An EXCLUSIVE interview with ALOE BLACC

Art And Soul

An EXCLUSIVE interview with Aloe Blacc

By Stephen SPAZ Schnee

When Aloe Blacc released his debut album, Shine Through, in 2006, it was not what anyone expected from one half of underground Hip Hop duo Emanon. The album was an eclectic mix of Trip Hop, Soul, Pop, Gospel, Electronica and R&B and, on the surface, was worlds away from Emanon’s sound. A closer examination of the album revealed many layers of musical influences that had always been there in the music that Aloe had created, yet had never risen completely to the surface until the album’s release.

Four years later, Aloe returns with Good Things, a sophomore album that strips away the modern aspects of Aloe’s sound and dresses him up in a new set of old school clothes. For this album, Aloe and producers Truth & Soul have created a very modern tribute to the early ‘70s, one of the most influential periods in Soul music. The joyful ‘60s had given way to the earnest ‘70s, a time where artists had more control over their musical output. From Donny Hathaway and Bill Withers to Al Green and Marvin Gaye, this period in music history was one that was exciting, passionate, ground breaking and thought-provoking.

Good Things is an album that echoes a sound and a time without stealing from it. It is an album that takes one generation’s musical language and speaks to a new generation of music lovers eager to learn and understand. It takes the past right up to the present without falling into retro-novelty territory. It’s an album with feeling and meaning. It is an album filled with great tunes and plenty of warmth. It is an album that merely touches the surface of Aloe’s passion for real and honest music.

Spaz was able to track Aloe down and discuss the new album and his career to date…

SPAZ: How are you feeling at this moment, now that Good Things is just about ready to be unleashed upon the world?

ALOE BLACC: I am very much looking forward to the release. It’s been four years since my debut with Shine Through and I am interested to see how my fans react to this shift to Soul music.

SPAZ: Your debut was a very eclectic mix of styles. Who were your musical influences growing up?

AB: Growing up, I used to listen to many different artists. My parents are from Panama, so they would play Latin artists like Ruben Blades and Ismael Rivera. At the same time, I was really into Hip Hop listening to A Tribe Called Quest and De La Soul. During elementary school, I played the trumpet, so I had to learn classical music as well.

SPAZ: Good Things is both a departure and a logical musical progression. Going into the studio, did you intend to take your music in this more soulful direction?

AB: I definitely knew that I wanted to focus more on one genre for this second album and Soul was the natural first choice because I worked with the producers at Truth & Soul. I am a big fan of the legendary Soul artists like Donny Hathaway, Curtis Mayfield, Bobby Womack and others. This album is my testament to what they have taught me musically.

SPAZ: Do you feel that you were able to fully express your creativity while recording a more focused album?

AB: It’s easier for me to draw a central character for listeners when the album is more focused on one style. It helps me to tell a story a bit better as well.

SPAZ: While other recent acts have gone back to revisiting the sound of ‘60s Soul, on Good Things, there’s a definite early ‘70s influence. What was it about that time that inspired you?

AB: Soul music of the early ‘70s has a political and social bent that is driving and emotional. I think that we have lost a lot of that vigor in contemporary R&B because the topics and ranges of sound are not very attractive. The classic Soul singers had a personality and a view point. They also had real voices that we came to love. Nowadays, you can’t tell artists apart because they all use auto-tune and sing the same melodies.

SPAZ: The first single off of Good Things, ‘I Need A Dollar’, is perhaps one of the finest singles of the last decade, Soul or otherwise. How did that song come about?

AB: I started writing “I Need a Dollar” several years ago before. I was inspired by a compilation of field recordings of chain gang workers who had very simple structure in their work songs. The verses in my song relate to personal experiences that either happened to me or to people near me. For example, the second verse is about losing a job, which is something that happened to me before I started making music full time.

SPAZ: Your soulful take on the Velvet Underground’s “Femme Fatale” takes the song to completely different, yet deeper, level. What inspired you to record that track?

AB: I was really intrigued by the story behind the song. From what I understand, Lou Reed penned the song for Andy Warhol who asked him to write a song about Edie Sedgwick. The tragedy in the life of the singer, Nico, is also quite interesting because in many ways she was a femme fatale.

