Month: December 2019

Paving the Way

Contemporary music scenes are fluid, conceptual entities. Jazz has historically been synonymous with shaping modern popular music; bridging the gap between the earliest phases of western popular music in the 1900s (when vaudeville, opera and big band were all the rage) and the exponential explosion of rock and pop. Some decades later, hip-hop became a thing, which, at this point, is the biggest thing in music – by way of revenue and cultural influence.

Pioneering the original fusion genre of jazz-hop is the masterful work of several American East-Coast rap groups from the late 1980s through to the mid 1990s.  Groups such as Digable Planets, Gang Starr and Jungle Brothers; musical luminaries operating with smooth sounds in a hip-hop sphere dominated at the time by street/gangster culture and rhetoric, founded the platform for alternative rhymes and rhythms. Grasping the baton of bright beats and bolting towards international acclaim and fame however, were De La Soul and A Tribe Called Quest. Proficient, prolific and poignant; these two trios embodied the essence of jazzy hip-hop.

In welding traditional African-American music of past decades (jazz and R&B/soul) with a new-found form of contemporary black music, they cultivated a fresh spirit into an all-too macho scene beyond music – in fashion and moral attitudes too.  

Paying tribute to and reinvigorating classical jazz sounds whilst expanding the hip-hop horizon is absolutely paramount to the ethos of the movement. While the rhythms of jazz-rap stemmed entirely from hip-hop, the samples and sonic textures are extracted from cool jazz, soul-jazz, and hard bop.

A Soulful Spitter

Without doubt one of my favourite artists from the realm of alternative UK hip-hop is London’s very own Coops. At 27 years old, he’s released two stellar mixtapes and two fiery full-length LPs, each project teaming with self-reflective, intricate bars over sumptuously soulful, low-bpm melodies. His first ever live show happened to be at the O2 in 2013, where he opened the bill for Nas. *Mic drop*. Coops is merely the tip of a seismic iceberg of soulful British hip-hop talent.  

In an interview in late 2018 with Pyro Radio’s J-Fresh, Coops summarises his sonic stance. “I find it hard to coin myself as to what type of genre of music it is. I suppose it is hip-hop, it is rap, but it is also UK and it is fresh, its new”.

I was recently fortunate enough to see him perform, accompanied by a four-piece band. And where better to experience his live show than a stone’s throw from his native Tottenham at Camden’s famed Jazz Café? Check out some of his set below!

A Pro’s Perspective

In the pursuit of first-hand knowledge on the ever-emerging new-jazz eruption, I spoke with Ruben Astley, a sound engineer and music producer, whom I met at the Coops gig in November.

What’s your take on the sudden surge in the ‘new-jazz’ sound?“
Well I’m all for it! Ask any musician and they try to avoid labels but there is definitely a jazzy movement at the moment over here, in the States and Europe with a mix of different genres.”

Yeah right! Not that I’m a musician by any stretch, but I understand when I hear artists say that. Just for ease of reference with this feature though, I’m rolling with ‘new-jazz’. Do you see it breaking into mainstream territory?
I think certain artists’ music is already popular with the masses and it’s been that way for a while since streaming became so big. If you mean will it be topping the charts then I don’t think so anytime soon. Pop and commercial hip-hop are by far the most popular genres at the minute.

Who’s getting the most plays from your ‘new-jazz-ish’ playlists?
“Hah. That’s better, the ‘ish’ widens the margins a bit. I’ve been big into instrumental guys like Tom Misch, Yussef Dayes and Alfa Mist for a while now. [there’s] Also June Marieezy, Masego, FKJ and Jordan Rakei… how long have you got?”

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Of the artists Ruben reeled off to me, all are accomplished multi-instrumentalists, most of them very decent vocalists, too. To make matters finer, they are all closely affiliated collaborators, working in tandem both in studios and on stages.

Aside from stream figures and views on YouTube, would you say there’s a genuine interest in jazz at a grassroots, authentic level? Do people go to shows just to flex and post it on Instagram?“
I’ve engineered lots of gigs and a few studio sessions this year, not all of them were strictly jazz but it feels as though the majority of the crowd are there because they genuinely enjoy themselves. I’ve made loads of friends at shows who either make music themselves or know their stuff. There will always be people recording for whatever reason though.”

That’s a wrap

All in all, instrumental-based music across a plethora of genres and cultures is experiencing a welcome resurgence to the ears of surface-level listeners. The boom in popularity is most certainly in part due to music’s ease of access these days. Fundamentally though, in DJ Gilles Peterson’s words, “people’s tastes have become more sophisticated […] particularly among younger audiences”. Jazz is hallowed by music purists, it exudes ritzy sentiments; people like to feel enriched and sophisticated when listening to it – I know this for a fact because it’s how I feel!

