Hip-hop was at a crossroads in the late ’90s. The genre was dealing with the aftermath of a senseless war that took the lives of two of its greats. The success of the “jiggy” era was moving rap away from the street to the mainstream, and times didn’t look any better with Big L’s murder in 1999. The purists needed stability and a voice that proved credibility and quality weren’t a thing of the past. That voice was Rawkus Records. By the end of the decade they had a roster of MCs that came to be revered as some of the greatest of all-time: Pharoahe Monch, Mos Def, and Talib Kweli, to name a few. At its peak, the label released iconic records like Mos Def & Talib Kweli Are Black Star, Monch’s Internal Affairs, and Mos Def’s Black on Both Sides.
Chris is american musician from Seatle living in Slovenia from 2002. He is a vocalist in cult american band The Walkabouts. The Walkbouts have been formed in 1983 and have released more then 15 albums so far. Their last album is titled Travels in the Dustlandand it was released in 2011.
Chris Eckman about the album:
Travels in the Dustland is a collection of interconnected songs. It is a song cycle. The Dustland is a made up place but it looks and acts like a real place. While different characters come and go throughout the songs, the most important character is the landscape itself: Its vastness, its endless skies, its scarcity, its hidden opportunities and its rugged dead-end roads.
The Dustland seems to be somewhere in America. It is an America with a future as cracked and worn as a dry-lake bed. It is a land where hollow ideas win-out and hopes and dreams are slowly slipping back into the wilds from which they began.
But more than being an idea, this album is obviously a collection of music. We wanted songs and sounds as wide-open as the landscape that inspired us. We wanted an album with a mood of experimentation but also an album that played to our strengths as musicians.
He also released album together with Croatian group The Bambi Molesters in 2004. They joined together and formed group called The Strange. Album was titled Nights of forgotten films.
Mike Vale signed off 2012 in style with his excellent remix of Prok & Fitch “Symphony” hitting No.1 on the Beatport House Chart. Not one to rest on his laurels, he has started 2013 with even more success. His remix (with Jerome Robins) of Deadmau5 “1981” has become a global hit and a highlight on Toolroom’s “Miami 2013” compilation. He has also teamed up in the studio with some of the most exciting talent from the EDM scene. Expect big tunes from collaborations with Umek, The Cube Guys, Belocca, NDKj and a hot remix for Robbie Rivera and Federico Scavo on Juicy Music. But even more excitement should be reserved for a tune that is already creating a huge buzz with the best DJs ahead of release. Mike Vale feat. Stella Mercury “Don’t Give A Damn” (Stealth) looks like being one of THE anthems of the summer. Mike will premiere this huge track when he appears at WMC Miami at a series of top parties, alongside Umek and Roger Sanchez. As Beatport has suggested, Mike Vale is definitely the one to watch in 2013.
