the basketball trainers immortalised in Run-DMC's 1986 hit My Adidas.

Public Enemy's Chuck D was at home watching the evening news when a bulletin flashed up on the screen: "Jam Master Jay shot at New York studio."

"I said, 'That's my friend,'" he remembers. "I turned the TV off and went down there immediately."

But there was nothing he could do. By the time Chuck arrived at the studio, a crowd had gathered. He stood in the rain and watched the police cars and ambulances and people fill the street.

Ten years after his death, the murder of Jam Master Jay remains unsolved.

Jason William Mizell was born in Brooklyn in 1965 and his love of music was evident from an early age. At five, he was playing the drums and singing in the church choir. In high school, he played the tuba and trombone, and then began playing bass guitar and keyboards.

In 1979 he began to make music with a new instrument: the turntable. By the early 80s, DJ Jazzy Jase, as he was then known, was beginning to make a name for himself as the best DJ in Queens. He'd set up his decks in a park in Jamaica, Queens, and play to hundreds of locals, sometimes spinning and scratching until 4am. All he needed was a showcase to the wider world.

That came in 1982, by which time he'd changed his DJing name to Jam Master Jay, when he joined Joseph "Run" Simmons and Darryl "DMC" McDaniels in Run-DMC and signed with Profile Records. Their first single, It's Like That, sold 250,000 and became Profile's biggest hit. To back it up, Run-DMC toured hard, often playing for free and always bringing the house down. Arriving at each venue, promoters would often ask Run and DMC where their band was. "That's our band," they'd say, pointing at Jay.

Run-DMC became hip-hop pioneers, releasing the first ever rap album in 1984, and making the first rap video to be shown on MTV, Rock Box. Their second album, King of Rock, was the first rap album to sell over a million copies. And it was Jay – using keyboards, drums and, of course, turntables – who created almost every sound that Run and DMC would rap over. He devised a sound that would influence scores of hip-hop acts, but also a fashion that resonated throughout scene – for almost 30 years, hip-hop's uniform has been one of all-black clothes, gold chains and white trainers. It's been imitated on the catwalks and worn on streets the world over. But it was Jay who wore it first.

Rob Principe, the co-founder of the Scratch DJ Academy, met Jay by chance on a flight when he was just 12 years old. He had been on his way to play in a tennis tournament in San Diego, but the chance encounter changed his life. "I got to sit next to him for the whole flight," he said. He and his mum got backstage passes for Run-DMC's show in New York.

Almost two decades later, backstage at The Late Show with David Letterman in New York, Principe pitched the idea of a DJ school to Jay. "I said: 'I want to leave a legacy for this artform, Jay. DJs are musicians, turntables are instruments, and DJing is an art form. But there's a high barrier of entry for people interested in learning. Jay just nodded his head and said: 'I'm in. Let's create something that my son can work when he's older. Let's leave a legacy.'"

TJ Mizell, Jam Master Jay's son, started attending classed when Scratch opened in 2002. Now he works there as a teacher. "I don't want to be riding on coat-tails or anything like that because, at the end of the day, I'm my own person," he says. "[My father] was always really about me learning about music. From kindergarten, I was playing violin and up until now I was into drums and percussion. Now I'm picking up DJing."

"Picking up DJing" is possibly an understatement. This is someone who teaches at the world's first-ever DJ school and produces records across multiple genres – not to mention the fact that, alongside his brother, Jason Mizell Jr, he took his father's place on the decks for the first Run-DMC show since 2002, at Jay-Z's Made in America festival earlier this year, and will do so again at the Fun Fun Fun Fest in Austin, Texas, in November.

Ten years on from the academy opening its doors in New York, how would Jay feel about its success? "I like to think he'd see how many people we've taught how to DJ," Principe says. "I like to think he'd see how some of those DJs have gone on to build careers and feed themselves and their families. I'd like to think he'd be amazed and really proud of the work we've all done."

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Album Reviews - MOJO Magazine | September

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Equal Rights By Peter Tosh: Revisiting The Masterpiece 35 Years On

Originally published on The Quietus - April 2012

35 years on from its release in April 1977, what was Peter Tosh addressing with his Equal Rights album, asks Thomas Hasson, and what, if anything, has changed since?

In response to the Jamaican government’s refusal to allow Black Power supporter Dr Walter Rodney permission to re-enter Jamaica after his trip to a black writers conference in Montreal, The Rodney Riots began on the 16th October 1968.

Concerned about the effect this Guyanese civil rights thinker would have in Jamaica, the government declared Rodney, a lecturer in African History at the University of the West Indies, to be an undesirable person.

But the very move the government made "to save the nation" (as The Gleaner, a Jamaican daily broadsheet, put it) was the very thing that sparked chaos.

Taking part that day in the demonstrations and looting was one Winston Hubert McIntosh, known to most as Peter Tosh. He placed himself behind the wheel of a coach, drove it towards a local shopping precinct and rammed it through a glass storefront. All around him people piled in to loot what they could before climbing on board the coach as Tosh backed out and ferried them all back to Trench Town.

Both the police and army were dispatched to quell the violence that was spewing out onto the streets of Kingston, causing millions of dollars in property damage. People were killed and many were injured.

These random acts of violence and destruction had the government spooked. But scarier still was that protesting alongside Tosh and the Trench Town activists were middle class students. This was unprecedented. Between them they had been heard to chant slogans pertaining to Black Power, a movement that was causing ripples not just in Kingston, but across the world.

