DJ Nobody

This is not the sequel to Nobody's last album Pacific Drift: Western Water Music Vol. 1 (2003, Ubiquity Records) although it is his brand new follow-up full length. It is also his debut on LA based Plug Research, where Nobody (aka Elvin Estela) feels a bit more at home, both stylistically and literally among more forward thinking music and fellow dublab.com cohorts.

This album finds him in transition and in regression, building on psychedelic themes apparent in his last album, yet revisiting his hip-hop roots as heard on his debut Soulmates (2000, Ubiquity Records). Nobody once again teams up with Mystic Chords of Memory (Chris Gunst of Beachwood Sparks and Jen Cohen of the Aisler's Set) and Farmer Dave Scher (Beachwood Sparks) who delivered the standout track on Pacific Drift, a beat heavy cover of the Monkees' “Porpoise Song.” This time, they jump 30 years to cover one of Nobody's favorite 90's anthems, The Flaming Lips' “What is the Light?”, a track that was originally intended for use on Ubiquity's Rewind series. Though Nobody remixed two songs on Mia Doi Todd's album The Golden State (2002, Columbia Records), their first original work together appears here with “You Can Know Her,” a song comprised of audio from photographer B+'s documentary Keepintime.

When Nobody decided it was time to revisit his hip-hop roots, he did so in a big way, collaborating with the first MC he had ever done tracks for. Xololanxinco, who along with 2 Mex makes up Of Mexican Descent, is from the classic Good Life era of MC's that once filled entire underground tapes that Nobody would trade in high school. Forward a few years and the pair meet at Project Blowed, where they began to record tons of 4-track songs that would eventually make it to more underground tapes that would inspire many an indie MC for sure. Here on “Con Un Relampago” Xolo delivers a classy Spanish tale of lost love which Nobody describes as "exactly what I wanted to hear on the track, exactly what I wanted my new hip-hop stuff to sound like, and exactly what I wanted my first Spanish song to be like. He is a rare MC these days." ,

The album's last collaboration is also the second installment in the La Correccion production cannon, which is the new teaming of Nobody with Prefuse 73 (aka Guillermo Scott Herren). Already rocking stages world wide as part of Prefuse 73's live show, Nobody features their follow up to La Correccion Exchange on Herren's Surrounded By Silence album with “Tori Oshi”, a folky banger if that makes sense.

In between vocal cuts are Nobody's brand new instrumentals that hint at Pacific Drift, like the breezy first track “The Coast is Clear (for fireworks)”, and some that throwback to the Soulmates' days, as on the piano driven “Spin the Bright Sun Rose” and 90's hip-hop classic tribute “Jose De La Rues!!!” Others tell a story with sound, like “Tilijem's Castle”, which tells the story of a trip to and through a Belgian castle while hearing the sounds of Puerto Rican frogs. Nobody draws from his love of early 90's hip-hop production with samples and churns them through the modern age to keep it fresh, adding that "I will always love the way those old records sound with the samples and warmth, but modern hip-hop just bumps hard as hell and some of the programming is really interesting. I wanted to do some fun and weird modern sort of beats that are a bit jagged here and there, but make them out of pure samples rather than keyboards and Korg Tritons. The samples will smooth out all the ruff edges and keep it dirty at the same time. All in all, it's album to have some fun, make music with some friends and try new things while revisiting old things. A breathe of air before heading underwater to do the sequel to Pacific Drift." While waiting for that album, expect to hear the full-length collaboration between Nobody and the Mystic Chords of Memory later this year. In the meantime you have And Everything Else, which has been tailored made by Nobody to sweeten your summer.

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