By – TimS

As the music business crumbles around the ancient ideals of rich white men, musicians are still creating. The music is still being heard. It’s still being performed. It’s still being passed along from friend to friend. So as the rich white men scramble to stay afloat in this digital age, the artists themselves continue to hustle. Flyers are posted physically and digitally. Music is given away for free to generate interest and to hopefully establish future loyalty amongst fans. But most importantly, the music is still being made.

A couple of those musicians are a New York City based hip-hop duo known collectively as 11:00A.M. They met at SUNY@Purchase, a liberal arts college 30 minutes north of hip-hop’s Mecca, and after establishing a friendship the two soon established a musical relationship as well. The dense sonic landscapes created by A.M. Breakups proved to be the perfect canvas for lyrically-driven Eleven to paint upon. Soon the two were linking up with fellow like-minded acts, performing shows and making a name for themselves within NYC’s progressive hip-hop scene. One of those links came by way of Uncommon Records, a label founded by former Def Jux engineer Nasa. I recently caught up with the two and grilled them with deep and profound questions. But instead, these are the ones we printed…

Pictured from left to right are DJ Dyllemma, Eleven, A.M. Breakups.

––– A couple years ago you guys almost won a digital album release with Def Jux via an MTVU contest. How did that experience play a part in linking you up with fellow artists (gain exposure, book shows) and are you happy it turned out the way it did?

Eleven – It’s crazy how that whole thing started. I remember sitting in class one day and I got this weird feeling that if I didn’t record something soon that I would be missing out on something big. And surprise, surprise. That next week this contest popped up on the web proving that I’m psychic and shit. So you know, I had to get in the booth that weekend and record those demo tracks so I could give it a shot.

The tracks weren’t even mixed down when we first uploaded them to the contest page. We were just trying to meet their deadlines. We actually re-uploaded them halfway through the contest because the mix was so bad. Getting all our friends to vote was madness since you could vote as many times as you wanted. Kind of defeats the purpose of voting, if you ask me. But we worked with who we knew and spread the word however we could. We didn’t even have an 11:00A.M. MySpace page when that started.

We ended up in the final deciding round of Top 5. There were a hundred-and-something acts in the contest. Didn’t win the gold. But I like to say we were the runners-up, though no offense to the other three acts. In the end it was great exposure, really. I remember Mod C was in Cali shortly after the contest and had a conversation with some random kids about hip hop and they asked him if he had ever heard of us, which was crazy cause we’ve never done a show in Cali.

A.M. Breakups – It definitely set a fire under our asses. We went from dorm room recording into a rigged microphone, on to decide that we needed to get up at our friends’ actual studio. And it sort of taught us a lesson in the value of Internet promotion. Those tracks were so exciting at the time (and they still are!) It’s always crazy to go to a place you’ve never been and find out you have fans there, too. I was up in Portland, Maine with Shortrock, Brzowski, and V8 and some girl walked past me and said “Oh my god! Are you A.M. Breakups??!” Shit is sort of strange.

As far as the contest, I’d already been working with Nasa at Uncommon, promoting a compilation he’d just released. I’m actually glad that it turned out the way that it did. From what I can tell, nothing ever really happened with the winner, whereas we refocused our energy on an Uncommon Release and in the process have met and worked with some of the artists that I’d held in the highest esteem prior to that. People I’ve been listening to for years!

––– Knowing the both of you a little from the short time we spent in school, I know you are both fans of as well as influenced by the roster of Def Jux. But speak a little on the fan/peer relationship you’ve developed with your Uncommon Records label mates.

Eleven – We feel right at home with Uncommon, a real hip-hop label started up by Nasa who had been in contact with Breakups before the whole online contest. The tracks we submitted ended up being the Free* EP . Uncommon has talented dudes like Nasa, Karniege, Masai Bey and Shortrock who are all slept on, unfortunately.

