Mixture Interview

(Another in our series of Custodian of Records interviews (I just edited it!), this time with Kasem Coleman a.k.a. Mixture, producer of a variety of artists, from Blackstreet to Mytee G Poetic. Youtube version is here.  Also, Happy New Year!)

Dirty Jersey Week, Day 3: More Wax

Okay, now that we're past the novelty rap, how about some brand spankin' new Jersey Hip-Hop?  The Custodian of Records is one of the contemporary producers I've been most excited about in the last couple years; he's produced for projects you've me carry on about like 7 Immortals, Sparrow the Movement, Shawn Lov, and the Written On Your Psyche guys.  Now he's finally hitting us with his debut solo vinyl release, Less Work, on his own imprint, Adult Edu.  You might remember me tweeting about his GoFundMe campaign for this record last year.  Well, it reached its goal, the whole project's completed and donators are now getting their wax.  And happily, since I never like to spoil it for myself by listening to any digital musical samples in advance of a physical release, it lives up to expectations.

Every time I cover an instrumental album, which isn't often at all, I mention that I'm not a huge fan of instrumental Hip-Hop albums in general.  Hip-Hop instrumentals are usually more simplistic and repetitive than other forms of pop music because the lyrics are so much more dense and require concentration.  And that all works great for complete songs.  But when you get a break-beat album, you're like, "this is a nice little loop, but these three seconds are just going to replay unchanging for the next four minutes?"  Even DJ Shadow albums and the like, yeah they have more change-ups and samples swapping in and out, but they still seem to ask you to vibe out to some pretty basic grooves for long periods of time.  And all that's fine if you're a DJ buying a breakbeat album to mix or produce with; but it leaves regular listeners a bit cold.  Or at least to me, it feels like reading a screenplay instead of watching a movie.  But Less Work is more in line with, say, DJ Jazzy Jeff's "Touch of Jazz" in that it's meant to be listened to and keep you hooked.  Except without the scratches.  Maybe next EP, Custodian could add some cuts.  But then again, listening to this record, it doesn't need any.

Less Work is eleven tracks deep, though in terms of length, it's essentially an EP, as most are two minutes or less.  So that helps keep the pace up.  But more than that, it's just that these tracks are  more complex than just break-beats, with lots of vocal and instrumental samples coming and going.  And the tracks fit nicely together despite having really different types of drums and moods.  The fact that it keeps shifting definitely makes it feel alive, so you're rewarded for paying attention and you want to.  It's actually disappointing every time you hit the end of a side of the record, because it's pulled you in and left you wanting more.  It's definitely not often you find albums you can say that about.

So as you can see in the picture above, this comes in a fresh sticker cover.  This is available even if you didn't contribute to the original campaign, but it's super limited; only 100 copies were pressed.  So that doesn't leave a you a big window of opportunity to jump on this.  If you want to order a copy, new copies are being sold through discogs.  That's about it; it's a pretty exclusive release.  And very much worth it.

Wack Attack #5! Louie Louie 4 with a Special, Surprise Guest!

(Youtube version is here.)

The Custodian of Records, Lost and Found

You may remember me writing about my disappoint in Domination Recordings for not pressing up any physical copies of The Custodian of Record's surprisingly impressive 2009 debut, Burton Music, in Hip-Hop Connection. After that, they did eventually press up a handful of CD copies (which I thus like to take credit for), but those were promo only. It was basically just relegated to being an mp3-only release, which is a shame, because this was really the sort of music created to exist as a real, tangible object. I mean, even the cover art was designed to look like a 12" record label.  Plus, of course, all mp3-only releases are just shames in general, but that goes without saying. Anyway, years later, that musical injustice has finally been righted, as Burton Music is now finally available to own... on cassette.

It's been put out by Lost Records, one of the most slept on of the limited releases, though they might've briefly pinged on your radar when they dropped J-Force's unreleased 12". And, oh shit! Looking at their site now I see they're putting out Z-Man and White Mic's awesome Vegetable and the Ferret EP on green vinyl! Why didn't I know about that? Whew, anyway. They've also made a limited run - 100 copies - of The Custodian's debut album on red cassette, at a normal, non-limited price.

