When you get right down to it, there’s a certain knack that needs to be cultivated for making music with a certain tinge of soul like the smoke off of a backyard grill. With the latest release by Dave Plaehn, Amos Got Soul, you get a taste of that throughout. Plaehn, who calls Oregon home, has had a good amount of years as a performing vocalist. His voice coats the album with a veneer of slow blues that lifts the senses. Once you add some keen harmonica to those vocals, Plaehn delivers a genteel yet introspective approach to the blues. Amos Got Soul is a sultry work that draws you in bit by bit. ‘You’re Still In My Hair’ is a rising melody brought to bear by Plaehn’s pleas to a lover’s insistent presence framed by violins. As the album progresses, we get more of the depth of his blues. ‘I’m Not Brokenhearted’ is made for late-evening cruises meant to heal the heart. ‘Stranger Blues’ is just good old harmonica blues, and in this track you hear all of the rich tones to Plaehn’s vocals vibrate effortlessly. Amos Got Soul is a wafting, engaging album that shows that Dave Plaehn has plenty of soul to share. The album is available now through the artist’s Bandcamp link. http://daveplaehn.bandcamp.com/album/amos-got-soul
The Skins. Bed-Stuy residents, all nineteen and under. And hard-driving rockers with a sound and appeal for the younger generation that will make you take notice. Check them out in this video interview, props to Mass Appeal.
The image above is taken from “Fragmentos”, a piece done by Brazilian artist Alexandre Farto, aka VHILS out in Rio De Janiero. Check out more of the process in the short film below.
There’s a new rhythm out of the rollicking hills of Slovakia, and it’s brought forth in sweeping scale by Dzerzhinski Orchestra in their debut album, I II III. This quintet is the brainchild of Wojchiech Dzerzhnisky and since their formation in 2007, they’ve worked on their unique sound which brings to mind a blend of British New Wave, some hardcore and a bit of Polish music. I II III is subtly ambient, every track sitting just at the edge of your consciousness like a blooming plant on a windowsill. “Expedicija” is a head-nodder, one that lends a haunting quality with gentle vocals above a charging guitar riff. “Minuty” is an easy-going song that shimmers like light on a street sign. “Povezlo” gives you a soft trance feel with low synths and upright chords that bubble throughout the song. For Dzierzynski Bitz, I II III is a good effort that invites one to have a mellow mood. You can get the album at their Bandcamp link below.
If you’re an artist dedicated to dishing out the truth as if you were feeding the afflicted, you would want your music to be full of sustaining light. For Leo Drioli, that dish is found in the first single from his upcoming debut album, “Give It Your Love.” Hailing from Adelaide, Austrailia, Drioli has been acclaimed as one of the nation’s foremost spiritual teachers for over 25 years. In addition to founding a prominent New Age magazine, Leo also nurtured a love for songwriting which blossomed into this new album. “Give It Your Love” is a buoyant tune, held from soaring off by a steady bass. And Drioli’s forthright but introspective lyrics make this a joy to listen to. The album, Let Your Spirit Sing will be out later this year.
Nice & new official video for this collaboration track with Mello Music Group’s own Substantial from The Other Guys off of their latest album, The Other Album which you can cop right here: http://otherguysmusic.bandcamp.com/album/the-other-album
You do have rare times that a cover OF a cover can make a song brand new, and sparkly fresh. We have that here in BeezyTimes’ remix of The xx’s take on Aaliyah’s ‘Hot Like Fire’. Indulge.
Baltimore, Maryland has been portrayed as a hub of grittiness. But it serves to frame a rich tapestry of soul that emanates from it, and the musical talent that calls the city home is a testament to that. With the work of Sean Toure’, you see that soul issue forth in a deep and compelling way. He has already built an impressive career as a producer and MC, being regarded as one of the best independent artists in hip-hop today by SPIN Magazine and The Source. His talents as a producer that can create for all genres have also been received with great acclaim through “The Sean-Toure’ Remix Project”, an LP with his own spin on hits from 50 Cent, Michael Jackson, and others. Sean’s 2011 album released through Fat Beats/Foundation Media, “Sound Channeler, The Invisible Man”has been widely regarded as one of the great releases of that year. Manifesto Magazine got the chance to talk with Sean about his music and his creativity.
Manifesto: How do you view hip-hop culture today as a whole, in your eyes?
