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KERO ONE – COLOR THEORY (2012)

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Get Kero’s new album Color Theory on iTunes!
http://bit.ly/MRfaSw

Get Physical Cd’s of Color Theory at the merch store!
http://t.co/6qFzmqJZ

 

Tracklisting:

1) Return of Kinetic
2) What Am I Supposed to Do? feat. Suhn
3) In Time feat. Clara C & Dumbfoundead
4) Whiplash
5) To the Top feat. Jane Lui
6) Love & Hate feat. Myk
7) R.I.P. feat. Suhn
8) Count on That feat. Dumbfoundead
9) Shortcuts feat. Sam Ock
10)  The Last Train feat. Shing02
11)  So Seductive feat. Jeni Suk
12)  Land of the Free feat. Myk
13)  Lackadaisical Living
14)  Father feat. Suhn

Kero One, coming fresh off the heels of performing at sold out shows at Korea’s Olympic Stadium, House of Blues Hollywood, and Showbox Seattle with Dynamic Duo (Korea’s equivalent of Jay-z & Kanye), is ready to release his fourth solo album, Color Theory.  On naming the album, the San Francisco native says, “I believe color theory can provide clues about life and this album is all about doing life; the good, the bad, and the ugly.”  Different from his previous albums, this album was partially funded viakickstarter.com, an all-or-none funding website.

Through the journey of his 12 year professional music career, Kero One has worked with artists such as Aloe Blacc, Mark Farina, Fashawn, Talib Kweli, David Choi, and Abstract Rude.   With Color Theory, Kero One looks to keep the collaborations coming, this time with a slew of emerging youtube stars such as Clara C, Dumbfoundead, Jeni Suk, as well as Shing02 of Nujabes fame.

Like his previous albums, Kero One shows that he is not only a rapper, but also a musician by producing a majority of the tracks using influences from jazz, analog synths from the 80’s, and funk basslines from the 70’s.  Kero One rhymes conscious messages reminiscent of Mos Def or Lupe Fiasco, as heard in the lead single What Am I Supposed to Do.  In this lead single, Kero One announced a call-to-action for the “Free the Slaves” charity, where half of the proceeds from the downloads, in the first month, were able to provide a year of specialized education for a former child slave in India and help prevent future slave trafficking in their home village.  However, Color Theory is not only about conscious raps, tracks like “In Time” and “Lackadaisical” showcase fun, lighthearted lyrics accompanied by bouncy beats reminiscent of a pool party perfect for this summer season.

Release Date July 4th, 2011
Catalogue# p00014
UPC 859708313819
Genre Hip-Hop   Label: Plug Label

Kero One interview with Lands End Canvas

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How’d you come up with your name?
Growing up, I loved graffiti and street art so I came up with Kero as my alias when I was 15 and have stuck with it ever since. Kero is an acronym for “Kinetic Entity Resurrecting Origins” – in my art I always try to look back to the pioneers and how it originated to gain inspiration. The “One” at the end was just a formality graffiti writers used to signify who was the first to use the name..the ghetto copyright.

How does your on-stage style differ from your off-stage style?
I tend to dress up  more for stage but still keep to a look that reflects my personal style, like wearing a traditional pocket square in non-conventional ways. Off-stage, I’m more casual and tend to go through phases that are somewhat affected by the unpredictability of the Bay Area weather system. Lately I’ve been into the fitted puff vest and a flannel shirt for those chilly San Francisco days or a wax parka with a chambray button up and some Sperry top siders for when the rain comes.

We are all about “Authentic Inspiration” – What styles do you like best from Lands’ End Canvas?
BROWN – Men’s Austin Boat Chukka Item # 40013-9X79
Light Navy – Men’s Heritage Striped Chambray Work-shirt Item # 39930-2XA2
Brick – Men’s Slim Fit Chinos Item # 39169-1XA4
Men’s Rain Parka Item # 40073-2XA9
Men’s Washed D-ring Web Belt Item # 38828-3XA0
Canvas 1963 Denim Tote Item # 40160-2XA7

Lands’ End Canvas designers take their cues from everything from architecture to style icons. What was your inspiration for your featured song in New Music Now?

The song “When the Sunshine Comes” is about falling in love, experiencing tragedy but ultimately finding hope with an unusual twist at the end. So the overall feeling of the song is of warmth and sunshine. I drew inspiration from an outdoor bbq in the park with friends on a warm summer night, a smokey jazz club with vintage instruments, as well as personal experience and the loved ones in my own life.