Fun fact, Burton Music is actually an expansion of an earlier, self-released CD by The Custodian, simply titled The EP. That EP featured 11 tracks, plus three bonus beats. All of those songs wound up on Burton (some titles changed; but the music's all unchanged), except the bonus beats, which remain exclusive. Good luck finding that, though - I only got one because Custodian sent me one directly, which is actually how I first heard of him years ago. But it's really a hardcore collector's item only, because not only does Burton feature all the full songs from the EP, but it adds a whole bunch more, for a total of 20 tracks, making it the definitively desirable version.

You probably won't recognize many of the featured artists on here. I'm from Jersey and look out for NJ hip-hop, and even I hadn't heard of most of the MCs on here. The only names you'll probably know are Shawn Lov who has a song called "Man We So High" and an appearance by Thirstin Howl III, appearing alongside a guy named Murdoc. But the important thing to know here is that they all deliver the styles and ethos that The Custodian is shooting for on this project. This isn't a variety album. Custodian does make a point of showcasing that he can make music that doesn't all sound the same. But unlike most producer-based albums where every song is by a different artist, it doesn't feel like a scatter-shot collection of songs going off in all directions with no through-line of tone. Perhaps because he's not working with a lot of quasi-celebrity egos, he's able to wrangle everyone together for one cohesive vision. In other words, where most of these type records wind up being a compilation packs that just happen to be entirely produced by one guy, this is decidedly The Custodian's album.

This winds up meaning that there are no weak spots. Over the course of twenty songs and a loaded roster of MCs and groups, that's surprising. But the production ranges only from terrific to very good, despite its length, there's nothing here to skip.  ...Well, that's maybe not entirely true. There's one instrumental bit near the end that sounds like he's just letting the soundtrack to an old Emanuelle movie play through. Seriously, what's up with that? But it's not bad per se, just a weirdly random moment. And it's short, so it barely registers.

Don't let the fact that most of the names are unfamiliar put you off. I really recommend you check this one out. Sure, you can look at a Wu-Fam group album and recognize all those names; but they'll be sloppy messes with only intermittent points genuinely worth having in your collection. Not here, the whole album is tight, and nobody comes off as a cornball. I'd like to see Dreddy Kruger pull that off.

Hit Squad Lyricist: Nocturnal interview

(Youtube version is here.)

Still Up In Newark - Gov Mattic Interview

Gov Mattic interview, conducted by Custodian of Records and edited by myself. This is the second in our series talking to underground NJ artists, following the Scott Lark interview. Yep, there's more to come.

Scott Lark and I

Hey, guys!  If you haven't been following my twitter lately, you've been missing out on some stuff...

First of all, check out this video interview with NJ MC Scott Lark. He had an album on Contract Recordings produced by Tony D in 1996. The interview was shot and conducted by producer The Custodian of Records, and edited by myself.  =)


And that's just the first of several interviews with some of Jersey's deepest underground heads. The rest have been shot, and I'm starting to edit #2 now, so stay tuned.

Also, I've announced a short film I wrote, produced and directed called Rap 'N' Reno, a short (25 minutes) hip-hop documentary that's premiering this weekend at the New Jersey Film Festival. Specifically, it's on Sunday at 8PM in New Brunswick. I'll also be speaking, so drop by if you're in the area. Check out their site for details. Here's a little video interview I did for EBTV about it:


And here are some articles featuring interviews with me about my film and the fest: The Sentinel, Trim Magazine, The Home News Tribune, The Daily Targum and The Asbury Park Press. Hope to see you there!

Fear Of the Rap!

Update 9/27/11: The HHC site seems to be down, so I've posted the article below... Click 'em to enlarge 'em to a readable size.

The latest issue of HHC Digital dropped today (here's a direct link), and with it the premiere of my new HHC column, Fear Of the Rap! (I'm page 13). It's all about focusing on the overlooked in hip-hop... the dope, the obscure, the not-so-dope-but-still-interesting... In other words, probably exactly what you'd expect from me in a monthly column. 8)