Thursday, December 27, 2012

I'm listening to...#1

Listening to http://happyimpresent.bandcamp.com/?group_id=0 by the dude you know you've heard about Metasota.

This is one of those albums that the lyricism is so good that its hard to be able to think your own thoughts while listening because you want to hear every word. That's the thing about hip hop music....

If you strip away the beat...

If you strip away the production and the dope effects and "that crazy pitch shifty thing" people often so get caught up in all you got is

THE WORDS.

That's why I love doing this, I'm just freestyling without having to rhyme and being able to post links for you guys to let you get a closer look at my thought process.

Because maybe it makes you... think or mad or run or fucked up or realize that the internet sucks or that you want to write yourself or whatever that thing is

It's that universal OH MY GOD feeling when something plucks a heartstring and you realize that this everyday shuffle pattern your stuck in is meaningless and THIS is what truly matters. THIS internal, intangible beautiful thing that we create between each other when we create each other.

That's when the WORDS come in.

Because to a human, there is no sweeter sounding instrument than a human voice,
and to a human, there is no truer sounding vibration than that of someone speaking your language.
and that MC or that opera singer or Frank Sinatra or your girlfriend singing in the shower reverberates within  you in a way that creates this internal paradise where we can understand each other and stand together and be one. You become the words you hear when you believe in the words you hear. And you believe those words when they speak of the things you deal with on a daily basis. That daily shuffle pattern you sometimes forget to get sick of.

Poetry is not a lost art.

That's why people are never going to stop listening to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z43SmPpMVQc

or http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4P51FLeSq_k

Because after all of the glitz and glam of the hoi polloi fades away all your left with is what's honest.
Love is honest. No one's honest all the time these days, and we spend so much energy trying to pierce the heart of what's real and what isn't. We are surrounded by the ocean of Samsara and addicted to our illusion's. So often I have a hard time trying to pull honesty out of myself in times that it is most important to do so.

When you hear something honest, something true, you fall in love with it. You feel one with it.
That's why our words are so powerful. (Though action's can be honest too and are even more powerful)

So Meta is honest. The beat's are beautifully minimalistic and weird in a slimy way that reminds you of the cosmos, and they are reminiscent of shit like Homeboy Sandman  (who writes for the huffpost sometimes and says some pretty insightful shit: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/homeboy-sandman/industry-lie-4080-not-bad_b_2000515.html )
as well as Shabazz Palaces. That's the west coast, midwest and east coast all having characters rise up with similar styles that people are really vibin with and enjoying and finding fulfillment with.

That is the new generation that we are rising up in.
It's not that the east is doing something different from the west, but there are just people from all over tapping into the medium in similar, astonishing ways. Whether it's Japan or Duluth. That's the internet. That's what our grandparents didn't have and what we have at our fingertips 24/7.


The Times are always changing.

So listen to good music:



Sunday, December 23, 2012

Beauty is Connection | Celebrating Something Sacred

Oh My God.

What does that mean?


I was a child who grew up in a loosely Jewish household, but throughout elementary school my best friend was raised by strict Christian, conservative parents. This was never a problem by any means, but it forced us to grapple with the concept of god from a very early age. I couldn't understand what was truly different about the way we believed and lived and why there were these boundaries that were put up between how we do things. Not to mention, what in the world is God?

Whenever I said Oh My God around them, they were very offended. They told me not to use the Lord's name in vain. In vain?

In this beautiful TED talk with the beautiful soul Louie Schwartzberg he says:

OH- Is catching your attention, you have started to experience something that is worth your energy and you focus on it
MY- Is you finding that thing is resonating inside yourself, and you feel connection to it
GOD- Is the personal journey that we all want to be on, and that we are all on constantly


How could there be anything in vain in finding a moment of god within something beautiful happening at the present moment?


