today we catch up with friend of the Lab, xxxchange, for a revealing look into the life of Musical Cleaner.

I think you told me once that you studied drums in college. What was that like?

I'm the only one, out of everybody I know who actually does music for a living, that went to music school. it's pretty much the un-coolest thing I could have done. In fact I'm surprised I'm actually able to have a career. if you're a kid and want to be in a band or whatever, go to art school.

I first met you at Spank Rock's first shows in NYC, which was an exciting time for the new music scene and artist / producers like yourself. what were those "early years" like?

at the time when we came up, hollertronix had just started getting famous outside of philly and lots of people were emulating them. lots of djs were starting to play cross genre. I liked that style, so I tried to incorporate lots of different genres and references and stuff like that into the records we were making. it definitely wasn't a calculated decision or anything, that's just the music that came out naturally. it was fun, I had just gotten into dance music and everything a few years before so as a producer I was just running on instinct. I didn't really know what I was doing, or what I was supposed to be doing like I literally had no sense of history at all. I think that kind of freed me up to try some of the weirder ideas.

Do you use samples? Where else do you get your sounds?

If I use a sample I usually just make it really obvious and make the whole song around the fact that it has that sample in it. Using samples can be really fun because, you can add this whole other layer of meaning / weirdness to the music. I love being surprised by funny combinations and stuff like "oh wow he put that with this?!?!" unfortunately, with sample clearance fees etc..., it's difficult to get a record out through legitimate channels with more than one sample in it. I'm lucky that I can write music and I don't need to use samples all the time.

Working with bands seems like a hard thing for producer. What is the producer's role in the process besides making a beat?

when working with a band, usually they have their music already so you don't have to worry about coming up with a beat. the producer's role in that situation, at least in my experience, is worrying about things like vocal production, layering guitars or other sounds, is the song too fast? too slow? and arrangement stuff. all those things basically tie in together. you also need to be selfless enough to not want to put you mark on everything all the time. sometimes a song won't need anything... that's the hard part, is realizing when you don't need to add anything.

You have several "additional production" credits to your name? What does that entail? I imagine you like "The Cleaner" who comes in, takes the tracks, and makes them better.

haha yeah that's a funny credit because it can mean basically anything! it's always helpful as a producer, especially if you're doing a record start to finish, to get another set of ears involved. whether that means giving the project to another person to mix or just playing it for someone else to see what they think. i've done additional production stuff where the job was a simple as coming in, listening to the song and saying, you know, "oh that needs a synth there" or "take that sound out." sometimes it can be as complicated as coming up with a whole part for a chorus or doing vocal production for the whole song.

Any interesting studio stories?

I've got tons of studio stories although I'm not sure how many people they're actually interesting to! in my experience studios and recording sessions  in general are about 80% boring. most artists hate being in the studio and usually everyone is super stressed out except the engineers who dont give a fuck because they're usually getting a day rate.

Fill in the blank, if i won mega-millions lotto tomm, i'd go:

japan

What were you like in high school?

really stooooooned

Your 5 favorite DJ records

pomomofo "back at the club" boy 8-bit remix
dj sega "let me clear my throat"
style of eye "ona"
crookers ft soulwax and mixhell "we love animals"
fake blood "i think i like it"

Your 5 favorite non-DJ records

of the moment...
tame impala - skeleton tiger
animal collective "graze"
cyndi lauper "goonies r good enough"
alicia keys "try sleepng w a broken heart"
the death set "clap clap snap" demo

Your 5 favorite spots to eat

grand szechwan (the one on 24th and 9th not either of the ones downtown)
tacos Matamoros (sunset park)
locanda vini y oli (fort greene)
sahara (way the fuck down by coney island)
choice market (fort greene)

Things you like to do, non-musical

gardening
videogames (no big surprise there)
cooking foods

CHECK OUT XXXCHANGE's NEW DIGITAL RELEASE

CHECK OUT XXXCHANGE's DIGITAL CHART

The Original Shiny-Suit Man!!

"Special dedication to all the baby-mother, and Frogman (aka Scallopballs)."

Wow. Marked a favorite on YouTube instantly (like a Ronaldo free-kick goal). Barringon Levy performing on some kind of UK Telethon in '85. Make sure to watch the whole thing, and dont miss the 2:25 mark – he stops singing and breaks into a Puffy / Bobby Brown dance breakdown, which he does off the stage a la James Brown (the funky guitar plucks at 2:48 are the jawn!!). Im gonna do that high-step strut-dance out the door when I leave work today....

Easily one of Boy Genius' favorite tracks of all time, SEEEEEEN!

wow, that video mike posted had my mind spinning.
no offense to artist, but I was trying to figure out if that was some kind of Warp video or something. but after a bit of googling, the dj / artist turns out to be Leon Botha who suffers from a rare aging disease.

check his site here

ps. if leon happens to read this blog, hit us up!

