top secret...shhh
it musta been about two and a half yrs ago. i'd been dating my sweetie for a coupla months, and we were up at the ridglea theater lounge watching some band; i think it was goodwin. after the show was over, we ran into marcus lawyer, ex-brasco and root 420, pablo and the hemphill 7 bassplayer who was just starting to explore a fetish for turntables 'n' breakbeats. he asked me if i wanted to play on a rekkid.
my stock response: "sure. just tell me where 'n' when."
his reply: "what are you doing _right now_?"
so off we went, to meet up at marc's old house on west 7th street. the front room was a jumble-sale mash-up of instruments 'n' recording gear; a drumkit sat in a room off to the side. marcus played us some of the music he'd been working on, including one that wound up evolving into the ph7 toon "rude boy" (their best recording to date, imo). then he 'splained the concept for his project to me: how he'd layed down some basic riddim beds, and was recruiting local musos -- a _shitload_ of 'em -- to flesh out the tracks. all the players would record their parts separately, listening to the tracks through headphones; nobody would know who they were playing with.
i played a les paul recording model he had, plugged straight into the board -- not a setup i'd have chosen, as it gives you _absolutely no tone whatsoever_, but i figured whatthehell. he gave me a few sketchy instructions: "play something repeating that lasts eight bars, then change it." i listened to the track once, then he rolled tape while i improvised according to the direction he'd given me. afterward, i listened to a playback and he asked if i wanted to do it again. i said no. "that's pretty much the way it's gone with everybody so far," he said. i thanked him for letting me participate and my sweetie and i headed east down west 7th just as the first rays of sunlight were becoming visible over the horizon.
over the next few months, i'd hear from this or that local muso that they too had added a piece to marcus' "secret project." ultimately, something like 40 of 'em participated. last yr, when nearly every musician i know got on myspace ('cos it's _free_, see, rupert murdoch and highly questionable terms 'n' conditions of use notwithstanding), it was inevitable that a top secret...shhh page would appear there, and in due time, it did.
other changes took place. marcus started hosting amorphous gatherings of musos and deejays in venues like the black dog and fred's. in the spring, marc's departure from ph7 was announced, and the reggae rockers played their first show with matt hembree on bass. not long after that, i ran into marcus at the wreck room and he showed me _the rekkid_, no longer a rumor but a palpable reality at last, on gorgeous green vinyl. bart rose at first street audio mastered it; dude called chris shoppe put up the money to get it pressed. "i'll have the packaging in about a month," marcus said, and in the fullness of time, a vinyl release party was held at the metrognome collective, with attendant jam and hoo-hah in the fweakly, who went so far as to nominate top secret...shhh for "album of the yr" in its music awards poll.
so now it's here: an impressive achievement for its creator, the soundtrack for a summer in the fort, a souvenir or keepsake of a moment in time for an eclectic 'n' diverse music scene that's richer 'n' deeper than it often gives itself credit for. i have the rekkid spinning on the turntable as i type this. i've been listening to it for a week or so now, here at la casa and also on my 'puter at my straight. marcus thoughtfully included a cd version in the package for all the digital-only technology slaves; clearly, tho, the way to hear this thing is on vinyl. there's so much more low end on vinyl, and low end's an important part of the sound.
track by track:
"the allnighter" opens with a clatter of drums; imagine a groove kicked by one humongous-ass drummer with the pulse of confusatron stickman lucas white and the imagination of ubiquitous jammin' mofo josh clark. ex-engine of the ocean / current double happiness axeman brett bledsoe lays down a line that puts me in mind of something blackbyrd mcknight mighta played on an old headhunters side, while the milesian groove comes courtesy of alan band utility muso extraordinaire douglas edward, with embellishment from rick nelson on strings (before he went off to tour 'n' make bank with the polyphonic spree) and kyle "monkey brainz" on acoustic.
"hit it" is anchored by teenage trapmeister cooper heffley (who now makes his bread 'n' butter with even younger country songbird maren morris). a lotta this groovaliciousness puts me in mind of stuff like early beck, beastie boys riddim beds, geggy tah -- the '90s as nostalgia, wtf?!?!? local jazz eminence joey carter makes his statement here via fender rhodes 'n' f/x-laden solo.
"the groovy van" opens with the sound of justin pate's van door being slammed (which he replicated at the release party by pulling his ride up to the pad). it's another keyb-driven track, in this case justin's fonky hammond sound, with marcus playing an absolutely _feelthy_ groove on fuzzed-out bass. big surprise here is the blast of blues harp from quincy holloway, reminding us that he was once the gospel swingers' frontguy as well as the one cat in sub oslo who could never stop playing. prolly my favorite track on the first ("day") side -- that's right, there's _conceptual continuity_ here, just like the rockin' / mellow sides on ancient original sound golden oldies albs.