I think that beauty is god, because the wonder that comes from seeing something new and truly beautiful connects you to that moment and experience, and can open your eyes and see how everything is connected in one brief moment of clarity. This is why I highly recommend trips to the Grand Canyon. Make em car trips, and stop as much as possible in places you didn't plan. Bring your whole family, even your bratty little brother and your condescending sister and share the backseat with them for 13 hours. Go far away from what you know and see something new together.

When you get back, it may matter less who left the toilet seat up. You may mind helping your brother with his homework a little less. They might actually even start to like you a little bit. Who knows?


On 12/21/12 Lifted Mindz released a brand new EP that we have been working on for many months and has been highly anticipated (by us at least :)
The EP is titled Something Sacred and you can catch it all here-
http://liftedmindzlmz.bandcamp.com/


This is our most light hearted project yet and I couldn't be more in love with it. Not just because I think we're the shit (my friends really are though) but because we were able to really get down to the core of this concept in very simple ways.

"If I survive, I'll Dance in the Moonlight, If I'm Divine, I will rise today, I can see the sunshine, If i'm alive, I'll dive into the tide, I will rise today" - Logoz, Wolphe and Eloda on the first track "ChirpChirp"

The whole point of this work is to illuminate the daily lives of our younger selves and our projected selves at the same time in order to capture some of the beauty in the daily grind that we live. From parties under the moon in the summer time, to being a little kid running around with a cape on, the beauty within these events connects us. That is Something Sacred.
To me, that is God.

(Un)fortunately I am cut short today and have to go do some growing up with the help of my family. I am looking forward to it.

Blessings to all, Much love, Happy ChrismahannuakwanzaaRamadan or whatever the hell you feel like celebrating at the moment. Life is light is love and I love you. Grab your christmas present and download Something Sacred for free.

Oh yeah, heres our first ever music video-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zfuXiu7ikv8

Wednesday, December 12, 2012

New projects, new releases, new perspectives.... I sit down and interview the boys from Silknote!

Silknote Release Show!Whats really cool about this show is that though LMZ isn't officially on the bill, you'll see different sides of every member of the group doing their thing. You'll have to come to know exactly what I mean, but I guess my point is that art is all about expansion of boundaries. 

For me, the entire creative process is about looking for those walls in your mind and society and taking them down however you can. Too often I see so called "artists" who have been doing the same thing for so long. It's easy to tell that they are comfortable, they aren't bleeding the inspiration that comes from bashing your head into the window of perspective until it cracks... 

So push yourself. Do something that people like and then match that with something you love until people hate it. At that point, practice and practice and practice until it becomes something new that people love.  

That is the key.

Key to what?
Success? Maybe... depending how you define it. 

Money? Maybe... if you put it enough practice
a better understanding of self? Yes.
A true journey into that self and the constant rebirth to create a feeling of being "new" every day, thought of by some as enlightenment? Hmmm.... well thats the journey isn't it?

You can find out a lot more about this process in regards to art, communication, and daily life in Kristoff Krane's book The Other.

Today I'm going to sit down with these homies to try to grasp an understanding of their perspective. Maybe we can feel "new" together by looking at things from their eyes. I want to find out how other people approach their creative process, especially working with new people. 

 I'm very lucky, because my lifestyle choices have led me to be surrounded by amazing musicians almost all the time. Today is a really cool day because a couple of my best friends are releasing an album and having their release show. Now I'm not going to go on with shameless promotion cuz that shits boring, so all the info you need you can find here:http://www.facebook.com/events/249351288527885/
Antioch about to take flight

For those who don't know, Silknote consists of these three dudes

Antioch: 

http://antiochmusic.bandcamp.com/

Eloda:
http://eloda.bandcamp.com/

Wolphe:
http://wolph3.bandcamp.com/

Wolphe and Eloda
are both members of Lifted Mindz. We do this whole music thing too.

I asked these dudes all kinds of questions, ranging from personal hygiene to the Antioch's signature stage tactic best known as the "man pussy." Shit was bananas....


Me: When was the last time you washed your pants? 
Wolphe: ugh.. Never.
Eloda: What?


