Para One Goes Big in Japan

By Red Foxx | February 19, 2008

Ayumi Hamasaki. This name might not mean much to our American readership, but let me list off some facts here. She’s the best selling female and solo Japanese artist in history. She’s the only female solo artist with 30 number-one singles. Oh yeah and she’s the best selling Japanese female artist in history. Let’s get to the point though. Para One was asked by her label (seriously) to do a remix, and it’s straight fire in case you haven’t already heard it burn the floor. Here’s the story from the man himself…

Red Foxx: OK… How did this remix happen? It’s official right?

Para One: Oh yeah its official haha… I wouldnt bother making unofficial remixes. One day the Japanese label called JR from Institubes and they asked for it. Actually they asked for another “Prime Time of Your Life” haha.

Red Foxx: I think for alot of people its just suprising how you got linked up with a pop superstar in Japan…

Para One: Well yeah we were the first to be surprised. She’s like the biggest star ever. She sold 50 million or something. I was in Tokyo for Christmas Eve with my girl and we drank champagne while she was singing on TV. There’s electronic billboards for her all over the place in Shibuya.

Red Foxx: Do you have a large following in Japan?

Para One: Institubes has a very good following there from the early years. We toured there with Tacteel & Feadz for years but now I think it’s getting a bit bigger. I mean we’re asked for bigger rooms & festivals, maybe it’s this new French thing I don’t know.

Red Foxx: I may be mistaken but I think this is the first time I heard you really fuck with a “French Touch” bassline… The sound is dead on, did you just figure out that sound or did you get any tips from “certain friends” in Paris?

Para One: Haha… No I dont get to discuss basslines with Thomas if you are leading to that… I just tried to make it sound right. I used a Prophet One and spent some time on it.

Red Foxx: You killed that one… people go nuts! Will we hear more of that funk from you?

Para One: It was more of a joke at the start, but Jean Nipon told me to do it. You’ll definitely hear more funk from me in the future.

Red Foxx: Whats your favorite J-pop song of all time?

Para One: Wow. I spent a night singing in a karaoke in Kabukicho with my girl and there is that special song that is playing 24/7 in my head since… But man… I have NO FUCKING CLUE what it is!

Red Foxx: I hate when that happens … maybe Ayumi can tell you!

Para One: I will definitely ask!

Ayumi Hamasaki – “Greatful Days” (Para One Remix)
[para one myspace]

Topics: Mp3, Words is Like Ziti | 15 Comments »

Gonzales is the T-Pain of Paris

By Red Foxx | February 14, 2008

There exists this particular kind of person, the one that unabashedly does his thing, follows his heart, does it a lot, and does it well. It’s the kind of person that simply loves to create and will indulge whatever whim they have and make something beautiful out of it. Gonzales is a perfect poster child for this mind set. This a man who raps with Peaches yet releases an album of moving piano pieces. With a range that wide it should be no surprise that his next track dropping, Slow Down, featuring Teki Latex, sounds like a T-Pain single. I guess the strangest thing is that it’s so good it could actually be a T-Pain single. A&R’s around the world: you have an R&B master right here under your nose, so wake up and smell the vocoder. I got to talk to Chilly G himself to get a glimpse of how this rapper/pianist/robotic crooner works. Oh yeah, and the word on some serious “boeuf” going down in Paris…

Red Foxx: So you came from Canada, along with Mocky, Peaches and the crew, set up shop in Berlin, helped Jamie Lidell become an underground superstar, and now according to my Wikibrain™ you are in Paris. I know alot of people like myself would love to live such a cosmopolitan lifestyle. How did you pull it off, and is there any one place you really feel is “home?” Could you pick a favorite?

Gonz: I have no choice. I’m the opposite of a rapper because I have nowhere and nothing to represent. I’m just a career-obsessed opportunist so I follow the glory. Canada has no culture beyond bearded indie-rock so I left. Berlin is for true bohemian underachievers, so making my first few albums in an East German apartment was the right kind of look for the end of the credible 90s. But Paris is where execution trumps content, so it’s simple: I fight to keep the music on a personal level and take advantage of the fast track to success. France loves me, baby, and the infrastructure backs it up.

R: Your track “Working Together” you really sound like you could have ghostwritten for Juelz Santana, and now you are pulling off T-Pain with ease… What’s next? Who do you think is really burning the block right now? Are you in touch with any rap producers, hooking them up with piano samples or tracks or anything?