On the very morning that the Rodney Riots began, 1,500 miles away, African American athletes and Olympic medal winners Tommie Smith and John Carlos were to be seen giving the Black Power Salute as the U.S. anthem played at Mexico City’s Olympic Stadium.

This silent gesture was one of the strongest political statements in the history of the Games. It was not, however, a welcome gesture. The athletes were booed as they stood down from the podium and subsequently ejected from the US Olympic team.

Peter Tosh may have been imprudent in his method of protest, but all around him, signs pointed towards something indisputable. Things were not equal. They were not right.

The anger inside of Peter Tosh had been building for many years; as a child he was asked to sing at his local church a hymn that included the lyrics; “Lord wash me and I shall be whiter than snow.” He was nine years old and it filled him with disgust.

Personal, national and international events had conspired together to create anger and frustration within Tosh about these iniquities.

"The truth has been branded, outlawed and [made] illegal. It is dangerous to have the truth in your possession. You can be found guilty and sentenced to death." Peter Tosh.

In 1977 Peter Tosh released Equal Rights, a rallying cry against what he called the ‘shitstem’, his declaration of rage against the injustices he had seen all around him.

It was his finest studio album, cementing his position as one of the most outspoken artists of the 70s. And although he’d suffered at the hands of the ‘shitstem’ many times before, the album notably called not for revenge but for justice. Revenge is personal, justice is political.

Setting out his stall with a version of 'Get Up, Stand Up', Tosh makes it clear that equal rights will not come without a fight. He follows this call to arms with 'Downpressor Man', a warning to any and all oppressors of him and his brethren. “You can run but you can’t hide” Tosh sings, ominously.

At no point does this record relent from its militant message. “Don’t underestimate my ability,” he sings on 'I Am That I Am'. And on 'Stepping Razor' (the Joe Higgs song Tosh claimed as his own before a legal battle forced him to credit Higgs) he lets it be known in no uncertain terms just how dangerous he is.

He sings on the title track of the album that he doesn’t want peace, but that he needs “equal rights and justice”. It’s here that he asserts his message most powerfully. By dismissing peace so easily, he maintains that what’s needed won’t come without a fight.

What Tosh hopes to achieve is made clear in the album artwork. Six identical images of Tosh’s face, head turned and wearing a beret and his trademark goggles, are repeated on the cover of the record, calling to mind both propaganda posters during wartime and those of political leaders fighting for office. Look closer and you see that the edges of each image are perforated like a sheet of stamps; the idea of CBS designer Andy Engel.

Those whose images grace postal stamps generally are not singers, they are typically the leaders of countries. It would appear that this is where Tosh saw himself; as a leader of people, leading the fight for equal rights.

But as much as the album is informed by Tosh’s struggle for justice, it is influenced equally by his faith. Tosh had been exposed to the teachings and way of life of the Rastafari as far back as 1963, and by the time he released Equal Rights he was a convert. Both 'African' and 'Jah Guide' make music of his beliefs. Dealing with identity in the former track, Tosh makes clear that to be black is be African; one of Marcus Garvey’s key teachings. In 'Jah Guide' Tosh delivers a rousing justification for the upcoming fight for equal rights: “Jah guide I through this valley.” His path was righteous.

“Every form of victimisation is universal, not only in Jamaica.” Peter Tosh

Herbie Miller, Tosh’s then-manager and production coordinator has said that the struggle to liberate southern Africa (Zimbabwe, Namibia, South Africa) was a key influence on the album: “The theme of this whole record is to do with that particular struggle, of the Africans in Africa, and the Africans outside Africa.” He said that Tosh had wanted to document this particular struggle with “machine-gun lyrics in a suite tying together songs that all related to those both within and without Africa.”

The final track of Equal Rights, 'Apartheid', opens with the sound of gunshots. Eight years before the Artists United Against Apartheid were put together by Steven Van Zandt, Peter Tosh was singing that there were "certain place in Africa, black man get no recognition. You got to fight against apartheid”.

Peter Tosh was murdered in 1987. He didn’t live to see the ending of enforced racial segregation in South Africa, nor Nelson Mandela’s election as the country’s first ever black president in 1994.

Thirty-five years have passed since Tosh called for equal rights and justice. During that time an African American has become President of the United States, Desmond Tutu has won the Nobel Peace Prize for his outspoken criticism of the apartheid regime, and closer to Tosh’s home, an organization called Jamaicans For Justice (JFJ) has been established. Since 1999 JFJ have fought for respect, freedom and the right to a peaceful existence for citizens of Jamaica.

However, just last month in Florida, USA, an unarmed black teenager named Trayvon Martin was shot dead by George Zimmerman, a non-black vigilante, because he “looked suspicious”. Trayvon was walking home to his family carrying a bag of sweets. The case is reminiscent of the 1993 murder of Stephen Lawrence whose death sparked an inquiry that exposed institutional racism in the UK.

Equal Rights is passionate and critical of the world Tosh saw around him, with observations that resonate to this day. Self-produced and recorded with a team of musicians including the rhythm-section powerhouse of Sly Dunbar and Robbie Shakespeare who credit their international career to their work on Equal Rights and the subsequent tour to support the album. It is Tosh’s masterpiece.

When recording his Red X tapes, which were intended to form the basis of a never completed autobiography, Peter Tosh said: “I am here to play the music and to communicate with the Father spiritually so I can be inspired to make music to awaken the slumbering mentality of people.”

Equal Rights does just that.

[tomhasson-blog]

Album Reviews - MOJO Magazine | April 2012

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Who Is Nicky Blitz?

