Fela Kuti and Afrobeat

Without a doubt, the best music style I've come across in recent times is Afrobeat.

Afrobeat isn't new. As I understand it the style was created by Fela Kuti in Nigeria in the early 1970s. It's a kind of Funk and Jazz hybrid with African rhythms and chant vocals. Fela's lyrics were often political which got him in lots of trouble with the Nigerian goverment of the time (most notably his criticism of the army on an EP called Zombie) but they earned him the respect of African people continent-wide.

Tracks by Fela Kuti are long - averaging 15 to 20mins, with the vocals usually not kicking in until halfway - but the amazing sax playing, that's Fela.

Another major performer in Fela Kuti's band was Tony Allen. Brian Eno called him "perhaps the greatest drummer who has ever lived." He's still alive and has collaborated with Damon Albarn among others. He records albums under his own name - Lagos No Shaking is a personal favourite.

Other Afrobeat artists that I think you should check-out are Antibalas, Fanga, Femi Kuti and Seun Kuti (just two of Fela's many sons).

Afrobeat has definitely influenced my own music. Polyrhythms (or cross rhythms) have long interested me and Afrobeat puts these to work in a big way. Tracks of mine called Lagos and Kalakuti Republic are my most blunt attempts at a sort of electro Afrobeat although I still haven't achieved a truly loose and natural feel yet.

Fela Kuti died on 2nd August 1997. I'm reading his biography now and what a life he had. His music and lyrics live on and keep finding new fans - I think that would have made him very happy.

Carbonmade porfolio

I've taken the plunge and created a Carbonmade portfolio account. I was drawn by its simplicity and Project foldering format - very easy for me to put the commercial and playful stuff on there but keep it separate. I've also given Google Analytics a try to track any visits.

Here's the address:
http://ianjgavin.carbonmade.com/

Brunk poster

I knocked up a poster for Brunk




- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

So what is Brunk?

I've begun DJing in Selly Oak at the Bristol Pear (upstairs). It happens each Tuesday night from about 9pm to 12pm.

I fell that I had to give the venture some sort of identity (or at least a name) so that I could keep a sense of continuity if I ever played a different venue. The name I came up with is 'Brunk' - that's 'Brum' and 'funk' smashed together in case you're curious (plus some of the Urban Dictionary definitions of brunk are quite funny).

I've wanted to do this for a while because I was getting quite frustrated with music on offer in most of the pubs I'd been to lately. It's all jukeboxes with chart rubbish or lazy DJs playing... yes, chart rubbish and obvious tracks we've all heard a hundred times.

Using Wefunk as my inspiration I decided to make hip hop and funk the backbone of what I'll play plus any other tracks that fit or that I think are too funny or cool to leave out. At the time of posting, DJ Format, Quantic, Bonobo, Baby Charles, T-Love, Abdominal, Moderat, Mr Scruff, Naughty by Nature, Mike James Kirkland, MF Doom, The Free Association and Blackalicious have featured - some of whom I hadn't heard of before I started playing. I haven't played any of my own music yet but I think I will try one out soon as it's just too good an opportunity to pass up.

The Bristol Pear is a student pub. Sometimes the room is busy, sometimes it isn't. I believe in being patient. If you build it they will come. I just need to be consistent and let the audience decide.

Brunk has definitely re-ignited my interest in finding new music. I'm getting a lot out of it and if anyone gets into something that they hadn't heard before as a result then that would be the icing on the proverbial cake.

If you've read this and you're in the Birmingham area, you should come down. You might hear something you like.

The making of a video to promote my 'Brightness' remix

Here's a video I (Random Toxy) made to go with my remix of 'Brightness' by Nash Donson.

I'd promised to blog about how I made it so here goes. I'll keep it quick because there's not much to it really. There's a plug-in for After Effects called Trapcode Form and it makes particles in 3D space which can be customised to these cloud-like objects.

These can respond to custom audio input (in this case my carefully crafted masterpiece). Different frequencies can be selected to affect different particle parameters in a various ways. This of course cuts out the need to manually keyframe animation events in time to the audio track which would take forever.

A few camera movements and a bit of colour correction and there you have it – one music video. All made in an afternoon. I'd like to thank my parents, all the guys at Trapcode, Adobe, Apple…

Random Toxy Remix out - 'Brightness'- Nash Donson

Another of my tracks got released on Beatport today - so I thought I'd celebrate by blogging my ruddy face off.

It's a remix this time. The original is a track called 'Brightness' by a guy who records under the name 'Nash Donson' (he's on Soundcloud - you should check him out).

For the remix I took the feeling of the part that I liked best, processed that part a little, then set about constructing a track around that in my own style. The artist got what I was trying to do and liked it, as did the AR (Riley Warren) at Zero Digital which was awesome. It was quite a new experience for me - having to care that a particular person liked a track.

I hope it sells. Thanks for reading, laters, bye.

Plaid and The Southbank Gamelan Players

I imagine it shows a little in my music that when it comes to personal influences, Plaid have got to be top five. So, you can probably understand how thrilled I was to discover that Plaid (in collaboration with The Southbank Gamelan Players) were going to gig, just a half hour walk from my front door, at The Mac in Birmingham.

The Southbank Gamelan Players opened things with "a loud style welcoming piece" followed by six beautiful songs - the last of which was a cover of Actium by Aphex Twin. Watching the performers was fascinating and hypnotic, but distracting, so for long periods I listened with closed eyes. The vocals and flute parts were a little bit 'new age' (what else should I have expected?) but the coarse sounding two-string fiddle (when it featured) was a perfect counter to the warm tones of the rest of the orchestra. I preferred the quieter, sparser parts - they made me feel like I was sitting in a wood, catching the sounds of distant creatures (I thing the 'new age' vibe was getting to me).

As good as things were going, I admit I was waiting for Plaid to join in and when they did, well that's when the music really took off into the ether. This is the collaboration that Plaid seem to have been working their whole career towards. Both bands fit so well. The music was lush without being too safe (I suspect a technical fault cut short Plaid's involvement in one of my favourite trance-like tracks which was a real shame). Programmed gamelan electronics and the real thing wove together with quiet glitches, airy strings and warm bass. The music was uplifting and enthralling. A big 'thank you' to all involved.

Got to go - I feel inspired…