Samiyam: Nonchalant Days
“I don’t try to let anything go to my head,” says Sam Baker in an unassuming tone. Over the phone at least, the 23-year-old from Ann Arbor, MI sounds like a stoner kid who sits around all day surfing the internet and making hip-hop beats. Even his artist name, Samiyam, connotes pure slackerdom.
In reality, Samiyam is flying out to Los Angeles–where he will move a scant month after this interview–to hang out with his friend Flying Lotus. The Warp-affiliated beat composer is a mentor to Samiyam; in February, he took the young producer to Amsterdam. “It was the first show I’ve ever done and it was in Amsterdam. It was pretty wild, man,” says Baker. The two perform together as FlyAmSam, a hard-hitting collaboration similar to Arnold Schwarzenegger and Carl Weathers in Predator. They dropped “Green Tea Power” on the recent Beat Dimensions Vol. 1 compilation, and may complete an album for release by the end of the year.
How does an anonymous bedroom producer without so much as an iTunes EP to his credit get jocked by the cream of L.A.’s underground producers? Samiyam met Flying Lotus through his MySpace page, right before the latter became a sensation with his 1983 debut last year. In fact, as of this writing, Samiyam’s career is mostly confined to the World Wide Web. “It’s cool,” he says, laughing at the suggestion that he’s a MySpace star. “It definitely helps motivate me a little bit to get messages from people saying how much they like the songs.”
Samiyam pounds out his beats on the SP-303, creating instrumental tracks that click and stutter like scratchy vinyl at half speed. He even samples tracks from classic Nintendo videogames like Metroid, Spy Hunter, and Legend of Zelda, adding mono-synth melodies to his drunken-sounding beatscapes.
“A thrilling sound to break the sameness,” raves Daedelus, via email, about Samiyam’s emergence. “He’s a new voice, thank goodness. So far, from the sounds I’ve heard, he has channeled a lot of the energy of classic electro, but with a deliberate slower pacing, which I believe is rare from a producer so young.”
Baker’s modest online beginning hasn’t kept tastemaker DJs like Benji B and Andrew Meza from hitting him up for tracks, which he happily supplies. Despite the growing buzz, however, Samiyam remains noncommittal. He might compile a solo CD of instrumentals and unofficial remixes to sell on his MySpace page. He might pursue a full-fledged music career. But it’s all up in the air.
“I’m not worried about signing deals or anything when I don’t even have a record done,” admits Samiyam. “At this point, I’ve just got a bunch of beats. I don’t really have a project. It makes the most sense to worry about completing a project that I would like to see released.”
Modular Records Unveils New Artist Muscles
Melbourne-based Muscles is Modular Records’ one-man party machine. Similar to label mates New Young Pony Club and Cut Copy, this young Australian producer brings to the table heavy electro-pop, with vocals reminiscent of Bowie and Bloc Party’s Kele Okereke. His debut single “Ice Cream” created quite a stir amongst the blog-house sect, with the catchy chants and over-produced ’80s synth stabs.
His debut long-player, Guns Babes Lemonade, finds the young producer singing silly songs about girls, the indie-scene, and his friends. And despite the juvenile content of these tracks, this particular blend of electro-pop totally justifies Muscles touring with the likes of Soulwax and earning remixes from fellow Australians Van She Technologic and Bag Raiders.
Guns Babes Lemonade is out October 16, 2007 on Modular.
Pon Di Wire: Hurricane Dean, The Skatalites, Jah Jerry
Hurricane Dean passed through Jamaica on Sunday, mainly affecting the southwest of the island, although damage was reported in other areas. It’s been reported that three persons died and many fishing villages have been leveled. As result of Dean damage, national elections scheduled for August 27 have been postponed until September 3.
Delly Ranks
Several reggae artists have reacted to Dean with first-hand accounts of the storm. Dancehall deejay Delly Ranks said Dean sounded like a trailer coming in and like a whistle when it was leaving. Reggae crooner Jimmy Riley thought it was his worst ever hurricane experience, while vintage vocalist Bob Andy said Dean went lean. “We have been spared, we expected a category five, but it was four when it got to us.”
Jamaica National Hero and black rights activist Marcus Garvey was honored Friday, August 17 with a concert and tributes on his 120th birthday. As flowers were laid at the monument to Marcus Garvey in the National Heroes Park, downtown Kingston, the Composite Bands of the Jamaica Defence Force played patriotic Jamaican melodies. Other performers included saxophonist Dean Frasier, Nexus Performing Arts Group, Tarrus Riley, and Jimmy Tucker.
If its foolishness you wan’ talk, best not do it to the Don Dadda. Emcee Supercat allegedly beat up a Trinidadian promoter after he made a racist remark to the performer. Supercat reportedly struck stage manager Wendell Naipaul, of The Super Chutney Show, pushing him to the ground. Sources say the entertainer just could not “seckle” with racial abuse flung his way by the prominent businessman. Naipaul has not pressed charges, and Supercat left Trinidad and Tobago the following day.