I was introduced to Nicky Blitz via a blog post written by Eve Barlow who, through a series of events that I still don’t quite understand, had become involved with Nicky and something called ‘10k Islands’.

At the end of that blog post was a soundcloud link to five songs by Blitz known collectively as the Hawk EP. And I was blown away. I’m a big fan of pop music. I’m a big fan of rock’n’roll. I’m a big fan of music that gets to you - through emotion, through words, through feeling or by just making you wanna dance. And this EP did all of that in less than 15 minutes.

So I called Eve.

“Who Is Nicky Blitz?” I asked. “And how can I get involved?” Fast forward a few months and delivered to my door is several boxes of a vinyl version of the Hawk EP. Now, I work at a record store in Brighton called Resident. I’m the manager there and I love what I do. I hang out listening to and talking about music all day with my colleagues, my friends and the customers that come in and out every day wanting to hear new things. So I was thrilled when I was able to start not just recommending a new release I was keen on, but recommending a new release I had helped to become a physical product. Here it was, in my hands - a red vinyl version of the best five songs I had heard in 2015.

All the while, I’d only ever spoken to Eve about this. I’d never met Nicky. I didn’t know who he was or why he trusted me to put out his record. And then he let us know that he’d be into having a chat, letting me interview him and find out who he was.

So I asked him. Who is Nicky Blitz?

“Nicky Blitz was my nickname in high school and that’s when I started making beats. I just wanted to make tracks for people like Jay Z and 50 Cent because I knew people that were doing just that. And I thought I could do it too. So I went by ‘Nicky Blitz’ and all the tracks I made ended up going to Vanessa Hudgens and Miley Cyrus, so apparently I was way off thinking that I could do it for the hip hop world…”

So that’s how he started. Making music with his college friend Read Fasse. From there they set up 10k Islands; the ‘modern-day Tin Pan Alley’, as Eve put it. Headquartered in an old Haitian rag shop in Little Haiti in Miami, this became the base for their operations. And from there they started working with people from Diplo and Skrillex to FKA Twigs and Icona Pop as well as various bits of film and television work. Doing a bit of everything. Making music.

“10k Islands is basically a group of writers, producers and artists,” says Nicky, “and we all work on each others stuff. Everyone in 10k Islands is like a superhero; everyone has their special powers. There’s Brian; he’s a killer keyboard player. Mike, who’s in Viigo; he’s a guy from Illinois who’s guitar sounds are great. MJ from Viigo has amazing vocals. Read is my partner and he kind of puts everything together, he’s like the finisher. So everyone has their own special trait that they bring to the party.”

And what’s Nicky’s special trait?

“I’m the one dude who actually has no idea what I’m doing. I’m probably the most free out of everybody. I’m not trained, and really I make everything based on instinct,” he says. “I’m the people person. And the good looking one. I’m the one who’s been lucky to find these guys and bring them all together.”

“10k Islands is also our world, it’s our studio space in Miami. That’s where all the magic happens. It’s pretty much in its own vortex. It’s like Star Wars, it’s a whole other galaxy. You walk in there and the energy is exceptional. It’s very liberating and creative. That’s where our hub is. That’s what 10k Islands is.”

But let’s go back to the Hawk EP. It covers quite a lot of genres, and takes in influences from everywhere. It’s what caught my attention when I first heard it. It was all genres rolled into one. It’s all over the place.

Nicky explains; “It’s all over the place because the way I look at music and the way I look at my projects. Like, life has the sun and life has the darkness and you’ve gotta be able to accommodate the party and the pain. It’s the way it works. And I wanted to put out some music that really was able to accommodate every feeling and scenario. That’s why it is that way. Why it’s ‘all over the place’.”

He goes on to tell me that he’s influenced by “Garbage, Bill Withers, LCD Soundsystem, Tu Pac, Outkast, Max Martin, Ace of Bass, People Under The Stairs. Everything. I like Van Morrisson, A LOT. And Adele’s stuff.” So quite a lot.

The songs on the EP are both musically a lyrically very different from each other while maintaining a very Nicky Blitz ‘feel’ throughout. On ‘Alive’, the subject matter is about how much Blitz loves his family. A fairly unusual subject for a song.

“I just really fucking love my family,” he says. “The first concert I ever went to was Michael Jackson and my mom took me. I was for the ‘Bad’ tour. I see my childhood by hearing all the songs I grew up listening to. So as a kid music was such a big part of my life and I feel like the most fortunate person on the planet to have had these people raise me. My parents and my grandparents, they’re just amazing and that song just wrote itself one night.”

“They’re my favourite people to be with but sometimes my dad is like; ‘why do you wanna hang out with us? Why are you here?’ And I’m like; ‘Dude, do you know how much fun you are?’”

“I had no idea anyone was going to care about the song. I thought, like, with all of these, I just did them to do them. Because it felt right.”

On the subject of songs and their meanings I ask Nicky to tell me what each of the songs on the EP are about in one sentence. First up; ‘Hawk’.

“‘Hawk’’s about the supernatural side of life; it’s about shapeshifting, spirituality and adolescence.”

‘Alex’?

“‘Alex’ is about love and nostalgia.”

‘Alive’?

“Family.”

‘Wait For Love’?

“Being as vulnerable as possible.”

The EP also contains a cover of Souls Of Mischief’s ’93 ’Til Infinity’, which Nicky says is one of his all time favourite songs.

“I love it. It was a big challenge to me because I was like; ‘how the fuck am I going to do this?’ I always find myself going back to that song. It encapsulates high school and junior high for me. Both really special moments in my life.”

