electronic

Headed to Brooklyn: Jamel Zuñiga's "Tetra-125BPM" mix, facilitated by PROGRAM LABS /  by Maxwell Young

If it ain’t thumping…if it ain’t thudding, then it ain’t Jamel.

DJ Jamel Zuñiga at Tech Yes at Sandovan Restaurant and Lounge in D.C., 1/24/19 | Polaroid by Maxwell Young

DJ Jamel Zuñiga at Tech Yes at Sandovan Restaurant and Lounge in D.C., 1/24/19 | Polaroid by Maxwell Young

“Tetra-125BPM” facilitated by PROGRAM LABS, is the latest mix by Washington, D.C. based DJ Jamel Zuñiga.

Press play and close your eyes. It’s the weekend, or maybe a Thursday night function, and you’re somewhere off the L-Train in Brooklyn at a warehouse at four o’clock in the morning. Work and errands are imminent, but the pulse of the speakers keep your feet in rhythm. This is the sonic pocket where Zuñiga wants to transport you, and rarely does he leave it himself.

Baby San Jay on Instagram, FKA Sex God Supreme FKA Ledroit FKA Jay-Z, has become the de-facto techno disc jockey, presiding over the turn tables of a number of restaurants, hotels and music venues as one half of his esoteric dance series with Sir E.U, Techyes. While Zuñiga’s electronic inclinations are ever present at these weekly showings, he’s working in tandem with E.U—the vocals and beat on equal footing—informing a party-oriented environment. The near one hour mix, however, is more quintessential; an inward-looking display of what Zuñiga plays when there’s no one to satisfy but himself.

“[Tetra] is harder, pure techno other than call-and-response beats and rock beats,” he told InTheRough. “This is more a spiritual journey.”

Fall into a trance, listening to the set above.

Model Home is an acquired taste /  by Maxwell Young

“All of this music is made without any presets.”
— Model Home
Pat Cain (left) & NAPPYNAPPA (right) of Model Home | Polaroid by Maxwell Young

Pat Cain (left) & NAPPYNAPPA (right) of Model Home | Polaroid by Maxwell Young

Washington, D.C.—We’ve been programmed to listen to and make music based off parameters that have been pre-selected for us.  Songs have to ‘sound like something’ so that they can be played on the appropriate radio stations, placed in the proper cubby holes of vinyl shops, and marketed to the record labels’ desired audiences—all of this to boost the bottom line.  As consumers, we inform this system through our purchasing behavior.  Artists are encouraged to tailor their sounds to those which are most popular and lucrative.  Search “type beat” on YouTube for confirmation.  Kids want to make music and listen to sounds that resemble the production of a Pierre Bourne or Kenny Beats while A&R’s want to find whoever is next, a replication of [insert pop icon].  It’s easy to plug into this equation.

Model Home, however, “is the potential of two people.”  The experimental duo of sonic engineer Pat Cain and emcee NAPPYNAPPA do not follow a blueprint.  They are focused on the freedom to connect with each other and fellow musicians, tapping into the impulses of their present experiences.

“What you guys don’t see: Devante will rap for twenty minutes straight that I edit down to three or four minutes.”  Cain spoke of his partner’s endurance on Late Bloom Radio in January.  “It’s just a zone you get into and it’s cool to be honest with the moment,” he said.

Cain is a Maryland-based transplant from Buffalo, NY and NAPPYNAPPA is a native of Southeast, Washington, D.C.  They have worked in tandem prior to Model Home as Delta-7, an experimental hip hop quartet alongside Tony Cruise and Sir E.U.  Performances at Rhizome and Studio Gaga were far-out, featuring custom synthesizers, voice modifiers, and lyrical improvisation that all mashed together into inscrutable sonic trips.

Model Home is no less experimental.  “They’re all sounds.  Specifically with Pat, there’s a bit more freedom,” NAPPA said on air.  “In the earlier get-togethers, we talked about using the voice as an instrument on equal footing [as production],” Cain explained further.

The two recorded together for nine months before they debuted their first self-titled tape last June.  Since then, they’ve added five more Model Home LPs with a seventh dropping in the spring. They are available on all streaming platforms.  NAPPA, the early-twenty-something, delivers an array of cadences, sliding in and out of sing-songy lullabies that are distorted by Cain’s staticky, radio wave-type bleeps and bloops and electronic production.

“I don’t place the entire Model Home in hip hop or any genre, but the cadences and how I project my vocals are hip hop influenced,” the rapper clarified.

For as textured as these projects sound, most of them are completed in one day’s work. “It’s usually a nice day, nice weather. Not a lot of pressure going on.” Cain insists it’s “just hanging out and making music.”

The recording process is flexible and non-pretentious. Cain listed his basement set up on radio, including “homemade synthesizers, synthesizers in general, surged synthesizers, the geek stuff,” he simplified, “and a lot of tapes, too.”

I caught a glimpse during an evening session with producer Jamal Gray and multi-instrumentalist Dajando Smith. The image of technicolored wires plugged into circuit boards reminded me of an excerpt from Joan Didion’s book The White Album, where she describes a California studio in which The Doors recorded their third LP Waiting for the Sun. She writes, “There were masses of wires and banks of the ominous blinking circuitry with which musicians live so easily.” This comfort must be extended to those who dive into the world of synthesizers; an esoteric community of curious musicians and tinkerers playing with electrical pulses to emanate one-of-a-kind sounds.

