Quiet Entertainer » james fate

247 is Nashville’s Secret Weapon

Quiet Entertainer — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 17:33:16 +0000

247 is a good friend of mine here in town, but more importantly he’s the hidden force behind a lot of great things happening in Nashville! 247 has done a lot of production for other artists around town, including my friend Spoken Nerd. I’ve told you about him before because he’s one-third of The Billy Goats. Also, he appeared on the Machismo EP.

One of my favorite things he’s done was his project with BlackatSylvesta & Ugly Lovely called Out of Place. 247 is the main lyricist in the project. You can get their entire Genetic Defects album for free by going to the Out Of Place Bandcamp page. Or just play it here.

He’s been doing a lot of video production as well. Recently, he began an online interview series highlighting some of his favorite artists around Nashville. You can catch interviews he’s done with James Fate, Bobby Exodus & Spoken Nerd on his youtube channel. Finally, I was able to “take my talents” to 247’s place and shoot an interview video plus a live performance featuring Jed Smith on drums. Take a look!

About the Machismo EP

Quiet Entertainer — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 16:02:04 +0000

Machismo EP

I’m really excited and please about the Machismo EP. It’s a collection of some tracks I’ve done with some of my friends & favorite emcees. Let me tell you a bit about it, track by track:

1. False Alarm -
One night I went to Fuel and my friend Chip Greene and I were flirting with the bartender. Anyway, he was telling her that my music was like Blue Man Group except that you should call me Black Man Group. I thought it was hilarious. I came home with thoughts of Blue Man Group in mind and made this song. It’s fitting because Blue Man was the first show I saw that ever really grabbed and inspired me.

2. I Am…(featuring James Fate)-
I knew I wanted a theme song. It might be because of my long history with watching WWE as a kid. Theme songs and entrance music are a major part of the whole thing. I spoke about James Fate in a previous post. He is one of the best emcees I’ve heard in town. I knew that Fate would do a great job with it and he did. One of my favorite tracks for obvious reasons. Also I should mention, I got the idea for the beat after watching Paper Route perform. I saw them live at The End (also previously mentioned). They were playing a song from their EP, but I swore there were all of the sounds from the stage that I didn’t hear from the EP. Lots of electronic samples and delays. I wanted to recreate that kind of feel for the track.

3. Audition (featuring WT the Musical Mastermind) -
Audition was probably the first song I actually finished on the record. I was hanging out with a local Nashville producer who was making beats with such ease in the studio. I was really inspired. A lot of what inspired me was the producer’s ability and the rest of it was that I really wasn’t doing much with my life at the time. So being in there while he was making beats was kind of a kick in the butt. Anyway, I came home and did this track. WT is probably the main guy that got me into music. We were in a group together in college. I knew I wanted him to be on a track. This track was a good fit.

4. Machismo -
I was messing around on a sampler, the Roland SP 404. I tried running different sounds through the BPM Looper. I was actually running a synth line that I had heard somewhere; tweaking different things and distorting it. Eventually, I had changed the sound so much that I heard the beginnings of bassline. That was the beginnings of this song. So, I just built around that idea.

5. Still Single remix (featuring Spoken Nerd) -
You probably haven’t heard the original Still Single track, but it was one of the few tracks inspired by specific life events of mine. Also, Spoken Nerd is one of the more prolific emcees in town; always working on his next record. Check out his latest on youtube here. I asked Spoken Nerd to write topically for this track and I changed it up to give it a hip-hop bounce. It should be noted that this song was an indicator of where I was at the time and that it in no way reflects on Spoken Nerd, himself. Although, he did write it; and I think it’s a great measure of his lyrical brilliance. I hope this song is one of your favorites.

6. Wildfire (featuring J. Prodigal)-
I told you just a little bit about J. Prodigal. He had been waiting to get on a track for a long time. He actually wrote several verses for this song; I had to whittle it down to just two verses. He can write for days and freestyle for longer. Glad to have him on the EP. Also, I really like this beat. It was one of the few times I used an outside source vinyl sample for a melody instead of playing it or arranging it midi-style. But I’m not telling from where.

7. Our Time (featuring E.T.) -
You’ll like this one. Definitely check out E.T.’s music at the link I provided but ALSO please check out his side project, a hip hop crew called The Underground Senate. Some of the best hip-hop you will ever hear. Anyway, E.T. just moved to Louisville but before that he was in Nashville. He had been saying I should come over to his studio and do things for about a year or so before I finally went over there. I did this track in the corner in my laptop while a lot of emcees were there writing rhymes for a different track. I love this song so very much and am thankful for how it came together.

8. BlogWorthy (featuring J. Prodigal, WT, E.T., Spoken Nerd, Bobby
Exodus, Iller, James Fate, & 247) -
I told you about most of the emcees on this one. I even mentioned two of them (Iller & 247 of The Billy Goats) twice in previous posts. (here and here). So let me tell you about Bobby Exodus. Bobby also wrote different versions of his verse to this song. But I love the one we have here. He has a really unique kind of flow AND it’s really good. It’s easy to be different. Not easy to be different and GOOD at what you do. So, I was especially excited to finally get Bobby on a track as I have yet to do a full length track with him. I wanted an all-star track with all these guys on it. But the hook was an idea I got from listening to some west coast hip-hop. It’s a shout-out to artists like Jurassic 5, Dilated Peoples, Pigeon John, & Ahmad. In addition, I finally got to use the vocoder stuff (You hear it also in Wildfire). You know it’s BLOGWORTHY!

