Ahead of the sell-out Black Star, De La Soul and Rakim tour (London on 10 May and Manchester on 11 May) we persuaded UK rap royalty Blak Twang to interview one of the all-time greats to ever rock the mic, Rakim, aka the God MC. He talks about classic albums like Paid In Full and Let the Rhythm Hit ‘Em, explains why you shouldn’t read out your rhymes and how hip-hop is killing the neighbourhoods. We couldn’t put this up without including some of those incredible Eric B & Rakim joints that still sound fresh today, so turn it up and let it move you.

download here [25:43 mins, 46.6MB]

words:Colin McKean

∆ICASEA is a new project that brings together the work of a small but global network of digital artists and sound designers. Their website hosts work by the artists involved, and includes some beautiful digital mixtapes; exquisite collages of texture and sound that are freely available to download (http://www.icasea.net/). I conducted an interview with ∆ICASEA’s founders, Tom Knapp, Alex Peverett and Satoshi Aizawa, based in Leeds (UK) and Sendai (Japan), in order to find out more.

So what is ∆ICASEA? Your website describes the project as “a platform for physical and digital domain releases from sound artists and electronic musicians working in various locations across the globe”.

∆ICASEA is our new record company, we will specialize in releasing digital downloads plus limited physical products every now and then. Our focus is on electronic music.

The various different formats we can choose from to present our releases are very important to us, not in that we think any one format is better in general, but because each format asks different things of the artist and in a way can shape the music they create. Digital formats are interesting to us at the moment as they open up a lot of new options. They also work really well for us as our label exists in small parts across the globe and has no single geographic centre.

What inspired ∆ICASEA? You appear to have links with some well-respected record labels (Skam, Fat Cat, Warp etc.). Has ∆ICASEA evolved from other projects that you’ve been involved in?

Yeah, those labels are inspirational to us in lots of ways and we respect them a lot. We are really pleased to have worked with them and to continue working with them.

For companies and audiences the music industry on every level has gone through some pretty drastic changes, but for us in our world very little has changed – we have continued creating work and the dialogue between us has remained consistent over the past decade or so.

Most of us involved in ∆ICASEA have spent many years active on the underground scenes of our respective countries; promoting, doing radio, parties, working record shop counters, DJing, producing tracks, making electronic art, video and so on, and our experiences have helped shape our ideas.

We are part of the first generation that had access to personal computers, video recorders, tape machines and other technologies in our homes. So we got a massive amount of inspiration not just from being comfortable around these machines but also from being able to use them creatively from an early age, growing up with each advancement around us also meant that we couldn’t take any of them for granted.

We are really into computer art and all kinds of synthetic audio from hip hop through to electro-acoustic stuff. It’s all part of the same thing to us, the connections are clear – basically it’s futurism and optimism, true sci-fi, transformations of electricity into sound. We are open about our sources of influence and we all share them via our blog (www.icasea.blogspot.com)

When we started the label we were talking a lot about how we feel strongly about a pure kind of electronic music, sound that is synthetic and creative music made from electricity rather than being a part of another genre or style. It’s a really exciting time to be working this way, now we have access to such incredible tools.

So, I guess ∆ICASEA was born out of similar climates to most labels. For several years there has been this tight community of highly active creative friends that have been sharing interests but have not been so public in documenting what they have been creating. Collaborating on the label enables us to continue working together and gives other people the opportunity to get into what we do.

I wondered how you have encountered the various artists who contribute to ∆ICASEA?

It’s kind of different for each person. We met some of the ∆ICASEA artists through touring and travel. Some of the artists we have met online or through friends and just got on and got it together to collaborate. Some of the artists that are involved in the label are old friends we have known for 10+ years…

It’s interesting and really positive to us that these people want to be a part of ∆ICASEA. There are so many options for every individual artist to go it alone, promote themselves and sell or give away their work online, it’s easier than ever now. So it’s great that we all feel we can benefit from working together as a unit and can have that kind of international community, group support and creative dialogue between ourselves.

You alluded earlier to some “drastic changes” in the music industry. I wondered if you could expand a little on that?

There’s just been this massive shift both economically and democratically. It’s a lot easier to get music directly from the people that make it to the people that listen to it. It’s also much easier for anyone with internet access to check out a huge range of music and get turned on to different things. It could be argued that the shift has opened up a lot of doors, certainly with the options the new formats present creatively. Change is positive for us and as much as past developments in technology have influenced the way we produce music, recent changes in communications technology have enabled us to work the way we do as a label – a few years ago we couldn’t have begun to run a label the way we do now and we might have never even encountered a lot of our artists.

Other than a small number of live shows (as far as I’m aware), ∆ICASEA is an entirely digital venture. I wondered whether you had plans for any further physical manifestations of the project?

Yeah, we are currently working hard on a lot of different things, not only preparing the first series of digital releases but also live shows, remixes, continuing the podcast series and some physical bits and pieces. Although most of our releases will be put out digitally, we will also create some limited edition physical items. Whether it’s flac, mp3, CD, DVD, laserdisc or betamax, each format inspires us to work in different ways. Most of the artists on the label are active in other creative fields, like computer art and video art as well as recording audio for other labels. It’s really nice to be able to work things in a variety of ways.

∆ICASEA will release a 19-track compilation called Audio_Data_Bank in March 2010.

http://www.icasea.net/
http://icasea.blogspot.com/

Following his debut Incoming EP dropping last year, Illum Sphere burst out from dominating the Manchester scene to a worldwide underground name. His own Hoya:Hoya night remains one of the most forward thinking monthly parties in the country, bringing over names such as Daedalus, Dam-Funk & Ras G, -for many their first UK headline shows. On top of his own work, recent remixes for Martyn and Om Unit as well as a spot at The Red Bull Music Academy are set to cement him at the top of the game for 2010.

With the release of Long Live The Plan coming last week on Fat City – the first EP from an album set to drop later in the year – I had the pleasure of sitting down with Illum Sphere to talk about the project. Fortunately for us, the man is a rambler, leaving approximately an hour of unused material that offered a unique insight into an independent producer on the rise – something just too good to waste.

Talking experimental beginnings, the anti-climax of a first release, the double EP project on Fat City and of course Hoya:Hoya, Illum Sphere narrates over extracts from his own mixes, back-catalogue and unreleased tracks.

SHOOK Podcast: Illum Sphere

Download or stream: Illum Sphere

Following on from ‘Long Live The Plan’ and his Martyn ‘Great Lengths’ remix in February, Illum Sphere’s going to be having another EP – predicted for early May – on the 3024 label. 3024 have been kind enough to supply us with a sneak peak, the first track of three, titled Titan, embedded below.

Titan by  Illum Sphere