When I started to write this post, I was thinking about how different it is releasing music now as compared to when I first started. After thinking about it for a second, it’s really not that different. In 1998, through some sort of technical wizardry, I posted a real audio clip of a song I made called “Me and Anthony Kicked Some Shit” to the turntablism.com listserv (I think it was that one). I remember it being a considerable effort, because while some people commented on the song, more people asked me how I got the audio clip up.
That was 1998… dial-up internet days. I was a street team rep for Raw Shack Records, although George only sent me stickers and never any records. I surfed the sandbox automatic site and other flashing geocities and angelfire pages. Anyways, I posted the clip in an attempt to get some feedback on my music and here I am, 24 years later, doing the same thing. It’s kinda ironic that things have come full circle and I am back on an email newsletter sharing my music.
Post and wait…refresh…refresh…
I’ve got a new release out today called absent-minded. It’s an EP that plays like a 12 inch from the ‘90s. Two singles and bonus beats. It’s a quick and easy listen, but also takes you on a few twists and turns along the way. The two main songs feature Defcee, who is an amazing emcee from Chicago. He has been releasing music for about 15 years, but is really hitting a stride at the moment. A year ago (June 2021), he released “We Dressed the City with Our Names” with August Fanon (who is an amazing producer).
He followed that up in November with Trapdoor, a collaboration with Messiah Musik that was released on Backwoodz Studioz (the label run by billy woods).
Then in April of 2022, he hit a sprint with his album “For All Debts Public and Private” which is fully produced by BoatHouse and features Kipp Stone and Armand Hammer.
My connection to Defcee goes back to April of 2021. We were introduced to each other through Nate from Dad Bod Rap Pod. A few weeks later, I listened to an interview with Defcee on The Next Movement Podcast and connected with a lot of what he was saying. After a few emails, I sent him some music and he quickly sent back “absent-minded” and “a fly love song.”
Sometimes I need to sit with a song and let it find its path. This may happen fairly quickly or it may take a long time. Around that time, I was finishing up my “exhale02: Moments” album and was spacing out with one-man-band jams more than I was making beats. I would pull these songs up from time to time and work on them. The original songs were pretty minimal in song structure and I sat on them for quite awhile. I picked away at “absent-minded” and finally felt like I got it when I did the midway changeup (which was done after the vocals were done). I placed the “you’re not fresh…” vocal sample at the end, but knew I wanted it to be something more. D-Styles and I have been friends for about 20 years now and he is my favorite DJ. He brings such a musical approach to scratching and can completely annihilate something or show the most measured restraint. I sent him my idea and he sent it back almost instantly. His cuts really round out the song.
I didn’t know if these songs were going to fit into an album or be something different. At some point, I started to think of them as two singles, two sides of a record. I added the bonus beats to accompany each song. “stop wasting your time” is there to continue the 1-2 punch of Defcee’s verse and D-Styles’ cuts. “she blew my whole head up” is really part two to the story that unfolds in “a fly love song.”
It’s live on Bandcamp and should be on most of the streaming sites today.
I was a little unsure about releasing something so short, but now that I am on the other side of things, I like the format and am thinking about doing a few more projects like this.
Thanks for tuning in.
-Tommy (Controller 7)
June 14th, 2022
Be sure to check out the Defcee records I mentioned.
D-Styles is not only my favorite DJ, he is also one of my favorite producers. Check out the album he did with Nowaah the Flood (I love the production on this one) and of course all of the great stuff he did as a member of Third Sight. If you missed it, I did a remix of the D-Styles and Nowaah song “Game Tight.”
Sending money orders to Sandbox Automatic from the Canadian East Coast is my entire musical childhood. I remember highlighting records with my brother from a long-ass dot matrix printout without knowing anything about half the artists. And then it was such a trip when they started posting audio clips on the website... It totally blew my mind that I could listen to something from another country before I bought it. *dial-up sound*
Love love love love this new project. Two incredible vocal tracks and ‘stop wasting your time’ which is an absolute BANGER. As ELUCID says ‘Controller 7 is a monster’