Yellow Magic Orchestra “Computer Games”

Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti “For Kate I Wait”

LL Cool J “I Can’t Live Without My Radio” (Live on Soul Train, 1986)

Sound in Light “Free Your Mind”

Laibach “Life Is Life” (Warning: May not be safe for work)

Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers “Baby, Baby”

Bo Diddley “Bo Diddley”

For Issue 31, Wax Poetics contributor Allen Thayer spoke with Os Mutantes about their radical transformation of Brazilian music and the manner in which they were able to fuse rock, tropicalia, and psychedelia into something revolutionary. As a Wax Poetics online exclusive, guitarist Sergio Diaz discusses fifteen of the albums that contributed heavily to Os Mutantes’ dynamic sound.

• The Ventures Twist with the Ventures (1961)
  I started my guitar adventure learning this cat’s walk. Nocky Edwards was the best teacher, with his mean guitar work that is still technically very difficult.
• Russ Garcia Fantastica (1959)
  He made orchestrations for early sci-fi films. He was one of the first guys, as far as I know, that used electronic instruments like oscillators and stuff. I took my first “space out” walks, wandering the galaxies of the music of the spheres, listening to this genius and his vision of “space-age music.”
• The Beatles Revolver (1966)
  This one hit me in the heart, and it’s a killer! All of the Beatles—Everything. Every time a Beatles album was released, it was like a change of your perspective on life, so I would have to name all of them. On Rubber Soul it was the introduction of vocals as a very important part of their writing and playing. Rubber Soul is a cornerstone. Revolver also. If you listen to “Tomorrow Never Knows,” you still can’t believe that somebody could do something like that.
• Celly Campello Broto Certinho (1960s)
  She was the voice of Brazilian youth. She was rebellious; she was our Natalie Wood. She was a singer from the beginning of the beginning of the rock music here. She was basically doing the early stages of the twist like Neil Sedaka.
• Nino Tempo and April Stevens Nino and April Sing the Great Songs (1964)
  Great vocals! We loved the interaction, and the band behind them was great! Their way of singing and the music is great.
• The Everly Brothers The Everly Brothers (1958)
  Arnaldo and I used them as mirrors, being brothers and such. They [helped us] solidify our singing.
• Peter, Paul, and Mary In the Wind (1963)
  Rita joined our “Everly Brothers,” and we started to create more intricate harmonies. [Arnaldo and I] were in love with Mary of course.
• Swingle Singers Bach’s Greatest Hits (1963)
  This one really hit us because we had our classic influences from the cradle. When Johann Sebastian Bach joined Mutantes—what a treat! They used to sing Bach, but just vocals and that influenced us a lot, because we were very much into classical music. My mother was one of the first women to write a concerto for piano and orchestra, and one of the best writers and interpreters that I have ever seen playing piano. She was somebody that influenced us more than anyone. We would see her coming back to center stage for a standing ovation like fifteen or sixteen times in the theater. She was outrageous.
• Nat King Cole A Mis Amigos (1959)
  Smooth and sexy! What a great pianist he was. He sung in Portuguese on this one:”Quero chorar, nao tenho lagrimas…”
• Sly and the Family Stone Stand! (1969)
  They really took us into the fifth dimension! We flipped out over the distorted bass and the beats.
• Demonios da Garoa Trem das Onze (1965)
  They were an outrageous band from Sao Paulo. They sing great, kind of a country style. They are the epitome of Paulista samba. They had a precious humor that they carried with their songs, a superb band with great harmonies, and the caipira singing along with the Mooca accent made us proud to be the Paulistas that we are!
• The Rolling Stones Their Satanic Majesties Request (1967)
  I used to fly along in my car listening to this one over and over. This made the Stones transcendent for me with their great vocals and percussion work.
• Jimmy Smith Bashin’(1962)
  He’s the main influence on Arnaldo’s Hammond playing; he is still the best! Nobody plays like him. He’s the Cat!
• Les Paul and Mary Ford Bye Bye Blues (1952)
  My dear teacher, how I sweated to play the solo in “Bye, Bye Blues.”
• Duane Eddy Dance with the Guitar Man (1963)
  Claudio brought him up, and that gave us the awareness that sounds sometimes are as important as the notes!