Jazz was always destined to couple up with contemporary components of hip-hop, R&B and electronica, and the resulting mish-mash of new concepts in an ever-demanding musical landscape saturated with lots of crap, is a blessing for music heads.

Image of Ruben and video by Isaac Robinson. All other media from external sources.
Satisfy your ear canals with some boppy, funk-infused and avant-garde neo-jazz projects down below, if you fancy…

Navigating through life’s complexities is difficult. As a young man, the intricacies of juggling academic, financial and social pressures can be particularly problematic.

It’s no secret anymore – guys tend to cram their emotions in a bottle. At some point, you either unscrew the lid or the bottle bursts.

As a little kid I couldn’t wait to grow up. For some reason, I had it in my naïve, prepubescent mind that I’d have it all figured out by my early twenties; I’d be a professional athlete or have a well-paid job land in my lap. Perhaps this innocent arrogance could have spurred some ambition into me. In fact, it caused quite the opposite effect. Instead it made me discouraged at the thought of having not secured a sizeable salary when I had made so many plans to do this, buy that, and go there.

Introverts Assemble!

After cruising through school with painfully mediocre grades, my attention quickly turned to social life.

I was intensely focused on the adolescent cliques within my social sphere; somewhat strange as a lifelong introverted, backseat-sitter. Someone who shares similar sob stories is Tom, 22, a friend and recent nursing graduate. I spoke with him at length about the intricacies of mental balance, particularly in young men.

“At college, I’d carry around problems from home, my parents were separated at this point and their new relationships were turbulent. After my diploma, I went straight into full-time work in HR – hated every second.” There was a wry smirk on Tom’s face, he would often recount on his torrid time there with jest. “And from there I went into nursing.”

So clearly that career change was a pivotal time for you. Was there ever a financial pressure as well?
“Actually no. I was on good money at SWAS, [South West Ambulance Service – his HR role] there was just no way I could be in an office eight hours a day. It was so passive.

What’s worth noting is his emphasis on being inactive and how it negatively impacted his mindset on the daily. Limited physical exertion can prove to be subconsciously detrimental to an individual’s mental wellbeing. With a particular scope on students, a recent, UK-based article in the Journal of Mental Health concludes “Engagement in physical activity can be an important contributory factor in the mental health of undergraduate students.”

Tom certainly agreed as we read through the article abstract. He continued, “[…] so as a dialysis nurse I was on my feet all the time, seeing to patients across most of the wards. Instantly helping people first hand made me realise this is what I enjoy doing. I was scraping the barrel on apprentice wage but I looked forward to going to work.”

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Life: The Biggest Troll

Social media’s role in affecting a person’s psychological health is undoubtedly instrumental.

At the forefront of a cultural crusade is Twitter, a platform I use pretty much every day. Be it for consuming hard news as it breaks, keeping in touch with friends or reacting to humorous content with a short exhale of air via the nose – Twitter stays undefeated.

Nothing actually comes close to Twitter’s ability in gauging public opinion; social media’s power lies within the numbers; likes and retweets equal traction, leading to followers, and that’s it. That’s the cycle. On the grander scale (world politics and the like), Twitter is at the bow of a perilous ship sailing toward a potential black swan event of geopolitical chaos. It’s Instagram however doing the most damage to individual mind-sets; it’s far too easy to compare self-worth with picture-perfect people plastered across feeds. I once overheard someone summarise the ‘gram with a simile: “it’s like a popularity rat race.”

The One-Thousand-Day Dry Spell: How sexual abstinence improved my mentality.

Mental health and sex – two of the most imperative subjects out there, yet we find them the most difficult to discuss. Both of these grey areas are paramount to every individual, and everyone interprets them differently. The surge in awareness for mental health issues has no doubt helped many sufferers, and, just as importantly, educated those who do not suffer on the convoluted ins and outs in the aim of relieving stigma. Sex on the other hand, is just the sweetest taboo.

For an undisclosed reason, I abstained from sex for exactly 1,123 days. The reason remains undisclosed because I’m genuinely clueless as to how or why it happened. One thing I know for certain though, I am thankful for it providing a revision of my outlook; as an intrinsic teenager, disinterested in debauchery, I piled pressure on myself in making sex a big deal. Like a slow-moving epiphany, the realisation that caring what other people think of your personal life is phony, was setting into my mind. The ‘it’s really not that deep’ notion filled my psyche with clarity and made space to focus on important aspects of my lonely life.

