Eyedea & Abilities get more positive tour press!
Jazz-influenced hip-hoppers headed here
In hip-hop, the underground world of MC battles and turntable scratching is a whole different beast than the mainstream realm of major-label CDs and live performances.
When an MC faces another in a battle, it is rap's version of a boxing match. Rapper vs. rapper with no slick production, no expensive equipment, nowhere to hide.
Likewise, the DJ in the club, at a party or on the street has just his records, turntables and dexterity to get the crowd up and dancing.
So what happens when one of the best battle rappers and an acclaimed DJ get together to make a CD?
In the case of the two-man group Eyedea & Abilities, the result is one of the more surprising, critically acclaimed hip-hop releases of the past several years.
The duo's jazz-influenced hip-hop soars with two virtuoso musicians playing off individual skill.
"We are on this artistic flight, striving for greatness," Eyedea said in a phone interview. "We want to create great, emotionally moving music."
MC-lyricist Eyedea (Mike Averill) spent four years on the battle circuit, winning numerous regional and national titles.
DJ-turntablist Abilities (Gregory "Max" Keltgen) made a name as an underground producer, making street-sold mix tapes and working the battle circuit.
Eyedea & Abilities will perform at 8 p.m. April 24 at Club Congress.
When the two Minneapolis natives got together, their 2001 debut CD, "First Born," wowed fans and critics, as did their live performances.
Eyedea's songwriting skills surprised many. Being a great battle DJ is an instantaneous skill, pulling off rhymes on the fly. Eyedea proved he could create fully-realized, powerful songs.
Abilities used knowledge from years as a DJ and producer to create a sound for "First Born" that was lauded by critics as "inventive," "austere" and "moody sound structures, late-night jazz flourishes and towering drum loops."
Less than a year after the debut, Eyedea released the self-produced solo effort "The Many Faces of Oliver Hart."
The astonishing single "Bottle Dreams," about a sexually-abused young female violin prodigy who commits suicide, is as haunting as you'll hear in any genre.
The two went back into the studio late last year to record their second CD, "E&A," which was released last month to more acclaim than their first effort.
"It's a whole different thing," Eyedea said of the new CD. "The first CD, Abilities and I didn't necessarily have a good idea where we wanted the music to go, but we didn't want to do battle rap album. It wasn't as developed musically as it could have been."
Eyedea is much happier with the newest release.
"We are developing a more relevant sound," he said. "It is two kinds of soloist who come together, a rapper and a DJ working like singer and guitarist. The new CD is really making the turntable the lead instrument to trade back and forth with the vocals. It is similar to a really, really dumbed-down version of Charlie (Parker) and Dizzy (Gillespie). The thing is to produce as much music as possible to grow musically."
Abilities is trying to take DJ'ing to a different level on the duo's latest work.
"It's much more involved," Abilities said. "Doing production and making of the beats is gratifying in a sense, but DJ'ing, cutting and scratching, is something you can perform. When we perform there is more interaction between Eyedea and I."
Like all great artists, Abilities is always searching for ways to expand his sound and style.
"I am always learning, taking everybody else's theories into my own form of expression," he said. "A jazzlike thing. Jazz is the supreme expression of music.
"The bottom line is being original, originality and soul. I'm more conscious about what I'm trying to do and developing more understanding about what I want to accomplish musically. I feel I'm finally getting to where I can create my own voice."
Touring also helps the duo musically.
"I am really enthused," Eyedea said. "This tour is going to take us to the next level musically. This is our first headlining tour. We are starting to feel really good about ourselves and performing these songs live. The people in the audience are really enthused so far."
TJ BUCK
Tucson Citizen
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