So that’s all the songs on the Hawk EP. That’s an explanation of what 10k Islands is and a description of who Nicky Blitz is. But after all that I’m still not sure that I’m any closer to actually figuring out who Nicky Blitz is. I mean, Blitz obviously isn’t his real surname, so I had to ask one more time; who is Nicky Blitz? Where does that name come from?

“I got the nickname in high school after I went down on a girl. But I don’t know whether you wanna tell people that or not.”

You can listen to the Hawk EP here. It’s out now and available both digitally and on limited red vinyl exclusively through Resident: 

www.resident-music.com/nickyblitz

There’s also a new single from Nicky called ‘House’ - you can listen to it here.

[tomhasson-blog]

Review: Drill Festival, Brighton - BN1 Magazine | December 2014

When the first phase of the band Wire ended at a gig in Camden at the beginning of 1980 it was with a performance of new songs and visual art that attempted to challenge both themselves and their audience. As they put it; ‘It was the sound both of progress and dissolution.’

Thirty years after that gig Wire released Change Becomes Us and curated the initial DRILL : FESTIVAL; a series of multi-venue festivals that to date have taken place in London and Seattle with Brighton getting the DRILL treatment just this week.

The band say that the festival aims ‘to challenge preconceptions of Wire. To show-case their impact on and relationship with groups and artists from younger generations, to connect with both new and established artists whose work they find inspiring and feel that they have a kinship with.’

And on these promises Wire did more than deliver. Taking place over four days (or five if you count the warmup gig on Wednesday), Wire and Brighton promoters One Inch Badge managed curate a lineup that took in artists as diverse as Swans, British Sea Power, Savages, Toy and more. Taking the headline slot themselves on the first night, Wire played to a packed out Sallis Benney Theatre (a venue that is oddly underused as a live music venue in this city), delivering a combination of new and old material which culminated in a performance of ‘Pink Flag’ with their 20+ strong Pink Flag Guitar Orchestra. With gigs only taking place from 6.30pm on the first two nights it was hard to pack too much in but prior to Wire’s performance on Thursday and Savages incredible set on Friday night but bands like Telegram, Bad Breeding and Tigercub all managed to win over audiences – my friend was so bowled over by Bad Breeding that he went straight Resident the next day and bought their 7”!

As the weekend rolled around the gigs started much earlier, though both Saturday and Sunday saw two hour gaps with nothing happening between (roughly) 5pm and 7pm with no real explanation as to why. This did break up the day and made going back out to gigs after a long gap a bit odd. Regardless, the weekend still brought with it plenty to talk about. Rose Elinor Dougall, former Pipette and an ever since brilliant solo act put in a great show previewing material from her forthcoming album (due 2015). Elsewhere East India Youth played his last show of the year at Audio and it was as spectacular as when he brought his Total Strife Forever show to the Green Door Store and Audio at this year’s Great Escape when it was first released.

Sunday was the day when Drill festival put on my Brighton gig of the year. Young Fathers. The Mercury Prize-winning group played a set so bass-heavy, so aggressive and testing and utterly beguiling that it blew me and the unbelievable amount of people that packed into The Haunt fully away. Whenever they next tour I urge everyone reading this to make it to one of their gigs. This was one point where a two hours break between gigs was necessary, just to get my bearing after such an awesome show.

Once I’d calmed down it was time to get to The Old Market for Swans’ headline set. The festival organisers had warned that it would be a busy show and advised people to get their early. Come showtime the venue was full and Swans began their two hour assault on the eardrums. It was a punishing show, but one that fit with Drill’s ambitions.

With over 100 bands, artists, films, talks and more happening over those four cold days that just went by, one can only hope that Wire and One Inch Badge work again next year on a similar festival. Better still if they can get it arranged for the summer!

(originally published by BN1 Magazine)

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Latest TV | Eliza And The Bear Interview

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Latest TV | BMusic Noise Reel

(preview section of Noise Reel, September 2014 - from 11:03 onwards)

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Interview: Robyn & Royksopp - The Quietus | May 2014

Collaborations in music more often than not divide fans; either they love the coming together of two of their favourite artists or they think that one has ruined the others' credibility. Think Aerosmith and Run-D.M.C., Death In Vegas and Iggy Pop, Aretha Franklin and Eurythmics, David Bowie and Mick Jagger, or more recently, Nile Rodgers and Daft Punk. You will probably have fairly strong feelings about some of those collaborations; the very thought of Bowie and Jagger's version of 'Dancing In The Street', for example, certainly makes my toes curl. However, what I'm sure we can agree on is that the coming together of artists and bands can in some circumstances produce music worth listening to, worth dancing to, worth the collaboration.

Robyn and Röyksopp's get-together is one of these instances. Having previously worked together on singles 'The Girl And The Robot' and 'None Of Dem', the trio have got together again for a five track mini-album called Do It Again, out on May 26 via Dog Triumph/Wall Of Sound (stream it in full now at NPR). It will be followed by a tour this summer, with dates on the Do It Again website. The three Scandinavian artists spoke to me about the record, the tour, and why unity, liberty and time are the three words that best describe Do It Again.

What is it about your previous collaborations together that made you want to "do it again" and put out this record?

Svein Berge: Well, we already had that tagline so we were just desperately looking for someone to work with. We needed to do something with someone, we'd already made the T-shirts and the stickers.

Torbjørn Brundtland: We thought, who's a pushover? Let's call that blonde Swedish girl.

And what about you, Robyn?

Robyn: [laughs] I just really like working with Svein and Torbjørn, it's really that simple.

How different is the writing process when working together than when you work on your own projects?

