Photo by Matjaz Rust
In the center of Ljubljana, Slovenia is a square called AKC Metelkova. Once an obscure, illegally occupied space fought for and established by activists and artists alike, the autonomous zone, formerly military barracks, was first squatted in the early ‘90s. Since then, it’s become an area protected by the government and frequented by tourists. Continue reading
Diamond Ortiz by Danny Spence
In music, the term “boogie” usually refers to early ‘80s funk and post-disco, a sound that peaked in 1984 and relies heavily on drum machines and synthesizers as opposed to the live bands and orchestras of disco. In fact, the sound was in some ways a reaction to disco; a problematic backlash against the music in 1979 resulted in major labels like Epic, Atlantic, RCA, and Capitol pivoting away from the sound. With fewer commercial opportunities in big-budget disco, artists and producers pursued the accessibility of synthesizers and drum machines, which were just beginning to enter the market. But the major labels mostly missed the boogie train; it was indie labels like Salsoul, Prelude, Radar, and West End Records that nurtured the sound. Songs like D Train’s “You’re The One For Me” and Evelyn “Champagne” King’s “If You Want My Lovin,” both released in 1981, are some of the earliest and most well-known examples of boogie. Now, the genre is experiencing a resurgence, after a near decade-long cult following in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and parts of France.
Andrew Lee—guitarist, vocalist, and founding/formerly sole member of the San Jose-based band Ripped to Shreds—discovered death metal 15 years ago. The moment he heard its morbid clamor, he started making it, too. He’s got just one bone to pick with the subgenre, at least in its current state: its lack of Asian-American representation. According to Lee, who is Chinese-American, what few Asian-Americans there are in the metal scene “don’t really talk about” their heritage. So when he started his own band, Lee decided he wanted to do things differently. “In the context of historical themes, death metal bands are almost entirely Eurocentric,” Lee says. “I thought there was a niche I could fill by focusing on Chinese history.”
Buffalo, New York native Che Noir is blessed with a sharp tongue; her raps are full of snappy brags and aggressive threats. The 25-year-old rapper’s latest release, The Thrill Of The Hunt 2, is a svelte mixtape produced by 38 Spesh from nearby Rochester that pairs her cutting verbals with modern soul-packed boom-bap beats. The project is designed to whet the appetite for Noir’s full debut next year, which will be appropriately titled The Essence. It also adds the MC to a rich wave of upstate New York hip-hop that’s being spearheaded by artists from Buffalo, the city where Noir was born and where she experienced the life lessons that have inspired her bars. “As you can tell, Buffalo is a pretty violent city, but I try to give more of a nostalgic feel when I rap about where I come from,” says Noir. “It definitely plays a huge role in my subject matter and what I talk about.”
Photo by Jake Ballah
“The idea of purgatory, just imagine being infinitely stuck—that sucks, man.”
Comprised of tracks from a diverse lineup of musicians, Brownswood Recordings’ Sunny Side Up compilation is a powerful document of Melbourne, Australia’s bubbling contemporary jazz scene. Incubated in collective houses, studios, and rehearsal spaces, the musical movement captured here is, in spirit, not far from the cooperative jazz scene that sprung up in American inner cities in the 1970s.
Sunny Side Up kicks off with a gorgeous opener, “Banksia,” a dreamy, hypnotic mood piece from percussionist Phil Stroud. From jazz-funk, hard-bop, and beyond, Sunny Side Up is packed with stellar cuts from Horatio Luna, Zeitgeist Freedom Energy Exchange, and more. Dufresne’s slinky, electric jazz-funk monster “Pick Up / Galaxy” brings to mind the deep grooves of ‘70s hybrid acts like Pleasure or The Blackbyrds. The album closes with “Orbit” by Allysha Joy, an outstanding jazz vocal piece built upon steadily intensifying drum and bass work, building up steam beneath an endless tower of celestial vocal harmonies. Engineered and mixed by Nick Herrera of Hiatus Kaiyote, Sunny Side Up is a beautifully captured snapshot of a young generation of musicians with strong musicianship and compositional flair.
In the early 1980s, Ronald Langestraat was a fixture in Amsterdam’s jazz scene; he played and recorded with the Latin-jazz bands Cascada and Ritmo Natural, building a respectable local following. But while Langestraat’s band projects were well received, fans and peers didn’t have the same enthusiasm for his solo work, which took the elegance of jazz, the passion of ‘70s soul, and the upbeat groove of salsa music and sent them into outer space. When his bandmates heard what he’d been working on, they laughed at him.
