"When I think about making a rap record I'm thinking almost more in terms of an architect building a building then I am thinking about playing a certain turn-around," Raj says. And to tie it all together we asked Joshua Stamper and the Dark Horse Orchestra to create the connective tissue between the movements that makes this piece work together as a whole. We recruited another Philadelphia rapper, Yikes the Zero, and drummer Ricardo Lagomasino to add surreality and intensity to movement 2. We brought in our friends RJD2, and Dave Hartley of The War on Drugs and Nightlands to lend their unique musical voices to movements 1 and 3. We decided to reach out to some key guests to help give each section their own vibe. Raj wanted each movement to stand alone, but also serve the larger purpose of the piece. It became more about creating a connection of empathy than I thought I would be doing."Īs the concept was materializing, we were busy searching for the team that could pull off Toynbee Suite. So the approach for Toynbee Suite was new for me, because I was ostensibly embarking on writing about the philosophy" of this mysterious artist "who we really know nothing about. "I'm not a story-telling rapper," he cautions though. Raj went to tremendous lengths to explore the mystery and Toynbee Suite plays like a deep investigation of another mind-Every line has some reference to the mystery, every corner of the song reveals some new perspective. This meant getting in the head of the tiler and finding an arc. "There's a desire to mirror the philosophy at every juncture of the movements." "The music contours to my sense of feeling I get reading those four lines, almost like a poem," he says. ![]() Raj decided to take each line of the tiles and unpack it, finding a unique vibe and lyrical idea within it and pour it into a movement. And so when Weathervane approached me about doing an episode of Shaking Through, I thought this might be the perfect opportunity to take that idea and build it from the ground up." They have always held my interest-they are so cryptic and so awesome. "Any time I'm walking somewhere over a mile, I'll see one. "Here in Philadephia, there are a lot of them," explains Haldar. ![]() What does that mean? Boy, where to start. The most intriguing part is that almost all of them read the same thing: No one knows where they come from they have been puzzling pedestrians, road crews and conspiracy-theorists for years. They can be subtly located-often on crosswalks or where someone on foot might see them. We've had sessions where finishing a 4 minute song challenged us, so 10 minutes with basically 4 songs inside it? we knew the only way this might have a chance of happening is if it we were meticulously organized and the process was a true team effort.īut first, a little bit about these Toynbee Tiles: If you live in a city-especially on the east coast-you may have seen the conspiracy-laden panels someone has been embedding in asphalt for the past 30 years. After all, the rules are clear: 2 days, start to finish. ![]() The question at then end of that meeting wasn't whether the idea was great enough, it was whether we could pull it off. We left with our brains coming out our ears. Flush with enthusiasm, we started riffing, and in those early hours of the collaboration we started drafting the core ideas of what would become Toynbee Suite: Four movements, 10+ minutes, guests like RJD2, Nightlands and Yikes the Zero, orchestral arrangements by Joshua Stamperand a conceptual framework about the mysterious Toynbee Tiles that propels the whole piece. ![]() Known for his '90s boom-bap flow, chamber-pop flourishes, and low-fi bedroom experimentation, Lushlife (aka Raj Haldar) seemed like a perfect fit for Shaking Through.So this past spring we sat down with him to talk about what he might do with 2 days free days in the studio. If you pay attention to hip hop, especially Philadelphia hip hop, you know the name Lushlife, a South Philadelphia based producer, emcee and instrumentalist.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |