Just a few reasons why music will always need a physical support :
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March 18 th, Austin, TX.
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Nigel Sylvester & Stevie Williams announce “The Takeover Tour” with this very nice video teaser directed by Glenn P P Mulligan. Enjoying the music and sound design too using bmx and skateboard “field recording” sounds. Via thecomeupbmx
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8 days left of 2010 top – My top 5 songs of the year:
DRAKE (Ft. Nicki Minaj) – Up All Night
Dark, arrogant and Biggie Smalls influenced.
CASSIUS – I LOVE U SO
powerful, hypnotic and passionate love song.
LIL B – I’m God
While I don’t necessarily prefer his music over the stuff I grew up on, I will admit that he’s been the only rapper that made me laugh in 2010.
ROBYN - Dancing On My Own (Buraka Som Sistema Remix)
Great pop song got the sunny spin treatment. working amazingly well
ALINE FRAZAO – Mbirimbirin/Mupiozo a me/Muxima
21 years old unsigned songwriter from Angola with great skills. Amazing blend of culture in her voice and music.
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Sounds and Colours might become your favorite destination if you are, like me, passionate about South American culture and music. This is a perfect interview if you want to know more about the constant transformations of music creation in South America. Here it is, S&C’s Editor in chief, Russ Slater, pointing the new genres emerging, the impact of technology on music creation and promotion, and of course a very nice top 10 2010 with music from Chile, Brazil, Argentina and more …
Where are the new music epicenters of Latin America?
Well, Sounds and Colours focuses on South American music rather than Latin American as we feel that this music does not get as much attention as it deserves, with often music from Cuba, Puerto Rico and Mexico getting all the plaudits. Within South America, Colombia and Brazil are the two most high-profile countries, and quite deservedly so.
Colombia has some amazing new artists mixing Latin culture and beats (especially cumbia) with elements of hip-hop and pop, with Bomba Estero, Systema Solar, Choc Quib Town and Pernett all breaking new ground in this area.
Brazil on the other hand continues to attract people with hybridisations of samba and bossa nova, as well as the new phenomenom of baile funk. Yet this only begins to tell the story as some of the best independent music in Latin America comes out of Brazil with bands such as Otto, Eddie and Lucas Santtana mixing Afro-Brazilian rhythms with electronics and other more left-field influences such as kraut rock. You also have great bands making alternative rock/pop records; Mombojó and Do Amor being two who have released revelatory albums this year.
Mentions also have to go to Argentina for their electronic cumbia scene, as well as a thriving indie-pop community, Chile as the center of electro-pop in South America, and Peru for a very interesting avant-garde rock scene.
Beside Cumbia and baile Funk, what are the next musical trends you see emerging?
Brazil has a habit of creating new genres through splicing together a number of existing ones, and the future looks no different. In the North of the country you can find technobrega and tecnomelody (sometimes referred to as eletromelody), which are modern updates on Northern rhythms such as brega and frevo. In many ways this movement has emerged due to the same cultural conditions as baile funk in Rio; people have far better access to electronic instruments and they are able to sell their music via pirate CDs and earn money in a way which would not be possible via official means. Both technobrega and tecnomelody are largely electronic affairs with local rhythms and hip-hop-inspired vocals. Tecnomelody is the slightly slower of the two styles and has its spokesperson in Gaby Amarantos, a lady often referred to as the Beyonce Knowles of the Amazon. Due to the sheer infectiousness of these movements I really can’t see any reason why they cannot make an impact abroad.
In Argentina right now there’s an interesting evolution happening with “digital cumbia.” This style, which is an off-shoot of “cumbia villera,” (Argentina’s rawer and more urban cumbia) has now begun to take on a more distinctive sound, with artists such as Axel Krygier and Tremor bringing in folkloric melodies and rhythms from their native country, meaning that we’re starting to see Argentine artists get in touch with their roots and responding via electronic instruments. While there is no specific name for this movement yet (it’s generally referred to as “digital folklore” or similar) this is one area that we can expect a lot of developments in. As with these examples, a lot of the new movements coming from South America will involve mixing traditional forms with electronics, as well as a greater influence from hip-hop. We’re already starting to see this in other countries too with Novalima fusing Afro-Peruvian music with electronics and Los NIN mixing the music of the Ecuadorian Andes (i.e. woodwind and charango) with rap and rock guitars.
I am quite familiar with music from Bahia, Brasil where you can heavily feel the african influences … but is there other countries in latin america where you still feel a direct musical african heritage too ?