As above, so below, wrote magician-philosopher Hermes Trismegistus. It’s the key to all the universe’s mysteries: the macrocosmos is the same as the microcosmos. The Mackrosoft is the same as its microgram doses. A single bar of music from the brothers is as important as their entire catalog; a single beat represents their entire philosophy. See Cheebacabra’s shape-shifting synthesizer masterstroke, Exile in the Woods, and think Marc Moulin’s angular geometry. This is music as fractals played on a Mandelbrot drum set. Menacing, spiraling, salvia-chewing self-transforming machine elves go to work in the studio, and Cheeba plays Tristan Tzara and picks up the pieces. Also see the Mackrosoft’s jazz-funk organic opus, Antonio’s Giraffe, and think Bob James as primordial Ptah. Like a mad Strindberg indulging in alchemy, atomic arranger Aja West flips Sandoz Lab samples into Fibonacci sequences. He codes Headhunters drummer Mike Clark and triggers the cosmic 808 (RIP R. A. Wilson). Finally, see the adepts’ synth-funk ode to their childhood felines, Flash and Snowball, and think Herbie Hancock Gully-jaunting from synth to sensi. Together, Aja and Cheeba create a blood-brother ritual of dynamic interconnectedness, always macking their slew of keys — Minimoog Voyager, Sequential Circuits Prophet 5, Roland Juno-60, Korg PolySix, ARP Solina String Ensemble, Yamaha CS-40m, Moog Opus-3, the Cat by Octave, Roland JX-3P, MTI Auto-Orchestra, Ensoniq ASR-10, and the PAiA FatMan.

Halfway between my SoCal post and their Seattle studios, I met the Brothers Mack in an orange room deep below Mt. Shasta to discuss how life imitates clouds.

Where’d the name Mackrosoft come from?

Aja: Growing up in Seattle, mushrooms grew plentifully all over the Microsoft grounds, [where] we’d go to pick them.

And you worked for the Conan O’Brien show?

Aja: I got an internship with Conan O’Brien as the music coordinator. I also worked for the Max Weinberg 7, helping with arrangements. [But then] the World’s Strongest Man tried to lift me in the world’s biggest bowl of chili, for a sketch, and he dropped me.

Ouch. What’s your musical education?

Aja: I don’t read music at all. I got the ASR-10 keyboard real early in the game, influenced by Prince Paul…

Cheeba: We both did the Suzuki School of Music — a real strict Japanese music program.

Aja: We both tried that and hated it.

So, you’re basically self-taught?

Cheeba: I took a few months of piano lessons five years ago in L.A. It was actually really helpful. I learned one scale, and I pretty much use it on everything.

The Mackrosoft albums have amazing horn arrangements, but you’re not writing charts, Aja?

Aja: I can play most instruments, so I’ll record as much as I can first, and leave spaces for soloists. Then I have players come back in and replay the parts. When it comes to horns, I’ll play it in a bad horn sound on the synthesizer [first].

You record with Headhunters drummer Mike Clark and bassist Paul Jackson. Are you looping on Antonio’s Giraffe?

Aja: Absolutely. I did the drums first with Mike Clark. I’d loop everything up and add 808 kicks to punch it up, maybe add another snare, to thicken it, tighten it.

How was recording Fred Wesley?

Aja: Probably the most intense guy I’ve worked with in the studio. You’ll be like, “Can you do a little more of this?” He’s like, “No.” And then it’s like, “Cool.” [laughs]

When did you start collecting synthesizers?

Aja: We were always huge fans of the Knight Rider soundtrack — funky TV show intros like CHiPs, where it’s just sick synths. And we were like, “What makes that shit?” I bought a FatMan kit, because I wanted to figure out how this shit works. I learned what was going on in the inside.

Cheeba: Mike Simpson, one of the Dust Brothers, lent me his MPC for a while. That was my first serious production machine. Once I switched to Pro Tools, I started playing a lot more instruments myself, as well as recording other players. That’s when we started collecting [synths] more.

Aja: And the Dust Brothers had every [synth]. We could figure out what’s what without having to purchase it first.

Cheeba: One of them was addicted to eBay, buying every synth that came on eBay, no matter what condition.

At eighteen, you interned with the Dust Brothers?

Cheeba: Ended up working there for three years. Aja and I did a Fight Club remix. I got to beatbox on tracks. I got to meet musicians and learn a lot about running a record label. Instead of college, I went to the School of Dust.

Reveal your recording method.

Cheeba: For Exile, a lot of that began with a bunch of us on keyboards playing over different beats I looped up. Nothing premeditated — just started jamming. Then it took me a couple years to edit that stuff down to something cool — kept just the ten percent that worked.

Hence the abundance of change-ups?

Cheeba: Exactly. There’s going to be a lot more of that.

Aja: It’s a fine line between making the chaos and making the funk.

Cheeba: Kind of like short-attention-span funk.

You make it work.

Cheeba: The secret to that is in just deleting so much stuff, and that’s a hard thing to do.

