UZ
UZ Skip Proof Scratch Sounds Vol 01

It's at the very beginning of MF Doom's career that Moar interested himself in the sound of the late artist. He quickly became a big fan of Doom's instrumental projects Special Herbs. This new beat tape is a tribute to his use of samples. Take note that even the name of the tracks have been changed, will you find out what are the originals?

Otis Stacks, three syllables. A name and a first name that recall a mythical singer as much as the Memphis music label that got him to it’s days of glory. A name that evokes him in particular and soul music in general. Behind a name that sounds familiar are Elias Wallace and Justmike, two men united to become one: Otis Stacks. In truth, the optimized version of a work started long ago, when Justmike was producing the Danish hip-hop sound of Dafuniks and decided to get in touch with Elias after hearing his voice on a friend’s tune. He first wanted him to lay his voice on a chorus, then a verse, and ended letting him take over the lyrics of “All I Want”, the song that would later bring Dafuniks on air and around Europe. After traveling miles and miles across the ocean and the seas separating California from Denmark, Elias undeniably became a member of the group. As gigs went on, stages after stages, Justmike got inspired by Elias’s voice and presence. Thus, the idea of a duo collaboration between the two men geminated and grew in his mind. As the evidence of their getting along, “Fashion Drunk” became the first tune to infiltrate Nova and FIP radio playlists, as its music video reached 8 million views. This now obvious complicity as extended in the form of an album, also called Fashion Drunk, released by Underdogs Records. With this French stopover, the line between California and Denmark is now completed. The result is an artistic fusion in which Justmike has plugged his instruments to the machines he uses to compose, letting Elias in charge of the lyrics and singing. Here, the soul music is printed as a guideline in an organic and digital composite matter. In an ethereal and aerial production that perches its arrangements in the air of the mix or buries them in its bases, letting electro music spread on a groove punched with black and white keys. Each element intervenes with discretion to let Elias stories be related with elegance. Frustrated, disappointed or aborted love stories.

Paris based Roforofo Jazz is a 7-piece liveband fronted by Chicago born MC Days (aka RacecaR), with a certain taste for adventurous blends, mixing hip hop, afrobeat and jazz into their very own style.After more than 15 years slashing the afrobeat of Les Freres Smith with his guitar cuts, Martin Smith digged into the musical sediments and silts in a swamp of hip hop, funk groove, afro power, jazz freedom radicality, with a certain taste for adventurous blends. This wax solid 5 tracks Vinyl was recorded live in Montreuil (France) at Studios La Peche, in November 2019, just a few weeks after the band toured in Nigeria and played at the mythical New Afrika Shrine on the occasion of Felabration 2019, where they got invited to perform by the Fela Kuti family for a series of concerts in Lagos.The 5 titles include the single “Fire Eater”, a raw afro hip hop tune mixing rhythms in the tradition of polyrhythm afrofunk tunes, while also alternating in between jazzy mood and burning hip hop anthem. “Dump It” is a dark, mid tempo beat, borrowing the groove signature of ethiopian soul, and coated with hip hop sharp drops, while horns bring the jazzyness through their themes. “Helelyos” is a cover/extrapolation of Iranian singer Zia’s hit, to which Days vocals bring an heavy old school hip hop vibe. “2Kick1” is a relentless afrobeat oriented tune, though with a languorous spacy chorus that breaks with the traditional afrobeat routine. And “What We Think We Saw” ends the EP with an opening to more psychedelic visions, in which a Gil Scott-Heron spoken word style meets jazzy space echoes, flutes under massive reverbs in a global vibe that could remind old analog recordings of Mandrill, Cymande or LKJ.