Sean: I think the culture right now…I think the culutre itself is pretty strong, I think the culture itself is actually expanding. I think the element of being an entrepreneur has actually created some sustainability for hip-hop. So I think there’s aspects of the culture that are continuing to grow, I think that’s one of the pros of it. One of the cons though is that, in any capitalist society where entreprenurialism comes into play, money comes into play, then there’s a watering down of the culture that comes into play, you know? So I think at the end of the day, there’s a dualism that comes with it in terms of the state of the culture itself. But I think as a whole, the culture is going strong. But there is a difference between the culture and the business parts of hip-hop, you know what I mean? I think the lines get crossed and you get a degree of ambiguity when it comes to hip-hop culture and hip-hop business. So I think the culture itself, is still sustaining itself.
Manifesto: I hear that. So as far as your music, do you think about how the music you’ve created has become part of the fabric of the muslc culture, not just in Baltimore but the world?
Sean: Yeah, I do. I do, and I think that was a part of the plan from the onset. I think ultimately my mindset was to create something that first of all, had to come from my soul. It had to be something that I genuinely and authentically wanted to express in my work. But then the other thing was that I knew that what I was doing was something that the global market really wanted. And I really felt like, I felt like I would’ve basically created a situation for failure if I had limited what I was doing in terms of my releases and just regulated it just to one area, one district. And that was proven once I had released a couple of projects. And I saw that the global response was very strong…you tend to get more respect outside of your city than in your city sometimes. I think you can get it in your city first sometimes, but most artists, their evolution and growth, they can hit a glass ceiling. And I think they can do one of two things. They can stay trapped in that fishbowl if you will, (laughs) or they can expand outside of that fishbowl and tap into other areas. I had reached that point some time ago, when I hit a glass ceiling. And if I wanted to do what I really wanted to do how I wanted to do it, it was imperative that I got my work out to the people and not just my city. And it paid off, you know, it definitely paid off.
Album artwork, ‘Sound Channeler: The Invisible Man’
Manifesto: I’ve heard some of your music beforehand but what you’ve put forth as of late, especially with this recent album, ‘The Soundchanneler’…very potent, very vibrant. And that kind of leads me into the next question that I have, with regards to your innate spirituality. You’ve mentioned that you’ve put your soul into it. How much of your spirituality, your spiritual perspective, how much does that inform your music? I ask this because I took notice of the ‘Om’ symbol on the cover of the album. Detail a little of that for me if you will.
Sean: Sure, sure. I think that any person, including myself, anything that is a part of your spiritual foundation, it’s gotta come through some sort of way in your art. I say this because I think spirituality is another form of creativity. When your’e creating things, the fabric of who you are is going to come out in your art. Throughout the years, I’ve studied different philosophies and religions and stuff like that, and I think it’s an ongoing process. At this stage, 10 years from now, God willing if I’m still here, it might be something else. But I definitely have been studying metaphysics strongly for like, the last ten years. And I didn’t really want to beat people over the head with it, you know what I mean? Because ultimately, what I think ends up happening is, the philosophy or the belief system goes in the forefront and people forget about the music. And I’ve seen groups do that. And my goal; yeah I practice metaphysics and I think that definitely will come through in my music but the first thing is always the music. People want good music. If they want to have their spiritual beliefs enhanced, well then they can do that on their own time. But in terms of how I express my work, it’s always going to be the music first, then you might hear elements of other things. It’s the balance of humanity. Some days I’m a good person, some days I’m not a good person. I’m a human being. I certainly don’t want to promote this message of a holy man, some devout dude. I’m not knocking anybody that does that, that’s just not how I wanted to sell my brand. I put the Om symbol on the album because I felt like the album was a way, a beacon. A calling out to people to show them that hip-hop itself can be intertwined with metaphysics in some kind of way. And the Om, since the album was called ‘The Sound Channeler’, I felt like since the Om is the original sound, it’d be a good idea to send that vibration out there. I think that intention, energy, ideas, things of that nature definitely influence people and putting that symbol on the album cover itself would definitely translate to people what I was trying to translate you know?
Manifesto: For now, what new projects do you have now that you are working on, have conceptualized? What’s next for you?
Sean: Well, right now, we’ve got quite a few projects. Everything that is coming out is on my label called Rosachi, and our distribution is through Fat Beats out of New York and Los Angeles and another company, Foundation Media. They’ve been really supportive. So with those connections we have with those distributors, there’ll be at least three or four projects we’ll be putting out this year. One I do know for sure we’ll be putting out is the second solo album from me. It’ll be called ‘The Dreamer’s Passion.’ I’m producing the whole album, I’ll probably have some guest beats, probably have a couple cats who I’m working with do some stuff. We’ve got features from Sadat X of Brand Nubian, we’ve got DJ Roddy Rod of the Lo-Budget on it, and quite a few other features on it as well. And that album should be out sometime around the fall of this year. I’m gonna mention it now, we have something under wraps but I’m going to mention it now, but there’s a legendary MC that’s very well-known from the Baltimore area, Silhouette, a female MC. She and I are working together on an album as well. We’re not sure when that’s going to come out, probably in a couple of months. There’s a couple instrumental projects I plan on releasing as well, and another remix project as well. I did a remix project a couple of years ago and I’m going to release one this year as well. Those are pretty much the projects we have on deck coming soon.