"i'm in the mood...swing" is the track i played on, and barber mack bassist john shook 'n' i instantly identified each other when we heard the final mix (altho i woulda guessed somebody other than jen cooper was laying down the sinuous vocal part). marc definitely tweaked the gtr a bit, and i'll admit i'm mighty pleased with the resultant retarded 'n' slightly outta toon '60s buddy guy sound.
"introducing...the end" has a hypnotic vibe, resulting from the interlocking of four separate percussion parts (most notably ph7 / confusatron / aaa maintstay jonathan irving's congas), coby queen's bass, and sub oslo / stumptone gtrist frank cervantez' octaves.
"please relax" has frank rockin' the four-stringed instrument over a spacy stew of synth from james norris, marcus' gtr (didja know he usedta play a left-handed gtr upside down in root 420 'cos it was the only one available?), and dave karnes' drums. karnage's beats remind me of the stuff i usedta hear him play on the tour we did together as nathan brown's r&b, when looking over my left shoulder onstage every night 'n' seeing dave there made the other 23 hrs o' the day tol'able.
turning the rekkid over to the "night" side:
"feelin it" slows down the tempo and hits you right in the solar plexus with a miguel veliz bassline that reminds me of sub oslo shows where you'd _feel_ his line more than you'd hear it. more than any other track here, thisun nearly _demands_ a subwoofer. if miguel doesn't hit "the brown note," he's mos def in that area of the color spectrum. caroline collier told me she'd drummed on the track i'd played on, but the lysergic gtr here is actually marc's. c-tron reedman brian batson plays some trippy wood flute as well.
"what is lost?" just might be my own fave piece on the whole alb, and it's the one on which marcus supplies most of the music to provide a chill, peaceful vibe for ashley myrick's vocalismo (can someone tell me when wordless portishead-like femme vocalics became such a signature sound here in the fort?) 'n' chanci shoppe's spoken word performance, with just a taste of nylon-string solo from sleeplab's fernando palomo.
"confusion resolution" works off the tension between the haunting (and uncredited) pianner ostinato, james norris' break beat and ex-confusatron / current sleeplab man scotty ivey's drumkit. darrin kobetich turns in a virtuoso performance on mandolin and dobro, while the synchronized vocal gymnastics of hanalei lamar and liza reyes recall something edie brickell did on a rob wasserman album a decade or so ago.
"ne exite'" boasts a matt hembree bassline that its creator ruefully noted "contains as many notes as were played by all the other bassplayers on the record," but also serves to sketch out a spacious harmonic framework for daniel katsuk's acoustic improvs to inhabit. billy wilson's theremin and darryl wood's vocal samples add haunting atmosphere to the track.
now the only question that remains is, "when's he gonna do the _next_ one?"
my stock response: "sure. just tell me where 'n' when."
his reply: "what are you doing _right now_?"
so off we went, to meet up at marc's old house on west 7th street. the front room was a jumble-sale mash-up of instruments 'n' recording gear; a drumkit sat in a room off to the side. marcus played us some of the music he'd been working on, including one that wound up evolving into the ph7 toon "rude boy" (their best recording to date, imo). then he 'splained the concept for his project to me: how he'd layed down some basic riddim beds, and was recruiting local musos -- a _shitload_ of 'em -- to flesh out the tracks. all the players would record their parts separately, listening to the tracks through headphones; nobody would know who they were playing with.
i played a les paul recording model he had, plugged straight into the board -- not a setup i'd have chosen, as it gives you _absolutely no tone whatsoever_, but i figured whatthehell. he gave me a few sketchy instructions: "play something repeating that lasts eight bars, then change it." i listened to the track once, then he rolled tape while i improvised according to the direction he'd given me. afterward, i listened to a playback and he asked if i wanted to do it again. i said no. "that's pretty much the way it's gone with everybody so far," he said. i thanked him for letting me participate and my sweetie and i headed east down west 7th just as the first rays of sunlight were becoming visible over the horizon.
over the next few months, i'd hear from this or that local muso that they too had added a piece to marcus' "secret project." ultimately, something like 40 of 'em participated. last yr, when nearly every musician i know got on myspace ('cos it's _free_, see, rupert murdoch and highly questionable terms 'n' conditions of use notwithstanding), it was inevitable that a top secret...shhh page would appear there, and in due time, it did.
other changes took place. marcus started hosting amorphous gatherings of musos and deejays in venues like the black dog and fred's. in the spring, marc's departure from ph7 was announced, and the reggae rockers played their first show with matt hembree on bass. not long after that, i ran into marcus at the wreck room and he showed me _the rekkid_, no longer a rumor but a palpable reality at last, on gorgeous green vinyl. bart rose at first street audio mastered it; dude called chris shoppe put up the money to get it pressed. "i'll have the packaging in about a month," marcus said, and in the fullness of time, a vinyl release party was held at the metrognome collective, with attendant jam and hoo-hah in the fweakly, who went so far as to nominate top secret...shhh for "album of the yr" in its music awards poll.