In the Model Home studio, audio is recorded onto cassette which is then recorded onto computer where slight edits are made. The three of them—Cain, Gray, and Smith—were jamming, seemingly messing around with ideas and rhythms they would cut at a later time until I realized that those loose compositions were actually being recorded in real-time. There is no planning ahead in these sessions. “If it feels good and it sounds good then that’s what it is,” NAPPA said matter of fact.

It’s easy to label Model Home as a series of left-of-center projects that sound more cacophonous than melodic. At least, that was my sentiment upon listening to MH 1. On the spectrum of experimental and commercial music, Model Home is an acquired taste; however, we are being primed and prepped for a gradual change in music preference as we speak.

Beyond building the architecture of Model Home’s sonic bed, Cain’s modular synthesizer expertise has been sought out by other musicians, collaborating with producer Machell Andre as well as helping Tony Cruise and Sir E.U execute their 2018 LP African American Psycho. There’s demand for the level of experimentation that encompasses Model Home, and having it interpreted by other artists within the DMV’s music community will only make it more encouraged and robust.

Listen to Late Bloom Radio, embedded above, for greater context of Model Home. And Stay tuned to Model Home’s Bandcamp for the drop of MH7 along with their Instagram for show and merchandise updates.

Tony Cruise's new mix sounds like something out of The Matrix Reloaded /  by Maxwell Young

Tony Cruise Dj-ing at Full Service Radio. Polaroid by Maxwell Young

Tony Cruise Dj-ing at Full Service Radio. Polaroid by Maxwell Young

Early Wednesday, ROOM, whose scant SoundCloud and Instagram bios proclaim “freedom of association,” premiered a 48-minute live mix by Tony Cruise.  The first streamable offering since the release of his 2018 LP, Replica, features the trademark cacophony and distortions that Cruise explores in his productions and live instrumentations.  Recorded at The Line Hotel in Washington, D.C., disco, house, drum & bass, and rave tracks are contorted to create this sonic composition that, for me, is reminiscent of the sex scene in The Matrix Reloaded, where Neo and Trinity escape a subterranean, dystopian rave—not to be mistaken for Tech Yes— to have prophecy-ordained coitus.

Stay tuned to InTheRough pages as we talked with Aamir Khuller, the designer of Cruise’s Replica cover art and website.  That interview drops next week.

VibeRotation 22 /  by Alex Young

InTheRough returns to its VibeRotation playlist series.

This mix of music is about sound through the sentiments fall brings forth. ITR staff also remains committed to delivering new, familiar, and unfamiliar music.

Quickly turn up with A$AP Mob's new song called "Crazy Brazy," then tap into sonic senses with tracks like the one produced by Willow Smith, "Its NOT THAT BAD" by Los Angeles producer Kintaro, or "The Other" by another L.A. product, Saígo.

Enjoy new music in your life courtesy of VibeRotation 22 below.

Party in The 'Burgh /  by Alex Young

Via rbfaresh Snapchat

Via rbfaresh Snapchat

The bartender went to fetch my cold, canned Pabst Blue Ribbon. The walls started to rattle because the bass in the speakers from a Kid Cudi song, like "Girls" or "Burn Baby Burn," was so so heavy. I was a blurred figure in the mirror behind the bar because the bass really shook the establishment, Spirit Lodge, that much.

This was a brief moment away from the dance floor, which I did not leave all night unless to get more drink.

Credit goes to RB of FarESH Brand, the event's host, and DJs EYEJAY and Paizley. In her promotional Instagram post before the function, specifically called "Finesse," EYEJAY wrote "Pixburgh needs this!"

It was a party at Spirit. Pittsburgh rallied around the music, contemporary hip-hop, Jersey Club, and trap sounds boomed and drunken melodies rang out from everyone in the crowd. Couples, friends, locals, politicians, and popular figures found their rhythm together.

I looked to my left and rapper Mars Jackson stepped with pep, influenced by joy from his sister's wedding which occurred earlier in the day, and surely the spirits. Kendrick Lamar's "Alright" ran. "Nigga, we gon' be alright" praised the people on the dance floor. Everything was liberating and fun, turnt. Photographer and lifestyle icon Keep Pittsburgh Dope, wearing a Steelers, Rod Woodson T-shirt that read "Xplosive," stood atop a wooden block where the speakers sat. "Only real niggas keep you float, Only trill niggas I know," sang Travi$ Scott in his song "3500." When KPD was on the floor, grooving next to his business partner and friend Cody Baker, I said, "I'm fucking lit man." KPD, with a slight smirk on his face, replied, "Oh, we're already there."

EYEJAY and Paizley kept things exciting. "I know you got more," I shouted to them over the music. They did have more. Anthems played, and they exposed us to tunes perhaps unfamiliar to some people. In a toboggan hat fit to his head, denim jacket, and tie dye sweatshirt, Choo Jackson floated next to the DJs when they played his "Back From Texas" track. "What you need, what-what you need?" the speakers said. "Racks on racks on racks, racks, Maybachs on bachs on bachs on bachs on bachs," RB chanted the lyrics to Jay Z and Kanye West's "Gotta Have It." Youths loved the Lil Uzi Vert, and spoken word artist Grits Capone reacted kindly to the menacing "Red Opps" by Atlanta's 21 Savage.

We were all dancing circles around each other, and mean mugging at every bass hit and raw lyric from the musical artists we appreciated most.

Smiles were felt too because we partied as a community, we were nothing but ourselves and nobody looked at us differently (until I knocked a drink out of some lady's hand from my flailing dance move).

Most importantly, genuine experiences such as the one at Spirit Lodge on July 23 are happening with more frequency around Pittsburgh and that alone means more fun, happiness, and culture.