R: It's different, of course, because there's more people involved. But for me it doesn't feel like I have to adapt or change anything when I'm working with them. That's what's good about it, we all get to be ourselves.

No compromises that needed to be made?

SB: Well I just want to emphasise that what I said about Robyn earlier was only said because we love working with her. She's so great in every possible way. But in terms of compromises, one of the reasons that we work so well together is because we all know that we are trying to make the best out of each track. It has nothing to do with ego, or who came up with what. It has to do with, "How can we make it as good as possible?" That's why we work so well together.

What were you hoping to achieve with this record?

SB: We didn't have any master plan for what we were doing. Sounding a bit pretentious, this was a free space without any master plan or blueprint for all three of us. We didn't have any plan other than to hang out, be together and make some music. And we kept it very much between the three of us, without including too many people in terms of labels and management and so on. Which gives you a certain freedom and flexibility. So that was the only sort of thing that we had; have fun, let's have no inhibitions, no limitations and do whatever we want to do, and that's why we made a ten-minute track with saxophone.

What was the best part about the recording of this record?

TB: I think what was particularly satisfying was when we talked about how we wanted to include some clipped vocals, that means to cut up vocals. And as we wrote 'Monument' we just tried to chop up the "uh, uh, uh, uh, uh" bit and just five minutes earlier we had been talking about it in an abstract way. We thought "that would be cool" and we just did it and it worked. And that's a good example of our working process. We can fantasise about this or that and sometimes we just go straight ahead and do it.

R: I think that's why it's been so fun and why we come back to doing it again, and again and again. No pun intended. I don't know if you know this feeling but you know when you meet people that you really like and you somehow feel like you can get to the important things really quickly and you don't have to spend time on things that you don't think are that important. You can kind of talk about fun stuff and heavy stuff and sad stuff and cool stuff all at the same time and it all feels quite fluid and cool. That's how it is when we work together.

SB: That is correct. We concur.

Good! It would have been awkward if you didn't.

SB: Yes. It would have. We'd have been living a lie.

So then what was the worst thing that happened during the recording of the record? Or was it so good that nothing bad happened?

R: Well the three of us each had other things going on in the background that weren't at all as fun as the things that we were doing in the studio. So the studio was the place where we had fun.

TB: It was an island of merriness.

The record is 35 minutes long and contains five tracks - are there more songs from your sessions together?

R: Yes.

SB: There are songs knocking about out there, yes, indeed.

Any plans to do anything with them?

R: We'll definitely do something with them, but we don't know when, or how.

TB: "Do It Again, Again" it will be called.

How important is it to you to perform Do It Again live rather than just keep it as a record?

SB: It's no secret that after the other tracks that we did together we did a bit of touring together as well. It was a sort of nourishment to this friendship, or whatever you want to call it, this bond that we have. And I think that was a bit of a carrot waiting at the end, the gold at the end of the rainbow; "if we make this record then we can tour with it again". I'm not too keen on touring anymore, in all honesty, because I'm an old man with back problems. But it makes it a lot more fun and interesting when we have Robyn on board. And it has nothing to do with Torbjørn, the reason I don't want to tour, it's just that I'm not too keen on it. But when Robyn's there it's a completely different thing.

What can we expect from the upcoming tour? Your website says that there will be a Röyksopp section, a Robyn section, and then a together section. Will this all be one long set or will there be intervals?

R: It's all a long show.

TB: So one part will be purely Röyksopp material performed by Röyksopp and there's going to be a Robyn part with Robyn's stuff performed by Robyn, and then we'll come out together. And maybe there'll be breaks to allow you to go to the lobby and buy popcorn and hotdogs.

On the Do It Again website, Robyn, you say that you're "working on a lot of music at the moment and whatever is finished might be something I put into the set list." Are you any closer to finalising set lists? Will new Robyn or Röyksopp material be heard that's not fromDo It Again?

R: I'm saying that I'm working on other music. So the music you're going to hear in our set will be all the music we've ever made together that's been released and then who knows? Maybe something else will find its way in there as well. But I don't think we'll know anything until we start rehearsals next week.

The tour, while covering a series of cities, only has 15 dates - are there plans to tour the record further? Any dates yet to be announced? Secret shows?

R: Are there any secret shows to announce?

You never know - if I don't ask then I won't find out.

TB: I don't know what to answer to that, but there might be. There might be more. I don't know how things will pan out. We might be doing more, and we'll almost certainly be doing the ones that have been announced. That's the poorest answer I've ever given…

The artwork for 'Do It Again' features a reworking of the Compact Disc logo - why? What does it mean?

R: I don't know what that means.

TB: It's obviously a little nod to that thing [the CD]. From a teen's point of view that would be considered retro, the CD. For me it's more of an aesthetic thing than something with any meaning. I think it looks good and that's really what counts. We're not fighting for a format that's dying or saying that the CD is the best thing.

R: It is an era that's passing. The CD era will be gone soon and it's fun to look back at that format. It's always fun to look back at formats but it doesn't have any deep meaning behind it.

If each of you could choose one word that sums up Do It Again, what would it be?

TB: From a personal point of view I'll go for the 90s rave word 'unity'.

SB: For me, I'd have to go back to times of revolution and turmoil and use the word 'liberty'. For me that refers to the space we created together, how we didn't have a master plan, we just wanted to make music together. We didn't think about a target audience or anything like that, we just did it. And that's the liberty part for me.

R: I think for me it's probably 'time'. We dealt with the concept of time on this record.