Me: dope man, so tell me, What is Silknote? What are you guys all about?

Wolphe: Silknote is our idea of silky hip hop. We wanted to take that underground jazz smoothness thats happening and make it hip hop and jazz at the same time. Ya know, sing a lil bit, rap a lil bit and feel really free about it.
Eloda: We wanted to make real melodic and not just rap. Nice melodies and cool sounding parts that are really emotional. It's like jumping into a melodic river of brainwaves.
Antioch: So I started talking to these cats... dogs... and Wolphe. At first I was sending Ape [Eloda] beats and sending Joe [Wolphe] a few as well and then one day he's like "yo Erik, why don't we just make an album together?!" We started off in my garage and all the beats are produced by me except for Phaethon which was a collaboration between all three of us.
Eloda: It was originally called fellatio...

Me: I know you guys have group releases as well as solo releases, what was the difference between this project and others you guys have worked on?

Wolphe: I think the cool thing about it is the first time we got down we all went to [Antioch's] house and went through like 100 beats if not more and were really selective about it. It was not just that we liked this one or that one, but we had something that we were going for that it had to fit.
Me: like a common vision?
Wolphe: Yeah exactly and it had to fit a certain mood.
Eloda: We had to have a mutual brain light switch that flicks on

Me: What exactly is Heliades? What does that mean to you, how did you think of it?

Eloda: It's a story about the sons of Apollo. He tries to teach them how to fly the sun across the Earth but basically they fuck up so Zeus throws a lightning bolt at em and they spend the rest of their lives grieving until they eventually turn into trees. I think the overall tone of the album is darker, grieving and emotional.
Antioch: It has it's lighter moments though!
Eloda: Yeah right before the chariot gets struck from the sky...

Me: Did you guys think of that before or after you started thinking of these songs?

Preach to the people, Wolphy 



Wolphe: Right in the beginning. Before we had recorded any songs actually.
Antioch: [Eloda] just threw it out there and we were like "fuck yeah."

Me: Did that play a part in your creative process? Is that something that your music embodies? Having that huge responsibility and carrying the sun but ultimately fucking up and having to live with those consequences?  

Antioch: The whole recording process and the whole way we went about it was kind of us being fuck ups. A lot of goofing around and not getting work done...
Wolphe: As these guys were writing lyrics I was photoshopping a picture of Ape with boobs. That's going to be the album cover... and possibly my profile picture on facebook so look out for that.
Eloda: That's not photoshop, I actually have boobs. 
Me: So this process that you went through, were you not used to that style? How did you feel about it being more of a jamming, goofing around atmosphere as opposed to sitting down and working for works sake?

Antioch: I like the way it was all done. It was fun and it sounds fucking sweet.
Wolphe: The first night we recorded we had nothing ready we just sat down and started writing and were like whatever comes, comes. That's whats cool about this project.

Me: Thats real dope. What is next for Silknote? Is this something that's still growing in your minds?

Eloda: The next Silknote project, whenever that's going to happen is going to include Lydia Liza (of Bomba De Luz) on all the songs.
Wolphe: We're just trying to keep that silky, jazz influenced vibe and grow around that.

Me: Are there things that you are doing differently from other projects? What ways are you pushing yourselves or finding areas where you feel comfortable and sticking with them? Anything new or interesting that you havent tried before?

Wolphe: I've tried some newer styles of rapping. I've tried to take the inspiration of all the hip hop I've been listening to and try to take that on. Before a lot of stuff is really simple and I'm trying to add to that and make it more complicated.
Antioch: For me, I listen to these guys styles, with a lot of half singing-half rapping and I tried to hold myself to that too so that was fun to do.
Eloda: This is really my kind of style. It's right in the core of the kind of shit i feel comfortable doing.

Me: What can we expect from the release show?

Wolphe: a good time!
Antioch: Hyphy!
Wolphe: It's got its ups and downs in an emotional way.
Eloda: [Antioch]'s gonna make a man pussy.

