Israel Darling kicked off our second show at The Green Bean, followed by the relentless big band, The Brand New Life. The kids came out to get deep, the kids came out to dance, hell, the kids were out! This was only our second show without a 21+ age limit. So. much. more. fun.
Here’s a taste of what they both sounded and look like last week, first Israel Darling:
Samson The Mason *
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Local legend Bruce Piephoff pulled together an all-star ensemble for his DMP performance last February (sweet Jesus, it’s been that long?). With Renee Mendoza (Filthybird) on vocals, Scott Walker, Landon Walker & Jennie Walker Brunner on bass, cello and violin (Walker Family Band) and David “Driveway” Moore on harmonica (ETI & The Goodbye House), Bruce led the audience through a memorable set of narratives steeped in southern tales — stories of inequality and of politics and with bits of love splashed here and there.
Please enjoy this beautifully shot slice of that down home pie.
And remember, Bruce’s live album is currently available on Amie Street for only $1.82.
MUSIC VIDEO CREDITS
Director: Harvey K. Robinson
Editor: Zach Hadgraft
Camera: Mark Wagoner, Alex Maness, Blake Faucette
Gaffer: Jonathan Faw
Grips: Matty Sheets, Barry Staples
Sound: Danny Bayer, Don Ravon and Cesar Oviedo
If you listen to Morgan McPherson’s lyrics carefully, you’ll discover that the young lady knows where she’s been. With self-described influences ranging from Tori Amos to Bush to Beethoven to Aerosmith, Morgan now seems to be in the process of finding her own sound… and having a bit of fun along the way.
Just like it should be.
MUSIC VIDEO CREDITS
Editor: Michael McQueen
Camera: Michael McQueen
Camera: Jeremy Hyler
Camera: Mark Steinberg
Sound: Danny Bayer and Don Ravon
You can check out Morgan’s entire DMP set on Last.fm or support a local musician by picking up the album over at Amie Street.
What else can be said about Mr. Rozzi? As a long-time staple on the Greensboro hip hop scene, Rozzi constantly brings the energy, no matter the show or the circumstances. On this fine evening last March, he rolled into The Green Burro with a posse full of performers, including the lovely and talented Vanessa Ferguson, the R&B dynamo Jeremy Johnson and L in Japanese on the 1’s and 2’s.
Killer.
And give Ioannis Batsios some dap for the creative rendering of the video. Way above and beyond…
MUSIC VIDEO CREDITS
Editor: Ioannis Batsios
Camera: Ioannis Batsios, Matt Williams, David Bradley
Sound: Danny Bayer, Don Ravon
Everything in the world can be broken down into three nouns. Negativity, positivity, and neutrality.
Now imagine looking up and seeing an atomic bomb being dropped straight onto your brain. Now imagine that, while most atomic bombs are composed of negativity, this one is of a very unique composition. Imagine that this bomb is composed of pure positivity.
Now imagine that this bomb is actually the imprint left on you by one, Clement Mallory, aka Universal Mathematics.
An infinite number of varying descriptions could be used to characterize a performance by this man. Perhaps one in several thousand would even begin to come close to completely accurate.
MUSIC VIDEO CREDITS
Editor: Ioannis Batsios
Camera: Ioannis Batsios, Matt Williams, David Bradley
Sound: Danny Bayer, Don Ravon
Universal Mathematics is more than music, more than poetry, and more than performance. It is a full-blown inspirational experience. When Clement Mallory picks up the microphone, you are intrigued. When he performs, you are entranced. When he puts down the microphone, you are left feeling better about yourself and about life in general. While Mallory seems to identify more as a poet than a musician, and while a good half of his DMP set is spoken word, his performance is less poetry reading and more interactive motivational theater. He makes smiling your only option.
The message throughout this distinct and almost unclassifiable performance is one of love and appreciation. Backed by the immaculate DJ skills of L in Japanese, Clement Mallory seems almost unaware of his audience much of the time. It is almost as if the words flowing from his mouth come forth from a deep well of honesty and compassion. His words seem inspired from his personal experiences, yet, the selflessness of his delivery leaves one with the impression that, more than self-expression, this performance is designed to help us, to make us feel better about who we are. A good example of this can be found in the track, My Love, wherein he states:
Loving you increases my love for me, so I’m going to love you more ’cause I have to love myself.
He seems to do what he does strictly out of a genuine desire to make us all feel happier and more comfortable about who we are.
During the tenure of the performance, Mallory deals with issues ranging from creation, self-reflection, acceptance of our fellow human beings, the importance of teaching ourselves and our children, and the very nature of existence.