A.M. – When you enter a preexisting circle of artists, it’s always interesting being the new guy. I grew up in Utica, New York (and the surrounding farm country), so I always sort of invented my own culture and style of music. There really wasn’t ever an enthusiasm for this kind of stuff there, especially such avant-garde work. So I had to reach out on the Internet, and through magazines, to find music that really appealed to me. I feel like at first we felt some pressure to pay dues and whatnot, which I feel is a normal reaction. What it honestly comes down to though is that these guys are some of the most humble and real dudes around, and as long as we all bring our A-game and create with passion and a genuine purpose, the rest comes natural.

As for Jux, I’ve always had a place in my heart for that crew. They’ve put out a lot of records that changed the way rap music is perceived. Cannibal Ox’s LP is one of my favorite records. Never duplicated. Though I think it’s worth saying that there’s never been a specific allegiance to any one brand for me. If music is fresh, then I’m down to check it out. It can come down to a matter of what music is readily available or promoted in places one can find it. Networking, networking.

A lot of the Uncommon Records’ family has strong ties to Def Jux, going way back. For example, Masai Bey, along with Cage, was the original founder of the Weathermen posse. He, Arcsin, Nasa, and Karniege have all worked on releases with Def Jux at some point or another.

––– Describe to me how it felt when your debut EP went up for sale on iTunes.

Eleven – It felt strange. I had already been in the iTunes store on the b-side to Arcsin’s “Scarlet Fever” so my virginity was gone already. Hearing those tracks remastered by Nasa was really the mind-blowing moment for me. The irony of the album name is something else though. It’s gone from being the free online demo for the contest, which MTV wanted to use in commercials but couldn’t because they would have to pay for sample rights, to being the free CD that we would give to friends, the not-free EP that we would sell at shows, and finally to the iTunes store for $5.94 on Uncommon Records. And of course again for free if you can find it, like everything else, on the Web.

A.M. – Even going under the name 11:00A.M. can be sticky business (he says with a laugh.) Especially on flyers for shows! Having our music on digital retailers is really cool though. It’s good to know that some kid like I was, with a flavor for the more abstract side of things, can stumble upon it while digging through all this online debris.

––– What’s going on with new and upcoming releases by you and the rest of the Uncommon artists?

Eleven – There will be remixes to the Free* EP released soon. I just heard the “Troubleshooting” remix by Teddy Faley which rocks bottoms. Expect Shortrock and others. I’m dropping a mixtape on Uncommon titled M-Theory. The vast majority of the tracks will be me rapping over Breakup’s whole catalog of beats (old, new, unreleased) but also featuring some production from Nasa, Dyllemma, Asonic Garcia, and others. It’ll be a free download and it’ll showcase the variety of topics and styles I can flip when rapping. That’s all I can say about it right now.

A.M. – There’s talk of the next We Are label compilation and some other secret projects. Also, the new Presence record will hit this year. As for me, I’ve been working my ass off with results I’m really proud of. There are two of my remixes on the physical pressing of the Super Chron Flight Brothers Indonesia album. Also, my next solo LP The Cant Resurrection is finished, and it’s really a cool record with great guests. Working on a project with Teddy Faley, and further collaborations with Billy Woods and Eleven. I just curated and organized a free download compilation, called Ceteris Paribus, and it’s available on mine and any of the featured artists’ webpages. It’s exclusively beatmakers, and quite interesting one’s at that. The response on that has been startlingly large. It’s a trip. And a great little package all around. Go grab it!

––– Best album out right now?

Eleven – DOOM – Born Like This.

A.M. – Super Chron Flight Brothers – Indonesia. Can I say that even though I’m involved in it?

––– Best Porn star not named Sasha Grey?

Eleven – Cuppy the Vag.

A.M. – Anita Pearl? I’m not too up on that shit. But that woman is bangin’!

––– Best reason to live in NYC?

Eleven – Bagels/progressive hip-hop.

A.M. – If you do, you have the opportunity to run into Eleven and I. That’s pretty damn good.

––– Best word in the English language?

Eleven – Dunno.

A.M. – Egalitarian.