Me: I'm not sure what that is... 

Eloda: I have a video of him tucking his wiener in.
Wolphe: OH!

Me: I really hope that's not a true story...

Eloda: It is...
Wolphe: everyones gonna see it!

Me: Are you gonna do that live?

Wolphe: we should probably do that live... do it on the last song though because we'll probably get kicked out. He never goes anywhere without his vagina.
Eloda: Concentrated pussy grease is actually the name of the album.

Me: How about this lineup? We have Sector 7G, Dem Atlas, Christopher Michael Jensen, Nico (Crocodile Grin) and Logoz the Kritick.
How did you guys come up with it?


Eloda: Everyone who is playing is like our closest family. It's the people who we've been doing shows with for a while and have been with us since the beginning.
Antioch: With the added exception of Sector 7G.
Wolphe: hes the shit
Antioch: I saw [Mike Shank] online one day and thought, fuck it why not try it? and it worked out!

Me: That's whats up!

Antioch: It'll be a nice little family thing at the family location!
Eloda: but don't bring your family...

Me: cuz it is 18+....

Wolphe: and we will fuck your daughters.

Me: and you might see Antioch's vagina... 













Friday, December 7, 2012

Conscious Is Not Enough- A glance at the climate of local Art creating Change

Today is a new day.

I'm sitting listening to brother TruthMaze's work here http://truruts.bandcamp.com/album/the-truthmaze-experience while sipping coffee and trying to get a head start on another hot blooded assault to conquer the world. This is how I relax.

I ponder the depth of this man's impact on me and the social and musical climate around me. It strikes me that so often these days we're caught up in facebook likes and youtube views like those are the end all be alls of success. How do you really measure success? What does it mean? And how are we all really connected through the art that we create and listen to.

I don't know what kind of car that TruthMaze drives, (cause none of his songs seem to mention it unlike some more mainstream others) but I'm assuming it's not a Bentley. But at the same time, I think this man may be a little more successful than some of his other peers who are touched by these things that we call "mainstream success."

TruthMaze is on the label Tru Ruts/Speakeasy Records with some incredibly talented artists including:

Guante- www.guante.info
This guy is an incredible organizer who runs the website MN Activist connecting potential do-gooders with the programs and information that they need to get involved with and organize positive social and political change. This website is how I met Amanda Leavock and the other people at Face Forward. (more on that later)
He also is a slam poet champion and is constantly writing on topics such as rape culture, homophobia, activism, and how hip hop plays into all of this. He is a doer.
Oh yeah, and he makes some of the dopest music you'll ever hear.

E.G Bailey-  http://egbailey.com/
I'm learning more and more about E.G right now and I think what I've learned most is that I will never fully grasp how much he does. He founded the MN Spoken Word Association, is a radio personality with Sha Cage on KFAI, he has many poetic works published all over the place, and his album American Afrikan is the shit. Please learn more about this guy, I definitely will.

and Chantz Erolin who does work selling out venues all over the Twin Cities with the Doomtree collaborating group Audioperm. If you havent heard of them you aren't paying any attention.

listen- http://www.audioperm.com/

Also do yourself the favor of checking out this spoken word album here by the extremely deep Sha Cage, also on Tru Ruts/Speakeasy.-  http://truruts.bandcamp.com/album/amber-people
(warning: do not listen to this album if you are scared of shedding tears. Instead, work on that. I will too.) 


The Wookiefoot guys kill it!
We try our best to kill it too

The people on Tru Ruts are much more than just rappers like you would expect on most labels. These are poets, activists, movers, shakers, and exemplary human beings who push their art as well as their skills in community organizations to become the leaders that communities need. To be the leaders that we all need. Their impact bleeds to places further than most think that "art" can reach, and they are all constantly shaping the world around us in ways we may never know and are helping people every day.

