Future musics

Future Soul events in America (Not easy to make happen)

I know first hand that it's really difficult to get events for our type of music going stateside. Some of us have had better luck then others. As promoters and djs what types of challeges have you had? What can be done to make it better? How do we bring this music to the people?

Let us know what goes on in your area.

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by AYBEE on March 8, 2008 at 2:40am: o.

thas did

im at u

Permalink Reply by lil'dave (ill!) on March 17, 2008 at 3:03pm: that "looking for followers" statement is exactly how we need approach things

Permalink Reply by lil'dave (ill!) on March 17, 2008 at 3:05pm: you are right, man!; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Onyx Ashanti on March 18, 2008 at 3:24am: so here's what i think in a nutshell. church. the concept.

do you music for the musically religious. church people are trained from almost birth that they must go to church regularly for their spiritual enlightenment and that they must pay to keep it going. each one of us must start our own "church". in my case, the church of onyx ashanti. you cater to the religious. the ones that really really dig what you do, and you treat them with respect.

do you events/music etc for the few...the niche', then let them go out and preach your gospel. make no mistake...churches are the origin of neurolinguistics and the megachurches are some of the most psychologically sophisticated orginazations on the planet and have been for thousands of years.

find those few people that love what you do, and have a party for them, not you. make them feel special, and they will return the favor. i am preparing my afterparty series for san francisco (first one in april), berlin and london, and hope to be able to cross pollinate talent from each of these cities. when i touch down in each city, i am only going to let a small number of people know that i'm "having a little get together", and but rest assured, it will have the dopest cats i can get, including myself. those that come will know, without a doubt, that they are special. the event will be focused on creating the very best vibe for our "followers".

I say all this because past a certain threshold, you can do things on a small scale that are cost prohibitive on a large scale (like those raves back in the day that used to have someone handing out fresh fruit). if you can create zealots out of the people you have coming, they will happily support such a loving and inclusive environment. but you have to focus on a core of people and grow from there.

onyx

Permalink Reply by John Johnson on May 19, 2008 at 3:01pm: Aybee, Thank You! I think you just blew my mind...
That last post of yours belongs on a T-shirt. Don't think anyone will ever say it any better. You seem to have a real handle on both the art of effective communication, AND keeping a cool head while facing the same struggle that quickly drives so much of us to the boiling point :); ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by brokenbeatnik on April 3, 2008 at 2:50pm: You cats are definitely both speaking the truth Onyx and AYBEE. I was just talking about that last weekend with a DJ down in Miami, how Clear Channel and the big labels decide what 10 songs we're going to listen to in each genre for the next 3 months, and how that forms a sort of trance (I think you nailed that description), and you can't easily get to good music even in the traditional R&B/Soul or Hip-Hop space, or for that matter in Rock or Indie. It's hurting all music, not just Black music.

You're on point AYBEE with your observation that if you build the bridge, people will walk over it. My own future music journey was a bit unusual. I started out listening to fusion and post-fusion/pre-smooth jazz as a kid, with a sprinkling of hip-hop and liberal doses of V-103 R&B , gangsta rap, and Magic Mike style booty bass. I evolved into straight ahead jazz and loved '90s hip-hop and reggae deeply, with a smattering of house, though I didn't feel it until later. I heard Bjork's I Miss You hip-hop Remix by Howie B one day in Seattle (bridge #1) and was able to connect hip-hop to electronica, with DJ Shadow finishing the job. Got into a little D'n'B after a trip to London because of my love for beats, then 4 hero's Two Pages (bridge #2) finished connecting the dots for me and gave me a bridge back home.

There's more, but more details aren't necessary. My point is that although my ear was iconoclastic, my brain needed a little help catching up, and those bridges of known and loved music to the newer unknown styles are indeed necessary. And you're right, they have to be built with love and respect for where people are. Just because cats are hypnotized doesn't mean that they're dumb. If somebody had come to me and told me when I was 18 that DJ Smurf or The Hard Boyz were bullshit and I need to be listening to whatever, I would have been like, "Eff you" and rolled on.

As for the church comment, that's dead on too. In Atlanta, the "little get togethers" are where the magic happens, even if they're not so little. I went to House in the Park last Labor Day Sunday, having heard about it not via any big pub, but just through my network, showed up mad about some pettiness going on in my life, and couldn't stay mad. By the end I was suffused with joy, with Tamara Wellums' track "Oh Well" echoing through my head. And don't even get me started on Co-op Miami last Friday. When the music brings you that kind of joy, you really do get closer to God, however you interpret God. And you want to share the good news, which is what the gospel literally is.

