Thursday, March 29, 2012

The first guest here at Chatter of Apes...Schatzie Guerra

1980 was my Freshman Year and everything old was new again.
At least half of the people I had attended grammar school with were going elsewhere and my social circle was easily halved. Time to meet new friends.
September of that year was to bring back the highly anticipated return of Led Zeppelin and the folks in my primarily hesher neighborhood were in 7th Heaven.
Now, up until this point, I had been exposed to the typical MOR format available from WLS and its Easy Listening dial-mates. There were occasional derivations, and I remain to this day a fan of the piano as 'band' and am particularly fond of Chopin, but-
The death of John Bonham put the stops on the Zeppelin tour and also as a functioning band.
My Uncle, being slightly older than myself had introduced me to some of the 'heavier' artists around on WLUP, your '70s staples - Hendrix, The Who, Aerosmith and the like; there was also something new happening and I admit to my curiosity being piqued.
'New Wave' was the term and off the top of my head, I recall Blondie's 'Heart of Glass' followed by 'Call Me', the latter having made the charts due to its use in 'American Gigolo'.
'Heart of Glass' had what I later found out was that Giorgio Moroder driving synth, the like of which I had never heard in a 'rock' song, disco being a significant part of the music scene also.
That synth...
Kinda like a piano, but not---I was fascinated.
Girls liked it, most of the guys I knew did not, it being too close to disco, and dancing
To them there was no difference between this style and say, KC & the Sunshine Band.
'Heart of Glass' was only the set-up for the knock-out punch delivered in late 1980 -
Gary Numan's 'Cars'.
"Oh, synthesizer you say? Well by all means, have some of this!"
I was awash in a Sonic Ocean and there was no land to speak of.
Keyboards WERE the band, certainly the other instruments were present, but now this was their time to shine, futuristic, precise and all consuming, I could not get enough of this song and I had to find more from this artist. Even the album, 'The Pleasure Principle' hinted at science and no emotion, purchased, I devoured it and then started on to the back catalog.
Eventually, it turned out that Messr Numan began as a punk rock musician and to my listening ear, had managed to go from playing an expression of raw emotion to a modular, self contained android which only served to heighten my admiration. I had to have everything Numan (even his stage moniker bespoke of a new type of humanoid) and furiously sought out whatever my budget allowed.
To this day, I remain a fan of his, although I did taper off after his transition away from the Man/Machine phase but still keep a high regard for his music.
I will still play and sing along to 'Telekon', 'Are Friends Electric?' and Tubeway Army recordings, fondly recalling the time my musical horizons expanded slightly wider and into a Future I couldn't clearly envision until the release of 'Blade Runner' in 1982, but that's a whole other Ball of Wires-



Thanks for putting this together Schatzie and glad you were the first guest here.

Saturday, March 17, 2012

Frameworks Has a Future And You Should Be Part Of It.

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Matt Frameworks Brewer has proven to be about as difficult to write about as it would be to write about J.D. Salinger. There just isn't enough information out there to really put many words together so we must turn to the art. In Matt's case the art is beautiful music as opposed to Salinger's brilliant novels.

Matt's solo work (of which I have the greatest interest) is predominantly Chilled Ambient pieces that evokes some sort of hope, maybe even a " Darkest before the dawn" feel. It is very cinematic in scope in the sense that with eyes closed the imagination unrolls images or with eyes wide open, it becomes a pleasant, reflective soundtrack for waking life. There are shades of Nick Cave & Warren Ellis collaborations, Portishead, Cinematic Orchestra along with mind melting horns and strings. This isn't to say that the upcoming Frameworks EP isn't without originality as it has flavours that are wholly unique unto itself.

In a conversation with Matt "Frameworks" Brewer himself I got this bit of info "On my main stuff I'm working with Sabira Jade, JP Cooper and Ríoghnach Connolly.
The Ep is out with First Word in the next couple of months & the live band is in practice now and will be playing Soundwave Festival



Protect


Fold-Frameworks Feat. Kelly Atkins


The cut Fold evokes many of the facets of early Portishead which I am certain will be readily apparent but listen close because this is no pale comparison. This piece has a shimmer and beauty all its own.

Recipe for Happiness- Frameworks


Keep an eye out for Frameworks debut EP on First Word Records
due to be released in a few short weeks.

Early on Matt was a drummer for a Heavy Metal band and has since, obviously, grown in various directions. Aside from from the beautiful works crafted above this Manchester UK DJ has worked with some amazing Hip Hop talents. One of those groups is the Long Island duo, QnC.

QnC has an upcoming release on Hero Records that has Matt Frameworks prints all over it. Chillin up at the old D studios.

Here is a teaser from the upcoming QnC release on Hero records.


Here is a link to Blu Rum 13

For some straight up Canadian Hip-Hop,Frameworks also has a collaboration with Blu Rum 13 in the near future on My First Moth Records.

I feel honored to have gotten a sneaky taste of whats coming up on Frameworks upcoming First Word release.It's delicious to say the least and I can almost promise you that this will not be the last you hear from this Manchester DJ.



UPDATE: The official video for Frameworks track Somehow, taken from the Vanish EP. You can buy it at http://shop.firstwordrecords.com

The new video is here...