SPAZ: The album’s songs sound extremely powerful and rootsy live. Are you looking forward to taking the album out on the road?

AB: I am definitely going to take the album on the road. My band, The Grand Scheme, and I will hit Europe and North America before the end of the year. I think the live show enhances the music in ways I was not able to accomplish on the album. Every song has a more embellished and polished interpretation when it is played for a live audience. The live show is where my songs become complete.

SPAZ: Would you like to explore this musical avenue further, or are you thinking about taking another musical departure with your next project?

AB: I will definitely continue to make Soul music in the future, but my next project is a Hip Hop album with DJ Exile. We have been making music together for over a decade as a group named Emanon and our new album is called Birds Eye View. It feels good to be able to move around in different genres and still be appreciated. Not many artists get that latitude.

SPAZ: What’s next for Aloe Blacc?

AB: I enjoy telling stories, so perhaps I will begin acting. One thing is for sure, I will always make music and I enjoy writing for other artists as well.

SPAZ: What do you have currently spinning in your CD and DVD players?

AB: I always have a copy of D.J. Rogers album It’s Good To Be Alive in my media player. Also, Sly Stone’s Fresh album is an all-time favorite. I am playing Cat Stevens, Joni Mitchell,  Nat King Cole as well.

Thanks to Aloe Blacc

Special thanks to Jacki Feldstein

The glorious sound of the '80s....on WOUNDED BIRD RECORDS

The fine folks at WOUNDED BIRD RECORDS have been reissuing great titles over the years, from Jazz to R&B, Country to Rock.  Their releases are not genre-specific: they release what the people ask for (so please visit their website HERE and send them some requests....tell them SPAZ sent you!).

While I can search their site and drool over all of their reissues, I've got to budget my money and buy things that mean the most to me.  Once I win the lottery, then the sky is the limit!  Now, perhaps I should actually play the lottery, huh?

Many of you know that my interest in music is wide-ranging, yet my most favoritest (yes, favoritest) music comes from the '80s.  Power Pop, New Wave, Synth Pop, Punk, Post-Punk, etc.  I was not too keen on the hairstyles and fashions, but the music really helped me get through my teens and early 20s... and my 30s and my 40s!  So, when Wounded Bird releases '80s stuff, I stand up and cheer!  And I run around the room and shimmy a little bit, too!

Here are a handful of their most recent releases that I've clung to ever since they reached my hands... and these are all highly recommended to you folks in need of a great '80s Pop fix.  But don't limit yourself: it's not just about the era it came from, it's about the music!  And I am all about the music!

P.S. And for those of you who think that Wounded Bird do only straight reissues without any of the frills, you better start paying attention.  Yes, many of them have been straight reissues, but there are more and more 'frills' being added when they can get ahold of them (just check out the Until December and Sinceros titles below)!

For soundbytes/videos, scroll to the bottom of this blog post!

SCOTT WILK & THE WALLS

SCOTT WILK & THE WALLS

OK, let's be honest: Scott Wilk & The Walls' self-titled debut album would NOT have existed if Elvis Costello & The Attractions had not made such an impact.  This 1980 album was SO influenced by the sound of EC and his mates that it's scary.  When KROQ started playing tracks from this album some 30 years ago, even the listeners thought it was new EC material (and this was when EC was far more prolific).

But, with that being said, this is one heck of a fun album.  It has the New Wave energy, the hooks and the Pop gems that are still wonderful to listen to today.  "Radioactive" and "Suspicion" are pure gold, quirky and catchy as sin.  The real diamond here is "Danger Becomes Apparent", a wonderfully melodic tune that always made my mixtapes 30 years ago and turned my friends onto this band.  While not a GREAT album, it's appearance on CD here, three decades after it's release, is more than welcome.  