Get Your Mind Right – Included are the 10 non hip-hop albums that didn’t make me want to throat fuck myself with a soup spoon. Seriously, extremely bad and nonsensical hip-hop, although it sometimes makes me want to perform aforementioned act, makes more sense to me than critical and pop culture darling acts such as Fall Out Boy or John Mayer, which include fan bases of 12-year old girls and 26-year old skinny jean wearing hipsters to Jay-Z and soccer moms. And as for what passes for R&B these days, to put it mildly, I just don’t get it. What I get is far superior to what others get – a fact unarguable, of course. And if others get what I get, well then good for them because that means they’re cool and smart and have very large penises or rose petal perfumed vaginas. But why separate musical genres when qualifying their status? Well if you would stop sipping your retard juice long enough you would realize the answer is in the question – separate musical genres. I do realize I’m talking to myself right? Go fuck yourself. On to the list…

1.) Adele - 19 – Let’s get one thing straight, Amy Winehouse made two brilliant albums but don’t expect every British songbird to be some old school Camel smoking, Scotch drinking flapper with an amazing ability to flip a phrase as well as she flips scabs off her rotting face. If you want Amy then listen to Amy. But if you want some weird hybrid between Dusty Springfield and India Arie then cop this beautifully written debut album from Adele. Honestly, there are a few clunkers which in my opinion are the fully arranged singles off the album, but she hits near perfection when accompanied by simpler musical backdrops. “Crazy for You” and “Hometown Glory” are two tracks not to be missed.

2.) One Day As A Lion - Self-Titled EP – This five-song EP from Zach De La Rocha and the drummer from Mars Volta came out of nowhere. I gave up on Zach a long time ago. From rumors of a Trent Reznor collabo to an EL-P collabo to a DJ Shadow collabo, to the Rage Against the Machine reunion that costed $300 to be surrounded by people you don’t like, in front of a hundred other bands you can’t stand, all to see the three bands you sort of like at one of those cool-guy festivals. Simply put, I just didn’t care. But this shit hit me in the face like the first time I heard “Bombtrack.” It is a very dope mixture of new wave funk and the punk hip-hop elements from Zach’s previous job. “I’m the nail in the wrist of your Christmas” - Zach is back suckas! Plus dude gets down on the drums. 

3.) Neil Diamond – Home Before Dark – As any of the three people who actually read my myspace blog know, I think the Rick Rubin-helmed Neil Diamond albums are fucking fantastic. Dare I say brilliant. The fact that my wife probably would rather divorce me than listen to an entire song, let alone an entire album by Mr. Blue Jeans, doesn’t deter me from enjoying some of the best straightforward yet darkly romantic pop songs I’ve ever encountered. I listened to this album while riding the stationary bike and drinking sugar-free flavored water just the other day. Highly enjoyable and healthy? Cot damn right! Unconditionally lame? Unconditionally is a little much, don’t you think? Rick Rubin is a genius and he brought out the genius of Neil Diamond. Plain and simple. “If I Don’t See You Again” and “One More Bite of the Apple” are undeniably two of the best songs I’ve heard in a long time.

4.) Raphael Saadiq – The Way I See It – This is a 13-song collection of vintage Motown-inspired soul pop that drips with a smoke hazed charm. Saadiq has always been talented, dating way back to the new jack swing of his nuts (if you don’t get the reference then freshen up on your Tony! Toni! Toné!), but this album is definitely the crest of his musical output. Even the sound engineers deserve an achievement award for making this record sound like it was recorded in another time. But the sound is merely a byproduct of the material created by Saadiq and the creative concept of this album. I hate to reference Ms. Winehouse again, but the throwback sound (without being trite) she and producer Mark Ronson kicked off a few years ago certainly serves Saadiq correctly. “100 Yard Dash” and “Let’s Take a Walk” are the two standout tracks. 