Will most likely never get any cooler for white dude's in rap than these guy's right?

Btw-that's a Bad Brains "Big Takeover" sample for all you beat diggers out there...

-NN

my favorite video clip of 2010 so far.
dood is like a funny puppy.

SKATEBOARDING IN JAMAICA!!! LAAAAAWADAMERCY YA'LL!!! BIG UP TO LARGEUP.COM !!!

BTW-ROBERT "NESTA" MARLEY 65th BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION THIS SATURDAY IN THE LES!!!

-NN

New Bad Brains Documentary coming soon...

-NN

today we catch up with friend of the Lab, Aziz Ansari, for this revealing interview about life, hustlin, death, and R. Kelly.

what could of been... lucky for Aziz

I think I remember you telling me that you worked at a DJ equipment store in Fulton Mall, BK back in the day...

No, but I do think we should let the readers know the long, over a decade long Aziz-Lab history. In late '99, I was on a quest to find a hobby that would make sure girls didn't talk to me, so I got real into turntablism and started buying mad stuff from the Lab, which conveniently had just started up. I even tried to intern with you guys when I moved to NY to go to NYU, but y'all were fully staffed. 

My favorite break records from those days: Toasted Marshmellow Breaks, Gag Ball Breaks, Super Seal Breaks, Super Duck Breaks. I guess those were kind of everyone's favorites, but whatever.

Favorite turntablism records:
Cut Chemist and Shortkut - Live at Future Primitive Volume 1
Z-Trip and Radar - Live at Future Primitive 2
Return of the DJ 1 and 2
DJ Q-Bert - Wave Twisters
DJ Q-Bert - Demolition Pumpkin Squeeze Muzak
Mix Master Mike - Anti-Theft Device.

I even still have that first edition Lab t-shirt somewhere! I wore that shit in South Carolina like it was the coolest shit ever, which let's be honest, it was.

I met DJ Craze in Miami a few months back and he bugged the fuck out when I mentioned super skratch nerd shit like the Allies crew, double click flares, etc. 

What was it like growing up in the South. Did that influence your comedy? Bet there were some haters?

Sure, occasionally there were racist things that happened to me, but 85% of the time I may as well have been a really tanned white kid. It wasn't too bad. I didn't really start comedy until I was in NY going to college, so I can't say its a huge influence. 

When I first heard of your comedy, it was that boombox video. From there, things just started to blow up. At what point did you realize, damn this might get big?

I don't know if there was any particular moment. Its kind of a long haul thing, you know? You just kind of keep trucking away and hope you build on what you've done and work on bigger and better projects. 

Any career tips for HUSTLERS?

Never stop hustlin'. When you feel like quitting the hustle, start hustling harder. When you've hustled harder and you're like, "Ok, I can take a break from hustling." Then..  YOU HUSTLE EVEN HARDER. 

Indulge the blog readers for a sec: along the similar lines: You've made it. Any specific times/occurances where  you thought: damn, I'm famous.

When Diddy and I were riding jetski's side by side in tuxedo's and jumped into a hot tub full of Ciroc, champagne, and Asian women.

There was also that time I beat 50 Cent at an arm wrestling competition at Fabolous' house. 

Also, I feel famous every time I walk into a Planet Hollywood and am seated IMMEDIATELY, line or no line. When you can get seated quickly at Planet Hollywood, then you are famous son.

You love Kells. I love Kells. Tell the rest of world, why he's one of the greatest of all time.

The man is unstoppable. You go to one of his shows and its an experience. I detail this in my act so I'd feel like a fraud repeating it, but this video should give you a taste:

Who do you draw influence from for your character on Parks & Rec? 

For some reason, Jamie Foxx is a go to. He's Tom's hero in my head - Oscar winning actor, R&B superstar, probably a club owner, and all around smooth cat. Another thing I keep in mind is Tom's interest in fashion and being a baller. We did an episode where Tom has to dress up for a club opening and I thought, what would Tom do? I knew it. He'd go on WireImage and see what Diddy wore to like a party for a cellphone or whatever. 

Who's the funniest person to work with on the show?

I could never pick a funniest person on our show, because they all make me laugh. The whole team is tight, it's like the late 90's Bulls. 

Mike Schur and Greg Daniels - Phil Jackson. Our executive producers that are in charge of the show and lead us. 

Amy and Rashida - MJ and Pippen. 

Ron Swanson - Rodman. The wild man. You don't know what Swanson has up his sleeve (probably some cured pork products and maybe some deviled eggs.)

Andy Dwyer - Toni Kucoc. The sixth man who would run shit on any other team and we are insanely lucky to have as a sixth man.

April - Steve Kerr. When they put April in, its like Kerr sinking 3's - money every time.

