After a spring hiatus to focus on songwriting with my bands and research with Zenph, I am happy to return to the blogosphere.  The rest of the year will feature countowns to some projects I am very excited to share with you, including:

1. a mixtape from The Beast called Freedom Suite, hosted by 9th Wonder with a roster of guest vocalists, MCs, jazz musicians, and DJs so thick that I can’t tell you who they are (…yet )

2. Orquesta GarDel’s debut EP with two original songs, and a big dance party to celebrate its release

3. The free re-release of a past album, very near and dear to me (no hints yet!)

4. more new videos, essays, surprise collaborations

5. I am in the pre-pre-pre-pre planning stages for my debut jazz album as a bandleader.  Not a very musical process so far: applying for grants, thinking about material selection and recording logistics. I’ll be writing about the project as it unfolds; I’ve been waiting all my life to do this!

This week The Beast heads out on the road to Washington DC, New York, and Providence.  Please come support us if you live in the area!

I am thrilled to announce the release of The Beast’s self-produced debut album, Silence Fiction, on October 16th, 2009 with a killer release party at Duke Coffeehouse in Durham that same day.  Here is a link to the press release about the album.  I feel like I’m having my first baby (except that it’s a 4-way collaborative birthing process, and it did take nine months from rehearsing/tracking to mastering/album art).  Silence Fiction is my first experience co-producing and releasing a full-length album on a significant scale (indie budget, professional studios, robust sales plan, etc.) and as such I will post a few articles over the coming weeks reflecting on what I’ve learned in the process and what you can expect to hear when you purchase the album.

As a teaser, here is “Translation,” the lead single from Silence Fiction.  Featured on the track is my other major project, Orquesta GarDel.  Pierce’s lyrics are inspired by the true story of when he took Raphael Saadiq to see a GarDel show after his own concert at DPAC.  Methinks there are more hip hop/salsa collaborations in my future…

I hope you enjoy the track, let me know what you think!

I’m happy to announce The Beast’s second release, entitled Catalyst.  This came about through working with the Durham Arts Council and Sound Pure Studios to do a fundraiser concert.  We wrote two songs for the occasion, with two great collaborators in mind: vocalist Nnenna Freelon and guitarist Chris Boerner (The Proclivities, Mosadi Music).  The entire Catalyst project came together in just three weeks from songwriting to tracking to mixing to album art, a fantastic effort from everybody involved.

Please tell all your friends that you can download the album for free at our newly redesigned site: www.thebeastmusic.com.  I hope you enjoy it!

From the press release:

Durham, NC – On May 21, 2009 visionary hip-hop quartet The Beast, and Grammy nominee Nnenna Freelon performed an intimate benefit show for the Durham Arts Council at Sound Pure Studios. Held entirely within the recording studio, Freelon performed one song which she, along with Sound Pure staff members, used as an opportunity to explain the recording process for the attendees. The Beast closed the show, performing two original songs: “Once Again,” featuring Nnenna Freelon, and “Come Up, Come Down,” featuring guitarist Chris Boerner. This intimate live performance, recorded and mixed at Sound Pure Studios, will be released Monday, June 15, 2009, as a free downloadable EP entitled Catalyst, exclusively at www.thebeastmusic.com.

The Durham Arts Council billed the show as “a unique evening of music, fabulous food, and an inside look at the artistic process in a recording studio.” With only 25 seats available, the event sold out quickly. All proceeds went towards the Durham Arts Council’s arts education program and grants. While Catalyst is available as a free downloadable EP, The Beast encourages a donation to the Durham Arts Council, with the hopes that their music will continue to support the arts in Durham beyond the May 21st performance.

Color me some version of the middle variety: I want to write, but haven’t found the focus of this particular blog. Is it for me to announce achievements, shows, and new tracks? Is it to posit myself as an expert in my field (at least a dozen books for $15 on Amazon tell you to use your blog to do this)? Is it to post whimsical life observations? I suppose it is a mixture of all three, which represents the present state of my life. I am not yet a full-time “career artist”, I am not on the hustle 24/7. A large part of my creativity and energy goes into my role as a technologist and researcher at Zenph Studios (which I love). Another large part goes into directing or participating in The Beast and Orquesta GarDel. There’s my ever-maturing relationship with Lauren. And somewhere on the side is a guy who practices and composes and is just waiting to leap out and speak his true voice more often. A fractured life? Perhaps. But a disconnected one? Hardly. A thread of gratitude and experiential education weaves through everything.

I wanted to use this post to “press reset” and catch you up on some of the cool things I’ve done in the past few weeks. Each deserves its own well-written post, but a list will have to suffice instead.

1. Orquesta Gardel played its first out-of-town gig at a Cinco de Mayo festival in Charleston, South Carolina. Andy and I rehearsed the group, packed a cooler of killer sandwiches and ferried 13 people 300 miles away in 5 cars (couldn’t afford a van rental). It’s tough to play to a crowd of strangers, especially ones who are serious about their Latin music, but we made a lot of friends by the end of the night. The DJ even announced us in at the after party!