“I get high from collecting and creating,” so says Xavier Mosley, better known as Chief Xcel. By collecting, he’s referring to his 20,000 records; by creating, he’s referring to his production on Blackalicious’s revered albums.

In addition to his album credits, Xcel also heads Quannum Projects, an independent label he jointly created in the early ’90s alongside Jeff Chang, DJ Shadow, Lateef the Truth Speaker, Lyrics Born, and Gift of Gab. But long before establishing himself as a label executive and premier producer, Xavier Mosley was — and still is — an avid record collector.

Xcel talks about inheriting his father’s records, his very first record purchase, how digging has affected his production, and some of his favorite digging spots across America. The second component of the interview finds Mosley listing his most important records, many of which have directly influenced his own body of work.

Part 1: On Record Collecting

So you really have 20,000 records?

No, I probably have a lot more than that. [laughs] When I got to about 20,000 is when I stopped counting.

What made you want to start collecting?

Nothing really made me do it. It more or less just happened. Some of my favorite and important records I was lucky enough to inherit from my father’s collection. He had a ton of records and that was, like, my starting point. Some of his records I never listened to at first, but years later I rediscovered them and realized what a great inheritance his collection was.

Do you remember the first record you bought?

Yeah, I remember, surprisingly. [laughs] The first record I bought was Parliament-Funkadelic’s Uncle Jam Wants You.

You still go digging often?

Yeah, I dig constantly. It’s a trip, though, because I dig a lot more away from home than I do at home. When we’re on the road ten months out of the year, there’s more time to do so.

Any memorable spots you’ve dug at while on the road?

North Hampton, Massachusetts, is pretty dope. Also, whenever I’m in Pittsburgh, I go wild, because it’s one of the few places left that’s like the Holy Grail for me. When I was working on Blazing Arrow, the majority of stuff I used was lifted from Pittsburgh. Those two spots have to be my favorites — I’ve had so many important finds there.

How has searching and listening to records effected your own production?

I’m always technically minded, so I’m always listening to the aesthetic of how things are put together. I guess, that’s a direct result of me doing what I do. When I’m listening to music, I’m listening for the love of it. But I’m also listening to learn from, or, to be inspired by it as well.

Whether listening to a record in your collection or to a beat you’ve made, what’s the most important aspect you listen for?

The feel is everything. I’ve seen people with dope record collections but can’t make a beat to save their life. You have to have a feel and an ear, because if it don’t feel right, it isn’t right. You can find the best break in the world, but if you can’t hear and visualize how it can be used, then it’s all for nothing.

Who has produced some of your favorite records?

Wow, there are so many. David Axelrod, Leon Ware, the Bomb Squad, Ant Banks, Dre, Pete Rock, Larry Smith, Lincoln Olivetti. In particular, Olivetti is a real important producer, because I think he’s amazing. He did a lot of Brazilian funk and samba in the ’70s. His whole approach to the rhythm was just really dope and just inspires me.

What has record collecting done for you as a producer?

It’s the core of what I do. All these years, I’ve made beats that reflected all these sounds and musical genres that have impacted me, and these records are like my musical vocabulary. They’re like the paint that I use to paint with — everything revolves around these records.

Part 2: On Important Records

Magnum Fully Loaded (Phoenix) 1974

This is a record I came up on in ‘90, ‘91. It was another one that was inherited from my father. The soul in that record is so heavy. It would later be reissued, much to my dismay, but it is a classic. We actually used it for our Blackalicious track, “Deep in the Jungle.” I simply love this record.

De La Soul 3 Feet High and Rising (Tommy Boy) 1989

I was in the tenth grade when this record came out. This record really showed me what the world of sampling could be. Prince Paul showed me that there are no limits to producing. I mean, I was lucky to have inherited quite a few records from my dad’s collection, but I never really used them. This album made me realize that even my dad’s records were fair game. So from that, I was introduced to the Turtles, Steely Dan, and other records that I might have never looked at as prospective samples.

Aretha Franklin Young, Gifted and Black (Atlantic) 1972

Arif Mardin is my all-time favorite arranger, and the song “Young, Gifted and Black” itself is amazing. I mean, Nina Simone did the original, but his interpretation, and what he did with it, was just crazy. It starts off as a gospel piece really, and the piano progression on it is awesome. It’s always been another one of those records that have been a blueprint for my production. Certain records to me I consider “Producer 101″ records, and this is definitely one of them.

Public Enemy It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back (Def Jam) 1988

Wow. My initial reaction to this record was just that — “wow.” The Shocklee Brothers, Eric Sadler, and Chuck D just threw everything in the pot and made this wall of confusion that was organized at the same time. It was so intense. 3 Feet High and Rising showed me the possibility of sampling and Public Enemy was a realization of that possibility. They really just stretched my head out.

