Thanks once again to First Word Records for serving up yet another fantastic hip-hop album for us to boom and bap to. ASM (A State Of Mind) are a US three-piece (that’s rapper Green-T, FP and producer Fade to y’all) now relocated to the UK who cut a fine line in smart but fun, funk and soul-fuelled rap. Little bit like those Pharcyde chaps used to kick it. They first appeared (albeit undetected) on our radar thanks to collaborations with France’s foremost beat-maker Wax Tailor (namely Positively Inclined
and Say Yes
), and with their debut album Platypus Funk
now in stores, we’re very much in love. Any crew who collaborates with DJ Vadim, Kidkanevil, Bonobo and rap legends Sadat X and Wildchild ON THE SAME RECORD have clearly got to have some serious shit going on. How and when were you first infected by dance music? GT: Well, that depends on the definition of "dance music". We’re really into the funk, and old school hip hop. Soul and roots reggae too. People dance to those forms of music, so in that sense I suppose it qualifies. How and when is difficult to say. For me there were a few milestone listening experiences when I was a teenager. Buying Fugees -
The Score in 1996 was a big one. And also the soundtrack to a skateboarding movie called
Mouse by Girl Skateboards…that must have been around ‘96 or ‘97 as well. The soundtrack is 100% sure-shot funk gems and put me onto a lot of other stuff.
When did you start making music / producing, and how long was it before you started making tracks that you were really happy with? Fade: I feel the most important thing is to never be fully satisfied with your music - when that happens you stop to progress and expand. Myself and FP started making music together when we were just 12. Green-T was DJing around the same time and we came together as ASM when we were 17. There's is definitely some music floating around from when we were 17 which I can 100% say I'm not to happy with! Somehow it found its way onto the internet too but I guess that's the beauty of the internet, right? All your conquests and big mistakes are recorded for ever! I can honestly say I'm happy with our music now but as soon as we finish a project I always think OK, now how can we do this again but better. It'd be depressing to think the world’s greatest music had already been made (although it probably has) but we've all got to keep trying to better it all the same!
What have been your personal favourite tracks / productions so far? FP: Well performance-wise we love to do our tracks
Say Yes and
Postively Inclined with Wax Tailor. They go crazy for those tracks in France - we've rocked them in front of crowds up to 30,000 people and that's been an unforgettable experience. But we're really happy with our new album
Platypus Funk in terms of a full coherent project. We got to work with lots of people who we'd always wanted to collaborate with too. Getting to do a track with Sadat X from Brand Nubian and Wildchild from Lootpack for example is a dream. We used to listen to those guys as kids. Also getting people like Vadim, Bonobo, Kid Kanevil on tracks is great because they're all people we've met on our travels and had wanted to work with for a while. The project was a long time coming and it just feels satisfying to know it's out there now.
Where does your name come from? GT: The abbreviated version (ASM) comes from two graffiti crews merging into one. We were all writers back then around 2001/2002, living in Germany, and it was AS crew and SM crew. When we started writing together, and buying records and freestyling all together and all that true school nerd stuff, we fused the two into ASM..
Who would you most like to work with? GT: At the moment - MF DOOM and Mayer Hawthorne. Period.
Fade: Truth! Also I want to get Eek-a-Mouse on a track!
What have you got in store for the coming months? FP: Touring and touring - we've got all the festivals to do now. I think we're playing something crazy like 20 festivals over the summer with Wax Tailor. Then it's onto October where we'll start touring the cities again. I think we'll be doing France, Germany, Switzerland, UK, Poland, and anywhere else that'll let us come and make some noise. We're also doing a few shows with Wax Tailor and a full orchestra which is going to be crazy. Oh and a new single is coming out called
Guaranteed - we're doing a video competition for that so all you directors and video editors check our MySpace and Facebook for details.
What can we expect from one of your DJ sets or live sets? Fade: We don't play a usual hip-hop show - rather than your standard MCs and DJ we force Marco and Paulo from the 6ix Toys out on stage with us on the saxophone and trombone, then I play the MPC live and when we can we bring Ludivine Issambourg out on the flute. It's important for us to really bring the live element to our show - we won't just be putting on instrumentals and rapping over them, that's for sure. We're not really all that hip-hop either to be honest, the show moves between hip-hop, funk and reggae. It's all about bringing the party with us!
If you weren’t a DJ/producer/artists, what would you be? FP: If I wasn't an MC, I would most likely be a teacher and/or author, possibly even a journalist of some sort. Basically anything where I can express an opinion and share that opinion with listeners/readers. I would definitely not want to sit in an office or behind a counter and simply engage in and actively support the flawed system we live in, without trying to change it for the better. I feel that too many people nowadays simply follow without questioning certain trends and expectations. The world could be such a beautiful place for everyone, yet few people are willing to put in the effort to make it that. We need to lay the foundations of freedom, peace and justice for our children, otherwise they'll all be slaves in this rapidly globalizing insect-like structure, disguised through politics and the media.
Green-T: I think I would probably be a chef. Classical French cuisine style and work my way through the ranks. Either that or a pipe-smoking academic. Aesthetic philosophy probably..
Fade: I'd most likely skip the whole work thing, marry a rich girl and move straight onto my life long dream of sitting on a porch in a rocking chair complaining about 'technology' and 'kids these days'.
Which other producers and DJs and artists do you really rate?GT: Fantastic Planet, our Paris crew - they’re the shit. Also Fela Kuti and Mulatu Astatke are absolute heroes. And of course Madlib. Dude is a machine.
FP: Oh man...the list is literally endless. I personally prefer the older stuff... anything from the ‘70s and earlier. I mean reggae, soul, jazz, funk. Just to drop some names from that era: Carla Thomas, Mable John, Wendy Rene, Al Green, Minnie Riperton, James Brown, Barrington Levy, Don Carlos, Cornell Campbell, Culture, The Gladiators, Curtis Mayfield, The Capris, Johnny Maestro, Joe Higgs, Frankie Lymon, Gene Chandler, The Supremes, The Temptations, Martha Reeves, Stevie Wonder, Toots & The Maytals, Parliament, Cutty Ranks, The Heptones, Ohio Players, Grant Green, damn, I could name artists for days. I'll just leave it at that, so you get an idea. If we're talking contemporary stuff (‘90s onwards) I would have to say: Madlib, MF DOOM, Mos Def, Mayer Hawthorne, Stacy Epps, Dionne Charles, La Fine Equipe, Mattic, Dam Funk, Jay Electronica, A Tribe Called Quest, The Pharcyde, etc. Again, I could hit you with names for days, but I think you get the idea.
Fade: I think they've just about covered it.
www.myspace.com/astateofmindproductionz