5.) The Black Keys – Attack & Release – I came across these O-H-10 natives later than most but thankfully not before all the cool kids began to claim them for themselves. You would think with the bleak economic landscape in Ohio (shit’s been rough way longer than the past year) there would be an abundance of beautifully cynical and contemplative hip-hop coming from the Buckeye State. Yes, there are a few, but they don’t get the same notoriety as Ray Cash (he was a joke right?). But it’s not surprising that this two-man Blues rock band hails from Akron. It just makes sense. And guess what? The music is super dope. I know this isn’t their first album but it’s the first one I heard. What peaked my interest first was Joint Contrast’s Dank Lucas wetting his pants over the fact that they were so dope. Second was that they are from my area of the map (birthwise). Thirdly, Danger Mouse produced the album. And most importantly, some of the songs on this album are songs they wrote for Ike Turner’s album which was being recording before he died. Intrigued? Exactly. Go enjoy. The last three songs are something to seriously appreciate. 

6.) Cat Power – Jukebox – A hipster indie-rock queen by age 15, Cat Power (real name Chan Marshal) didn’t get my extremely skeptical attention until a few years ago with her dirty south country blues concoction entitled The Greatest (it’s a brilliant album). But this year she released her second collection of covers sporting the same delta-blues backing band from the aforementioned album. Here she takes on Aretha, Dylan and Hank Williams. Joni Mitchell gets a superb cover in the form of “Blue” but the best song is the opener, a hauntingly dark version of the Frank Sinatra staple “New York, New York”. Bonus: she just released an EP from these recording sessions with six more songs. 

7.) Kings of Leon – Only by the Night – I know this isn’t their first album so that means previous fans either refer to this as their sellout record or their creative apex. Whichever it is, it’s dope. Mostly nonsensical lyrics wrapped in the alluring disguise of southern goth meets southern good-ole-boy mysticism. The lead singer’s voice cracks and squeals as it floats along well crafted melodies that intermingle well with the simple yet effective guitar work. There is a sexiness to this album that is sorely missed in modern rock and roll, so I don’t care if they’ve evolved or digressed from their earlier work, because this one suits me just fine. “Sex on Fire” might be the best single of the year.

8.) The Kills – Midnight Bloom – Bluesy electro pop would usually fall in the category of pretentious bullshit, but this guy/girl combo made a record full of the opposite of pretentious bluesy electro pop. That’s right, unpretentious bluesy electro pop. Drum machines, choppy guitar noise and a female/male sharing of lead vocals would usually fall in the category of shit that makes my head hurt in absolute annoyance. But The Kills made a record full of drum machines, choppy guitar noise and female/male sharing of vocals that sounds oddly comforting and melodic. This record succeeds mostly due to the dark sexual undercurrent that comes across in the pulsating rhythms and tortured party vibe created by the lyrics and vocal harmonies, which is most evident in the tracks “Tape Song”, “Last Days of Magic” and “Black Balloon”.

9.) Ani Difranco – Red letter Year – This is studio album number 20 for Difranco. That’s fucking ridiculous. All 20 albums written, produced and arranged by Difranco, not to mention released on her own label Righteous Babe. Once again that’s fucking ridiculous. This album is by no means her best of even the last five years, let alone her career, but there aren’t many people of any musical genre that can turn a phrase like her or construct an album that plays from front to back. And this is another example of her ability to do just that. “Smiling Underneath” is a prime example of how relentlessly charming she can be while creating a song. She can be subtle or use her razor bladed wit to carve through the bone grissled essence of a certain piece. Simple and plain, she is the most prolific artist of our generation and if you’re not familiar you’re probably not a fan of music. So get familiar.

10.) Gnarls Barkley – The Odd Couple – This album makes the list for the song “Who’s Gonna Save My Soul” alone. The rest of the album could’ve been Cee-Lo talking gibberish over semi-uninspired Danger Mouse production, which it sort of is, and it still would’ve made the list because that song is better than anything your favorite band probably ever made. Creativity on this album is still on another planet compared to the rest of the pop world but sometimes an out of nowhere phenomenon like their first album should just be left to rule the universe by itself, instead of having some of it’s powers drained by a less worthy companion piece. Regardless of weather they should’ve made this album or not it still has staying power from a few tracks. “A Little Better”, “Neighbors”, “No Time Soon” and of course “Who’s Gonna Save My Soul” are the key songs to look for.