Jerry and Donna - Wennington and Buechler . Ready to come in from the bench and kill it any time.

Me - Luc Longley. Fuck, I didn't think this analogy through. I don't wanna be Luc Longley. Shit, no offense to Luc if he's reading.

In your TV talk show appearances, you always seem to grab the moment by the ballz. Is that conscious thing, like I'm going show these people in Iowa what is really funny?

When I do talk shows, I go in with the attitude of I just want to murder this shit. If you're a comic doing the couch on a late night show, you usually tell some stories from your act and since my act has a lot of story telling element to it; its a big advantage. I hope I can one day become one of those guests like Norm MacDonald that people get excited to see as a guest cause they know they're gonna bring it. 

Top 5 Records You Love To Hear in the Club (all-time)

Fuck this is tough! Off the top of my head, with no disrespect to any classics I left off...
Flashing Lights/Can't Tell Me Nothing (TIE!) - Kanye West
Don't You Want Me Baby - Human League
Age of Consent - New Order
Bigmouth Strikes Again - The Smiths
Billie Jean - Michael Jackson
Rock Your Body - Justin Timberlake

Top 5 Listening Albums

Here's my current go to album listens:
James Murphy and Pat Mahoney - FabricLive.36 
Radiohead - In Rainbows
Raekwon - Built for Cuban Linx 2
Interpol - Turn on the Bright Lights
Deerhunter - Microcastle
Optimo - How to Kill the DJ Pt. 2

5 Favorite Places to Eat

BI-COASTAL ANSWERS COMING YOUR WAY!!!!

Shake Shack (NY)
Momofuku Ssam (NY)
Kogi BBQ Tacos (LA)
Jitlada (LA)
Osteria Mozza (LA)

Things you like to do when you're not working.
Eat food. Music. 

Word on the street is that you like asian girls, true?
Look Pete, when you're famous, you only date waitresses from Planet Hollywood. Sometimes they are Asian, sometimes they not. Either way, its all good. 

GET HIS NEW RECORD AT THE LAB

GET HIS NEW DVD AT THE LAB

CATCH AZIZ IN NYC AT COMIX

Just got back from tour with Rusko, Blu Jemz, and 12th Planet...
Here's some pics from Czar Bar in Tampa courtesy of partyfoulz.com:

Usually me and Jemz would start off the night. Luckily, people were showing up EARLY, as the venues were intimate on purpose..

Every night I would roll up and invite a few girls from the back of the line to walk in with me..
-had a few dudes follow me in and I just turned around and said "sorry guys!"

gettin ready to cut the line..

meanwhile inside we were already at capacity..

Blu Jemz connecting with new fans

florida OG Pauly Crush helped mayor the scene...

I really liked this crowd. Totally open to downtempo, wonko, techno, electro, uk funky, smart-step, luvstep, and anything classy with quality bass characteristics. did i mention the soundsystem was a huge 12 foot wall?

me n 12th Planet prepping the silky switchover..

Planet lets looose

Crowd lets looser

Rusko predicts that at least 6 of the new MIA cuts will win a grammy...

are we at an MxPx concert? NO? ITS... ITS.... ITS....

RUSKO!! My man was born with the Bass Face!!

blipsters surfin usa

Probably playing "Da Cali Anthem"

madness...
Thanks to Scion for taking chances and getting electronic music into the creeks and cracks of the US and A. (Yes, when a tour is done right this is how I honestly feel .. ) I'll try to find some behind the scenes pics soon..

Mux Mool - Viking Funeral EP

Released yesterday on Ghostly as a free download...
Get it here.
(Mux Mool's full length drops March 23, 2010)

On the strength of the last post...

Working record stores in Texas since I was a kid, this was one album that flew out of the store. I always thought the cover was awesome...

check out this super on-point post about
the 20 worst hip-hop covers
you could really spend an hour, analyzing these...

via k and bg

This Friday I'm back at Cielo, and we are going BIG:

Hit me up at djsabo@solselectas.com for $10 reduced list all night long. And in case you missed it, DOWNLOAD HERE my final hour closing set from last month's party at Cielo.

Frank over at voodoo funk just got back from another month long digging trip in nigeria, lagos, ghana, etc and is blessing the masses with another mix of solid afro 45s that he found

*** LISTEN/DOWNLOAD "DANGER" ***

Man Law: Always give dap on the line.

Chloe is always watchin you...

there's a new generation of TTL trollers these days that, as of right now, are in school trying to show their friends those yabbos Eggfoo posted while simultaneously trying to hide them from Mr Schmidke.

a mear 10 years ago on a layout long gone from most peoples' imagination before the one you browse today, i was doing the same thing in his graphics class. Pete, please educate the youth and post that up for ol' time sake.

"ain't nothin changed but the numbers on the range"