John Coltrane A Love Supreme (Impulse) 1965

This is one of my all-time favorite records. I’ve always been a fan of records that tell a story. And, to me, this record is a journey from beginning to end. It’s almost like CliffsNotes of somebody’s life and the lessons that they’ve learned. This is one of the greatest records ever made, in my humble opinion. It’s the kind of record that sticks with you.

Main Source Breaking Atoms (Wild Pitch) 1991

The first time I heard this record, it moved me to my core. By that time, I had reached a point where digging wasn’t something I took for granted — it had become a sport. And that was right around the time I met Lyrics Born and Shadow, and the three of us were going through the same phase at the same time. When I heard how Large Pro hooked up certain sounds for that record, or how he used “Baby Don’t Cry” for “Looking at the Front Door,” it made me look more intensely into the world of sampling. I love this record.

Fela Kuti Kalakuta Show (Wrasse) 1976

When I first got introduced to Fela, my mind was just blown! Here was this dude who would make records with one single groove that would last for eighteen minutes! His ability to just captivate you in that groove was just amazing to me. When I did the tribute album, I had to listen to a lot of his records. And the thing is, most of his songs are at least ten minutes long — at least. There is so much I can say about Fela’s records. They’re brilliant. I mean, I love almost all his records, but Kalakuta Show impacted me the most. It’s simply an amazing record! Fela is an astonishing musician. This record continues to blow me away.

Refer to Wax Poetics Issue #2 for album cover

• Ceasar Frazier 75 (Westbound, 1975) “Funk It Down”

  Nothing fancy here, just Purdie laying the 4/4 for the opening of the Frazier-penned funk track, while John Faddis offers trumpet bursts, building tension

• Bernard Purdie Purdie Good! (Prestige, 1971) “Cold Sweat”

  A favorite JB cover, Purdie and friends tackle it with perfect Prestige poise.

• Michael Bolotin Michael Bolotin (RCA, 1975) “Take Me As I Am”

  Before he changed his name to Bolton, he released this blue-eyed soul album to some critical praise. While bassist Wilbur Bascomb teams up with Purdie (and Andy Newmark) for some solid rhythms, the album is very forgettable due to some sappiness and of course Bolton’s easily distiguishable voice.

• Aretha Franklin With Everything I Feel in Me (Atlantic, 1974) “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart”

  Aretha’s take on the Bacharach/David tune. For this disco version, Purdie’s monster drumming keeps the song moving almost faster than it wants to

• Charlie Byrd The Great Byrd (Columbia, circa 1970) “I Don’t Have to Take It”

  While Byrd’s early 1970s albums were usually very simple, light pop-jazz fare, he was respected as a serious guitarist. You can often find great players on his albums, such as this one with Herbie Hancock and Chuck Rainey. On this song, Paul Griffin leads off on the organ while Purdie creates a chunky backdrop.

• Billy Butler Plays Via Galactica (Kilmarnock, 1973) “New Jerusalem”

  Guitarist Butler plays music by Galt MacDermot on Galt’s label with Galt on piano. Purdie and Wilbur Bascomb provide the rhythm section.

• Roy Ayers Ubiquity Vibrations (Polydor, 1976) “Higher”

  “Baby You Give Me a Feeling”

  While beat-heads are most familiar with the non-Purdie-backed track “Searching,” Purdie provided beats to these two oft-overlooked dance floor jams.

• Freddie Hubbard A Soul Experiment (Atlantic, 1969) “Clap Your Hands”

  While Grady Tate provides the big open beat on this rare album, Purdie breakbeats his way through this song on Hubbard’s funky pop-jazz outing.

• Larry Coryell Fairyland (Mega, 1971) “Souls Dirge”

  “Stones”

  Another raw breakbeat album from Coryell, this one is a trio live at Montreux with Chuck Rainey on bass and Purdie on drums.

• Joe Cocker Luxury You Can Afford (Asylum, 1978) “What You Did to Me Last Night”

  Produced by Allen Toussaint with players and guests Cornell Dupree, Chuck Rainey, Stephen Gadd, David Newman, Hank Crawford, Richard Tee, Donny Hathaway, Billy Preston, Dr. John, and of course Bernard Purdie

• The Insect Trust Hoboken Saturday Night (Atco, 1970) “Ducks”

  Rare-ish Atco LP by obscure Thomas Pynchon-quoting avant-garde folk/jazz/jam band (reedman Bob Palmer went on to be famous music critic/writer). Guests include drummer Elvin Jones, as well as Purdie.