"MASTERED
THE ART"
Ubiquity
Records' longest-running artist presents his third album, Mastered
The Art. With a slick collection of soundtrack-inspired instrumentals
and fat hip-hop tracks producer and DJ Greyboy is back, bang-up-to-date
with sounds that will please his long-time fans and turn a lot
of new heads.
Mastered The Art is less jazz-based and slightly more experimental
than the previous two Greyboy albums, Freestylin' and Land of
The Lost. It's still the kind of laid-back affair you might expect
from a Southern Californian beat-head, but with the Greyboy twist.
There is a heavy Italian feel to the instrumentals--as acoustic
guitars and strings hug the fat beats and catchy bass lines. In
fact this heavy dose of Italiana led us to ask high flying Italian
producer Nicola Conte to remix the title track--a big bossa remix
featured on limited 10" and as a bonus cut on the album.
Chase-scene suspense tracks like "Logan's Run" and "Instantly"
or the mysterious sound of "Marrakech" give Mastered
The Art a soundtrack-like quality. These are nicely balanced by
bouncing hip-hop party tracks like "Hold it Down" and
"Ghetto Boogie".
Andreas Stevens, aka Greyboy, born 1970, and residing in San Diego,
has gone full circle. He was the first artist to sign to Ubiquity,
and his first full-length album is still the label's all-time
best seller. Not bad for a record that cost less than $4000 to
make, and sold on an advertising budget of $0! He was a man in
the right place at the right time. While the acid jazz phenomenon
was brewing in Europe in the early 1990s, Greyboy became the first
American producer to mix beats with jazz. His chunky beat-making
sensibilities earned him praise from the European crowd, and his
tracks were heard by crowds checking out DJs like UK-based Gilles
Peterson, Marcus Wyatt (LA), and DJ Smash (NYC). "When I
first started making beats, I was making hip-hop. Since I couldn't
find MC's to work with, I decided to try the jazz thing and lace
my tracks with live instruments instead. That's where Karl Denson
and the Greyboy Allstars came into the picture", explains
Greyboy.
Michael McFadin, founder of Ubiquity records recalls the story
of how Greyboy came to sign for Ubiquity, "It's been nearly
a decade since my wife Jody and I received our first phone call
from Andreas Stevens [Greyboy] at our record store, The Groove
Merchant. He was searching for breaks and rare grooves that he
couldn't seem to find down in San Diego. Back then he had some
notoriety as a DJ in Southern California and he had recorded an
underground house 12" that had sold 5000+ copies. He had
grown up on hip-hop but had caught the bug for collectible rare
groove. We started getting weekly calls, and he started getting
weekly shipments. This was about the time we had started our label
and Grey mentioned that he thought he could produce music for
the label and started sending rough mixes. With some feedback
from us, he began searching for live musicians and incorporating
them into his music. Enter Karl Denson and Marc Antoine (both
of whom have gone on to have their own successful careers). "Unwind
Your Mind" was the first completed track; and, more than
any other cut, it carried the sales of the Home Cookin' compilation."
Once hailed as a leader of the American acid jazz sound, Stevens
went into hiding as a producer as the scene took a turn for the
worse. He started a hip-hop label called P-Jays with world famous
skateboarder Rob Dyrdek. "I have done soundtracks for skateboard
flicks and have been friends with a lot of people in the industry,
because it's mostly centered around San Diego;" explains
Stevens, "and for some reason skateboarders are notorious
for liking hip-hop and jazz type beats."
After two P-Jays compilations, many 12" releases, and working
with artists like AG (of Showbiz and AG), Stevens decided it was
time to re-light the Greyboy fire and set to work on Mastered
The Art. Maturing as a producer and longing to push the Greyboy
sound forward, Stevens sketched outlines of tracks. "I only
use samples from vinyl to create my tracks, and for the last few
years I have been using a lot of easy listening and obscure instrumentals
for textures that have a worldly sound, as opposed to the predominantly
jazz sounds that I had on my older records."
Stevens teamed up with CuBop vibraphonist Dave Pike, Greyboy Allstars
alumnus Elgin Park, and MC Mainflo from Mood to bring his ideas
to life. "I think each song has its moments, and I really
owe that to my collaborations with Elgin Park and Main Flo. Dave
Pike is one of the coolest artists that I have ever worked with,
and Elgin is just out of his mind. He has so many good ideas and
knows how to play so many different instruments," says Stevens.
"I would say that my approach was the same--to make tracks
that I like and expand on them with live instruments--only this
time I had MC's to work with as well. My production skills have
grown, and I wanted to show that--including more scratching than
I have done on any of my other releases," he adds.
Stevens' favorite producers include James Brown, Q-Bert, DJ Premier,
Mobb Deep, and the Beatnuts; and while Mastered The Art dives
into new territory for him, his influences remain the same: "any
recording from the late '60s to the late '70s that has that fat
sound...you know, the kind you can't really reproduce!"
An average day for Stevens means waking up at 7:30am (he can't
sleep!) and either making beats, trying to find records for inspiration,
or a new piece of furniture for his house. "I bought a house
that was designed in 1960 by a modern architect and soon after
discovered the world of mid-century modern design; now it is my
main thing next to music," he says. For the furniture freaks
reading this, his prize possessions are a coffee table designed
by Alexander Girard and swag leg desk and kangaroo chair by George
Nelson. He also drives a metallic gold 1970 Ford Torino GT (pictured
on the cover of the album), with sound "powered" by
an 8-track collection. "Right now I have Henry Mancini cop
show themes loaded; but I have about 50 selections that I choose
from, including all 3 Cymande releases, Grant Green Final Comedown,
and a bunch of other funky ones."
Stevens is an avid DJ and will be supporting this album with dates
in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle, Chicago, and New York
on an initial tour in the weeks following release of the album.
Dates will follow soon. |
