STREAM: Dey & Nite - "All Night Long"
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Here's a new track by Arapaho R&B group Dey & Nite, produced by Vancouver artist Magic Touch and entitled All Night Long.
STREAM: Dey & Nite - "All Night Long" All Night Long MIX 3 by dey-nite
RPM Podcast #008: "Singer-Songwriters"
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In our eighth episode, the great oral tradition of our Indigenous cultures thrives in 21st century song.
Here on the west coast, our traditional songs are like a cry, a prayer, or a declaration of intent. In our modern songs, storytelling also plays an important part in the expression of Indigenous people.
Ostwelve talks with three singer-songwriters about their personal journeys and what they share through song.
Cree artist Eden Fineday recalls when she learned it's in her blood - that her desire to write music comes from a long line of storytellers in her clan. Cree singer-songwriter and sideman Jason Burnstick describes the surge of energy he feels when connecting through music, and Mohawk/Cree musician Kait Angus who, after growing up not seeing Indigenous role models in music, talks about becoming an artist that young girls in Native communities could look up to.
DOWNLOAD: RPM Podcast #008: "Singer-Songwriters"
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The RPM podcast is produced & engineered by the amazing Paolo Pietropaolo.
Photo illustration created by the talented Joi Arcand.
DOWNLOAD: Savage Generation - "Warrior"
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This new track from the KASP and Savage Family project Savage Generation is the first release from the collaboration Warrior.
Collaborating on the project, Savage Generation, KASP and Savage Family have teamed up to bring us this new track Warrior that instills a call to listeners to be inspired by the ancient values of an Indigenous warrior. Both KASP and the group Savage Family have been creating socially impactful 'resistance music' pumped directly into the bloodstream of Indigenous hip-hop. And this latest track is no exception.
DOWNLOAD: Laura Ortman - "Blessed By You"
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Brooklyn-based White Mountain Apache artist Laura Ortman, creates atmospheric, layered, and artful music.
Playing and making all of the sounds herself - violins, piano, electric guitars, Apache violin, subway recordings, vocals, megaphone, pine branches, windchimes and bells - Laura explores and offers soft, hypnotic aural landscapes. Laura also founded the all-Native orchestra, The Coast Orchestra, and performs with other artists. We were delighted to receive this track from her and are more delighted to share it with you.
DOWNLOAD: Madeskimo - "Alaskan Highkick" & "Somers"
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Geronimo Inutiq, aka Madeskimo presents an original take on independent electronic music, synthesizing his Inuit heritage and metropolitan life experience. This is evident in the song Alaskan Highkick where he combines traditional Inuit throat singing with messy break beats. Madeskimo currently resides in Montreal where he still performs and produces tracks for the world, posting regularly on Soundcloud and continuing to push the envelope; working with smooth synthesizer tones, otherworldly sound effects, syncopated rhythms, and ephemeral sound samples. DOWNLOAD: Madeskimo - "Alaskan Highkick" alaskan highkick by umati
DOWNLOAD: Madeskimo – "Somers"
DOWNLOAD: Antithesis - "I See You"
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Conscious Indigenous hip-hop group Antithesis collaborates with Blackfire's Klee Benally for this track entitled "I See You".
Antithesis has been putting in work towards the conscious hip-hop movement for the last decade. The group consists of three Mc's and a DJ: Freetruth from the Pomo and Dine Nations, Prophecy from the Prairie Band Potawatomi People, C-Los of the Isanti Dakotah and DJ Jonra of The Laguna and Acoma Pueblos. Here's a track from their latest release The Power Of Purpose which features Klee Benally from the Navajo punk band Blackfire entitled "I See You".
Impossible Nothing Talk 'Montechristo'
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Impossible Nothing's album Montechristo is a unique collaboration between friends Darwin Frost and Bracken Hanuse Corlett (Oweekeno/Coast Salish). Frost composed the beats and Hanuse Corlett curated the songs and designed the artwork.
BHC: I'm a multimedia artist hailing from the Wuikinuxv and Klahoose Nations. I started working in the arts ten years ago in theatre and performance. I then shifted focus into media arts and visual arts. I have trained with acclaimed Northwest Coast Heiltsuk artists Bradley Hunt and his sons Shawn Hunt and Dean Hunt. I'm a graduate of the En'owkin Centre of Indigenous Art and I'm in my grad year at Emily Carr University of Art and Design.
DF: My name is Darwin Frost, and I do magic. I work in the present moment with media to manipulate it so that our beings have an easier time traversing through life; I world-walk.
RPM: How did you come to collaborate on this album?
DF: Bracken has always been someone who has been able to draw from within and bring up something interesting. He's abstract within his artwork, which ranges from traditional west coast to full on maximalist pop, and his use of color has always been something I admired.
BHC: The Impossible Nothing is my bro. He asked me to collab(orate) and I said yes. We had some good discussions/battles on the tracks and the flow of putting an album together. It was like building a comic book.
DF: We both are multimedia artists but at the point in time we were doing this album, Bracken was working on visual art like drawing and painting primarily and I was working on music. It was natural to include both our works as one project. Montechristo was paired down to 11 tracks from about 45 so it was a lot of work on both of our parts to get it done
RPM: What are you working on next?