As well as Brazil, African influence is felt largely in the music of Colombia, Peru and Uruguay. In the cases of Colombia and Peru this music is now having something of a renaissance. For many years, the African influence had been neglected by the upper and middle classes, but now things are starting to change. In Colombia it is largely on the Pacific coast where the influence can be felt, especially in a music known as Palenque. This was brilliantly compiled this year on Soundway Record’s Palenque! Palenque! compilation where it seemed almost impossible to notice any difference between the music of Fela Kuti and artists such as Son Palenque and Wganda Kenya in Colombia. In Peru, the same thing happened with people listening to criollo music rather than traditional Afro-Peruvian music. Again this has changed, largely thanks to amazing ambassadors for the genre like Susana Baca and Eva Ayllon who have really ensured that the people take notice of the form.
Uruguay’s African influence is something of an anomaly in the history of South American music. Although the colonialists tried to malign the music of the African slaves, they could only resist for so long, and eventually would join in the celebrations. So it was that the music of the slaves slowly become the music of the people, and candombe and milonga took over, with white people blacking up their faces and wearing simple shoes and clothes to impersonate the slaves. Candombe is now central to life in Montevideo with drumming groups parading throughout the city during the week as well as playing a crucial role in National holidays such as The Day of the Wise Men as well as Montevideo carnival.
How do you see the new generation of Latin American artists using the web and the online world ?
It’s fair to say we are going to see the use of digital tools increase, especially in terms of spreading the word. In some countries, such as Chile this is being helped by the Government who are putting money into building websites for artists and musicians, but in most cases this is happening simply as a means by which any artist can reach the rest of the world. We are seeing the results of this increasing use of the web in the successes of artists such as Javiera Mena and Gaby Amarantos, who I mentioned earlier. Javiera is an electronic musician from Chile who is now able to play gigs in Mexico and the US as word-of-mouth on her debut Esquemas Juveniles album caused people to take notice of her talent. However Gaby Amarantos is probably the best example.
Although Belem is a big city in Brazil it is fair to say that far less people would have heard her music had it not been for Twitter, where she currently has around 4,500 followers. In a country as big as Brazil many musicians have to circulate their music virally before they can begin to look at touring or selling their music legitimately, and this is exactly what they are doing. In the case of baile funk, you now have a phenomenom where the music of Rio’s favelas can be playing within the clubs of London or Paris just days after a new song is made.
@OlivierRosset
Sounds and Colours website
Sounds and Colours Official.fm profile
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Weird music video of the week, Ghetto-geek technogebra music from Manaus, Brasil , Loving it:
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Top 5 most hectic moment at Fat Beats distribution by Amir Abdullah
 2 weeks ago , i had the pleasure to have great Brazilian food with my good friend Amir. Beside the fact that Amir is known else that the half of dj team Kon & Amir, he also had been a pivotal A&R and Distribution element in the growth of names such as Rawkus, Stones throw, Big L, D.I.T.C, A-Trak, Common, J Dilla, Pete Rock … After few caipirinhas, we started to reminisce some good old school memories on indie hip hop, fat beats and the state of vinyl distribution back then.
Fat beats distribution was THE PLACE and crazy stories were poppin while drinking. I felt, man, you got to write down your top 5 most hectic moment as Head of A&R during this gold era. And here we go a 5 long and detailed stories that had been heard, rumoured but never really documented. Ain’t no business as rap business !
Watch out for 180 Proof Entertainment, his new label with some several exciting projects in the pipeline.
1.  Back in early 2001, when we (Fat Beats Distribution) moved to the DUMBO section of Brooklyn, we had probably the most hectic situation ever happen to us. Now we had moved into a 13,000 square foot warehouse in the middle of nowhere Brooklyn. Furthermore, there was maybe one other “business” in the building. We were on the 7th floor where the elevator would “work” sometimes. In addition, our offices were not completely built yet so we all worked in a common area close to the back of the warehouse.
So one day either in March or April, the warehouse guys get a buzz from downstairs that UPS is dropping off packages as they usually do. The guys take a peek out the window and tell the UPS guys to come upstairs in the elevator. Now remember I said the elevator would “work” sometimes. Well, this happen to be one of those times that it didn’t so the UPS guys had to troop it upstairs. All of sudden ten minutes later we hear in the back of the warehouse all of this noise and yelling; I just didn’t pay it any attention. I was on the phone with maybe an artist or label; regardless, I i was not concerned at all. However, less than 30 seconds later I see a guy walking towards me with a 9mm gun. I thought I was seeing things and I still didn’t pay it any attention until the guy got closer. The next thing I know he is yelling at me “put down the phone this is a REAL gun and I WILL shot you!” Needless to say, I put down the phone. I started to see many guys with assault rifles and 9mm appearing out nowhere. I am buggin out cause I am like who in the world is after us?? Like Joe (the owner) who didn’t you pay?? By the way, these guys never once announced who they were!