Feeling both of you cats for making it happen on the West Coast. I love the energy out in the Bay for partying, I think it's one of the more receptive and forward-looking cities, and the genre walls aren't quite as high. Hopefully next time I'm out there y'all will be doing something.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Onyx Ashanti on April 3, 2008 at 7:24pm: i'll tell you. although some may argue that the method is flawed as a long term concept, I LOVE street performing. you can check out one of those performances on my profile under "keeping it real". I even believe that it is going to be an important method now and in the future.

what i realized years ago is that;

(a) i can encounter THOUSANDS of people a day. people who would not regularly go to the clubs i go to, if they went to clubs at all.
(b) I can interact with those people directly. they can come up, look at my gear, ask questions, hang out, etc.
(c) they get turned on to music that they would probably never have even thought about.

Ironically, i started street performing at Underground Atlanta back in '92 (i play wind controller) back when it was me, the wine glass guy, D'xposure, the one man band, and those two cats with all the keyboards that played in the food court (yeah, waaaaay back in the day, when Phoenix was the hot hip hop club, ear wax had second saturdays and no one knew what to expect from the next "funkjazz cafe"). Atlanta was very supportive and back then, you could hear lots of different kinds of music.

at present, I once again find that people are very much into my "beatjazz" style when i play on the street (it doesnt hurt that it is always sunny and reasonably warm here) which translates into people on my mailing list, going to my website, to my shows, buying my CDs, downloading my tracks, etc. i am able to grab those people. which, i then utilize, at a profit.

the most important thing is to push it. push the boundaries of style, interpretation and form. most people wont "get it" but the overt unfamiliarity can instigate a sort of brain pahse shift where people are so shocked by the energy, style, newness, emotion... whatever, that they are drawn to it and you. which can help alot when you finally tell those people that you are throwing a party or releasing an album. and they will ease the "you" transistion of all their friends, and then you are a super star and women want you, and guys want to be you, blah, blah, blah...

onyx; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by AYBEE on April 3, 2008 at 9:03pm: Brokenbeatnik

Word

This is about us emabracing each others humanity, and through that we can share the message of the rhythm...

respekt; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Aklimatize / BlackTop on April 9, 2008 at 9:54pm: Its a tough one... we are all dealing with the same issues here... Huge Costs for Flights, Long Distance Trips, Small Markets in reality compared to Europe, More Legal and Red Tape Issues in North America... where do we start....?

I'm going to read through all comments posted before going any further, just jumped on this topic...

Peace and Respect to all my N. American Peeps... We are not alone.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by K7 on May 22, 2008 at 1:29am: Coming into this kind of late but all I have to say about this thread is wow. A magnificent amount of knowledge has been dropped.

People in America are extremely close minded but what I've found is that the best way to get people on board this worldwide underground music is to tag onto another scene not related to music.
I got some connections in my local art scene and they hooked me up with my first gig at a gallery opening last December. I was a nervous wreck in the weeks leading up to it thinking "aww man these people are about to kick me out when I get up there playing nonmainstream music." It got really bad when me and my boy arrived at the gallery. Picture this; two young black guys in an art gallery in a southern city where a lot of young black dudes are on that wanna be thug tip. Talk about weird looks I think it was less "them being racist" and more "them just being ignorant" and thinking "oh my goodness Marge I bet they're going to play crunch that soldier man!?!" Anyway we set up and the first song I dropped was Jazzanova's Remix of that 4hero song we who are not as others. People we're like OH..MY..GOD.. WHO IS THIS MAN. Anyway over the course of the night i played some bossa nova broken beat nu jazz afrobeat deep house downtempo electro funk disco and topped it all off with some drum and bass. It was supposed to be a nice little gallery opening but after i warmed up the set(and people got a little wine in them) I kept the place packed with people dancing for 4 hours. All night people were coming up to me asking what kind of music all of this was and telling me it was incredible, and i learned a valuable lesson, bring business cards.
After that I've been booked for a lot more artist events around town and at each one I expose more people to the positive music going on in the world. When I have tried to get people that spin this generic house and drum and bass and breakbeat in town to listen to innovative/creative/inspired MUSIC they just are like nah I know everything thats out...broken beat?? don't you mean breakbeat d000d like DJ Icey??!?. So its almost like the people that should have open minds about music are the most close minded.
Most important lesson I learned is that you have to go outside of the scene to create a new one.; ▶ Reply to This