Hello and Happy New Year to you all. It’s a blessing to see another one and seeing as though u reading this, you’re sharing in it with me. So, what’s up…resolutions being held steadfast so far? Hopefully so. Now that the niceties are out of the way (wink), I have the distinct pleasure of doing yet another featured artist podcast. This one is on the special side because I’ve been in touch with the artist regularly over the last few months. He is…Philip Clark…vocalist, songwriter and saxophonist. The tracks I’ll be featuring are from his debut release entitled “The State Of Blue Eyed Soul“.
If memory serves me correctly, our paths crossed on Twitter via hearsay of me working with Fave and Todd Kelley on a collaborative effort entitled “Cross Country Collective” (C3). The name of the EP we’re working on is contempojazzsoulhop. After some tweets back and forth about the EP and remixing, he asked if I’d be interested in remixing a track off his debut CD, while he’s tracking the upcoming. Of course I jumped at the chance, as this kind of opportunity is one I’ve been waiting for for years (literally). The short story around this major interest came by listening to continual remix albums (CDs) that were and are released regularly by the UK giants, Incognito (my favorite group) They often release a remix CD of tunes from their current release and through that, I’ve studied the remix styles of Little Big Bee, atjazz, Kenny Dope (MAW), ig Culture, Jazzanova, David Morales, etc. Needless to say, I definitely was down for this. At the same time, I was working on the C3 EP with two remix kings in their own right, Fave and Todd, so it was crazy inspiration all around.
When I got the request from Philip, I went to his Myspace page and checked out the tracks. “Granted” immediately jumped out at me as a tight track. I let him know, and in no time, I got remix stems for the track from him and was on my way. Interestingly enough, being my first time out of the gate, I found how easy it WASN’T to produce a remix (note to PC: Thanks for the undying patience!! lol). For my gear and music headz, I have another blogpost in draft about how I (Mr. Fresh aka Groove 7) constructed the remix…stay tuned.
For those of you haven’t heard his tracks yet, I’m sure you’re gonna enjoy what you’re about to hear. “The State Of Blue-Eyed Soul” brings elements of soul, jazzy progressions, sultry sax, superb vocal arrangements, funky flow, and some smooth but tight grooves….elements that I personally think could give current R&B a serious (and long awaited) shot in the arm. In addition to the tracks, you’ll hear from PC in his own words, providing some commentary on the tracks themselves. Being a songwriter and musician, I (as I’m sure a few of you can) relate with how they came about, when, where, etc.
So, without further adieu, I present to you the tracklist. Let’s go.
The State of Blue Eyed Soul/Philip Clark
Romeo And Juliet (Sun Go Down)
The Only Woman On The World
Free My Mind
Twenty Days
Granted
Thinkin’ Bout You
Place Where We Belong
Granted (Groove 7’s 3am Eternal Mix) ::: right-click to download :::
Philip, once again, thanks for the affording me the opportunity to remix “Granted”. Working with you through the process, up to the release of this remix, is indicative of the way it should be done. Thanks for the all the brainstorming, ideas, suggestions, etc, on how to drop it. I’m sure you’re used to rollin’ like that! By the way, PC is a heck of a comic book artist. Dude, you are giving Stan Lee a run for his money!
Philip Clark
Funky White Boy
Los Angeles, CA
Official Website
Twitter
Facebook
MySpace
Quantum Comics
Much thanks to Lis, super web & graphics designer extraordinaire for the remix artwork! Need graphics and webpage design? Contact her at anewlis.com
Thanks again, …
peace,
F!