What sets you apart from the other bands out there?
Every musician is special in their own way. For me, I love using my lyrics to tell stories and paint pictures. I also like to be a part of every song from the inception of the idea to the writing and recording of lyrics all the way to production (playing some of the instruments myself), engineering, and mastering. And jazz, I love to infuse jazz into my music!

http://www.landsendcanvas.com

King Most interview by Neishon

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Interview by TravisNN @ Ninja Neishon.

NN: Can you tell our audience a little bit about who you are and what your music is all about?

King: I’m King Most from The San Francisco/Bay Area. I’m a deejay and producer. My music? I’m not sure actually and I think that’s a good thing. It’s definitely hip-hop and my influences come from a lot of places, like more popular artists like Kanye West & Justice Leauge (Rick Ross) to lesser knows cats like Nottz & Exile. Then of course a lot of old/classic music and definitely current electronic & dance music.

The same goes for deejaying. I play out often and for different type of parties. One night it’s big top 40 megaclub and the next night it’s an all vinyl disco event. I love it, it keeps me on my toes.

I’m also working on my debut full length. So far it has tracks from Aloe Blacc, Blu, Tanya Morgan, and some soul cats as well. I’m hoping to have it done by the summer. And also want to start putting on disco/funk edits, I have a ton I’ve been sitting on but just waiting to unleash on vinyl.

NN: We heard about you from our friends in Japan and have really enjoyed your music ever since. How does the Japanese music scene respond to your work?

King: I haven’t been back since 2007, but when I was out there it was awesome, best time of my life. I need to get back there somehow, someway.

NN: Coming from the Bay area do you receive a lot of local support?

King: Support is sort of relative out here. I get recognized a lot in some circles and in others not so much. As long as I’m progressing and making a living I’m not really worried about “support” from everybody.

I personally try and support local music though especially in the past year or two. There’s a lot of up-and-coming groups coming out and they are doing some unique and interesting music that can hang nationally against other cities. And I say its “good” not because they are local and have decided to stick around the longest but they really are fresh.

NN: What production techniques do you like using the most? Strictly turntables, or are you open to software?

King: For deejaying it depends on the gig. Production wise I still use an MPC but in the 2 years I’ve started using session players to either replay samples or add to the existing tracks. I’m always the last person to adopt to music technologically, not because I don’t want to, but because it takes so much time.

NN: How often do you put out mixes, and can people download them anywhere?

King: The best place is my blog/tumblr page. I’m always doing stuff, actually I’m supposed to release a mix for Kicks Hawaii in the next few weeks.

NN: Who has been your biggest hip-hop influence?

King: Biggest? So many to name. For production: Pete Rock, Kanye West, J Dilla, Dr. Dre, Masters At Work, Moodyman, Theo Parrish, Large Proffesor, Just Blaze, Black Milk, Exile, Nottz, Drummer Boy, Larry Heard, Mannie Fresh, Jake One….see I can go and on

Deejaying it’s DJ Spinna, Rich Medina, Kon & Amir, Larry Levan, Danny Krivitz, Eli Escobar, DJ B-Cause, Cosmo Baker…again so many guys.

NN: What inspired your song ‘Sun Fran to Tokyo’?

King: I’m not sure but I want to say my guy Kero One asked me to submit a song for a compilation and I had a Brazilian Jazz record I always wanted to use. So one day I just made the beat and that’s it. Seriously, I hooked it up and sent it to him. I think I made it very fast as well.

NN: What do you think of the West Coast IDM sound (Flying Lotus, Gaslamp Killer, Nosaj Thing etc.)? Do you ever plan on experimenting with music like that?

King: Good question, I have mutual friends that make that type of music or really enjoy it. I try to keep up with it and there’s a little bit of that influence in my music, but it’s very very limited.

The producers who make that type of music who really catch my ear are Torro Y Moi, Krystal Klear, Machine Drum and maybe even Dam Funk. But then again they are doing their own thing but still going an experimental route.

NN: Have any upcoming projects you want to tell us about?

King: More edits, more mixtapes, and my album.

NN: What is your favorite Ninja activity?

King: It will forever be a mystery.

Interview with producer Green Tea

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green tea1) Please introduce yourself and what you do?

Hey, what’s up? This is green tea I’m a dj/producer representing “soul in the hole” / “plug label” family.

2) Where are you from and how has that influenced how you got into music?

I’m from Milpitas, California. A small town in the middle of Silicon Valley, Bay Area. Growing up in Milpitas influenced me a lot on how I got into music. Milpitas is a small quiet town, but housed a lot of pretty talented and creative people. There always was a big dj scene in Milpitas even back in the early 90′s. I remember in high school there was a lot of people that was either in a dj group or was affiliated with one. The Graffiti scene and B-Boy/dance scene was also prevalent. Whenever there was a house party in town the news quickly spread by word of mouth and would attracts all these different crews from each scene. Collectively, all these crews introduced new music that was considered “underground” and that I would only really hear in these house parties in it’s raw form. I first got introduced to early 90′s rave music like techno, break beats, house and underground hip-hop at these parties. So it was a big ear opener for a kid that was not old enough to go to a rave or club to hear these tunes.

