“My earliest musical memory is me riding this yellow tricycle around the house when I was, like, four, while ‘Boogie On, Reggae Woman’ by Stevie Wonder was playing,” says Nai Palm, lead songwriter and vocalist for the band Hiatus Kaiyote. “Stevie Wonder has just been one of the big ones for sure.”

Wonder’s influence can be heard. In fact, Hiatus Kaiyote’s sound draws on many inspirations, but the genre most associated with the band is soul; their fan base knows it better as “Future Soul.” The term, coined by the band, has become something of a watchword among their varied fans—who include the Roots, Erykah Badu and Prince—as it somehow captures the schizophrenic calm of their music, simultaneously dreamy, but with undertones of more high-energy funk.

Hiatus Kaiyote, which hails from Melbourne, Australia, hits San Jose’s Pagoda Lounge on Halloween night as they ramp up their latest tour—previous outings to North America and Europe have kept the band on the road for much of 2013.

Hip-hop figures largely in the DNA of Hiatus Kaiyote’s musical identity, namely the more introspective narrative elements of ’90s rap and R&B. The hip-hop heavyweights of the 1990s were storytellers largely concerned with notions of size—ideas regarding life on a macro scale, but told through micro framework, in largely personal narratives. This sense of scope is one that Palm says she is consciously playing with, citing her influences as rooted in nature and science, as well as genre icons.

“My mom raised me on Aretha, Stevie, Otis and shit, but my auntie has been playing Tupac and Aaliyah since I was 7 years old,” Palm says. “My natural feeling to write music is based on what I was raised on.”

This mix of old guard instrumentals and new guard lyrical influences is what’s largely given Hiatus Kaiyote the buzz that’s made their star rise so far so quickly. Yet Palm is unable to hide a pang of disappointment that her home country has yet to pick up on what they’re putting down.

“It’s a little strange, to be honest, but it makes sense because Australia is, like, 40 years behind America, even in the age of the Internet,” she says, laughing. “The throwback soul movement is just now happening here. With the U.S., they’ve already explored that, so when they hear a band like us they get the relationship, and celebrate it more because they have a deeper understanding.”

In a sign of the stateside support for their sound, the group’s self-produced debut album, Tawk Tomahawk, was re-released by their label Flying Buddha (a subsidiary of Sony)—even after the album was available for free online.

“The crazy thing about all of this is that we put it on Bandcamp, and all these people like Questlove and Jazzy Jeff and Badu had already picked it up, and the fact that it was getting so much attention when we put no money on marketing whatsoever—that was a trip,” she says. “So it’s really amazing that the label believed in the record enough to formally release it even after it was already released.”

The band has been steadily touring for the past few months, and thanks to heavy radio rotation on alternative and independent stations around the country (most notably LA’s KCRW), as well as a standout showcase at this past year’s SXSW (“It was mental,” Palm says of the set), the band is on its way to establishing its name far beyond its early fans and music industry supports.

But for Palm, of all the big names that have been steadily tweeting or reaching out to the band (rapper Q-Tip of A Tribe Called Quest was featured on a track; and Badu recruited the group as a tour opener), the biggest moment for Palm was one that she wasn’t even present for.

“Stevie Wonder,” she says, in the same exact breathless tone as when she’s describing that memory of her on the yellow tricycle. “Our friend DJ Spinna showed [Wonder’s] son the music, and I now know that Stevie has heard it, and to me, knowing that Stevie Wonder has heard it…” She trails off. “None of it’s good enough,” she says. “I’m going to have to write a new song just for him.”

Hiatus Kaiyote performs Oct. 31 at Pagoda Lounge. More info.

After a three-year run at Pagoda Lounge, Universal Grammar promoter Tommy Aguilar announced online this week he is parting ways with the Fairmont hotel nightclub.

“I would like to say much love to all of those who have dropped in to the Pagoda at the Fairmont Hotel in downtown San Jose over the last three years to encounter one of the globetrotting artists we have been able to host on that stage,” Aguilar wrote on Facebook. “We are saddened to say that our programming within the Pagoda will now be over. However, we are also excited for the future as for the mission that Universal Grammar and NewSense (Michael Grammer) set out to accomplish.”

