Headset - Spacesettings flac album

Three years ago Allen Avanessian, Plug Research supremo and keen producer in his own right, decided it was time to bring his extended family a little closer together: "I had always wanted to work with different producers from my label as well as producers and MCs I respected from around the globe, to create an album that would fit the aesthetic of what we feel is a progressive move for electronic music." This general idea - which had been brewing in Allen's mind for quite some time finally took shape when Stefan Betke (~scape) asked him to contribute an electronic Jazz track for his Staedtizism compilation series (staedtizism 2) , followed by the request for an entire album. In addition to running Plug Research, Allen has been DJing since he was 12 and producing since he was 17, while Jimmy Tamborello, his prime collaborator on Headset and a producer from the equally tender age of 13, is responsible for some very successful electronic albums, including Dntel, The Postal Service, and Figurine. From this nucleus of Allen and Jimmy who produced most of the album Headset soon expanded to a loose association of illustrious contributors with additional production by John Tejada and Daedelus, while Thomas Fehlmann (Orb, Ocean Club) added atmospheres to "Sound of A Squint". Words to the beats came from a number of local and distant MCs - in the true spirit of musical networking Non-GENETIC of the Shadow Huntaz (featured on Then Again & Back Before) not only brought Metalogic and his cousin Rocmon (who is also featured on "Then Again") along to the recording, but also introduced Headset to Lady Dragon, whose rhymes over "Grasping Claw" in Japanese, had such an impressive flow "that made us all feel like we actually understand the lyrics. To our surprise, she also decided to sing on 'Grasping Claw', adding crisp lightness to the track." Local hero Subtitle, contributed his atypical rhyming style on "Breath Contrails", probably closest of all to the West Coast sound, while Beans (Anti Pop Consortium) got involved via a long-distance exchange: when Allen sent him a beat, he came up with "Jaw Modulation", already destined to become a timeless hip hop classic. Nevertheless, the production duo's secret favourite turned out to be "Breath Contrails", originally written by and for Dntel, here simply flipped and twisted into an electronic/hip hop hybrid, slithering through the entire track with its breathless vocal acrobatics. Overall, "space settings" is constructed from what it isn't: "This is not a hip hop record, not an electronic record and definitely not a jazz record, but we're influenced by all of these and love to create our own interpretations of these genres. That's really what makes making music so much fun for us. We were listening to a lot of hip hop over the years, and sometimes feel that commercial hip hop producers bring a lot of new ideas and a fresh approach to making music, so yes, this record was influenced by people like the Neptunes, Timbaland, Dr. Dre, Kanye West, as well as producers on our label. Here at Plug Research, all we do is work records, make beats, DJ, do radio shows, play live events, buy records, and share musical knowledge with each other." So it was only natural to exploit these synergies and energies in a loose collaborative effort of like-minded, but very much independent souls. By inviting friends and acquaintances to contribute parts of their sound, views and vision, Headset has become a true blueprint of the current Plug Research periphery - musically, spiritually and geographically, this is a joint effort, and an enlightened one. Uncannily coherent - considering the amount and variety of participants - it is the underlying attitude which spins a common thread. With its a relaxed urgency and relentless dedication, "space settings" has become a true collaboration without any need for compromise: "All of us are extremely proud of the result, plus it has given us all more inspiration to keep working with each other." In the US & Canada the cd is also available through Plug Research under the exclusive license from scape.