UNTIL DECEMBER

THE 415 SESSIONS (2CD Set)

While I only took a fleeting interest in Until December when they first arrived on the scene in 1985, their self-titled album from the following year was pretty damn impressive.  Mixing Disco, New Wave, Synth Pop and a light dose of Goth, Until December took the Dance and Electro grooves that the Brits were so good at and created a unique hybrid of Dance and Rock.  While they only released one album, they actually had quite a few remixes released on 12" singles over the year or two they were active.  This double disc set combines the album with those remixes, making it a complete Until December package and one that is worth every bit of your time.  If you loved New Order, Comsat Angels, Danse Society, Bauhaus, Dead Or Alive and other like-minded bands, then this is an absolutely perfect addition to your collection.  While I'm not particularly fond of their cover of Blondie's "Call Me", that's OK because I'm not fond of the original anyway!  So, the album plus the remixes and a few single edits....it's all here.  So what are you waiting for?

NINE WAYS TO WIN

NINE WAYS TO WIN

With Post-Punk band Random Hold a thing of the past, band member David Ferguson formed this duo, releasing this self-titled album in 1983.  While Synth duos were all the rage (Soft Cell, Blancmange, Naked Eyes, etc), Nine Ways To Win were a bit left of center.  Sure, their songs were great, but the album straddled  the line between commercial pop and post-punk artiness.  This split personality kept them off the upper reaches of the charts yet the album has stood the test of time over the years.  Yes, it is all very '80s, but the album's arty heart has ensured that the album stands up many years later.  Play this next to any of the modern '80s-influenced bands and you'll see that Nine Ways To Win were worthy of more than obscurity and actually got it right the first time around.  It's a bright, luminescent light with a few dark shades that never obscure the melodic core of the album. Very worthy of critical reappraisal and your total devotion. 

THE SINCEROS

PET ROCK (with 2nd Debut + bonus tracks)

There are many great lost albums of the New Wave era, but The Sinceros' sophomore album, Pet Rock, remains one of the finest examples of British Power Pop and ranks right alongside top albums by Squeeze, The Records and a host of other great melodic acts of the era.  When the band released their debut album, The Sound Of Sunbathing, they were a quirky New Wave band with some great tunes (read my review of the album HERE). But by the time Pet Rock was released in 1981, they had become a cohesive and mature Pop outfit.  All the quirks were gone and the only thing left to concentrate on were the great tunes. And this album is solid from start to finish.  If Squeeze had released an album between Cool For Cats and Argy Bargy, then it would have sounded a lot like this.  Great tunes, great vocals, great arrangements.  From "Disappearing" and "Barcelona" to "Girl I Realize" and "Falling In And Out Of Love", this is one of the most perfect Power Pop albums of it's time.... and possibly of all time.  As an added bonus, Wounded Bird has added the entirety of their unreleased album 2nd Debut, which was an early rejected version of what became Pet Rock.  There are some original versions of songs that made the official album and a handful of tracks that didn't.  There's also a few non-album b-sides added... and the extended mix of "Take Me To Your Leader" (from the first album).  This is an absolute MUST HAVE for anyone who loves Power Pop, New Wave and the '80s. 

Thanks for the memories, Wounded Bird

Stephen SPAZ Schnee

NICK GARRIE: The Most Beautiful Nightmare Of All

The Most Beautiful Nightmare Of All

Spaz tracks down elusive British Psych/Folk singer/songwriter NICK GARRIE to discuss the deluxe two CD reissue of his classic 1969 album, The Nightmare Of J.B. Stanislas

By Stephen SPAZ Schnee 

     Nick Garrie may not be a household name, but that doesn’t mean that he doesn’t deserve to be. Some of you readers are learning his name here for the first time, while others already hold him in high esteem and insist that he is the most under-rated singer/songwriter of the late ‘60s (and beyond). Most folks fall somewhere in between these two poles, but that’s probably because they’ve never heard Nick’s 1969 solo masterpiece The Nightmare Of J.B. Stanislas. One listen to this slab of Psychedelic Baroque Folk Pop and you’ll be mesmerized.

