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MP3 Soma Mestizo - Interim 2- remixes, dubs, b-sides
11 MP3 Songs
ELECTRONIC: Funk, ELECTRONIC: Experimental
Details:
City Paper
May 27, 2004
Interim Government - Justin Hopper
To Pittsburgh organic trance band Soma Mestizo, much like the indigenous and pagan traditions from which it draws inspiration, everything happens for a reason. Every sound, every show, every recording is part of an unfolding plan, even if its full extent is hidden from view. So the fact that the group''s new Interim 2 CD comes in a period of transition is no accident.
"We''ve had such an expansion," says guitarist and producer Soy Sos. "We''ve got a batch of new tunes, and now we''re adding a keyboardist, Greg Galbreath -- we''re desirous to do a mix with a bunch of these new songs, but we want to be able to go into the studio full-on and get the whole band at once. For now we''re trying to add just the right amount of [keyboard] texture."
Since 2000''s Peep Show, Soma Mestizo has become a fixture on several fronts of the Pittsburgh music landscape: as the first entertainment choice for many activist and cultural organizations; as promoters of many an alternative festival and multimedia event; and, thanks in part to Soy Sos'' involvement in production team 3 Generations Walking, as one of the most successful local groups at combining dance floor/deejay culture and live music. Interim 2 explores that latter side of Soma thoroughly, with dub and dance remixes of old tracks and unused recordings done as recently as this past winter as well as reaching back as far as the group''s initial 1997 incarnation.
"We had a lot of odd bits that didn''t make it onto records," explains Soy Sos. "Like ''Not OK,'' which was spontaneously cut out of Peep Show during the mastering session -- it just didn''t fit with the rest of the album. It''s a cool luxury they have, those bands that record 20 tracks and then cut it down later to a [cohesive] album. Peep Show holds together as a single thing, but it''s nice to be able to do something that''s more piecemeal, where you don''t have to worry so much about, ''Does this work with the [album]?''"
The highlight of Interim 2, and a jewel in Soma''s crown, is "Eagle Screaming Red Sky Alight," released as a "freedub" downloadable single by the I.R. Records (Indigenous Resistance) label. "Eagle Screaming" features Soma singer Christiane D''s lead vocals, with a remix by Soy Sos, on a track created by some of the biggest names in multi-culti dance music: music produced by Pandit G of Asian Dub Foundation, mixed by legendary On-U label guru Adrian Sherwood, with additional vocals and production by Omar Perry (son of dub demigod Lee Perry).
I.R., a part of the multinational indigenous peoples activist group The Fire This Time (https://www.tradebit.com), found Soma Mestizo''s Web site through a Canadian journalist familiar with the group. Upon hearing an MP3 of the band''s "Sunshine," I.R. head honcho Kokondo Dub -- a "dreadlocked mestizo resistance fighter" from Brazil, according to Soy Sos -- decided Christiane D was the voice they''d been looking for for the English version of "Eagle Screaming." (Another version is in the lyricist''s native Greenlandic tongue.)
"I ended up sending a finished mix instead of just the vocal [tracks]," explains Soy Sos, who recorded the vocals in his Tuff Sound studio. "Kokondo''s in the Solomon Islands right now, so it''s this crazy all-around-the-world thing.
"The whole thing was all for the love, there''s no money in it, but when I sent the first mixes, he wrote me back and he just got it -- he totally understands what we''re trying to do. Now, Kokondo''s sending us some new make from the Solomon Islands to work with. You hustle and work and try to do music, you do corporate and humdrum stuff to make a living, just for the chance to do something like this. When it comes along, you just do it."
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