so now it's here: an impressive achievement for its creator, the soundtrack for a summer in the fort, a souvenir or keepsake of a moment in time for an eclectic 'n' diverse music scene that's richer 'n' deeper than it often gives itself credit for. i have the rekkid spinning on the turntable as i type this. i've been listening to it for a week or so now, here at la casa and also on my 'puter at my straight. marcus thoughtfully included a cd version in the package for all the digital-only technology slaves; clearly, tho, the way to hear this thing is on vinyl. there's so much more low end on vinyl, and low end's an important part of the sound.
track by track:
"the allnighter" opens with a clatter of drums; imagine a groove kicked by one humongous-ass drummer with the pulse of confusatron stickman lucas white and the imagination of ubiquitous jammin' mofo josh clark. ex-engine of the ocean / current double happiness axeman brett bledsoe lays down a line that puts me in mind of something blackbyrd mcknight mighta played on an old headhunters side, while the milesian groove comes courtesy of alan band utility muso extraordinaire douglas edward, with embellishment from rick nelson on strings (before he went off to tour 'n' make bank with the polyphonic spree) and kyle "monkey brainz" on acoustic.
"hit it" is anchored by teenage trapmeister cooper heffley (who now makes his bread 'n' butter with even younger country songbird maren morris). a lotta this groovaliciousness puts me in mind of stuff like early beck, beastie boys riddim beds, geggy tah -- the '90s as nostalgia, wtf?!?!? local jazz eminence joey carter makes his statement here via fender rhodes 'n' f/x-laden solo.
"the groovy van" opens with the sound of justin pate's van door being slammed (which he replicated at the release party by pulling his ride up to the pad). it's another keyb-driven track, in this case justin's fonky hammond sound, with marcus playing an absolutely _feelthy_ groove on fuzzed-out bass. big surprise here is the blast of blues harp from quincy holloway, reminding us that he was once the gospel swingers' frontguy as well as the one cat in sub oslo who could never stop playing. prolly my favorite track on the first ("day") side -- that's right, there's _conceptual continuity_ here, just like the rockin' / mellow sides on ancient original sound golden oldies albs.
"i'm in the mood...swing" is the track i played on, and barber mack bassist john shook 'n' i instantly identified each other when we heard the final mix (altho i woulda guessed somebody other than jen cooper was laying down the sinuous vocal part). marc definitely tweaked the gtr a bit, and i'll admit i'm mighty pleased with the resultant retarded 'n' slightly outta toon '60s buddy guy sound.
"introducing...the end" has a hypnotic vibe, resulting from the interlocking of four separate percussion parts (most notably ph7 / confusatron / aaa maintstay jonathan irving's congas), coby queen's bass, and sub oslo / stumptone gtrist frank cervantez' octaves.
"please relax" has frank rockin' the four-stringed instrument over a spacy stew of synth from james norris, marcus' gtr (didja know he usedta play a left-handed gtr upside down in root 420 'cos it was the only one available?), and dave karnes' drums. karnage's beats remind me of the stuff i usedta hear him play on the tour we did together as nathan brown's r&b, when looking over my left shoulder onstage every night 'n' seeing dave there made the other 23 hrs o' the day tol'able.
turning the rekkid over to the "night" side:
"feelin it" slows down the tempo and hits you right in the solar plexus with a miguel veliz bassline that reminds me of sub oslo shows where you'd _feel_ his line more than you'd hear it. more than any other track here, thisun nearly _demands_ a subwoofer. if miguel doesn't hit "the brown note," he's mos def in that area of the color spectrum. caroline collier told me she'd drummed on the track i'd played on, but the lysergic gtr here is actually marc's. c-tron reedman brian batson plays some trippy wood flute as well.
"what is lost?" just might be my own fave piece on the whole alb, and it's the one on which marcus supplies most of the music to provide a chill, peaceful vibe for ashley myrick's vocalismo (can someone tell me when wordless portishead-like femme vocalics became such a signature sound here in the fort?) 'n' chanci shoppe's spoken word performance, with just a taste of nylon-string solo from sleeplab's fernando palomo.
"confusion resolution" works off the tension between the haunting (and uncredited) pianner ostinato, james norris' break beat and ex-confusatron / current sleeplab man scotty ivey's drumkit. darrin kobetich turns in a virtuoso performance on mandolin and dobro, while the synchronized vocal gymnastics of hanalei lamar and liza reyes recall something edie brickell did on a rob wasserman album a decade or so ago.
"ne exite'" boasts a matt hembree bassline that its creator ruefully noted "contains as many notes as were played by all the other bassplayers on the record," but also serves to sketch out a spacious harmonic framework for daniel katsuk's acoustic improvs to inhabit. billy wilson's theremin and darryl wood's vocal samples add haunting atmosphere to the track.
now the only question that remains is, "when's he gonna do the _next_ one?"
posted by stashdauber at 7:46 AM
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