Manifesto: Cool! With regards to your creative process, what’s your personal manifesto in regards to your creative process? How do you get into your ‘zone’ to create the music that you create?
Sean: You know what man, it’s funny…I thought about that myself, that’s a great question. I think what I really do is, I just have to block everything out, you know what I mean? There’s no mantra, there’s no chant (laughs), you know? At this point in my career as an artist, it’s just really about sitting down in front of my piano or my drum machine and if I feel inspired, I just go ahead and get to work man. I could be having a good day, and some days I can make music and some days I can’t. And some days I can have a jacked-up day and some days I can’t. So I can’t really say that it’s based on my mood, it just goes back to why I named the album ‘The Sound Channeler’. I feel like I’m a conduit of sound. And when the creator of all things is ready to give me music and I’m open to it, then that’s when it comes, you know what I’m saying? I’m not ready to make music then he gave it to somebody else that day or she gave it to somebody else that day. There’s no process to it, it’s just about sitting there and being blessed and humble enough to say, ‘Man this aint even coming from me. It’s coming through me.’ If I could do this every day, it would be coming out like this every, you know what I’m saying? (laughs)
Manifesto: For the most part, whenever you collaborate with different people, for the most part it’s always something special. For you, how energizing is it to create new music with various artists that you’ve worked with in the past and even now?
Sean: Man, that’s a great question. Honestly, that’s one of the reasons why I do it. Because I’m an MC and a producer so for me, as a producer and MC, to work with the artists, it’s like a dream come true you know? To be able to work with a Kev Brown, or a Substantial, or a yU, whomever. It’s an honor man. I feel it’s one of the more exciting things you can do because for me, it pushes me towards a different direction and mindset I have to have when working with an artist. Because one of the things I promised myself I wouldn’t do is get stuck or put myself in a box in terms of what my creative process would be. With every artist comes a different mindset, a different consciousness in terms of how I might write a rhyme or how I might produce a beat. Yeah, it’s an honor, it’s a pleasure man. Because growing up, as artists we all imagine about working with certain people one day. And to be able to manifest my dreams and work with a Kev Brown, or a Jaysun, or whoever… man, it’s like that’s part of the reward for doing this you know? Sometimes, the music business is crazy, you don’t always get paid a lot, you don’t always get paid what your worth is. But the biggest payment you can get is working with somebody and creating something that the people like. It’s awesome. It’s one of the greatest honors and pleasures that I’ve had or that any artist can have when you’re working and perfoming man. That’s what it’s all about. It’s all about getting better, and not getting stuck.
Manifesto: I hear you man, that’s beautiful. So we’ve come to the last question. Lastly, what would be your advice to those looking to create and produce music?
Sean: I would say that anybody that produces music, be it using a drum machine or playing music, I would say, perfect your instrument. Get an instrument and stick with it. Don’t move around from one thing to another. So for an example, if you’re a hip-hop producer and you use a drum machine, it wouldn’t be in your best interest to get like, nine different machines because you haven’t mastered the first one you bought. And when I say musicians, I think hip-hop producers are musicians because they’re musicians using a different kind of instrument. I think traditionally, musicians they get an instrument - when you have kids whose parents made them s it down and play the piano everyday? That kid will turn into that teenager who’ll turn into a young adult, they’ve mastered that instrument. They’ve earned their stripes. Then, in earning those stripes they can move on to the other things. And I just think that perfecting your craft, perfecting your instrument is very important man. That’s how we get quality. That’s how we get a connection with our instruments. Imagine B.B. King without Lucille. Maybe he could probably play other instruments, but he mastered the guitar. Yeah, man. Perfect your instrument. If you’re an MC, perfect the mic. But yeah, perfect your instrument then move on to the next thing. Never get stuck.
Here’s a head-nodder of a track by the duo of Dillon and Boog Brown, ‘Give Me Room’. These two MCs hail from East Atlanta, and how they have flown under the radar thus far is crazy. Get their EP and more info at their Bandcamp here: http://marthaknuckles.bandcamp.com/
Wednesday, June 12, 2013 at 3:58PM 