Filling a much-needed niche in the San Jose scene for touring performers from what Aguilar calls the “global soul” spectrum, the list of past acts that touched down at Pagoda is impressive, considering the intimate setting: Little Dragon the same week as two sold-out shows in San Francisco, veteran rapper Talib Kweli, jazz pianist Robert Glasper, soul singer Cody CusnuTT and just recently a double bill Aguilar helped organize for C2SV Music Festival with the Coup and Dam-Funk.

“Our influences in what we book and bring to shows is what we listen to and that stems to a common denominator of soul music,” Aguilar says. “The idea we tried to put out there was this global groove idea with no boundaries. … We also wanted to bring out what was next, emerging artist.”

But that “global groove” wasn’t accompanied by big profits, a motivator for the Fairmont Hotel’s new food and beverage director Christopher Pageaud to make a change, according to Aguilar.

“The Fairmont just pretty much stepped to me, new management in place, and said we need to move on and we’re going to bring in something else,” he says.

Pageaud could not be reached for comment about plans for the space, but local promoter Mauricio Mejia confirmed he is taking over with Saturday night events at the space.

“We going to create more of a consistent weekly lounge type of environment, with open format music and DJs,” Mejia says.

Mejia owns Detox Sundays pool parties, last held at the Fairmont’s pool, and formerly owned the Vault nightclub and consulted at Axis. His first parties at the Pagoda next month include regulars in the Las Vegas scene DJ Zhaldee (Nov. 9), from the Hard Rock Hotel’s Body English Party; DJ Mike Carbonell (Nov. 16), a resident DJ at Wynn Hotel and Tryst Nightclub; and DJ Fabian (Nov. 23) of Encore Hotel’s XS. Local DJs will be booked in the weeks that follow.

Aguilar’s run at Pagoda will end with three more shows: Kaytranada on Oct. 18, Hiatus Kaiyote on Oct. 31 and finishing with a Day of the Dead party on Nov. 1 with the last of his Sonido Clash series featuring Tijuana band Los Macuanos.

After that, he says the Universal Grammar mission will continue with occasional shows at Café Stritch and Blackbird Tavern.

“We just have to create a new outlet, which is building a new venue or finding a team that will work with us,” he says.

DJ and producer Clorofila from the Tijuana music group Nortec Collective spun his signature mix of norteño and techno (nortec) music at Pagoda on Saturday night.
Metro photographer CJ Storm was on hand to shoot these photos.

Oakland rap duo Los Rakas packed Pagoda Lounge on Friday for the latest edition of Sonido Clash.

Metro photographer Aron Cooperman caught the show.

Los Rakas, a spin on the Spanish term “rakataka”—”ratchet” or someone from the ghetto in their native Panama—came together in 2006 when rappers Raka Rich and Raka Dun met in the East Bay.

Blending hip-hop, dancehall and reggaeton, the duo has released a handful of EPs and mixtapes, independently building a fan base in California and beyond through DIY street hustle.

They perform at Live at the Pagoda’s Sonido Clash, a music series focused on the Latin diaspora and progressive sounds that have transformed Latin music, on July 5.

Debuting in the midst of the Bay Area’s hyphy movement, Los Rakas was inspired by the sound of gnarled raps and heavy bass and positioned themselves as ambassadors of Latin urban music, fusing Bay Area-inspired beats with their own Spanish bars.

Both Rich and Dun say that Panama and the Bay Area are similar in that both places have a knack for trendsetting—Panama as the creator of Spanish reggae, which expanded into Puerto Rico into reggaeton. The hyphy movement, though short-lived, breathed life back into Bay Area hip-hop and its influence can still be heard through such other mainstream artists today as Drake and Tyga.

“The hyphy movement inspired us because we lived it, we lived the sideshows,” Dun says.

Songs like “Soy Raka” and “Ta Lista” are prime examples of the Bay Area sound mixed with their native Panamanian influences. Heavy bass lines serve as the foundation with Spanish-influenced drums overlaid on the beats. Life in the ghettos live through the lyrics, with gun talk and gold teeth in the “Soy Raka” hook—””tengo mi pistola y diente de oro.”

Working closely with Bay Area producers and artists, such as Hidden Faces, Erk tha Jerk, Nima Fadavi and Martin Luther, Los Rakas have found a unique niche among local rappers working to build a following beyond the confines of the Bay Area circuit.

The duo also recently teamed up with Major Lazer, super producer Diplo’s reggae project with Jillionaire, and released a remix of the summer anthem “Watch Out For This (Bumaye)” with their song “Desorden.” Less than two weeks after its mid-June release, the track had netted more than 16,000 listens online.

