Blue-in-Green:RADIO is a contemporary soul/funk/jazz/Latin internet radio station broadcasting an array of incredible shows from presenters and DJs from across the world.
The Detroit funk and soul legend has kept himself busy since
‘Bassmentality 2’ last year with appearances on French horn trio’s funk-filled
release, #wooof, and also returning the favour to ‘Bassmentality 2’
contributor, Daniel Crawford and his album, ‘Awakening’.
…Which bring us back to ‘Bassmentality 3’ and the six tracks
that have proved an excellent surprise for this year – featuring two brilliant
Yam Who? Remixes (including a 9+ minute “Boogie” version of ‘Send A Message’ to
close the EP out, Amp delivers in typical Amp style: funky fresh R&B/soul
with a hint of the soulful house he so freely dips into.The Yam Who? Contributions are standouts as
is the excellent track ‘All In A Dream’.Check out the playlist below and pick up your copy of the release on
Bandcamp https://ampfiddler.bandcamp.com/album/bassmentality-3
“I write
songs and sing them...”.The brief bio
on Julia Biel’s Twitter profile displays the charming nonchalance of someone
who may very well have no idea how good she actually is.Her immeasurable talent has been bubbling
away for many years now and the brand new release of her sophomore album, ‘Love
Letters and Other Missiles’, is the perfect by-product of a distinct and unique
musical vision.
Having won
the Perrier Vocalist of the Year Award in 2000, the singer, songwriter,
producer and musician, Julia Biel, debuted in 2005 with her album, ‘Not Alone’ (co-written
with Jonny Philips), and subsequently went on to see Julia nominated for the ‘Rising
Star’ award in the BBC Jazz Awards in 2006.The long gap in between solo albums was filled with musical
collaborations with Everything But The Girl’s Ben Watts, Stimming and as a long-standing
vocalist with the reggae/afrobeat collective, Soothsayers.
‘Love Letters
and Other Missiles’ serves as an incredible musical opus and testament to
Biel’s abilities.The music is dreamy,
mesmerising and at times even haunting – perfectly demonstrated by the
extraordinary‘We Watch The Stars’ – but
there are also more assertive and versatile musical stylings to be found here
as in ‘Playing You’ which with its sharp, stabbing, soulful horns and guitar
licks, displays all the swagger of a gritty funk record.
While the
music expertly sways and dances amongst different genres, with acknowledgements
openly made to artists like Radiohead and Portishead, Biel’s voice in many ways
roots the sound within jazz and it’s very much her unmistakable vocal which
really shines throughout the whole album.Much like legendary jazz vocalists, Nina Simone and Billie Holiday, it’s
Julia’s voice that makes that biggest connection with the listener and will
build her an army of life-long devoted fans as a result.
It was our
sincere pleasure to have caught up with Julia to talk music and the new
release...
Who were
some of your earliest musical influences?
I had my
first massive song crush on 'Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)' by Eurhythmics
which blew my young little mind but I was also really excited by the music of
The Police, Neneh Cherry and Michael Jackson among others. I was having my very first piano lessons at
that time so I was probably equally influenced by the Grade 1 piano ABRSM
arrangements of classical music on a subconscious level, it all goes in after
all.
You must
be thrilled with the incredible response to 'Love Letters and Other Missiles'?
Myself,
Idris Rahman and all the amazing musicians I worked with on 'Love Letters...'
put in so much love and hard work to make the album a reality that it makes it
all the more special that audiences and critics alike have taken in the way
that they have to what we created. It's
truly wonderful to be getting out and about all over the place performing these
songs, I am always pinching myself.
What made
you settle on 'Love Letters and Other Missiles' as the album title?
Of all the
titles I came up with, "Love Letters and Other Missiles" seemed to
best bring together the overall impetus for writing the songs – all these songs
are inspired by feelings arising from every day occurrences that hit hard. Things that hit harder often than they should
and harder than the people responsible can ever imagine most of the time. I wanted a title that reflected that everyday
emotional violence that we do to each other.
How would
you say this album differs from your debut, 'Not Alone'?
In a way,
for me ‘Love Letters and Other Missiles’ feels more like my debut as it is the
first album to feature my fully self-penned material. Because of that,
musically and thematically I had total freedom and it truly represents my own
musical voice in the fullest possible way andthat was a
hugely important step for me. I'd say it
turned out to be a lot less folky in its instrumentation and subject matter
than ‘Not Alone’. ‘Not Alone’ featured
songs I wrote in collaboration with folk/jazz guitarist Jonny Phillips and so
the challenge on that album was to find the place where we met in the middle
musically and thematically at that time and represent that.
How does
the process of writing and producing new music work for you and your
collaborator Idris Rahman?