     Nick Garrie has been compared to the tender and touching work of Nick Drake mixed with the Pop sensibilities of Billy Nichols and a pinch of solo Syd Barrett, yet those comparisons only touch the surface.  Garrie’s work is unique and moving yet avoids all the self-righteous pretentiousness of other Folk-centric singer/songwriters of his ilk. He’s sweet when he needs to be, worldly when he wants to be and always intriguing, fascinating, mysterious and, most importantly, engaging and melodic.  But was he a Psychedelic Folk troubadour, as many have claimed? 

     “I’ve never categorized my stuff, “says Nick these days. “It made me smile to see it categorized as ‘Psychedelic’!”

     Nick’s original demos were striking, beautiful and often haunting, rooted here on earth yet they obviously possessed a head full of stars.  Once his producer Peter Vartan got a hold of the songs, he brought in an orchestra in order to take them to a whole new level.

      “Lost and confused!” is how Garrie describes his initial reaction to Peter’s grandiose production of his songs. “Vartan was appointed by Disc AZ (Nick’s label). He was a very nice man who did his best.”

     While Nick himself was a bit concerned about the direction of his album, one listen to Stanislas today reveals a collection of songs full of melodic wonder. While comparisons may be made to some of his contemporaries, there is no discernable influence in his music.  He was (and is) a unique songwriter.  It is as if Garrie had arrived from another planet, recorded this wonderfully warm collection of songs and then faded into the mist. 

     While fans and music lovers are completely gob-smacked by the album, Nick’s initial reaction was far less favorable.

     “I was disappointed,” he says, some four decades after the album’s release.

     The most shocking thing about the Nightmare Of J.B. Stanislas album is that it was never officially released! The album was doomed once his label couldn’t figure out how to promote and market the album and then its fate was sealed when the label’s head, Lucien Morisse, committed suicide. With all these disappointments, Garrie walked away from Stanislas and didn’t bother to look back.

     In most cases, that would have been the end of that.  While Garrie still recorded sporadically (including releases under the name Nick Hamilton), his output was not exactly prolific.  But the Stanislas album soon became a legend amongst the hardcore music collectors.  It was the holiest of holy grails!  The internet’s far reaching capabilities only helped the legend to grow. And all the while, Garrie was oblivious to the hordes of devoted followers and fanatics who deciphered his every word and musical note. Well, that is until the first part of the millennium!

     “When I started teaching seven years ago, I typed in ‘Nick Garrie’ as a joke.” he says about the first time he discovered that his long-forgotten album had an immense and devoted following. “I was absolutely stunned!”

    By 2009, four decades after his debut, Garrie was back in the studio with a host of devoted followers and new musical co-horts including Norman Blake (Teenage Fanclub) and Duglas T. Stewart and Francis McDonald of BMX Bandits. The resulting album, 49 Arlington Gardens (Elefant Records), was one of the best albums of the year.  His voice and musical style were instantly familiar, yet age had brought depth and more confidence to the songs.  While not as epic as Stanislas, the album was every bit as beautiful. 

     “The recording was a joy: different young people turning up. It was like a little cottage industry. “remembers Garrie. “I'm very proud and grateful for that album and, yes, I do think one or two of the songs might glisten in the sun, so to speak, and when I play them live, they sit well with the Stanislas songs.”

     While 49 Arlington Gardens may have brought Nick’s career full circle, there was still some unfinished business in regards to Stanislas.  While the album had been officially released in CD a handful of years ago, it was just crying out for an expanded edition. Thankfully, the good folks at Elefant Records were more than prepared to take on the project.

     On The Nightmare Of J.B. Stanislas, the 40^th Anniversary two CD deluxe edition, fans are treated to a treasure trove of bonus material. Disc One contains the original album while Disc Two features a glorious assortment of rare and unreleased tracks including songs of a more recent vintage, Nick’s first single and acoustic demos of songs that would later make it onto Stanislas. It also comes with liner notes written by Garrie. In short, it’s essential purchasing and listening!

     So, what does the man himself think of this long overdue expanded reissue of his mythical and legendary debut album?

     “Elefant have presented Stanislas with the love they give to all their productions.” He says. “I think it’s beautiful and I'm very proud. It gives me a jaunty side step!”

Thanks to Nick Garrie

Special Thanks to Luis Calvo and James Agren