BH: I am working on a video project for a media arts grant that I got this summer. I'm working on some video and paintings for my grad show. I'm also going to release a beat tape in 2012 under the alias Amphibian 14. And I am going to be locked in my studio in preparation for an upcoming solo show. I'm on this maximalism shit Darwin goes on and on about.
DF: I keep most of that to myself. I am working on paintings, more albums (commercial ones and free ones), music videos, and lots of other art in between.
Impossible Nothing's album, Montechristo, is available for download on Soundcloud and Bandcamp.
Check out their track "Mother Tongue".
◯⨝⊻Mother Tongue - Off of "Montechristo". Out now! by Īṃƥɵʂşiƃɭȅ∞Ƞ૦ƫȟįȵğ
Australian Rap: BBC Radio Doc Explores Indigenous Australian Hip-Hop
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In Australia, Indigenous youth are using politically charged music as a forum to discuss cultural pride, racicism and self-empowerment.
The BBC Radio Documentary Australian Rap, investigates the Indigenous youth hip-hop scene in interviews with Rhianna Patrick, producer of ABC's program for Aboriginal and Torres Straight communities Speaking Out, hip-hop aritst Moreganics, who provides youth workshops across Australia, Tony Mithchell from the Univeristy of Technology Sidney, who has studied the development of rap music in Australia, and others.
Rhianna shares:
...music has played a really big part in not only getting the younger generation to really think about their culture and to reconnect with culture in some instances, but I think it's also given them a voice. There are parts of our Aborriginal young people in Australia who feel disengaged. They're disadvantaged, they feel isoltated, and I think music has given them an avenue to really talk about the issues happening in their communites that you may or may not hear about.
Hip-hop traditionally has always been about accessibility and it's also been about not needing to know how to play an instrument - you can make your own music. But these days it's obviously coming into the computer age, where people can build their own beats on a computer program, put it together, write their own rhymes, record it all and they've got their own instant recording studio. Which is accesability in a different age. But that was always the beauty of hip-hop - that it was accessible to you no matter how much money you had or didn't have. If you couldn't play an insturment you could beat box.
Moreganics travels across Australia teaching youth how to share their stories, beatbox and record their tracks.
It's not unusual for a school teacher or community worker to come up to [me] and say "wow, I didn't know that kid could write, he's never written before."
One song, Down River, unexpectedly hit high rotation after Moreganics helped five 8-12 year old boys - later know as the Wilcannia Mob - record it during one of his workshops:
That hip-hop comes from marginalized communities is seen world over. Interestingly, the connections being made in North America between traditional Indigenous cultures and contemporary Indigenous hip-hop, are also prevalent Down Under:
A lot of the stuff that was actually being done was from really young kids who were using hiphop as a vehicle to rap about their own life stories and about their dailiy lives. Gradually this started to become accepted by Aboriginal elders who were initially very sceptical about hip-hop becuase they saw it very much as an American form. Once they saw some of the kids performing, they said "hey this is not too far away from Aboroginal storytelling, maybe this is ok."
Listen to the full half-hour documentary on BBC: Australian Rap.
DOWNLOAD: Impossible Odds - "Everything"
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Indigenous Australian hip-hop group Impossible Odds have released this new track for all our listening pleasure. Lyrically, Impossible Odds are a politically minded voice of contemporary Aboriginal Australia, addressing current issues within their community and their country. Musically, they're mixing organic beats, r&b vocals, and intelligent rhymes into a tight, polished package. This new single is a taste off their upcoming sophomore LP Against All Odds. Dig it. DOWNLOAD: Impossible Odds - "Everything"
DOWNLOAD: J Dizzay - "Time After Time"
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From Battleford, SK, Cree artist J Dizzay released his debut album this summer and this track just yesterday. Hot off the DIY press of his home studio, J Dizzay remixed his rap with beats from Kid Ink and Cyndi Lauper's famous song. J Dizzay grew up in a musical family and cites influences from multiple genres in his own work - he was even a drummer in a country band - but it was discovering West Coast rap in the 90s that truly took hold of the young artist. Simply put, he is bent on writing and recording what music moves him and, gratefully, he is moved to share it with the world. DOWNLOAD: J Dizzay - "Time After Time"
DOWNLOAD: DJ Smog's Mix - "Spiritual Sense"
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Navajo born DJ Smog, aka Herman Johnson, spins a smooth blend of soulful house and has been rocking the turntables for the past nine years. After a stint in New Mexico, he currently resides in Lukachukai, Arizona, where he has built a solid fan base. His tracks are the perfect balance of soothing but danceable beats which you'll enjoy no matter what mood your in. DOWNLOAD: DJ Smog's Mix - Spiritual Sense
DOWNLOAD: Thunder Hawk Singers - "Northern Cheyenne Round Dance"
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The Native drumming duo of Donald Blackfox and Laura Vannah, aka Thunder Hawk Singers, came across the RPM desk via Spirit Wind Records - a label dedicated to releasing and promoting Indigenous music and musicians.
Thunder Hawk Singers' album Native Pride features music from the Mi'kmaq and Northern Cheyenne Nations. The album won a 2009 NAMMY for Best Historical Recording - the group's second NAMMY nod after winning Best New Group in 2001. Round dances are social, one of the few in which women get to dance with men and long held as a courting activity. So let this track take you to the powwow.
DOWNLOAD: Thunder Hawk Singers - "Northern Cree Cheyenne Round Dance"