Mostly I
write the songs on my own at the piano or on the guitar and then play them to
Idris who is extremely open about saying what he thinks about them at that
stage. He has a highly attuned radar for
anything that isn't working about a song and an opinion that I trust as much as
my own almost, so his angle is always invaluable to me – if there's any corners
that need a little extra work, he'll give it to me straight. We generally agree
completely but he pulls me up if I am being lazy. At that point we'll play the songs together
and he'll put bass to what I am doing until we're both happy with the outcome. By that stage, the mood and structures of the
songs are set and so when we get together with Saleem Raman, who is just the
most fantastically intuitive drummer, things can just flow. We can record these 3-piece band versions and
embellish them with overdubs in the studio afterwards adding what we think will
help enhance the vibe so at that point you can start to experiment and have a
whole lot of fun. We'll talk about what
the overall feeling of the particular song is supposed to be and Idris is
brilliant at coming up with things to add into the arrangement so that I can't
hardly imagine how the song existed without his input afterwards.
YouTube
boasts such a great collection of your live performances: how do you enjoy
transferring your music from the studio to the stage?
I love
performing live and musically, it's like completing the circle for me – there
might be some parts we came up with during the production phase that became
absolutely essential to the song as a whole so we need to include them somehow
in our live performances even though they weren't present when I originally
wrote the song. Also when I'm thinking
about live performances it's all about energy that you're giving to the
audience – it needs to be carefully distributed throughout so you can create
the overall dynamic you need and that's not the same dynamic you need necessarily
for an album so you have to think afresh.
Who would
be a dream person for you to collaborate with?
Wow, I'm
already really happy musically but... I would love to work with Nigel Godrich
(Radiohead's producer) someday and see what would come about.
Which one
song from your catalogue would you play to introduce a prospective new fan to
your music?
That's so
hard to answer – it feels like being asked to say which of your children you
love the most! 'We Watch the Stars' is the song I put up on Soundcloud so I
guess at one time I thought that was the most representative but as I've learnt
many times over, you can't really judge an artist on just one song – so sorry
if it's a cop-out but I'd have to say give the whole album a listen and see
what you think then.
Is there
a song (by another artist) you wish you'd written?
Oh my...
There are too, too many songs I wish I could have written. Right now the first one that comes to mind is
one I am doing at the moment with a student of mine – ‘Crazy’ by Gnarls Barkley.
So lyrically and sonically fresh and
addictive when it came out, it certainly hit me like a steam train when I first
heard it and it really caught the zeitgeist.
This milestone episode of our 'Get to Know' series sees us turning our spotlight to the magician that is James Yancey (Dilla, Jay Dee). Obviously more known for his impact on the hip-hop landscape, we're focusing upon his soul, R&B and jazz compositions and hopefully are able to put you guys on to one or two numbers you may not have heard before.
(Make sure you stay tuned throughout the whole thing as there are surprise treats thrown in throughout.)
Below is the tracklist for the show and feel free to check out the show's accompanying blog: theblueingreenblog.blogspot.co.uk/
'Reminisce' - Bilal f/t Mos Def & Common
'Dollar' - Steve Spacek
'Didn't Cha Know' - Erykah Badu
'Find A Way' [Jay Dee Remix] - Nine Yards f/t Jay Dee
'Love Jones' [Extended Mix] - J Dilla
'Sometimes' [Jay Dee Remix] - The Brand New Heavies f/t Q-Tip
'Think Twice' - Jay Dee f/t Dwele
'Oblighetto' [J Dilla Remix] - Brother Jack McDuff
'Me & Those Dreamin Eyes Of Mine' [Jay Dee Remix] - D'Angelo
'The Wiggle' by Ferry Ultra & The Homeless Funkers f/t Kurtis Blow
This German boogie and funk release from 2012 is a surprising new discovery from me but I'm just glad that I have actually now discovered it. The self-titled release features brilliant guests throughout including Roy Ayers and Gwen McCrae, and this excellent number featuring rap icon, Kurtis Blow...
'Don't Play Around' by DJ Nu-Mark f/t Aloe Blacc & Charles Bradley
Another release from 2012, this time from Jurassic 5's DJ Nu-Mark, from his album 'Broken SUnlight', here's a song that frankly needs no introduction from me at all. Charles Bradley. Aloe Blacc. On the same song. What are you waiting for? Press play...
'Blue (I'm Still Here With You)' by Incognito
I sometimes don't think Incognito get the credit they deserve for consistently delivering the incredible standard of soul music since 1981. This song comes from their 2002 release 'Who Needs Love' (which was the first Incognito album I ever picked up) and features Kelli Sae on vocals and Paul Weller on guitar and rhodes (which is pretty cool!). Was listening to this one recently and had the urge to share...
