I’ve been listening to The Opus (Mr. Echoes and The Isle Of Weight) for well over a decade. They were the first hip hop producers I’ve seen bring all their hard-ware to a show and improvise live on the spot, causing heads and bodies to violently sway as if possesed. The world’s greatest beat-makers all have their signature. Dj Premier mastered the chop, Pete Rock brought a lot of soul, J-Dilla brought that bounce, the wompy bassline. The Opus’ sound is most recognized by their use of hard-hitting drums and intense break-like patterns. Moods ranging from war-like to enlightened are all spoken for. To put it simply, they are DOPE AS HELL. On top of being underground heroes here in Chicago, The Opus has also worked with an impressive list of world reknown artists such as DJ Krush, Aesop Rock, and Murs to name a few. This live-set is from Moment 8. For more about The Opus visit www.theopusonline.com
-Lokua

download the release:
high quality zip | slightly lower quality zip

Moment Sound celebrates the release of “Sunflower”, a diverse collection of songs from one of our primary founders, Slava. For the past several years Slava has been playing and organizing events throughout Chicago focusing on the advancement of live electronic music and art culture. Like his many performances, Sunflower spans a wide array of styles while maintaining a certain atonement that is uniquely “Slava”.

Beyond the use of complex harmonies and unpredictable yet familiar melody lines is an almost obsessive approach to texture and timing. This is what happens when you put a jazz-man on a beat machine. His coolness transcends the temporality of trend and the artistic result is well-rounded music. Simultaneously ingenious and humble, the overall sound of this release can be described as contemplative, ambient yet attention grabbing, aromatic. Stay tuned for more release and live recordings from Slava in the near future.
(more…)

Yet another blast from the past live set, this time accompanied by an in depth (and up-to-date) interview…

Slow Children: What was the sky like when you were young?

Lokua: The sky was a visual soundtrack for imagination. Even now i still go to the park and lay down and pretend that I’m hanging from the universe’s ceiling looking down on the sky, something like reverse gravity, the sky is a bottomless pit. Before I had thought about things like an ever-expanding universe or infinity it was all right there in front of me. I didn’t need to think to experience wonder, just had to look.

SC: Bubble helmet ah? …And what about colors?

(more…)

Below you will find live recordings from the Intimate Ambiance party we hosted at El Dorado. The event turned out to be quite amazing and all together lasted about 12 hours. There were pillows blankets, stuffed animals relaxed people, a mysterious script, a few spills, a missing jacket, bags full of bags, a box of games, a very strange puzzle, stretches, an amazing massage, a record player that plays slow and weird, a waterphone, candles, sleepers, and lots of great ambiance.

Intimate Ambiance pt2 is 0A03 (live) ~ 30m | Miles Tilmann (live) ~ 1h | Polyfuse (live) ~ 10m
Intimate Ambiance pt1 is Mama Sonic (dj) ~ 40m | Dreamlogicc (live) - 45m
(more…)

Over the next week I’ll be posting a few live sets and pictures from events that happened before we launched this website in small digestible chunks. First up is a live set by Garo from Moment 8 (April 2007) (more…)

you can find a little more information about this as well as a recording of some sets here - thank you m50!

download zip file of the release

Lokua (Joshua Keckner) is a master of melody, texture and mood. Many are yet to experience this musician’s full scope of ability. Lokua’s earlier works consist largely of down-tempo instrumental hip-hop. Recent works branch out to include a large scope of electronic genres with a significant amount of dance material. Lokua’s sound is characterized by the richness and sincerity of its emotional content with even the danciest of tracks retaining a deep, cerebral sophistication.

A Chicago native, Lokua has fully embraced and embodied his environment. His sound is deeply rooted in the city’s music and social history and his countless live performances are imbued with contemporary yet authentic and raw Chicago culture. With a back catalog of tracks hovering in the thousands (including a number of conceptually-complete albums) and new ones being produced daily, we can look forward to a great variety of music releases in the near (as well as distant) future.

links: Lokua’s myspace contact: lokua *At* momentsound *Dot* com

cover art by ac.jazz

The Night That Laid Still out on shade::red

A great self-released EP from Justin McGrath [justinmcgrath.com]. The title track tastefully combines live instrumentation with programmed drums and sound design elements to create a dreamy, melancholy mood reminding me of all those nights that I wish stood still, but unfortunately did not, inevitably coming to an end. The following track, “Overly Conscious”, lightens the mood a bit (but only a bit) with its pensive violins and rich piano chords. The dreaminess and spaciousness of the title track then develop into ever deeper and moodier expanses of soothing (yet eerie) ambiance of the following pieces. This is where the journey begins. We leave our mundane concerns and self-indulgent desires and begin to experience something else, something otherworldly, pure and light. Hope I’m not sounding too new agy… but really, if you let your mind drift along withe the sounds, you’ll end up in some magical places. Finally “Deconstruction” gently brings you back to to reality while soothing piano and guitar reinterpret the title track.

The accompanying video, by Bridget Driessen (who also did the artwork) provides a great visual component (you can get an idea by watching the teaser video).

The EP also includes a bonus collections of Remixes.

download zip file of the whole release

to shed some light on the issue at hand, Coyote DG asked Garo a few questions:

Though I frequently encounter the man at fashionable parties, on the street, and at Atomix Café, there are still many things that I don’t know about Garo. When Slava asked me to interview him for the first Moment Sound netlabel release, I jumped at the opportunity. Who is this guy that I’ve been sharing billing with over the past year? What can I learn from him? And what is a “Garo” anyways?
We bounced emails back and forth over the course of several days, and here is the result. Enjoy!
(more…)