G: I’m a mainstream music fan, I love successful music, successful people and songs that everyone sings, TV themes, that kind of thing. So of course rappers are the most successful musicians of today, it’s kind of obvious that they are the ones worth imitating. But I look bad in a doo-rag. So I steal their rap cadences, technology, and I translate their swagger into something an old funny Jew can pull off. I’m not in touch with any real rap producers, but they all love Feist, which is a strange twist after having left the land of bearded indie-rock. Now all these heads are nodding to some Canadian indie-rock.

R: You spit heat and write classical piano pieces. I want to know how far that contrast goes. Can you give us a story about the most gutter moment in your life… and then maybe a story about the most celebrated moment of artistic integrity you’ve ever had?

G: One time this dude came up to me, all like “you know” and I was like “no I don’t know” and then dude was totally on some shit that I was not hearing and then the rest of the story what the fuck? (gutter moment). Artistic integrity is the myth that encourages all the wrong people to attempt this music ish. Imagine a world without it and suddenly it’s all bangers all the time. Artists paint, I’m an entertainer. I’ve sued George Clooney for using my piano tracks in his movie without permission, and won. Integrity is a lie.

R: A man of such intelligence talent and surely must appreciate poetry. Please, share with us a favorite stanza or couplet from the contemporary master of wordplay, Lil Wayne.

G: “Got the industry shakin like a tambourine.”

R: Who’s snitching in Paris? Is there anyone you want to put on blast right now?

G: Have you heard of Sebastien Tellier? He and I have been snifing each other’s musical butts like dogs for a few hot minutes. He’s like a French self-medicating version of Gonzales but we occupy the same conceptual niche of the Gallic hipster microverse. He put out the album “Politics” with a single called “Broadway” a year after I put out “Presidential Suite” with the single “Take me to Broadway” among other transgressions. Well I decided to ignore that evidence and co-opt him so there wouldn’t be the temptation to beef (as we both put out albums in the first quarter of 08). I asked him to be on my posse cut and he said NO even after I reached out to him through neutral parties. So the beef is now in the saucepan and it’s coming to a rolling boil…

R: Damn… Not to be negative but I hope it escalates to disses and mixtapes because those tracks would be heat! Whats coming out next for you? I hear there’s a posse cut too, like 8 people on it. How buck was the studio? Were you all wiling out?

G: “Let’s Ride” is a disco instrumental from the album but the remix is a massive crew gang-bang – this is the one Sebastien Tellier said NO to. It’s a cross between “We Are the World” and “One Blood Remix with 23 rappers”. It’s got 13 people on it. Jarvis Cocker is on it, Princess Superstar, Peaches, Jamie Lidell, Teki Latex, Feist, Mocky, many other Canadians and culturally exceptional Frenchies. I thought about paying 750 US dollars for a verse from Bizarre from D12, but even with the exchange rate it’s still a bad deal. The studio wasn’t really popping off because it was 3 months to get everyone on it mostly through the
interwebs. It will be leaking sometime soon.

Gonzales ft. Teki Latex – “Slow Down (Remix)” (Palmsout Exclusive)
[gonzales on myspace]

Topics: Mp3, Words is Like Ziti | 12 Comments »

Ed Banger X Target / Eurogirls In Baltimore

By Red Foxx | January 16, 2008

Do you live in Paris, Idaho, but dream of Paris, France? Are you surrounded by limitless suburbs, devoid of cultural outlets? Are you alone, young, poor and obsessed with the Cult of Ed Banger?

Shipping from Colette is ridiculous. The nearest H&M is 800 miles away. Not to mention you are 15 and don’t even have a credit card to order shit online (plus you got b& from the internets cause mom found your jailbait folder.)

Depression hurts, but there is a solution. The great Target Corporation aka “Wal Mart for Democrats,” the owner of a billion superstores all over our vast nation, has brought Ed Banger to the burbs and So Me to South Dakota.

I’m pretty sure it’s just a blatant rip off (note the “ACE” button instead of “DANCE” lol), but expect a legion of mini-Gaspard and Xaviers at middle schools across the nation this spring. I was lucky enough to snap a picture of the super hot exxxclusive tee on my cell phone last night while shopping for shit I don’t need… before the racks were ravaged by crazed 13 year olds blasting Stress on their Zunes.

