‘Cuts of Culture 2 – The Podcasts’: Week 6a

Coming to Week 6, and a month and a half since we started the Cuts of Culture 2 podcasts (damn already?). This time round we head off to Italy and Japan – worldwide for some exclusive music and video from some of the most interesting talents from both countries. The audio side of things is taken care of by Bungalow Zen, the Italian outfit headed by Tayone and Skizo, while the video pleasures come from Japan courtesy of DJ Baku – quite possibly the most interesting DJ/producer/tablist to come out of the country since DJ Krush.

Bungalow Zen – Freequency
This week’s exclusive audio treat is from Bungalow Zen. A name that might not ring many bells, but when you look at who they are you’ll soon realise that these are people who’ve been working hard for years. Bungalow Zen is a project started by Tayone and Skizo, both ex-members of the legendary Italian crew Alien Army. Skizo is one of the longest standing members of the European scratch scene, along with the likes of Dee Nasty and Crazy B in France, while Tayone maybe younger but in the last 5 years has proven to be one of the most talented and interesting tablists to come out of Europe.
Together they set up Bungalow Zen 2 years ago, originally a trio completed by Lorenzo Feliciati, a renowned Italian bass player. With Feliciati on bass and Tayone and Skizo on turntables, keys and samplers, they worked together creating music influenced by their various musical origins – from jazz to hip hop, blues to electronica. In their first year as a group they appeared on Italian cable TV (videos of which you can download on spinscience.org.uk), played live shows and more importantly laid down an unfinished version of their debut album. In the summer of 2005 I was sent a copy of this debut album, and I knew that we had to get these guys on board for the new project. While their formation may not have been anything new, their sound and approach to the music was quite singular. The way they fused traditional song writing and instruments with the turntable and samplers was what got us – and hopefully you’ll understand when you hear the track. The album featured some reworked songs from the last Alien Army album, but also many new tracks, written by the trio and featuring vocalists and guest musicians.
Since then a few things have changed. They spent the best part of a year shopping the album to different labels, with little success which led them to take the next logical step many musicians find themselves in today – releasing the album themselves. In that time Lorenzo Feliciati also left the group, leaving Tayone and Skizo as a duo. He has however been replaced on quite a few tracks by another stalwart of the Italian music scene, the incredibly talented multi-instrumentalist Bruno Briscik. Briscik is a name some of you might be familiar with, as he’s worked with Tayone on various other projects but also with the likes of Excess, D-Styles and Ricci Rucker. The new version of the Bungalow Zen album, which is self-titled, sees Tayone and Skizo handle all programming and turntable duties with guest appearances from Briscik, Feliciati and vocalist Sean Martin. There isn’t a definitive date for the release yet but you can expect it to drop in late 07 or early 08 – and believe us when we say that this is an album you’ll want to make time for.
For the Cuts of Culture 2 compilation, 2tall selected the cut Freequency (which features Feliciati on bass) – a mellow, relaxed number which perfectly showcases the combined musical talents of all 3 artists.
For more info on Bungalow Zen you can check their myspace, Tayone’s myspace (selected tracks from the BZ debut album will feature on Tay’s own debut album, also out soon) and t-turn.com Italy’s number tablist resource. Look out for a lot more from Tayone, who’s quite possibly the busiest man in Europe right now – with a hand in a multitude of projects including Rasjaful! with Bruno Briscik, The Stones and his own solo work and remixes.
The file is 14mb, .mp3 format, 320kbps.

Direct download link (right click and save as)

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