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON THEQUIETUS.COM

[tomhasson-blog]

Nancy Whang's Favourite Albums - The Quietus | April 2014

Most famous for her role in LCD Soundsystem, Nancy Whang has in one way or another been part of the DFA team for the best part of a decade. A core member of James Murphy's band and now The Juan MacLean (whose new album, following a 12", 'Get Down With My Love', is due in the next few months) contributor to works by Shit Robot and Soulwax, Whang has just released covers of Dennis Parker's 'Like An Eagle' and Donna Summer's 'Working The Midnight Shift', the first in a series she'll be putting out with Gomma Records. Today however, she's on the phone with me to discuss her favourite albums.

Nostalgia and the memories attached to each record are usually what makes each of our favourite albums our favourite albums. It's what sets apart an album of undoubtedly high quality that you just like to one that you discovered with your best friend, the one you heard after a particularly tough break up, the ones that you love for more than just the sound produced when you press play. Nancy's choices are no different. They're attached to memories of the cassettes she listened to in her first car, the movies she loved, the relationships she's had and an unexpected love of the MiniDisc. She says: "Most of these albums are by artists that I've been listening to since I was young. I've lived with them in some way, I have a historical connection with them."

READ THE FULL INTERVIEW WITH NANCY WHANG AT THEQUIETUS.COM

[tomhasson-blog]

Interview: Yellowman - The Quietus | February 2014

"All the time I'm optimal. I'm the attraction."

Yellowman, the dancehall toaster, DJ, singer, rapper extraordinaire, is a phenomenon live. At least that's what he tells me. I've never seem him perform. The plan is to catch him in London when he plays a show with Dillinger, backed by the Sagittarius band, and Rootikal at The Flyover in London this Sunday. Whether that happens will depend on whether the people either side of him on the line-up are willing to perform alongside him. I say this not because of anything Dillinger or any of the Rootikal boys have said to me (I've never spoken to any of them), but only because of what Mister Yellowman said to me over the phone from Jamaica the other day.

We got to talking about whether or not artists would play alongside him in a discussion about one of the things he's most famous for; slackness. In the early 80s the albino DJ became well known for not just his ability to ride across a rhythm like no one else in Jamaica at the time, but specifically for his lyrics, those of a bluer variety than that of his peers. These sexually explicit lyrics were fairly tame in comparison to what you'll hear in some of today's dancehall, but at the time they were considered by some to be vulgar and indecent. Some people even refused to perform on the same bill as him. But, he tells me, "back in the days, it was not what I say, it was about their prejudice against me."

Because of your albinism?

No.

"Because I will take away the attraction from them," he says. "Back then those artists didn't want to perform with me. Even now they don't want to perform with me."

A sense of bombast and bluster comes hand in hand with dancehall, and at 58 years old and more than 30 years experience at the top of the genre, Yellowman is no exception. When he leaves the stage after a show, that's it, it's all over for anyone who's unfortunate enough to follow him. Once he's finished his performance, "everybody walks away," he says. "When [the other acts] play, everyone gone, everyone quiet."

Yellowman has managed to keep everyone's attention for more than 30 years now, with his effect being felt in different areas of popular culture for all of those three decades. Most recently his 1984 song 'Nobody Move, Nobody Get Hurt' was used in the multi-million selling video game Grand Theft Auto V, although he's never played the game. Prior to that the rhythm used in what is arguably his biggest hit, 'Zungguzungguguzungguzeng', was a big influence on hip-hop in the 1990s. KRS-One, Tupac Shakur, Notorious B.I.G., Blackstar and more all used its rhythm in their songs at some point. Had he expected the song to not just do well, but influence on the scale that it did when he recorded it all those years ago?

"I just do the song because I want to make a record," he says. "So it surprise me when it had that big influence, and even now it has that big influence."

Before all of this, King Yellowman cut his teeth with performances on the famous sound systems of late '70s Jamaica. The sound clashes were where he got his first breaks in the music industry, toasting and DJing to the people of Jamaica, winning over their affection against the rival sound systems.

"Coming from a sound clash background, that made me a better performer," he says. "But you know back in the days the clash was like entertainment, now it's not that way. Now it's about dividing the people, not the music."

His shows today are different to that of his sets in the '70s. Back then, he says, "we did the music on the sound system, singing over it. Today it's more a live one."

Different though it may be, he still enjoys himself. "I love it," he says, but comparisons are pointless, "because they're both performance."

And you enjoy performing?

"Yes sir."

Originally published by The Quietus.

[tomhasson-blog]

Things Learned At: Flow Festival 2013 - The Quietus | August 2013

Finnish enthusiasm takes some getting used to

Dancing. Clapping. Cheering. These are some of the ways I show my enthusiasm when watching live music at a festival. The Finns, or at least those in attendance at last weekend’s Flow Festival, don’t seem to go for any of that. They do a lot of standing still; perhaps transfixed by what they’re hearing, perhaps just politely and respectfully allowing each act to perform. For the majority of acts playing over the weekend this uniquely Finnish enthusiasm is what they’re met with. Though not all of them. After spending a weekend in the Helsinki sun, it seems that the problem didn’t lie in a lack of enthusiasm at all. These Finns just have very high standards.

