P045: Cabeza de Vaca – Anthony Naples special.

Brooklyn-based producer and DJ Anthony Naples has had the dream career start, as Jordan Rothlein points out in his Breaking through feature for Resident Advisor from November last year. After one 12” he already had the ear of Four Tet enough to be asked for a remix for the track “128 Harps”. From there it was label contact and plenty of positive praise. And yet he has still only released four 12”s, so few that we can actually feature one track from each on this weeks Cabeza de Vaca show over at Scanner FM.

But there will plenty more to come from him you imagine, with a rumoured album for Trilogy Tapes in the pipe. He is also working on his DJing and has contributed this recent warm-up set over at the Fader which is also available for free download.

There are also a lot of other new comers on the show this week, such as Ex-Pylon who open the show with a long psychedelic jam track, the type of which we love on Cabeza de Vaca. One curiosity of this track, and several others we played recently, is the heavy use of EQing. It seems almost becoming a stylistic trend of a lot of modern house. We have seen a lot of it in the work of Torn Hawk on LIES, with Mr. Tophat and Art Alfie on Karlovak  and Dense and Pika on Hotflush  to name but a few. I have even seen a little discussion in comments pages about it and its relation to modern digital DJing as on one level, bringing the track in and out so much is one of the DJs jobs, and now with digital beat matching and so on, it is more and more possible to have an automated feel.

I mention as well the “other” group Pylon who were contemporaries of early REM in Athens, Georgia in the early 1980s. Legend has it that Pylon’ second album “Chomp” came out around the same time as REMs debut EP “Chronic Town” and REM were despairing that Pylon were so much better. Pylon are hardly forgotten, but there is a certain irony in thinking of these petty jealousies given the immortal status that REM went on to achieve and where Pylon ended up.

Watching this video from 1981 it is also hard to accept or remember that even REM was considered a “dance band” before the release of “Murmur” in 1983. Almost the only gigs available in the quiet university town of Athens and the surrounding area where student parties, which meant beer and dancing. This is why so much of the music from this area and era adds more funk to the post punk edginess, including Pylon, The B52s and early REM. In fact, there is a certain amount of music to be reclaimed here and recontextualised in club culture. There is always such a hidden wealth of guitar-pop-funk waiting to be championed again and re-used in a party/dancing context, from REM to INXS and beyond. This will be half the theme at least of next week’s show, but in the modern context.

REM of course covered the Pylon song “Crazy” as a B-side that ended up as the opening track on the collection “Dead Letter Office”.

Number	Artist	Track	Label	Year
1	Ex-Pylon	Shakes	Studio Barnhus	2013
2	Youandewan	You tired	Simple Records	2013
3	Anthony Naples	Moscato A1	Mister Saturday Night Records	2013
4	Anthony Naples	La Cuarta	Trilogy Tapes	2013
5	Anthony Naples	Mad disrespect	Mister Saturday Night Records	2012
6	Anthony Naples	I don’t see them	Rubadub	2013
7	Steven Tang	Potential Light	Smallville	2013
8	Dopeus	Don't I need you	Third Ear Recordings	2013

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P029: Cabeza de Vaca – Omar S.

Detroit legend Alez “Omar” Smith or Omar S gets a going over this week on Cabeza de Vaca show and Scanner FM. In particular, we highlight his fourth album “Thank You For Letting Me Be Myself”, released in March this year. The title is a decent follow up to 2011s “It can be done, but only I can do it”, suggesting a bit of ego behind the man. However, Omar S does say in a recent interview for Juno

 

“I name it that because all my fans kept telling me to be yourself, keep doing what you do. Thanks Homie’s and Tender Roni’s. This is why I did this Album, for my fans.”

 

The real gift to the fans is the music, however, which once again stands tall, athough perhaps not quite as exciting as “It can be done…”. There is a little bit more restraint this time around, the only exceptions being the slightly misogynistic samples from “the street” between a couple of the tracks and the second track (really the first after a small intro) which features the contribution of Luke Hess as well.

 

 

Luke Hess of course recently released a new album on FXHE, which is the label run by Omar S and who also helps out with some remixes.

 

Perhaps the only thing left to do is work a bit more on the cover art! But full respects with such a sustained level of quality over the years.

Number	Artist	Track	Label	Year
1	Benjamin Brunn	A sun life	Third Ear Recordings	2012
2	Paranoid London	Paris Dub 1 (feat. Paris Brightledge)	Paranoid London Records	2012
3	Diva	But I've Never	New Kanada	2012
4	Omar S & Aaron 'Fit' Siegel	Tonite (feat. L'Renee)	FXHE	2012
5	Omar S	The Shit Baby (CP-1 Played By D.Taylor)	FXHE	2013
6	Omar S	Hellter Shelter	FXHE	2013
7	Omar S	Triangulum Australe	FXHE	2012
8	U	Haunted	ManMakeMusic	2012
9	Gerry Read	Evidence	Fourth Wave	2012

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