They had all of us against the wall and we could not talk. In the meantime, they pull aside Joe the owner and ask him mad questions none of which we could hear. We are SUPER pissed cause we are thinking he has got us all killed. After about ten minutes some of the armed men come over to me and ask me to follow them. This is where I am shittin bricks! I am thinking I am going to die. However, they take me over to the mix tape section in the warehouse and pull out one of DJ Spinbad’s mixes. They are like did you order this and why are you selling product that contains unlicensed music! Man, my mouth dropped to the ground because I am like all of these guns and bullshit for Spinbad’s mix tape????? Indeed, they were there because we had sold Spinbad’s mix tape too well. Apparently, one of our retail accounts in Canada ordered it and was caught during a raid in Toronto. They quickly told the Canadian authorities that they got it from Fat Beats.
After some brief discussion about paying a fine, I finally asked why did ya’ll storm up here with guns blazing! The lead guy was “like look at this piece of shit building…it looks like ya’ll could have been running drugs or distributing child porn up here!! We had to be ready for any thing.” Thankfully, we could all laugh after the fact. However, that was the most hectic moment at Fat Beats to this day for sure!!!
2.  The second most hectic moment at Fat Beats was back in January 2002. I used to stay late a lot of times at Fat Beats and I would be one of the last to leave. So this night there were a few of us still hanging around after hours. So around 7 or 8 pm I hear the doorbell ring and I go to the front of the warehouse to answer it. Now I did think it was strange, but I didn’t pay it any attention. I answered the door and it’s my dude Jerry from Hydra Recordings with three REALLy big guys behind him. I am thinking that’s REALLY odd! I say what up and he ask for one of my colleagues. I say wait here a sec and I will grab him. So I go get my colleague. I say hey man Jerry’s here to see you. My colleague immediately says ” ahhh man he must be here to kick my ass!” I am like wtf!?! Why is here to kick your ass???? My colleague goes “I told him to go fuck himself!” My mouth dropped cause Jerry is NOT a person you wanna fuck with at all.
Anyway, we all accompany him down to see Jerry. Immediately, Jerry was like “say that shit to my face.” I see the dudes behind him with their hands in the coat pockets and I am ahhh man it’s about to be on. I say to Jerry let’s go into the conference room and discuss this like gentlemen. He just was not having it and starting yelling at my colleague. My colleague tried to stand his ground but you could tell from the cracking in his voice that he was shook like the rest of us. Then to make matters worse a bunch of the warehouse guys come busting in the room trying to act brave. Dudes that were with Jerry were pulling out shit and I stepped all the waaay back out the room. Finally, my colleague had sense enough to pipe down and chill. That’s when things chilled and after a few farewelll fuck yous Jerry left. I will never forget this night I am like telling my colleague you need to chill with that tough shit cause it WILL get you killed!
3.  The third most hectic moment at Fat Beats was when one of the artists that we regularly dealt with came by to pick up a check for product sold. Now this whole time I am in my office doing what I do. However, I get a call from a colleague panicking that he was kinda scared for his life. Immediately, I am like what’s up??? He says that so so artist came by to pick up a check. However, Joe the owner wrote the wrong amount. So when he handed the check to the artist he got upset quickly. I am sayin the word upset is putting waay mildly! He said the artist was like “where the fuck is my money.” The guy keeps sayin it, but with the most I will kill you look he had ever seen. My colleague offered to go have the check recut with the right amount, but the artist all of sudden calmed down and just asked that he receive his money next week. The artist just left without making anymore noise. Now this artist is DEFINITELY DEFINITELY not someone you wanna fuck with it. I don’t care who you are down with or who you are.
Right after this, my colleague called me to say can you call blah blah cause I wanna if he is cool. I am thinking what did you do now??? He thought he was going to die there and he was afraid to leave the office cause he thought dude was waiting for him outside. So I called the artist and asked what just happened. He was like your man at Fat Beats almost caught it today and that I was to make sure shit is straight the next time he comes for check. Whew, I am like sure thing brother. Afterwards, I vouched for my colleague and tried to clear him of any potential deadly situation.
4.  Another hectic situation at Fat Beats was when there was a war between Rawkus and Fat Beats. This war began in middle of 99′ and lasted until early 2000. Now this is a long story so I will try to shorten it. Back in mid 99′, Joe and I decided we needed financial capital in order to expand. We were starting to have competition i.e., Landspeed, Buds, Caroline Distribution, etc. They were all able to give away more $ to artists for P&D deals. Especially, on 12″. So Joe who had a relationship with Steve Rifkind the owner of Loud had reached out to him about a possible partnership. We had several meetings with Steve and all his financial guys. I am mean we were genuinely interested in partnering with a great brand as Loud.