It’s hard to follow a set by Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds, but not impossible

Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds’ set was masterly. And the crowd let them know it. As Nick Cave glared out into the audience, standing atop the crowd barrier, men and women stroked his legs, clawing at this sharp-suited messiah of a man as his Bad Seeds hammered through a set drawn heavily from Push The Sky Away. After an explosive ‘Red Right Hand’, we were beside ourselves. Buzzing, high as kites and full of energy sent straight from ‘Stagger Lee’ we made out way to the next big booking of the night: Beach House. I lasted ten minutes, if that. A friend pointed out that Ebo Taylor & Odapajan were playing on the other side of the festival site at the amphitheatre-style Balloon 360° Stage, so off we went. Walking towards the stage we could see something that certainly wasn’t happening for Beach House; people were dancing, and then so were we. Following a Bad Seeds set is a hard thing to do, but with his long-since perfected Ghanaian highlife songs and Odapajan backing him, Ebo Taylor managed it just fine.

Blixa Bargeld is popular in Finland

The likelihood of people dancing throughout Blixa Bargeld’s ‘solo vocal performance’ set on the fairly small Other Sound stage wasn’t particularly high. You also wouldn’t expect the former Bad Seed and risotto enthusiast’s set to be so popular, but it was. In fact, it was at capacity well before the gig started and there was a 1-200 person queue outside the venue throughout the entire performance. The bouncer had to shut the doors to prevent anyone from barging their way in. The biggest let down of the weekend was missing this set, but my lesson was learned; if you’re ever in Finland to see Blixa Bargeld, get to the show early.

No one seems to know who Factory Floor are

Would you believe it? ANOTHER Quietus writer who loves Factory Floor. I know. But it bears repeating: Factory floor are the single most exciting band of 2013. A recent Quietus interview with the band stated that “Factory Floor demand your participation.” Unfortunately, I don’t think the Finns got that message. Looking around the Black Tent at Flow Festival on Saturday night (a tent that could comfortably hold a couple of thousand people), it looks like only about 200 people made their way in for Factory Floor’s set (and plenty of them are are stood at the bar). It was a real shame, and something for which idiotic scheduling (they clashed with both My Bloody Valentine and Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds) might be blamed. The industrial, machine-like beats and Nik Colk Void’s menacing guitar fitted in perfectly with the disused gas-works the festival is set in. But on the bright side, the small crowed did give me more room to dance.

Kraftwerk's dimensions mean nothing

Dancing room wasn’t an issue at the Düsseldorf robots’ gig on Sunday either. The show was busy but there was still plenty of room to move. You certainly wouldn’t have guessed that this was the same band who’d previously crashed the Tate Modern’s website when they performed there. The 3D show Kraftwerk have been touring for the last two years has been taking up residencies in art galleries and museums but recently they’ve brought their three dimensional show to festival crowds around Europe. Unlike their set at the Tate Modern earlier in the year, where the setting lent itself to the visuals, here, in the expanse of the former gas works, the music takes over and you wonder why they even bother with the 3D.

Watching someone else enjoy themselves is enjoyment enough

Alicia Keys headlined the festival on Friday night. It was always going to be hard to compete with this reviewer’s love of Cat Power, whose spectacular set finished moments before Keys’ started, and I barely managed one Keys track before leaving to check out U.S. Girls instead. Performing after staying up for three days had left Meghan Remy delirious, but her set was enjoyable none the less. And when Remy’s slot was over there was just enough time to grab something to eat before the most recommended Finnish act of the weekend played the Black Tent. Huoratron, which I was told translates roughly as ‘whore-robot’ or ‘whore-machine’, is essentially the Finnish Skrillex. And the Finns love him. His set was the most packed I saw all weekend. But before squeezing myself into that bass-heavy strobeathon, I was getting something to eat. As the eight or so women took orders and made falafels at the FaFa stand near the main stage, Alicia Keys was getting to the end of her set. Just as I hand over my money to one of staff, they all burst out singing in unison with Keys: “This girl is on fire!”

Despite frying falafel and spreading hummus on pitta bread at ten to midnight instead of being in the audience itself, each of these Finnish women were having the time of their lives. And that made my night far more than the Finnish Skrillex was about to.

You can’t not try Fisu

Once Huoratron’s set was over and the festival ended for the night, we head into Helsinki’s city centre for some drinking. Early on, we’re told that if you’re in Finland and you’re drinking, then Fisu is the drink to try. Fisu is a cocktail made with a type of Finnish vodka and Fisherman’s Friend mints. It tastes exactly as you’d imagine it to and will, in the best possible way, ruin your night and you’ll feel it the next morning. Thank god the festival didn’t start till 2 p.m. then.

Finland is expensive, yes, but it’s beautiful

Booze was expensive. Food was expensive. Everything was expensive in Helsinki. But it’s a beautiful city full of things worth the expense. Mostly flat, the city is perfect for cycling, and actually, hiring a bike was probably the least expensive (comparatively) thing to do in Helsinki. The Kamppi Chapel, the 'Chapel Of Silence', is beautiful, and you won’t regret going. The trams are an easy way to get around the city, as is the single metro line (which makes it hard to get lost too, though a touch of Fisu will see to that). On top of that, the care and attention to detail that went into Flow Festival is something you suspect could only happen in Helsinki, Finland. I’ll be going again, expense be damned.

