Nick Otter Delves Into Hip Hop With KRS One

Nick Otter shares one of his inspirations after a recent work experience placement at Folded Wing…

During my time at Folded Wing one thing I was asked to do was to write up a KRS One biography for a Red Bull Music Academy Radio Fireside Chat show with the rapper. With an incredibly sporadic knowledge of hip hop which jumps between J Dilla, Wu-Tang Clan, A Tribe Called Quest and not much else, KRS One I knew little about.

Thanks to the power of Google I found a wealth of facts about the man behind the voice of ‘Sound of Da Police’ as well as this – a recording of when he came on Tim Westwood’s BBC Radio 1 show in 1997.

 

As well as being eloquent enough to lecture at universities, charismatic enough to create hip hop’s first ever religion, KRS One is also highly opinionated. What plays out in the seven parts of audio could be deemed as a producer’s worst nightmare as he derails the show turning on Westwood and remonstrating him over his lack of radio play in the UK, as well as declaring Westwood’s show governed by commercial values, unpopular and redundant in the progression of hip hop.

In the face of KRS One’s tirade during the course of the show, Westwood tries to protect the reputation of BBC Radio 1 as a station as well as protecting the credibility of his show and reputation as a DJ all whilst still trying to carry on with the show and its features! All in all it makes for interesting listening in which the only thing that’s missing (but certainly not needed) is a hip hop Jeremy Kyle to mediate.

The Arts Catalyst

 

This week we have a Folded Wing inspiration from Eliza…

“Wednesday night I could have quite easily been on planet Jupiter, whilst actually in an airy room in Clerkenwell, due to the wonderful organisation The Arts Catalyst. The Arts Catalyst are an organisation that provide a crucial link between the often polar opposite worlds of science and art, as they commission artwork that engages with science.

Last night, the theme was Microgravity: it started with an aspirational astronaut and ended with us listening to transcendental free-jazz outer-space band leader Sun Ra. How did this happen? The Arts Catalyst actually took artists into conditions of outer space with zero gravity, and they came back to tell their experiences.

In Russia, Kitsou Dubois and Dragan Zivadinov made flying in microgravity possible for artists. If chosen, they could step upon parabolic aircrafts which go through phases of around 25 seconds where there is zero gravity. We watched a video of inside the aircraft, and it genuinely looked like a sci-fi film where people float about airlessly. Some of the artists even took carpets with them so it looked like they were riding magic carpets!

Ssome of the artists and scientists involved relayed their experiences inside the aircraft for us last night, and it was fascinating to hear what’s been going through their minds since experiencing microgravity.

Edward George and Anna Piva (Flow Motion) actually recorded the sounds inside the aircraft and played them to us – and they totally betrayed the idyllic feeling nature of the film as what it sounded like inside the aircraft was actually just intensely loud noise! Going from that to playing Sun Ra to us made complete sense, as hearing the spatial sounds of free jazz after having heard a whole night of zero-gravity tales somehow summed everything up perfectly.

Here’s a video of the night for those that missed it…

And there’s loads of amazing talks coming up at The Arts Catalyst, keep an eye out!”

The Folded Wing April Chart!

2012 has been such a strong year for music (so far) that we thought our chart this month should feature a selection of some of our favourite releases of the year to date.




Andrea’s choice…

Classics of Love – ‘Classics of Love’ (Asian Man Records)

“First full-length album from ex-Operation Ivy singer Jesse Michaels. I love his voice and it’s so good to hear him singing new material – I’ve been waiting for this for years.”Listen to the album here.

Paul’s choice…

Django Django – ‘Hail Bop’ (Because Music)

“I love the album but the track ‘Hail Bop’ is the perfect spawn from a sun-soaked Beach Boys indie sound clash with the electronic overtones from an old Aphex record.”



Karen’s choice…

Quantic & Alice Russell with the Combo Bárbaro – ‘Look Around The Corner’ (Tru Thoughts)

“Love this album!!! The best bits of both of them, makes you excited for summer.” 




Rachel’s choice…

Hot Chip – ‘Flutes’ (Domino)

“I love this track – a definite grower! I’m always impressed by how Hot Chip manage to up their game with every album, and this is getting me excited for the next one.”