The Skatalites
It’s with sadness that we report the loss of The Skatalites original guitarist Jerome Hines. Better known as Jah Jerry, Hines died on Monday, August 13 after a short illness. He was 80. Jah Jerry can be seen this documentary video about the roots of reggae, hosted by Mikey Dread.
VP records is launching a vintage reissue CD series to celebrate Jamaica’s independence. The series first eight CDs include classics like Toyan’s Spar With Me, featuring extended 12″ mixes of “Stylee” and “Walk & Talk with Jah Love,” plus classic albums from Little John (Ghetto Youth) and Don Carlos. All three albums are Junjo Lawes productions.
Rasta singer I-Maroon has been making progress in the Jamaican and international reggae charts. The roots vocalist’s name has been appearing on top producers singles with more frequency.
The famed British label Blood & Fire maybe going through it’s own tribulations, but much of it’s web content, including the heavily trafficked message board, is up and running. Announcements on the future management of the label (it’s possibly being sold to a larger entity) will be announced as soon as details are finalized.
If you chat Jamaican patois, watch your words… Among many hardcore dancehall youth, how you say something says a lot about you. For instance, some youth will no longer use the prefix “man” or “mon” and instead insert “gal”–in order to prove that these manly men only “deal wit gyal.” For instance, a hardcore youth wouldn’t refer to “Montego Bay,” but instead “Gal-tego Bay.” “Instead of ‘Mandeville’, wi haffi sey ‘Galdeville’–suh wi jus in a culture where certain things cannot be said,” remarked one artist. Dancehall entertainer Busy Signal commented, “As far as the words go like Galdeville and Galtego Bay–is just fun. No one from a different country naw go come off the plane and ask for directions to Galtego-Bay, so is just fun,” he said.
Thurston Moore Announces Solo Tour
It’d been 12 years since Sonic Youth frontman Thurston Moore’s Psychic Hearts–his only solo full-length–was unleashed. But with his Trees Outside the Academy soon to be released, it’s clear Moore is ready to step back into the solo spotlight, and an upcoming tour that will travel through select US cities only further affirms this.
For those expecting a ridiculously intimate evening, think again. Moore’s also bringing along fellow Sonic Youth member Steve Shelley on drums, MV & EE violinist Samara Lubelski, guitarist Christopher Brokaw, and bassist Matt Heyner. This is what live dreams are made of.
Trees Outside the Academy is out September 18, 2007 on Ecstatic Peace.
Tour Dates
09/24 Hoboken, NJ: Maxwell’s
09/26 Brooklyn, NY: Music Hall of Williamsburg
09/27 Boston, MA: Museum of Fine Arts
09/28 Princeton, NJ: Princeton Terrace Club
09/29 Washington, DC: Rock N Roll Hotel?
09/30 Philadelphia, PA: Johnny Brenda’s
10/24 Seattle, WA: Neumo’s ?
10/25 Portland, OR: Doug Fir?
10/26 Arcata, CA: Humboldt State University?
10/29 San Francisco, CA: Great American Music Hall
10/30 Los Angeles, CA: Echoplex
Daily Download: Telepathe “Sinister Militia (TMJ!!! Remix)”
Busy Ganges, Melissa Lavaudais, and a rotating cast of friends follow up last year’s Farewell Forest EP with Sinister Militia, and to celebrate, they’ve enlisted some cats to assume remix duties on select tracks. Here, Tyler Pope of !!! adds tribal drums and warps guitar and vocal notes into stretchy, deliciously catchy sound bytes.
Download this song as an MP3, or preview a week’s worth of tracks at the XLR8R Podcast. Subscribe using iTunes, or with an RSS reader of your choice.
Kinski Down Below It’s Chaos
This Seattle outfit’s last album, Alpine Static, was an aptly named fuzzy maelstrom. Here Kinski recovers its lost melodies, but that’s not to say the epic guitar anthems are gone; “Boy, Was I Mad!” is a colossus built of riffage and distorted sustain. Still, the smoking four-piece has gone conventional in its weaponry; “Crybaby Blowout” is a tidy head-banger that could make the radio, which is seriously saying something for this band. And the addition of axe man Chris Martin’s vocals on tracks like the dirty, groovy “Passwords and Alcohol” and “Dayroom at Narita Int’l” put the band firmly in the corner of Geffen-era Sonic Youth. Chaos never sounded so clean.
Telepathe “Sinister Militia (TMJ!!! Remix)”
Busy Ganges, Melissa Lavaudais, and a rotating cast of friends follow up last year’s Farewell Forest EP with Sinister Militia, and to celebrate, they’ve enlisted some cats to assume remix duties on select tracks. Here, Tyler Pope of !!! adds tribal drums and warps guitar and vocal notes into stretchy, deliciously catchy sound bytes.
You’re Supposed To Be My Friend
Matmos
Drew Daniel and Martin Schmidt (a.k.a. Matmos) put San Francisco on the map as a hotspot for groundbreaking electronic music. Now, as they pack up and head for a new life in Baltimore, they reflect on the effect the Bay Area (and the dot-com boom) had on their music, and speculate on what’s ahead.