Originally published by The Quietus

[tomhasson-blog]

Interview: U-God - The Quietus | August 2013

Although he was a founding member of the Wu-Tang Clan, U-God was unable to contribute quite as much to the group’s now famous debut album Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) as he might have liked due to his conviction and subsequent incarceration for criminal possession of a controlled substance. But, after being paroled in 1993, U-God returned to the Wu for touring and recording their follow-up album, Wu-Tang Forever. Twenty years later have since passed and he remains an integral part of the Wu-Tang Clan, touring with the band as they celebrate two decades since the release of their debut album. Alongside his touring duties with the Wu (which include verses on ‘Protect Ya Neck’, ‘Da Mystery Of Chessboxin’’ and ‘Winter Warz’, to name but a few), U-God has just released his fourth solo record, The Keynote Speaker. Of the album, U-God says he’s addressing the hip hop community. Not that he has any issues with the community itself, he tells The Quietus; “I can only do what I do. When I step to the podium and spit my rhymes, I have your undivided attention. That’s what The Keynote Speaker really means.” Fans of the Wu-Tang Clan will warm to U-God’s fourth album as it doesn’t stray too far from that unique genre of hip-hop they created twenty years ago, something you’d probably expect when you see that the Wu’s de facto leader, RZA, is credited as the album’s executive producer. It may not break any new ground musically, but as a rapper that’s not something that concerns U-God right now; “I’m just honing my craft. I’m going to age, and grow, and get better at my craft.” When asked about the artwork for the album (a close up of an old boombox, reminiscent of  LL Cool J in his prime and sitting-on-stoops early hip-hop), he says that it’s not about harking back to the past but that it instead was an attempt to try “to figure out what was part of me. And I’m hip-hop.” “I feel like it was up to me to bring that to the forefront,” he says. “For people to go; ‘Damn, what’s that radio right there?’ People start questioning things, and when you do that you start to learn about things. Like; ‘oh snap, that radio’s from back in the day.’ It’s about history.” So is it important to educate people about history? “I don’t know about important,” he says “I’m not special like that. Don’t try and put me in a bubble like I’m some special dude. I’m just talented at what I do. I ain’t no brainiac, I’m an artist.” So he’s not comfortable being seen as a brainiac, or an educator. Why not? Aren’t these things to be proud of? Apparently not. In response to The Quietus’ line of questioning U-God says; “I don’t wanna be complacent. I don’t wanna settle down. I don’t want to feel accomplished. As soon as you feel like you’ve succeeded it’s over for you. People get real lazy. I want to keep my edge.” This way of thinking has, he said, made receiving criticism easier. “It’s all about making you better,” he says. “If you can’t take criticism, what the fuck are you supposed to do? I’ve been criticised my whole mother-fucking life.” “I don’t think people ever saw me as a real rhymer, just a member of a group. So right now I’m letting them know that I’m a fucking genuine songwriting, rhyming machine, mother-fucker.” The Keynote Speaker is out now.

Originally published on The Quietus

[tomhasson-blog]

'Success Looms For The Donuts Phenomenon' - Brighton & Hove Independent | August 2013

Read the article in full here (page five)

[tomhasson-blog]

Live Review: Atoms For Peace - The Fly | July 2013

Just over the road from Camden’s Roundhouse, with Atoms For Peace due to play the first date of a three-night residency, the upstairs room of The Enterprise pub has been transformed into an “immersive pop-up experience” titled ‘The Atoms For Peace Drawing Room.’ This “part-gallery, part-shop, part hanging-out space” features walls, rugs, sofas, t-shirts, vinyl and stickers covered in Stanley Donwood artwork; all black-and-white diagonals and chopped-up Thom Yorke lyrics, much of which was being ‘live printed’ on a specially-installed silk screen printing press. Something that surely went towards justifying the high cost of each piece of merchandise.

Back at The Roundhouse, Thom Yorke and his fellow Spotify refuseniks take to a stage towering with zigzag lighting and open the night with ‘Before Your Very Eyes…’. While Flea bounds about the stage, his body becoming a conduit for each note his bass makes, a vest-wearing Yorke starts ‘Lotus Flower’-ing through a thundering version of ‘Default’.

As well as taking in the majority of this year’s ‘Amok’, tonight’s setlist also brings tracks from Yorke’s 2006 record ‘The Eraser’ (for which Atoms For Peace were originally put together in 2009 to perform). The clattering whirlwind of ‘The Clock’ and bass-heavy ‘And It Rained All Night’ keep the crowd – many of whom clearly take Yorke’s manic movements as inspiration – dancing through the heat, which is only marginally more bearable inside the Roundhouse than it’s been throughout this recent heatwave. By the time ‘Harrowdown Hill’ is played, much of the audience are drenched in sweat, but continue to cut loose. Never before has a song about suicide/possible murder been so damn danceable.

The supergroup then go on to do not one but two encores, which seems to confuse the venue’s staff – the house lights stay off and a roadie remains onstage holding Flea’s bass ready for him to take back. Badly staged as they are, each encore brings exciting moments. The first includes a full-band take on UNKLE’s ‘Rabbit In Your Headlights’, which Thom guested on back in 1998, with Flea recreating the Jacob’s Laddersample used on record. Then, after a whole gig in which not one member of the band addresses the crowd, Yorke says: “I dunno about you guys, but we’ve had a wicked night. Thank you very much.” The crowd, full of diehard fans, erupts. “He spoke!” one admirer shrieks just before the second encore ends with what is arguably Yorke’s biggest solo hit, ‘Black Swan’.

The former railway engine shed might not have had a silk screen printing press – nor been a “part-gallery, part-shop, part hanging-out space” – but tonight The Roundhouse, full of fans and a band clearly enjoying themselves, is far more of an “immersive pop-up experience” than the upstairs of a pub could ever hope to be.

Originally published by The Fly.

[tomhasson-blog]

Quietus Writers Pick Their Favourite Tracks Of 2013 So Far

Quietus writers and staff chose their favourite tracks of the year so far. Contains monstrously long Spotify playlist.

Click here to read and hear.

[tomhasson-blog]

Upfront: Beer Here Now - NME | June 2013