Mankind’s advancement from shifting essential materials with wooden wheels to simply shifting gears in a steel vehicle is often overlooked.  Cars are ubiquitous commodities, integral components of rapidly advancing societies. Some are even pieces of art, iconographic symbols of cultural heritage.

There is something intrinsically satisfying about sitting in a tightly confined cockpit, leather-wrapped and forged from walnut, with an array of dials and switches at your fingertips. I marvel to myself at such sheer craftsmanship as I hop out of a 1965 E-Type Jaguar, and catch a strong waft of aristocracy as the door clunks shut. “I’d quite like one of these.”, I say as I turn to Caspar, the vehicle broker who was kind enough to walk and talk me through Hexagon Classics’ supreme fleet of prestige cars.

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“this desire for mechanical pleasure driving car cultures up and down the country. “

The particular car in question is undoubtedly one of the finest E-Type examples in the world; it’s all original, right-hand drive and has just over ten-thousand miles to its name. At a fiver under £250,000 though, it’s not exactly a bargain. Or is it? See, the classic car market is as prosperous as ever before. “Vehicles like these are simply relics in the eyes of their owners. All of our clients spending six figures on a car have several others anyway, so when they purchase a classic, it’s usually stored away and rarely driven.” Caspar is a proper petrolhead. He recalls the thrills of driving his father-in-law’s Jaguar, similar to the aforementioned E-Type, incidentally, oozing with exuberance.

It’s this desire for mechanical pleasure driving car cultures up and down the country. Typically, for a car to constitute as a ‘classic’, it must be no younger than twenty years. As of late 2019, there are more than 13.8 million cars on UK roads first registered before the end of 1999.

With that in mind, where does that leave the benign cars of yesteryears?  The dodgy Fiats, iconic Cortinas, maybe your dad’s old Volvo, a box on wheels, with exposed sponge from the upholstery. Motoring nuances form memories that stick with you forever. As a six-year-old I was riding shotgun with my Dad in his window-cleaning Transit, having just left for work. It was a sunny morning so I wound open the sunroof whilst my Dad put his hazards on and nipped into a shop. He hit the brakes as we approached a junction at the bottom of a hill and instantly a small tsunami of lukewarm soapy water had drenched us both. Who was I to know he put the buckets between the ladder rungs?

Capital Punishment

Without doubt, London’s air pollution levels are perilously high; a study from King’s College in 2015 concluded that nearly 9,500 premature deaths are directly and indirectly caused by nitrogen dioxide (N02) and particulate matter (PM2.5) each year. In order to curb such a crisis, Transport for London introduced the Low Emission Zone in 2008 and ULEZ in 2019, deterring vehicles from entering the 8.1 square mile zone and charging those which do not meet the appropriate emissions standards.

Where does that leave then, the car connoisseurs cruising around in their combustion engine classics? As much as I long to know how that feels, I needed a seasoned motorist to wag chins with and weigh in on the auto industry’s all-electric destiny. I visited London’s Classic Car Club, venturing to Hoxton where I met with Paul. He explained how his company operated: providing a posh car rental service, in essence.

“Not everyone can afford to buy a classic car outright. We provide our exclusive members with a choice of cars from the fleet. […] they buy packages of points to spend on days enjoying the open road”. As for the implications of London’s legislative assault on carbon, “there’s none for me. If I’m driving one of my oldies I don’t pay a penny”. Unbeknown to me before Paul’s explanation, cars older than forty years are totally exempt from LEZ/ULEZ rules and the congestion charge. TfL calls it the ‘historic vehicle’ tax class, and it operates on a 40-year rolling system.

This policy could be met with ambivalence; it’s an incentive for a small minority of driving purists to preserve their passion; on the other hand, the masses are all for climate-oriented reform.

The environmental onus is on manufacturers to gradually cease the production of combustion powered vehicles. In pursuit of some more intel on electric vehicles, I called the Tesla Motors centre in Chiswick and falsely registered my interest in buying one of their zero emissions, six-hundred horsepower ‘Model X’s. Prior to rightly questioning the legitimacy of my enquiry, the assistant pointed out how owners can use Tesla’s ‘Superchargers’ – “you can charge up to 170 miles of driving range in half an hour.” Impressive stuff. The major drawback though is the significant lack of these superchargers, and standard-level electric charging stations, too. Until the infrastructure is plentiful enough to support the government’s pledge for all new vehicles to be carbon free by 2040, it’s highly unlikely petrol and diesel-powered vehicles are going anywhere anytime soon.

The gradual shift towards sustainable transport is inevitable, meaning the value of these classics, both sentimentally and financially, will only increase with time.

All images by Isaac Robinson, unless otherwise stated.