On the other hand, here we have a prized example of how cross-Atlantic cultural exchange can yield a wonderful collaboration. Eurogirls Go To Baltimore (vol. 1) have some of our favorite French dudes sharing an EP of Baltimore club bangers with a few of the favorites from the States, not to mention the cover was ACTUALLY DESIGNED by So Me. Rod Lee and Tameil share the EP with Orgasmic and Bobmo, amongst others. Hit refresh on Arcademode.com over and over until it pops up, cop it, and wait for that Concord (RIP) to fly it to your doorstep. You can’t find it at Target, although Jean Nipon flips a track I swear I heard while shopping there once…

Jean Nipon – “You Call It Love” from Eurogirls Go To Baltimore (vol. 1)

[orgasmic myspace]
[jean nipon myspace]

Topics: Mp3, Words is Like Ziti | 17 Comments »

Teki on Texas

By Red Foxx | November 28, 2007

Teki Latex and Devin the Dude… The pairing of these rap juggernauts (OK, “cool kid” rap juggernauts) has been drifting across the blogosphere for some time. A version of 33hz‘s single “Paris Texas” found it’s way into my “top down” rotation last WMC. The contagious pop appeal, the silky hook, fat chords, and party raps were a perfect soundtrack to driving in a convertible through the Miami night. I was always intrigued by the mysterious track… NYC producers making an electropop track with an MC from Paris and an MC from Houston. I didn’t know if it was a bootleg or an edit, and a legit release seemed too far fetched for me to believe.

Well, believe it. The release is out as of yesterday, it’s totally official, it’s hot as noon in Houston and smooth as a sip of sizzurp. However, my curiosity about the track was still insatiable, so I hit up Teki to find out what the Parisian has in common with H-town…

Interview with Teki

Red Foxx: If you grew up in Houston instead of Paris, where would you be now and what would you be doing?

Teki Latex: Probably hangin’ out with Chingo Bling eating tamales. The closest to Houston I’ve ever been is Austin Texas, where we performed with TTC at the SXSW festival and slept in a sorority, and that was pretty cool.

R: Did you get to meet Devin? Were you a fan of his before?

T: I never really met him although I did see him perform that same time at SXSW. His show was amazing and he has an incredible charisma. I was a total Devin fan, my boy the Genevan Heathen is a Devin specialist and he always plays me loads of Devin songs. Unfortunately not many French people know Devin’s work apart from his verse on Chronic 2001. We hope to bring him to France soon. I’m glad 33hz and the magic of the internet made this collaboration possible, it’s a great honor for me to be on a track with these dudes.

R: Which TTC (Or Teki) beat would you like to hear Devin rip over the most?

T: Not really a TTC or a Teki beat but there’s this beat on Cuizinier’s next mixtape “Pour les Filles Volume 3″, produced by TTC’s DJ Orgasmic, jacking Bobby McFerrin’s Don’t Worry be Happy. I’d love to hear him kill it over that beat. He’s kind of a rap Bobby McFerrin. Devin’s like your cool uncle who tells stories to the kids that their parents don’t want them to hear. He’s like a Snoop Dogg who’s not trying to act young. He’s so cool.

R: If you did a whole album together, what would you call it?

T: Stories Your Parents Don’t Want You to Hear

R: Fill in the blank. “Devin the Dude & Teki the _______”

T: It would be “Teki le Mec”

–
The 12″ has remixes from Gentlemen Drivers, Curtis Vodka, Max Pask, Architecture in Helsinki, In Flagranti, and is out now at Other Music Downloads.

33Hz ft. Devin the Dude & Teki Latex – “Paris Texas” (33Hz Sentinel 2.0 Mix)
33Hz ft. Devin the Dude & Teki Latex – “Paris Texas” (Max Pask Mix)

Catch 33Hz, Teki, and Surkin at Hiro Ballroom FREE tomorrow night in NYC. RSVP Here.

Topics: Mp3, Words is Like Ziti | 8 Comments »

Real Talk: Curtis Vodka

By Red Foxx | July 9, 2007

“I get kicked out of the place I was staying in Brooklyn sometime in November. I stay with my boy DJ Morsy till I get some cash to dip out. I take a Greyhound Bus from Manhattan straight to Seattle. 3 days straight. I leave Seattle to fly to Anchorage. I get back. I stay with my younger brother for at least two weeks in December. I dip out of his place and then go vist some other people. I smoke some DMT and I trip HARD and stay up for 8 hours.”