Eliza’s choice…

John Talabot - ‘ƒIN’ (Permanent Vacation)

“This debut album came out in February and was so optimistic of the good weather ahead! Serious Spanish summer music!” 




John’s choice…

Clark – ‘Secret’ (Warp Records)

“From the new album ‘Iradelphic’. A great tune this one – heavy duty dubsteppy beats, Latin overtones and haunting vocals courtesy of Martina Topley-Bird. Clark travelled all over the world for this album, gathering audio and going in search of inspiration. With this track the air miles definitely paid off.”




Jim’s choice…

Neil Cowley Trio – ‘Lament’ (Naim Jazz)

“2012 has been an amazing year for jazz albums so far with Gregory Porter second ‘Be Good’, Portico Quartet’s eponymously-titled third and E.S.T.’s ‘301’. But the opening track from Neil Cowley Trio’s latest ‘The Face of Mount Molehill’ is the one I can’t stop playing… just a very beautiful and moving piece of music, simple!”

Lament

Forward with The UK Reggae Nation... Words Sound & Power ... Reggae Changed My Life - the journey continues

Reblogged from :

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Wednesday night the Roundhouse Rising ... British Underground's Bass Culture Forum ....  this sold out session featuring a panel of players rooted in the contemporary reggae scene was the perfect place for Swifty and myself to premiere the first stage of our "installation" illuminating the evolution of the UK Reggae Nation. It has to be said,  the response to the "boxes" was universally good with everyone ready to add to the mix of info.

Read more… 552 more words

Folded Wing Director Karen P has been influenced by this event showcasing the evolution of Britain's Underground Bass Culture.

Something for the weekend…

Jim Lister from Folded Wing shares a current inspiration:

I find listening to the radio is quite a ritualistic thing, you get used to listening to certain shows on certain stations at certain times of the week. Or maybe that’s just me. Anyway, the sound of Sundays in my house is definitely Station 89.8 FM -  “London’s Leading Community Radio Station” playing “music for the more mature listener”.

I first discovered Station FM about five years ago, after moving from South (SW4) to North London (N16)… I was suddenly able to pick up this wicked reggae station on the left hand side of my dial. Talking of more mature listeners, as I get older I seem to spend most Sundays cooking in the kitchen…. and Station FM is the best soundtrack for Sunday cooking, bar none!

On a Sunday (and most days) Station FM plays the best reggae, dub, lovers rock and soul… perfect cooking vibes for all those roast chickens and big pots of chilli. The DJ (and show) that made me fall in love with Station is Robo Ranks ‘The Bonafide One’ (Sundays, 4-6pm). Robo doesn’t just play the most soulful, heart-warming Sunday selections… he often sings along to them too… and without fail he always offers a few words of moral advice to listeners (as a good church pastor would)… whether it’s how to treat your kids or how to treat your wife… Robo tells it like it is!

Other shows on Station FM worth checking are Tommy J (10am – Midday) and Guvenor General (Midday – 2pm), both on Sundays too. From Gregory Isaacs to Dennis Brown and Alton Ellis to Johhny Osbourne, it’s beautiful soulful reggae all the way. The adverts on Station are pretty legendary too… reaching mythical status in our house (especially the condom one!)

Check out our Top 10 headphone moments with Bowers & Wilkins!

We’ve selected our Top 10 ‘special headphone moments’ for the Bowers & Wilkins blog! Check it out here.

 

Tips for being a good radio presenter

Terry Wogan has some wise words and an interesting viewpoint on what it takes to be a good radio presenter in this Guardian article.

Happy New Year from Folded Wing!

Happy new year from Folded Wing! Hope you all enjoyed the festive season and haven’t given up on your resolutions yet!

As a final hoorah to 2011 the Folded Wing team have chosen their favourite albums of the last 12 months!

Eliza’s choice: Nicolas Jaar – ‘Space Is Only Noise’ (Circus Company)

“Nicolas Jaar’s debut album breathed a whole new life into the electronic music scene, slowing the tempo and bringing in influences from Ethiopian jazz to avant-garde pop. A multi-instrumentalist analogue dancefloor hero!”