Rich and Dun met up with Diplo after the producer tweeted to them that he liked their remix of Oakland rapper Kreayshawn’s “Gucci Gucci.”

Doubling Up

For the two rappers, choosing the name “Los Rakas” for their music came from a sense of pride in their ghetto roots, but also a mission to encourage people living in the ghetto to strive beyond its limitations.

“You gotta know when to control that ratchet emotion,” Rich says. “We all have it being where we’re from, but you want to think about being somebody bigger than that and we want to inspire that. Our movement is ratchet we’re ‘rakataka,’ super ratchet, that’s what it really means and we want to show everybody we come from the ratchet but that doesn’t mean we have to act like that all the time.”

The group’s latest project, “El Negrito Dun Dun y Ricardo,” is a double album set to release this summer. Dun had already completed his portion of the album and was ready to release it as a solo project before the two decided to release it as a joint effort.

“Dun was already set to drop the album and I was working on some experimental stuff,” Rich says. “We had done every style of music already and I felt like I really wanted to challenge myself and try this new uptempo, old school house-type of sound.”

The goal for Los Rakas was to make music separately, taking a more experimental approach, but still operate as a duo with the same musical goals in mind.
“You can listen to any of our tracks and they can really vary from dancehall tracks done in Spanish, or Bay Area hip-hop tracks done in English,” Dun says. “We don’t really think about the music, we just do it.”

Both rappers say that the upcoming project has a vastly different sound than their previous releases and the subject matter is geared toward a more mature audience, with songs like “She Likes Me” and “”Let’s Get It On (Pa’encima).”

The “She Likes Me” cut features Richmond’s Erk tha Jerk and shows off the group’s softer side as they rap over Hidden Faces’ R&B piano riffs.

“Let’s Get It On” carries the same sensual context, but it holds traces of Los Rakas’ dancehall origins.

According to Dun, the switch in tone came from influences like Billie Holiday and Tupac Shakur, artists that were “really vulnerable and talked about things going on in their life.”

The duo has plans to then go on tour in Latin America, expanding their fan base as well as promoting their clothing and merchandise projects in their home country.

“We’re excited to see how it is when we go back and how big that show is going to be,” Dun says.

Los Rakas
Pagoda Lounge
July 5
9pm $12-$15

Although they’re brothers, it wasn’t until 2010 that San Jose musicians Raul and Mexia Hernández made a serious attempt to collaborate. The resulting song, “Todos Somos Arizona (We Are All Arizona),” a protest against the anti-immigration law SB 1070 that had just passed in Arizona, quickly earned the duo more attention than anything either brother had ever released separately.

The song went viral after they uploaded a surprisingly simple, single-shot video to YouTube of them performing the song at their home. Raul played the keyboards and sang the chorus in Spanish (“I just want to succeed/and now they want to deport me”), while Mexia rapped in both Spanish and English, advocating for immigrant rights. They were joined by younger brother Giovanni who gave the song rhythm by beating on a trash can.

They were surprised by the immediate response. It wasn’t just other Americans frustrated by what many considered to be a racist law but the media, too. They got an email from a staff member at “Al Punto,” a popular Spanish-speaking news program hosted by Jorge Ramos, who invited them on the show.

“This was the first time we realized that what we were doing had an impact,” Mexia says.

What the producers hadn’t yet realized was that they weren’t just anybody; they were the sons of Hernán Hernández, bass player of Los Tigres del Norte, one of the most famous and politically outspoken Norteño bands in the past 40 years.

“Once they found out, that’s when it escalated a little bigger,” Mexia says. “They were like, ‘Here’s the sons of who we consider to be the voice of our generation.’”

The song’s response made it clear that they had a good thing going on together. They decided to shelve their respective solo careers and work on an album together under the moniker Raul y Mexia. The duo performs at Pagoda Lounge for a record release party on March 30.

Part of what gave “Todos Somos Arizona” a unique sound was how the brothers combined their different musical tastes. Raul has always loved hip-hop, while Raul has a penchant for writing tender, romantic ballads.

For Raul y Mexia, they wanted to continue this fusion of styles by allowing room for all the American music they grew up listening to, not just hip-hop but also electronic and rock music, while still paying tribute to the music of their cultural heritage, like banda, Tejano, cumbia and Norteño.