“As I am about to go to bed I get a phone call from my boy Vegas Paris in which he tells me “Yo, your brother was found dead” and then I bug out for a few hours then dip out to the hospital and then I cry and I go out of my mind for a few weeks and as I’m burying my brother I’m thinking “What the fuck…” Then a month later Disco D tells me he wants to kill himself and that his life is over with. I try and talk him out of it and he asks for me to help him regain his title back and I agreed. Two days later I get a phone call telling me that Disco D killed himself.”

“Just a few days later, I go camping and we drive a good 8-10 hours up north from Anchorage. My friends and I go to my friend’s cabin which is unfinished and just camp out and whatever. But, the weather had a different idea. It rained hard and destroyed all our food. We had to go into a semi rapid river for 4-5 hours trying to catch fish with our bare hands and we finally caught two of them and ate them raw since there wasn’t a fire we could build and then we pass out in the unfinished cabin and then decide to wake up later and go hunt for moose for more food.”

“I unlock the gun and I hear an amazingly loud snap from my right. I pull the trigger on accident and I shoot an oncoming grizzly bear in the head and kill it. I get white as a ghost and I bitch out and I go home.”

“Then I made Live @ Club Zebra and typed all this shit up for you.”

Curtis Vodka is in Anchorage getting ready for a tour, listening to psych rock, and making impeccable disco house tracks with an old PC on a friend’s living room floor. “Live @ Club Zebra” is streaming on his Myspace.

Curtis Vodka – “Saturday Morning” (Palms Out Exclusive)

Cluster – “Rosa”

Topics: Mp3, Words is Like Ziti | 9 Comments »

On the Justice Album Leak…

By Red Foxx | May 10, 2007

I was hoping it wouldn’t happen. Arguably the most anticipated album so far this year, by arguably the most net-adulated, blogged, and radio ripped bands ever, has been leaked. The new Justice album, titled “†,” exists in the ether. You will be able to find it in the online Sodom and Gommorahs… But I implore you, fair Brothers, for Chris†’s sake, DON’T POST JUSTICE.

Don’t get it twisted. I fucking LOVE Justice. The whole world loves Justice. If the world consisted of only cool kids on MySpace, Justice would be as big as Jesus. That’s what that “†” means. It means, “Amongst cool kids online, we are as big as Jesus.” However, “†” shouldn’t die for the sins of others. “†” shouldn’t be sacrificed for the trangressions of the Judas that leaked this sacred record. No! As fans, followers, musicians, fellow carpenters, worshippers, and most of all as bloggers, we should make a promise. And that promise is to NOT POST ANYTHING FROM THE LEAKED JUSTICE ALBUM.

So wise, humble, and honest devotees, join us in Brotherhood. Half of the album is already up on blogs, so enjoy these gifts that Justice has already given you. Feel the Holy Spirit in “Phantom.” Revel in “D.A.N.C.E. (Extended Version).” Continue to spread the gospel that the Divine Parisians have bestowed upon this Earth. But please, with respect to all of their music already out there, DON’T POST THE NEW JUSTICE LEAKS. It’s just bad religion.

Slayer – “Jesus Saves”

Topics: Mp3, Words is Like Ziti | Comments Off

This is Virginia, Where Ain’t Shit to do but Cook…

By Red Foxx | March 29, 2007

Well yeah, maybe for the Clipse. For me, there wasn’t shit to do but make music, art, get high, and skateboard in my home town of Norfolk. I guess I owe a lot to growing up in a boring place. I’m sure the abundance of musical talent coming out of VA does as well.