Somehow Brian and Jarrett at Rawkus (the two heads) found out we were having meetings with Loud. They called us to have a meeting. I should also mention that from 1997-2000, we were Rawkus’s exclusive worldwide vinyl distributor. When Brian and Jarret came to meet with us they in not so many words explained that if we were to ever think about partnering with Loud that they would pull from us. Furthermore, they heavily suggested that we let Rawkus buy Fat Beats instead. Now at the time we selling thousands of copies of Rawkus 12″ and LPs. In fact, just to give you some insight of how much. We sold 30,000 copies of Common-1999 12″ in one day! We were moving numbers on vinyl that no one today would even imagine today. Needless to say, we made a lot of money from Rawkus. If they pulled then we would be seriously hurt.
After the meeting, Joe and I were understandably shook! We had to decide whether to blow off Loud or Rawkus. If we blow off Loud we could potentially ruin a great relationship and financial opportunity. However, we blow off Rawkus we immediately risk the future of our business by losing our number one vendor. Decision decisions! We decided at the end to not go with either. The decision to pass on Loud was made a little easier for us because we had started to hear rumors that they were not doing too well. The decision to not go with Rawkus was based on our mutual distaste for Brian and Jarrett at the time. We both felt that they were arrogant and that they would be hard to deal with.
When we decided to say no to Rawkus that is when they started the War. First, they started making up fake invoices of stuff that they said we owed them and refused to pay. Total bullshit! Once I and our account shut that down then they went after DJ Eclipse the manager of the Fat Beats NYC store. They tried to lure him away from Fat Beats with a promise of lots of money and a brand new car. That didn’t work so then they came after me. They called me in for a meeting about the possibility of me running the distribution for them. Man, they offered me the world and I have to say I was totally interested. However, as I was leaving the meeting, Jarrett says to me “And oh, Amir if you see any woman here and I mean ANY woman here you like…you can have her straight up!!” Up until that point I was ready to consider leaving Fat Beats, but when they said that I was like nahhhh. I mean I felt insulted like I was a typically black man ya’ll are used to dealing with. I am sorry not the kid!
So after those attempts didn’t work they called the next week to say they were pulling from Fat Beats. That’s when the most financial hectic situation began for us. By the way, they did it after we had already pre sold the first Jurassic 5 album for them. I remember sitting there like what are we (really me) going to do. At that point, I was basically holding down Fat Beats Distribution so people were looking to me for answers on what do we do next. What I did is that I called PB Wolf because I knew he was moving from San Jose to LA. In addition, I knew he was unhappy with Nu Gruv Alliance and was looking for a new home. So I flew to LA and invited him to dinner. I made my case of why he should go with Fat Beats exclusive worldwide for all his vinyl releases and a month later we had our next Rawkus!
5.  Back in 1999, I was the first one to give Frank and Dank P& D deal. I have to admit that I was introduced to J Dilla by character named Ramos. Now if anyone has been in the music industry for a long enough you know whom I am talking about. Anyway, Ramos came to me with two records featuring Frank and Dank with Jay on the beats. I was definitely like yes! Before the deal was signed, I asked Ramos to bring by Jay so that I could met him. i mean I was a fan too you know! Plus, both these 12″ were going to be on Jay’s new label McNasty, and I wanted him to be there to say it is ok to pay Ramos the advance money. He agreed and Jay made it know that I should pay Ramos whom would be running McNasty. By the way, I was offered “Fuck Da Police,” but Joe the owner didn’t wanna pay for another 12″ no matter how dope it was. I still am to this day fucking pissed!!!
Anyway, the two Frank and Dank 12″ did ok sales wise. They didn’t blow the world away, but I also didn’t lose a ton of money. However, a year later when we had moved to Brooklyn I had got a call from Frank and Dank. These dudes start yelling about how we never paid the advance and that they were coming to kill me. Now I had had plenty of death threats at Fat Beats before so I wasn’t backing down. I was like “word my address is 50 Bridge Street blah blah.” I later faxed them the cashed check that we wrote Ramos as proof that he had received the money.
So about two years later, I am at the Knitting Factory with my new girl and we are just chilling upstairs. All of sudden this guy that I worked with says to me, “I got someone I want you to meet.” i am like word. I go back in the artist chill room and i immediately run into Frank and Dank! Now I also had a Heineken bottle in my hand and I remember saying to myself “I will at least crack one of them over the head before I catch it.” However, to my surprise they both were like man we just want to apologize for all that was said. They had found out Ramos had robbed them of the money. They also wanted to do more projects with me at Fat Beats. That was DEFINITELY a big whew moment!
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www.twitter.com/dfjamir
facebook.com/amirontrack
www.thekhronciles.net
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