“We didn’t try to push too much for one thing, we just wanted it to be a fusion,” Mexia explains.

http://youtu.be/ydIVy7wqGZQ

After working with a couple different producers in Miami, they met Toy Selectah, from pioneering Español hip-hop group Control Machete, who invited them to come down to Monterrey in Mexico to work on some songs. The brothers really felt like he was the first person to understand their vision.

“Toy was the catalyst that’s been able to bridge the gaps between the United States and Mexico,” Raul says. “It was really important for us to express the music of our culture, and Toy would do that, and then add in synths and things like that.”

For the songs, they created a blueprint by first laying down tracks of traditional Norteño instruments: accordion, bajo sexto (a traditional 12-string guitar) and the double bass. From there, they would twist and pull the songs in modern ways by playing with electronic instruments and drum machines. They even sprinkled in instruments that were traditional to other Latin American countries.

“It’s a little bit of everything; it’s what America is today,” Mexia says. “You go eat Italian food, then go down the street and eat Chinese. It’s all in one spot. That’s what we want to do with our music.”

The duo also took a step back from political songwriting and focused instead on writing fun songs that tinkered with different genres. By the time they’d finished their debut album, Arriba y Lejos, they’d gotten some interest from major labels, but it never worked out.

Selectah sent a copy to Nacional Records, which is known for working with innovative and cutting-edge Latin artists. The label was very interested in the brothers, but it took a year of discussions before Raul y Mexia was signed.

“A lot of people expect because we were sons of somebody famous, that the process would be a lot easier, that the doors would just open,” Mexia says. “Yeah, we get people’s attention, but it took a lot of work.”

Part of what stood in Raul y Mexia’s way was the very fact that people knew who their dad was, and they expected them to make music exactly like Los Tigres del Norte. But being first-generation American, they’ve had an entirely different experience than their father, something they hope to explore more on their next album.

“When we got to Mexico, they can tell right away that we’re not from there,” Mexia says. “We come back home, and we face those same kind of issues. You get stereotyped, especially with this whole SB 1070 law.”

So far, their debut album, which was released in February, has already been a success, primarily with other young Latino Americans, who relate to the vast pool of musical influences with which Raul y Mexia grew up.

“Latino youth of today are pretty much open to everything,” Mexia says. “There’s really no barriers, no limits. They’re listening to Los Tigres del Norte then listening to Dr. Dre.”

Raul y Mexia
Saturday, March 30; 10pm; $10–$20
Pagoda Lounge, San Jose

After 10 years out of the spotlight, Cody ChesnuTT is back on tour with stops in San Jose and San Francisco last week.

Metro photographer Geoffrey Smith was on hand to catch his highly anticipated show at Pagoda Lounge. Read more about ChesnuTT and his new album with our feature interview with him.

Condy ChesnuTT, performing at Pagoda Lounge on Thursday, remembers the day in 2002 when his cousin, who was his manager at the time, received a call from the Roots, telling him they wanted to collaborate with him. Specifically, they wanted to cover ChesnuTT’s song “The Seed” and have him sing on the track. It was all very strange considering that he had never met the Roots and his one album, The Headphone Masterpiece, was an obscure indie release.

Flattered, ChesnuTT, who plays the Pagoda Lounge this Thursday, wasn’t sure how he felt about actually doing it. He was still reeling from a debacle with Hollywood Records, which had signed his previous group, the Crosswalk, recorded their album and subsequently dropped them without releasing it. Working with another major-label group didn’t seem like such a good idea.

“I had it out for the industry. [But] my cousin told me it would definitely be a good move to make, so I gave it a shot, and it worked out,” ChesnuTT says.

The Roots’ version, “The Seed 2.0,” became a single on the band’s Phrenology album and the only song to get major radio airplay. With a mix of Black Thought’s rapping and ChesnuTT’s vocal hook, it became an accessible neo-soul pop track with hip-hop street cred.
Oddly, the Roots later told him their label didn’t want ChesnuTT to sing on the song because he wasn’t well known enough; they wanted them to use Lenny Kravitz.

“That right there’s how the industry works,” ChesnuTT says ruefully.

The success of “The Seed 2.0” helped bump The Headphone Masterpiece into the Billboard 200. It was an album completely unlike anything out there—a long collection of Guided by Voices–style lo-fi and four-track recordings that jumped all over the place in the most chaotic and jarring ways possible.

