VERSUS ELECTRIC ROCKERS – JANUARY 2014

As I was making Versus Dynamic Sounds, I realized that I wasn’t done writing in this style. I wanted to cover more ground, and I decided I would make three old-school albums. Early 80’s LA electro rap like LA Dream Team was really the first music I ever heard, and I knew I had a good angle on how to pay homage to the era.

Secret Weapon Dave proved just as knowledgeable and passionate about the west coast breaks of this era, and Mickey Free rose to the occasion on the mix. The album came together very quickly, and we were all really pleased with it.

I decide to do no touring in support of the record, and to hold off on touring until the whole trilogy was completed. This made it tough to do a record release show. It was odd to go in cold and do a whole set of new songs for one night only. All in all, the whole project wa a great experience.

10,000 DEVASTATING WATTS – MAY 2014

In May, I put out my cassette release, 10,000 Devastating Watts, on Illuminated Paths Recordings. It’s a collection of remixes, b-sides and bedroom demos all birthed from my old-school series. This was my first time putting out something exclusively for cassette since the 90’s. It was a fun process, and something I plan on doing again.

HEIGHT ZONE WORLD – SUMMER 2014

I started a weekly interview podcast called Height Zone World. I had been trying my hand at podcasting since 2006. I went through several names and formats, (Six Song Smash, Seven Song Smash, Height Radio) but nothing really jelled, and I left it alone for a while. When I rebooted in 2014, I found a format I liked doing enough to do it regularly. It felt like a legitimate document, and not like an advertisement.
On the day I put up the first episode, my friend Mike Riley sent me some impromptu artwork to go with it. When I asked him to make more, he kept coming up with new artwork every Sunday, without fail. Some of my favorite interviews are with Lord Grunge, Lisa Lee, Katrina Ford and Paulie Think.

VERSUS THE CONTINENTAL MC’S – FALL 2014

Secret Weapon Dave and I completed the third and final part of our period trilogy, Versus The Continental MC’s. I think this is the best installment in the trilogy. We tried to tackle all NYC styles, from Mann Parrish to Crash Crew to Spoonie G.

CONTINENTAL MC’S TOUR – FALL 2014

I took my good friend (and significant contributor to the old school trilogy) Eze Jackson on the road. This was his first full tour, and he made a big impression on everyone. The tour had a lot of magical moments, and it inspired me to write an essay for Splice Today.

TALK SINGER – JANUARY 2015

Throughout The Continental MC’s Tour, I was dreaming about being back at home, working on music in my basement. I had just gone through the writing, recording, mixing, mastering and releasing process for three albums and an EP, all within 13 months. I had also gone through the booking and touring process many times within a short period.
I was done thinking about the trilogy and about the old-school set, and I just wanted to sit at home and play guitar until I came up with a new types of songs. In early October, (before I had one note written) I decided I would finish this record in December, and have it out by January.
To my surprise, my fantasy of how it would be wasn’t much different from the way it was… I spent every second I had working on it, and the songs just came out of me quickly. The result was Talk Singer.

RAP ROUND ROBIN TOUR – WINTER / SPRING 2015

Passalacqua, Eze Jackson, PT Burnem, B Rich and I put together a 60 day Rap Round Robin tour. I had never had this much help putting a tour together. It was all a team effort, from the booking to the promotion to lining up places to stay. We were all working together for months beforehand, and it’s stayed that way for all 60 days on the road. We were as on point as a DIY operation could be. I felt the benefits of this thoroughness while booking the tour, and I felt it at each show. They all raised the bar for what I expect from future tourmates.
It was the most rewarding tour I’ve been on, and also a very demanding one. The booking process was demanding. Explaining the concept to 48 sound men and bar staffs was demanding. Working as the defacto sound man for (sometimes) ill-prepared local MC’s was demanding. Each night started with the most stress you could possibly imagine, and ended with us receiving true gratitude from the the fans, the venue and the local acts. This is to become a annual thing.

DON’T FUCK WITH US – SPRING 2015

From the time we finished our second album in 2012, Lord Grunge, B Rich and I had been coming up with ideas for new, even-more-bonkers Shark Tank songs. Every Shark Tank record comes with inside jokes, sound collages and zany micro-songs, but for this one we were out to ramp the idiosyncratic shit up to the max. We worked on the record sporadically between 2012-2015, and finally dropped it in the spring of 2015.
It’s wild, and I love it.