In the track, Who am I?, he asks:
Being human, am I characterized differently from any other human being? Do we not all have one head, two eyes, two ears, one nose, one mouth, one neck, two shoulders, two arms, two hands, one chest, one stomach, one gender, defined with private section, two legs and feet?
The answer to the title of this piece comes near the end of the track, right before a moment of too-perfect-to-have-been-planned feedback where he boldly states:
I am God.
It’s a concept piece full of imagery so heavy that it seems to overwhelm even the PA. This track is definitely a highlight of the set.
Placing Universal Mathematics into a musical category is a nearly impossible task.
Clement Mallory is a writer, an MC, a teacher, an outlandish angel. His performance is poetry, it’s hip-hop, it’s motivational speech, it’s emotional release, it’s nearly theatrical in it’s execution. His message is uplifting, it’s inspiring, it’s fun, it’s… dare I say… universal. This man puts on a performance that is more than a performance. It is an intricate spiderweb of imagery and sound that leaves one with a feeling of happiness and well-being.
For the love of love, check out Universal Mathematics at c37words.
Recording Engineer: Don Ravon
Mixing Engineers: Dan Bayer, Don Ravon
Cover Design: Sean Coon
Cover Photograph: Kevin Belton
IMHO, the coolest aspect of what we do here is our documentation of the music scene, specifically in Greensboro, where I call home. And not just individual shows, but the gestalt of the entire scene as it unfolds over different periods of time.
While some bands find a modicum of success and play for years to come, touring regionally at times, many more bands form, play out locally for a while and disappear into the ether without the notice of more than a handful of friends and family and only the most hardcore music lovers in town.
Albina Savoy falls into such a category.
And while that’s a shame on many levels — their sound was so unique, beautiful in ways that’s hard to describe — at least we have a few reminders of their sound to enjoy.
If you like what you hear in the video, be sure to check out the band’s live album on Last.fm and AmieStreet (all proceeds on AmieStreet go to Albina Savoy).
MUSIC VIDEO CREDITS
Editor: Blake Faucette
Camera: Andy Coon
Camera: Blake Faucette
Camera: Sean Coon
Sound: Danny Bayer
Music doesn’t just happen; music evolves into existance. From tangible chords to sweet harmonies to lyrics that appear from life’s ups and downs, music become real through patience, guidance, sacrifice and plain old hard work.
Blood, sweat & tears, if you will.
These talented women found each other, discovered their gait and with the assistance of Jim Avett, produced one hell of an album in their own time, as they envisioned it to be experienced. Won’t you support the miracle of that happening?
I know it’s a Tuesday night, but c’mon, you know you don’t hit the sack until 11pm or so. Even if you show up for an hour, you’ll be doing your part to help out our neighbors in Haiti.
There’ll be great original, local music, high energy DJ’s, fantastic artists at work and a silent auction of DMP photographs from shows past.
Bart Trotman, the funkiest DJ/sound maker this side of a Mad Max meets Buckaroo Bonzai dance party (look it up, kids), has dropped his latest Workday/Schoolnight effort entitled, Plastic Ocean (available free here for a limited time).
Invisible’s beat maker gives some details behind the project:
A year and a half ago Workday/Schoolnight stopped being just a recording project when I took it to various venues, houses and apartments around NC. This meant writing songs and organizing sounds based on the equipment I would have with me. All my other Workday/Schoolnight albums were very much a product of the recording process. This new album, “Plastic Ocean”, is a combination of songs written for performance as well as experiments utilizing home recording technology. However, the overall idea here was to record an album that would preserve the themes and songs of the live shows of the past year.
Using roughly 6 different consumer keyboards from the 1980s (casios, yamahas, kawais), a hammond rhythm machine, a bank of drum samples, and dozens of cassette tapes bought from thrift stores (as well as some other stuff), “Plastic Ocean” flows between experimental found sounds and synth-punk songs. Clocking in at over 70 minutes, “Plastic Ocean” keeps the listener tuned in by often times speaking directly to him or her. So, this may not be the best album to listen to while multitasking. The themes of alienation, working, pessimism about the state of the world, and general good ole antiestablishmentarianism found in the sung lyrics are put in an unsettling light when juxtaposed with self-help tapes, self-hypnotic tapes, daily affirmations, and vocabulary lessons
I’m listening as I write this post. Bart wasn’t kidding. I gotta sign off and take it in sans blogging.
Check it out.
UPDATE: Track 17, Affirmations, is killing me.
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