TruthMaze is that kind of guy.
I was lucky enough to be introduced to the conscious poet/artist/philosopher and original member of the legendary hip hop group Micronauts at this year's Project Earth.  Project Earth is a family friendly festival gathering some of the most beautiful minds in the midwest that I have ever met at Harmony Park, which is located about an hour and a half south of St. Paul in Geneva, MN.

Harmony Park holds a number of these festivals, all of them spiritually uplifting and all of them filled with music. You'll be surprised who you run into here. Project Earth brings people together for the sole purpose of self expression and fun, and you will see things here that you will not see anywhere but should see everywhere. This festival, (along with several others at Harmony Park and in other locations) was thrown by Wookiefoot. Wookiefoot and the Harmony Park community started a non profit called Be the Change that you can learn about here- bethechangecharities.org. 
They run fundraisers, offer educational opportunities, and spread awareness as well as go to the places that need the most help themselves and ACTUALLY PROVIDE HELP! :) They find smaller, local charities and organizations that need help and are already providing positive change, then provide those organizations with financial and human resources.

They have raised over $200,000 in the last couple of years.

These resources come from FESTIVALS that they throw that are already an outrageously great time and provide help for people here, and the people that then go to these other countries and volunteer are very often the festival goers themselves, as well as the musicians, artists, dancers, designers, poets, activists, free thinkers, technicians, and others that are involved in performing at these festivals and putting them on.

The guys from Wookiefoot are at the forefront at all of this, and they headline the festivals as well, always being among the most memorable acts. Everyone looks forward to them hitting the stage.

I saw some of the most incredible music, visual art, dance, and fire spinning as well as a number of things i don't think that I will ever be able to describe. My life was definitely altered for the better. I left filled with hope, ambition, creative new ideas, and feeling like a kid again.

Through a long sequence of hard work, aggressive research, being blessed and hitting up a lot of fucking people, my band Lifted Mindz was given the opportunity to play this years Project Earth. It was many of my bandmates and homies first time at Harmony Park but I can guarantee it will not be the last time for any of us.
We played on the Face Forward stage. We were given that opportunity by Amanda Leavock, who is a co-founder. They give a lot of support to the local music scene by organizing charitable shows and providing opportunities such as this one.  http://www.faceforwardmn.com/
I heard about them from the website MNactivist.com
The "rapper" Guante started this website.
Who is signed to Tru Ruts.
See how it's all starting to come together now?

Guante has a line that goes "in 100 years all of your facebook friends will be dead."
Not accounting for any amazing medical breakthroughs, this line will likely hold very true.

Success cannot be measured in facebook likes or retweets. Success cannot be measured by dollar signs and major label executive paychecks. But success does happen.
As artists, we make an impact on this world that goes far beyond anything that can be measured in any of the material things we so often get caught up in.

I have been practicing my art for many years and have made virtually no money doing so.
Two nights ago I spoke words of my innermost fears, desires, ambitions, hopes, dreams and greatest ideas to hundreds of people and helped raise $3,000 for Suicide Prevention. We showed them love, they showed it back, and we were one.

There are successful artists, I am one of them.
Success is drawn by you, and what you can accomplish is defined by those boundaries that you draw.

If you spend your time wondering why 2Chains is on MTV and driving blabla with rims the size of blabla your not helping anybody. If you do what you do to be like them your not helping anybody.

If your doing what you love in order to help yourself and the world around become something better, you are a soldier of positive change. The impact I tried to describe here that I have seen certain people have is only written about because that is what I, myself, have had the privilege of witnessing. But it is a small piece of the puzzle. The big picture includes all of us, and every song/dance/word/laugh/lesson/blessing is a chain reaction of a lot good that a lot of people are doing. You choose whether you help it grow or watch yourself decay into the sea of samsara and sensational media prostitution.

Maybe that's a little harsh, but regardless it may be cool to be cool, but it is good to be good.
Theres a lot of good happening.

Go see a show, go to an art exhibit, go participate at a rally to save a high school from losing funding, go vote for human rights, make everything you do a vote for human rights.

Go out. Do something. It's up to you.
And conscious is not enough.