|
Tuesday, February, 09 2010 |
today we catch up with friend of the Lab, xxxchange, for a revealing look into the life of Musical Cleaner.
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.
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.
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.
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.
japan
really stooooooned
pomomofo "back at the club" boy 8-bit remix
of the moment...
grand szechwan (the one on 24th and 9th not either of the ones downtown)
gardening CHECK OUT XXXCHANGE's NEW DIGITAL RELEASE CHECK OUT XXXCHANGE's DIGITAL CHART
posted by ph at 02:31 PM | direct link
|
|
|
Monday, February, 08 2010 |
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!
posted by boy genius at 08:49 PM | direct link
|
|
|
Monday, February, 08 2010 |
check his site here ps. if leon happens to read this blog, hit us up!
posted by ph at 06:30 PM | direct link
|
|
|
Saturday, February, 06 2010 |
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
posted by ttl annex at 03:23 AM | direct link
|
|
|
Friday, February, 05 2010 |
my favorite video clip of 2010 so far.
posted by ph at 01:22 PM | direct link
|
|
|
Thursday, February, 04 2010 |
SKATEBOARDING IN JAMAICA!!! LAAAAAWADAMERCY YA'LL!!! BIG UP TO LARGEUP.COM !!!
-NN
posted by snackmaster at 06:33 PM | direct link
|
|
|
Thursday, February, 04 2010 |
New Bad Brains Documentary coming soon... -NN
posted by snackmaster at 05:28 PM | direct link
|
|
|
Thursday, February, 04 2010 |
today we catch up with friend of the Lab, Aziz Ansari, for this revealing interview about life, hustlin, death, and R. Kelly.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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:
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.
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.
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.
BI-COASTAL ANSWERS COMING YOUR WAY!!!!
posted by ph at 11:44 AM | direct link
|
|
|
Thursday, February, 04 2010 |
Just got back from tour with Rusko, Blu Jemz, and 12th Planet...
posted by michna at 05:34 AM | direct link
|
|
|
Wednesday, February, 03 2010 |
Mux Mool - Viking Funeral EP
posted by michna at 08:22 PM | direct link
|
|
|
Wednesday, February, 03 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...
posted by DJ Mel at 05:36 PM | direct link
|
|
|
Wednesday, February, 03 2010 |
check out this super on-point post about via k and bg
posted by ph at 03:51 PM | direct link
|
|
|
Wednesday, February, 03 2010 |
This Friday I'm back at Cielo, and we are going BIG:
posted by sabo at 12:19 PM | direct link
|
|
|
Tuesday, February, 02 2010 |
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" ***
posted by stackswell at 11:45 PM | direct link
|
|
|
Tuesday, February, 02 2010 |
Man Law: Always give dap on the line.
posted by boy genius at 09:41 PM | direct link
|
|
|
Tuesday, February, 02 2010 |
Chloe is always watchin you...
posted by boy genius at 02:04 PM | direct link
|
|
|
Tuesday, February, 02 2010 |
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"
posted by stackswell at 12:35 PM | direct link
|
|
![]() visit our stores in LA + NY
|