I definitely want you to have this music. Now that you know all about it, please go ahead and click here and put your email address in there and I will send it to you!

Click here to download the “Machismo EP”

Top 6 Bands I ever booked for BlogWorthy

Quiet Entertainer — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 14:00:50 +0000

It’s been a while since the first ever Blogworthy show. I was thinking about all of the great music I’ve gotten to see. All of the fun I’ve had and relationships formed through booking these shows. It’s been a unique growing experience and an experiment in trying a different side of music performance. While a lot of people didn’t participate in the original Blogworthy concept, I did see a lot of great live music in Nashville.

I decided to make a list of my Top 6 favorite bands I’ve booked for BlogWorthy shows. This is pretty much a subjective list based on my own personal taste of the music and of the particular performance at the BW show. A lot of bands are being overlooked. That’s unfortunate. Most everyone I booked was actually BlogWorthy. Again, lots of great memories and highlights.

6. James Fate – He played at the first Blogworthy show; He played at the last one. He played at some in between too. He’s been kind of my go-to guy for shows. He’s just really good. He has great written material; but also, he can freestyle rap. He’s a hybrid pop-singer/hip-hop artist. His dominant strength is with the hip-hop. He’s obviously spent a lot of time learning how to interact with the crowd AND stay on point with the emcee flow. You almost have to see it to believe it. Check him out on myspace or youtube.
http://www.myspace.com/jamesfate

5. Molly Jewell – I have a girlfriend who is not Molly. And I love my girlfriend. So I mean no disrespect. but Molly is “da bomb.’ She’s like…two bombs. I first saw her perform at Starbucks. She was incredible. Whether she is just by herself or if she has a full band, she can really connect with the crowd. I think that is the key. I really don’t know if she is really that shy and awkward for real, but the way she plays it is very endearing. And so, when this girl gets up there and then decides to be amazing; you don’t know how to take it. She has a really funny song about being felt up by a doctor? Ok. Well, check her stuff out.
http://www.myspace.com/mollyjewell

4. The Billy Goats – 247, Iller, & DJ Eticut have been talked about and blogged about a lot around town. It was a no-brainer to bring them onto a BW show. The show they played for me was not well attended. I blame myself. Two months prior, we played a show together in the same venue and had 120 people there. Maybe it was too soon? Anyway, they are really good. Sadly, I didn’t get all 3 of them at my show. Wick-It the Instigator was their DJ instead of DJ Eticut. They just released their debut record. Check them out.
http://www.myspace.com/ilovethebillygoats

3. Get Got – Ray, Gary, & Skyler are three of the nicest guys you’ll meet. They performed at the last BW show ever held at Cafe Coco. They are a blend of funk, hip-hop, & electronica; the kind of genre (con)fusion that I always hope to bring to any Nashville show. They brought a lot of people to the show and those people were dancing! In Nashville, that’s a big deal for an indie show. This is kind of how it was anytime I saw them play. So I loved to book them. Check out their online demo; and go see them perform live!
http://soundcloud.com/origthedj/sets/get-got-demo

2. Derrek Phillips’ Manufactory – This has got to be the most skilled band I’ve ever booked. I couldn’t believe that they agreed to do the show! I was so excited. This was another genre fusion band: rock, hip-hop, jazz, electronica, r&b, all that. It wouldn’t be uncommon for Derrek, Paul, & Adam to write a new song as they were performing live. But it never sounded like they were writing. Up until they played the BW show, I felt like I knew this really great secret. Even though Paul wasn’t able to make the BW show, they are the band that I personally have received the most feedback about afterward. I would rank them #1 if not for the next band’s story. But Manufactory is wonderful and you should absolutely listen to them immediately and DEFINITELY see them live!
http://www.reverbnation.com/dpmanufactory

1. Tallest Trees – I just love this band. It’s strange because I think a lot of their influences are bands that I don’t listen to. However when you see them live, you immediately can deduce that this is an ambitious musical effort. I had seen them play a lot before, but by the time they played the BW show (the last one I’ve been able to do at Mercy Lounge); they were a two piece band officially (Thomas & Dabney), plus their drummer (Art). The reasons I put them at number one: They’re probably my favorite local band (note: I don’t consider Paper Route local anymore because they live on the road and haven’t played here in forever). Their BW performance specifically was absolutely brilliant. And what happened after they played was exactly what I had hoped would happen. I started seeing a lot of blogs and tweets pop up about them and the show. That’s really what I’ve hoped for each time I booked one of these shows! Check out Tallest Trees:
http://www.humantrees.com/tallesttrees/

So much great talent in Nashville performs to empty rooms or to indifferent crowds. These Blogworthy shows have just been a way for me to give another platform to a lot of great music that I see live. Plus it always ensured that I’d get to see some of these great bands! BlogWorthy is not dead; I don’t think. I haven’t gotten to do one in a while though. Keep your eyes open for more Blogworthy shows and for more Blogworthy artists and bands!