Neptunes, Timbaland, Missy… VA’s almost become a cliché as a place that has birthed prolific talent while at the same time spawning the question “Why Virginia?” It’s a question I really couldn’t answer aside from the fact that, yeah, there isn’t alot to do… so you stay at home and make music. That is, of course, if you don’t get trapped by the abundant crack and heroin that’s ensnared so many of my friends from back home. The drugs can lead to glory, as in the Clipse’s case, or misery, as to all my friends who have overdosed or are on their way. (RIP Lindsay)

Naturally, there is a dark intrigue to the tragic side of it all… almost a sense of exoticism. Trap houses on a dead end road with a video camera mounted on the corner lightpost; a look out watches the camera remotely from a screen safe inside, so that when the cops turn onto the street, everyone gets chirped and disappears from the sidewalks (I’m serious, I’ve been there). Nightclubs with metal detectors. The fact that you can’t wear a hood, bandana, or sunglasses in a shopping mall. It’s certainly “real” in VA, but as much as rap glamorizes it you don’t really realize how far it reaches and affects you unless you live there.

The light side of it all? The culture. Everyone knows the big music names and their top of the chart empire. Commonwealth is an amazing streetwear boutique in my home town of Norfolk, and Hospitality in Richmond is looking pretty slick itself. Clothing labels like Civilize, makers of my favorite satan shirt, are popping up. You can go drunk record shopping at 2 am at Relative Theory records on Granby Street, downtown Norfolk… and they let you listen to anything in the store. And you might just catch Pusha T himself at IO’s art shows.

But back to the program; this is a music blog of course.

Design by VA’s own (now in NYC) Nick the Duke

Krames of Cobra Kai hailing from Richmond, VA. The name strikes fear into the core of my heart. He runs circles around your head. If you hear him live, all the blends are dead on perfect. Always tight mixing, because that’s how we do it in VA. Trainwreckers get no respect, period, and we bring that mentality anywhere we go. And just because we are from Virginia doesn’t mean we’re naïve country bumpkins either. Krames bitchslaps the electro explosion on his new tape Eurothrash. Check the tracklisting. Check the sheer number of edits. Krames is one of the most talented and prolific cats out there right now, and to make a tape this thorough it takes a lot of focus and a lot of time… Then again, this is Virginia, and there ain’t shit to do but…

Krames- Eurothrash Mix
Krames- Green Man Like Hmmm Edit (Palmsout Exclusive)

Photos by Red Foxx, taken in Norfolk, Virginia.

Topics: Mixes, Mp3, Words is Like Ziti | 12 Comments »

This Is E-MERICA

By Red Foxx | February 9, 2007

Our generation’s outlook on the world has become so bleak that it seems we are entering an age of rampant escapism and regression. Everyone is raving again and popping thizzles like Skittles in all over print rainbow hoodies, reliving a golden age when hits of acid were $2 and making out with 3 girls at once in the chill out room was “whatever.” We all know Diddy gets down to the 4/4 (not to mention there’s a drum n bass song with Brandy on his album), but my next rapper-turned-raver prediction has to be Lil’ Wayne aka “RawToon not a Cartoon,” whatever the fuck that means. With a style that’s half thug half Fruity Pebbles, Weezy was a major catalyst in convincing hood cats to wear patterns that look like your brain on drugs. We all know dude is sipping, smoking and snorting a little too much, but as long as he stays crazy and thugs keep dressing like a 6 year old’s acid trip I say “Indulge, Wayne, you’ve earned it.”

Hence the XTC anthem off of the recent Carter Files mixtape, “Roll On”- the title of which tips a hat to Big Tymers classic “Get Your Roll On.” This time, however, it’s not about doing donuts with your Lamborghini in an oil slicked parking lot while 80 of your boys do the “roll on” dance. It’s about those little pills of whose virtues Wayne joyously exalts during the song’s sing along hook. His copious MDMA consumption alone makes me think it’s only a matter of time before he’s two stepping to Green Velvet.

“Drunk off Cris, mami on E, she got it from papi cause I’m probably on three, I give a fuck you got a problem with me, I’m just tryin’ escape the problems that be…”

In these troubled times, Weezy, I’m escaping right there with you…

Lil Wayne – “Roll On” (From the Carter Files Mixtape)

Best adlib of the song: “Pop 1 pop 2 come swim with the dolphins baby.” Oh yeah and don’t buy the Kangaroos, Wayne says they’re fake.

Two more e-thug anthems:

Off the new Gucci Mane album, Hard to Kill:
Gucci Mane – “Pillz” “Bring my click about 10 orange juices, 5 crunk juices…”

And the Rod Lee Baltimore club tribute:
Rod Lee – “E Pills” I don’t need to pull a quote from this one.

Topics: Mp3, Words is Like Ziti | Comments Off