It included psychedelic rock, soul, R&B, hip-hop, gospel and punk sounds—and songs that fell outside of any genre. Some numbers were just short little bursts of emotion, while others were long meandering pieces with friends doing spoken word. Others, like “The Seed,” were genius pop gems.

“I wanted to make a statement. It was an in-your-face kind of project. At that point in time, a lot of the bands were too polished. It was completely at the other end of the spectrum,” ChesnuTT says.

Despite the newfound attention, ChesnuTT didn’t immediately release a follow-up recording. He remained more or less silent for a decade, with the exception of an appearance on Dave Chappelle’s Block Party in 2006 and the release of the EP Black Sin No Value in 2010.
In the midst of promoting The Headphone Masterpiece, ChesnuTT became a father.

“I really embraced the fact that I had to change,” he says. “I took time to get to know what fatherhood was all about and make sure I was in the best space possible to raise another human being. I was re-evaluating myself. I just took time to grow. I didn’t think it was going to take 10 years.”

It was an understandable decision considering the chaotic mind frame he was in while recording The Headphone Masterpiece. “I was all over the place,” he says. “I was rooming with four other people. It was the epitome of the rock & roll lifestyle. You can see it on The Headphone Masterpiece. I had the presence of faith on that record, but there was a darkness—a worldy spirit that occupied my headspace as well.”

Part of changing meant taking his spirituality seriously, which is apparent on his new record, Landing on a Hundred, released last October.

Songs like “Till I Met Thee” and “Everybody’s Brother” express a profound spiritual transformation. But really, everything about the decidedly sweet and passionate Landing on a Hundred is different than The Headphone Masterpiece. Rather than capturing his unfiltered emotions, he gave himself a lot of time to consciously shape everything that he was expressing.

“I took the opportunity to really look at each lyric to be sure it was saying everything I needed it to say without saying too much,” he says. “I put a lot of thought into what I had to say.”

In order to make the best possible album, while still maintaining control, ChesnuTT funded the project himself. When he ran out of money, he turned to Kickstarter to help finish the project and was surprised by the response.

“It just blew me away that people would donate and give so much, especially in a time when people hate paying for a record, even $10,” ChesnuTT says. “But they gave $50–$100 dollars for the project. It shows you the love people have for music, the passion they put behind projects they believe in.”

The latest EP, Awakenings, by Sacramento hip-hop duo DLRN, performing January 19 at Pagoda Lounge, takes a big step away from the norm found on most hip-hop records, creating a sound that is almost unclassifiable. It mixes 80s electronic, experimental soundscapes, guest soul singers and straightforward, emotional rhymes—all backed by barebones old-school hip-hop beats.

“It’s evident to the audience that it’s a little more than hip-hop,” emcee Sean La Marr says.

DLRN takes a unique approach to shows by not trying to generate audience participation—avoiding the typical “hey, ho” call and response—and often just performing and hoping people will connect to the music.

“It’s a different experience for everyone involved, for us included,” La Marr says. “There’s not a lot of call and response. It’s not necessarily about getting the crowd as hyped, say, as it was in my early days doing a lot of boom bap and soul samples. So sometimes it’s hard to understand, like how the crowd is supposed to get involved because the music is different.”

Along with producer Jon Reyes, the duo started in 2009, but was taking most of its influences from underground hip-hop artists like Little Brother, mixing light spacious beats with ’70s soul samples. They released two EPs (The Bridge and Delorean) with this sound but looked for ways to push the envelope to separate themselves from the numerous other rappers with the same style.

“That’s when we started focusing on adding darker notes, and making it more electronic, just making it more ’80s influenced,” La Marr says.
Along with these elements, they applied a free-for-all policy for how far out the instruments and textures could be while also keeping the basic drum beat simple, which plays a critical role in keeping the music grounded in hip-hop.

“Lyrics or cadences don’t necessarily sound great over different types of beats,” La Marr says. “I think that’s why we kept the core of it hip-hop and then really focus on the emotion and different soundscapes that other instruments can bring. It’s still is rooted in basic hip-hop principles.”

Pagoda Lounge
Sat, 9:30pm, $5

R&B crooner Mayer Hawthorne returned to his DJ roots for a full house at Pagoda Lounge on Friday for the two-year anniversary of Live at the Pagoda.

Metro photographer Jennifer Anderson was there for the celebration.