2. The Beast has been working hard on its full-length album. We are finally bringing to life the tracking session we did in January at Sound Pure studios. Songs are being rearranged, I’m writing a lot of horn charts and programming some clever synth stuff. This will be the biggest recording project I’ve worked on thus far. Our baby has a far way to go, but it promises to be a very unique album.

3. I got to hear and meet Moldover at Alliviah’s in Durham last weekend. This is the guy who coined the word “controllerism,”: a true instrument developer and sound-reimaginer. His original music is really cool, and his efforts to educate and build a community around controllerism are to be respected. I really look up to him for combining clever programming with meaningful musical results, one day I’d like to have more time to develop this side of my craft.  Check out his videos here.

4. I have an intern at Zenph.  This kid is brilliant. As an electronic artist, he goes by the name Hidden Cat, and his songs have been reviewed by Rolling Stone and charted in the U.K.  Awesome!  We’re working on a re-performance of rock legend, Jerry Lee Lewis.

That’s all I can think of for now, time to go buy some basil plants at the farmer’s market (how Saturday of you, Eric!).  Stay tuned next week for a big announcement about a special Beast release (not the album, something sooner and sweeter)!

And The Beast, Saturday afternoon.  Some GarDel horn players sitting in.

Thanks to Sylvia of Onda Carolina for recording and posting these videos.  It was a fantastic weekend all around.

GarDel at Spring Shakori '08; photo credit Jeff Fowler

I feel like my life has been on fast forward with no pause to breathe over these past three weeks.  Upon returning from the Kennedy Center residency and concerts, I dove into rehearsals for Orquesta GarDel and The Beast,  founded and performed with a dream project of mine, a live electronica quartet (great first show, guys! let’s do it again soon!), as well as helped Zenph Studios finish up our third album (Rachmaninoff), annnnnd filed the dreaded income taxes.

But it is all worth it because this weekend is the Shakori Hills Grassroots Festival of Music and Dance.  Every time I come to this festival as a performer, I am energized by the positive, appreciative vibe of the attendees, campers, and volunteers.  Being surrounded by woods with no internet is also invigorating, of course.  This festival marks some firsts for me:

1. Orquesta GarDel will be unveiling an original song (one of many to come) as well as a re-vamped stage show (Thursday 10:45pm Dance Tent)

2. Not only will The Beast be playing (Saturday 5:20pm Meadow Stage), but also giving two workshops about harnessing the power of creativity through understanding the story of African-American music, as well as hosting a jam session for teenagers.  I am really looking forward to seeing who shows up and contributes to these experiences.

3. This is the first Beast show to feature a live horn section (featuring my great friends, Andy Kleindienst and Tim Smith, both also in GarDel).  I wrote the charts late last night, we rehearsed today, it really gives a new element to the show.

4. Lauren (my fiancée, I will do a separate post about how awesome and wonderful and amazing she is and how we are totally pumped that we’ve got a wedding date on the calendar) and I are camping overnight.  So long taxes, hello vegan food, campfires, ponchos, and hula hoopers!

Day and weekend passes are still available at the Shakori website.  Come find me and say hello!

You can read my article and participate in the discussion here:

http://blackademics.org/2009/03/30/black-music-ambassador-falls-short-on-hip-hop/

***UPDATE 04/10/09***

Here is the video of the lecture in question.  An amazing performance, but an unfortunate slight to an important genre.

In the meantime, I was surprised (and giddy) to find out that the Independent Weekly has written an article about the Top 10 things to listen for in the Triangle in the upcoming year, and The Beast is number three! Thanks for the words of encouragement, Grayson; we strive to challenge ourselves in rehearsal and performance to combine our influences in unexpected ways that are meaningful for us and exciting for the audience. I think this is the first time there has been press describing what The Beast seems to be all about. See what you think:

One of the Triangle’s new bright lights, Durham’s The Beast subverts a half-dozen stereotypes, and that’s just staring at the surface: The Beast, for instance, isn’t a metal band, and the name’s not a reference to malt liquor. Instead, the multi-racial quartet makes live band hip-hop that opens its doors to history—Bob Marley covers, Gil Scott-Heron references, soul vocals, jazz style and taste—as emcee Pierce Freelon (yes, he has a mom) implodes preconceptions about being black in Durham. Listen to his “More2Me,” and relish in the possibilities for them and, well, for us.

Have a great Friday!

(here are the links if you can’t see the embedded videos: first clip, second clip, third clip)

This weekend is the Shakori Hills Grassroots Music Festival and The Beast is appearing on the main stage Friday 10/10 at 5:45pm.  If you want to hear some great music and relive your Woodstock days, head on down to Silk Hope, NC!