 

Rachel’s choice: Metronomy – ‘The English Riviera’ (Because Music)

“I’ve been a fan since the beginning and love that they took their music in another direction with this album. Sounds really great listening to the album as a whole entity and great for road trips too!”

 

John’s choice: Ghostpoet – ‘Peanut Butter Blues & Melancholy Jam’ (Brownswood Recordings)

“In the face of bland manufactured rappers clogging up the charts, Ghostpoet’s debut LP leaped out. Clever lyrics, wicked production and alongside ‘GOB’ by DELS, one of the few albums of 2011 that encapsulates the views of disaffected British youth in a genuine and innovative way.”

 

Jim’s choice: Matthew Halsall – ‘On The Go’ (Gondwana Records)

“James Blake, Anna Calvi, Little Dragon, Kate Bush… 2011 was a vintage year for albums. Matthew Halsall’s third LP on Gondwana gets my vote though. Very much in the spirit of Coltrane’s ‘Olé’ and Miles’ ‘Kind Of Blue’… tracks like ‘Song For Charlie’, ‘The End of Dukkha’ and ‘Samatha’ are timeless classics. Matthew and his band also blew me away when they played the Pizza Express in Soho back in March. A very special night.”

 

Karen’s choice: Mara Carlyle – ‘Floreat’ (Ancient & Modern)

“It’s so hard to pick just one album… there’s been so much amazing stuff this year. A big artist for me though is Mara Carlyle. She did an amazing session at Maida Vale for us for Jamie Cullum’s BBC Radio 2 show and she’s just a super talented lady with a lovely warm sound.”

Hoop Dreams: The unsung heroes of documentary

Eliza Lomas from Folded Wing shares her recent influence:

“Looking back on some of the best film releases of 2011, the real winner for me was the documentary Senna. This was a hugely moving film about Brazilian Formula One racing driver Ayrton Senna, who won the world championship three times before his death aged 34. As someone who pays little interest to the world of sport, especially that of Formula One, I was surprised to find how much it affected me – driven mostly by the charisma of Senna and the effort on behalf of the producers, trawling through hoards of archive footage to find some beautiful clips of Senna’s interviews and races.”

“As the Oscar nominations were put forward last month, it was massively disappointing to see that Senna wasn’t put forward in any of the categories. Film critics seem to be in unanimity that this was in very bad taste, and they likened it to a similar scenario in 1994 with Steve James’ documentary Hoop Dreams. Never having heard of this early 90s doc, I was inspired by everyone’s huge passion for it, and rented it out that week.

Hoop Dreams follows the lives of two African American boys who struggle to become college basketball players on the road to going professional. The boys are of different ages, but very similar inner-city Chicago impoverished backgrounds. Again, it’s an unlikely choice for a sport-unenthusiast, but equally like Senna, Hoop Dreams tapped into the core elements of an amazing documentary, with beautiful footage and insight into the lives of real people with super-human ambition and talent. The creators of Hoop Dreams worked for years to follow the journey of two guys who would have seemed very ordinary to the normal eye, but it’s a perfect example of how dedication and immense effort can provide wonderful results.”

A Piece of Paradise & The Love Unlimited Orchestra

Folded Wing account manager Jim Lister shares another inspiration with us:

“I don’t often listen to the radio at 3am on a Saturday night. But when i got in from a party last weekend and was busy making some toast I switched on BBC 6 Music… and heard various New York voices talking about their memories of legendary disco DJ Larry Levan and the equally legendary New York club he played at every weekend, The Paradise Garage.

I probably should have gone to bed… but I was totally hooked by the hardcore ‘Noo Yoik’ accents and all the amazing stories about what sounds like the most incredible club to have ever existed.

The show was Part 2 of ‘Legends Of The Dancefloor – A Piece of Paradise’ (BBC 6 Music)…  a 5 part series that you can still listen to on the BBC iPlayer.
The following morning I listened to Part 1 and it’s also a great listen (despite the sound quality of some of the interviews!).

I think it was the interview with another legendary NYC DJ, Nicky Siano, that made me look for this incredible YouTube clip of Barry White and his Love Unlimited Orchestra performing their disco classic ‘Love’s Theme’.

What better way to celebrate Christmas than with some vintage Love Unlimited!

Merry Christmas!”