Brady Watt - Lifetronics review

Brady Watt's a hip hop session musician, and in demand bass player, whose stepping into the light with a strong release his debut Lifetronics LP.Watt's made a livelihood backing live Joey Bada$$, Ski Beatz, Statik Selektah and he's just joined DJ Premier's all-star band. Lifetronics is grounded by his understanding of the lagging beats of neo-soul and the rigeurs of hip hop which makes each of his compositions a unique springboard for the MC or sung verses from artists as varied as Talib Kweli to Melanie Fiona.

Across the board the album has a fresh, eccentric quality that is matched by the guests that compliment the beats rather than overshadow them.

Some tracks like Minds of the Future (feat. Smoke DZA) sound like they could be an outtake from Blakroc the Black Keys one-off album of hip hop collaborations.  As much as Watt's is primarily a bass player the album's most memorable hooks are slinky guitar leads a couple of which bear the deep imprint of D'Angelo. Smoke Break is an obvious homage for instance - a short vamp that's just a few chords shy of the much longer tune The Root from D'Angelo's singular Voodoo album.  Watt's is joined by a slew of strong but little known MC's that bring the organic bounce of his beats to life.  It's not surprisingly on the instrumentals that Watt is strongest such as 80 Full-Color Plates (feat. Dave Gagliardi and Gary Busey).

MPC Minute featuring DJ Premier & Pete Rock

How funky can you get in 10.3 seconds?

Premier and Peter Rock talk in geekish detail about their introduction to (by now fairly) arcane music production centers like Pete's affinity for the MPC 2000 and the MPC 2000 xl whereas Premier hasn't moved past his affection for his Akai MPC 62.  When Premier was asked is there anyone whose done things with the MPC that you really didn't think could be done he responds:

"Lord Finesse the 4000 he got that thing where it actually stands up and talks and walks around the house and makes coffee"

Recorded live with Akai MPC 4000 with acapella from vinyl

In the studio with 9th Wonder (Part 1)

9th Wonder who's now considered a go to super producer in Hip Hop, lifetime member of Little Brother (named after the Little Brother ARP synthesizer), waxes eleqoent here about the challenges and titans of sample based music: Pete Rock, DJ Premier, Just Blaze and particularly emphasizing Blueprint. 



He reflects on his own father's musical education which taught him arrangement, the manual challenges of physically chopping up samples, how a great producer never really has a 'throw away' beat, knowing the production history of 70's records 'what to chop and what not to chop', as well as how it takes a true musical sense- actual ability to play piano or other instruments- to reconstruct samples in a melodious way.  "It's just hard."



Random Axe added to Rock The Bells

Random Axe (Black Milk, Guilty Simpson, Sean Price) has been added to this years Rock The Bells tour with headliners including Nas (with special guests Pete Rock, AZ & DJ Premier) Black Star (Mos Def & Talib Kwali), Mobb Deep, Cypress Hill, Raekwon, Ghostface Killah, the GZA, Immortal Technique, Slaughterhouse and Ms. Lauryn Hill.  Rock The Bells 11 will be hosted by The RZA, Murs 3:16 and Supernatural.