3) What is the major thing in your life that made you start music? Who were the musicians that influenced you?

One major thing in my life that I could remember that made me start music. One, was when I first saw DJ Q-bert on TV cutting it up on this old Bay Area TV show called “Home Turf”. He was the guest dj at the time and I was totally blown away with his skills on the turntables. I’ve heard and seen people scratch but after seeing and hearing him for the first time that day , it totally blew my mind. Right there and then I wanted to get my own turntables and a mixer so I can do what he was doing up there, or at least attempt to. *laugh*. Musicians that have influenced me, I would say first off would be the dj’s like DJ Q-bert and Invisible Skratch Piklz and DJ Dan. Soul artist’s like Stevie Wonder, Michael Jackson and Prince. Also early electronic music pioneers in the 90′s like  4hero, Goldie and Liam Howlett of The Prodigy.

4) Did you play instruments on your album or are they just samples?

There’s a lot of instrumentation on this album. I played majority of the keyboard work, composing and arranging. Selected samples we’re used in some of the tracks, but I wanted to really give the album a more live dynamic feel. I had some musician friends of mine play live guitar solos and rhodes solos on some of the track. I don’t sample as much as I use to, now I really want to be able to play sounds and chords on my head and lay them down and if I have a sample that will fit that track then it’s a bonus.

5) The album feels very summery and upbeat. Was that a conscious decision going into it?  What was your overall goal with this debut album?

The album does have that summery and upbeat feel to it. There really was no conscious decision going into it and it probably didn’t occur to me until the album was done. One thing about me is that I’m slightly a seasonal producer as I would describe it. The changes in the season and mood of the weather affects what I produce and I tend to harness that feeling and lay it on music.  My mind state is usually yearning to be anywhere sunny, warm and tropical *laugh*.It just added to the fact that I was working on Places + Spaces during the spring/summer and while i was out travelling. My travels influenced my music a lot also.You will definitely hear on tracks like “worlds left unspoken”. The flute arrangement on that track occurred to me while in Japan climbing Mt.Fuji .While the chords,congas and the feel on “Jazzy Joint” was when I was out in Brasil listening to the different samba school bands in the Sambadrome.

My overall goal with this debut album is basically create an album that infuses all the different types of  genres that I’m into in one . I wan’t to create an album that people will enjoy, create an atmosphere and mood for each track that will  transport the listeners to a different place in mind. All the while  introducing my skills as a musician  and laying down my vision into sound.

6) Who do you listen to now?

What I listen to is different day to day. I still listen to a lot of jazz, soul, house, electronic music, and old school hip-hop.  Some current producers I’ve been following from Japan are DJ Mitsu and Grooveman Spot. Those guys are just producing some quality next level tracks. Also, I’ve been getting into early 80′s boogie and post disco music. Currently on rotation for me are my boys from Soul in the Hole with their “Night Shift” 80′s boogie mixes and Maurice Fulton from the U.K with his mixes on his podcast show, which is always a good listen.

7) What do you like to do when you’re not making music?

What I like to do when I’m not making music is probably out in the record shops record digging. I’m always looking for music new/old doesn’t matter music is 24/7. Also, I love to cook, so you might find me at the local farmers market checking out the latest in organic produce. I also like to just chill out and watch TV. I only really watch 3 channels on cable. Which are Food Network, Travel Channel and ESPN.

8)      Please share some closing thoughts and shout outs.

First off before we wrap this up I would like to say thanks to the folks that picked up my album. I hope you are enjoying it where it may be in your ipod, club or in the ride. I want to give a shout to the extended Plug Fam, The Tones, King Most and Kero One. Also my homies at Soul in the Hole, Proof, Reja and Ren. Any updates with me they can always go to pluglabel.com for news and events. On Myspace then can go to myspace.com/djgreentea0.  They can follow me on twitter, twitter.com/djgreentea . For my nihon-jin tomodachi’s they can add me on Mixi via community or directly at: http://mixi.jp/show_profile.pl?id=2797929. On Facebook they can look for me on fan pages as “dj green tea”. Thanks and I’ll hopefully see you guys at my dj gig’s/shows and keep checking in for free goodies like my free mixes and remix works. Places + Spaces is out now, if you don’t know; now you know! Peace!