Skip to main content

About The New Beatmaker

Hi!  I'm Lee.  Welcome to my blog.  Here we talk music: news, reviews, interviews, tips, tutorials and more.  I'm also working on the upcoming podcast  Influenced  as a guest, writer and researcher alongside music aficionado Mark Williams and friends.  Watch this space! I have been a lover of music for as long as I can remember, an amateur lyricist for 25 years, a music writer for 15 years and a hobbyist musician and blogger for almost 10 years. My tastes range from jazz to house to hip hop and I love helping artists from all genres develop their sound. My music, videos, reviews and interviews have been featured in a variety of magazines and websites, including: B-Boy Tech Report Gimme That Beat Humanhuman Audio Skills Dream House Beats Where Did the Road Go Beat Tape Co-Op Push Power Promo Drum Magazine You can find my music on Bandcamp: Monkey Mind Sounds AKA LeeTNB And you can find me on Facebook: The New Beatmaker page Lee's personal page

Shuggie Otis Jazz Cafe Review, London


A musical genius takes tentative steps back into the spotlight 

Descending onto the Jazz Café stage from the steep stairway above, tall, slender and well groomed, in a black velvet coat, black pants and high boots, Shuggie Otis exudes superstar charisma.  However, when he strikes the first chords on his blood red guitar and nothing comes out of his amp, nervousness washes over him.  His raspberry coloured shades come off.  ‘Soundman, can I have some help please? I can’t work this thing’.  He apologises for the delay.   ‘Take your time, Otis, we love you’ a voice in the crowd reassures, applause backs her up.   It takes a few minutes for the soundman to bring the amp back to life.  When Otis and the band then explode into ‘Inspiration Information’ it is to the relief of everyone.

Buy from Amazon here
Minor mishaps and musical mastery are tonight’s themes.  There are gorgeous renditions of ‘Aht Uh Mi Hed’ and ‘Island Letter’ amongst others.  In particular, drummer Marvin ‘Smitty’ Smith and keyboardist Nick Smith show why they are in such high demand.  Otis himself is still a virtuoso, performing timeless songs with magnificent fluidity and beauty.  Yet he grimaces during his solos, shoots nervous glances at the band and he often avoids eye contact with the crowd. 

Midway through he needs a chair.  The band exits the stage and the air of nervousness returns. Three or four minutes later, Nick Smith can hardly watch the chair being lifted over his Kurzweil keyboards.  Otis needs to ‘read these notes, musical notes’.  Sitting by himself to perform these new blues numbers, this feels more like a rehearsal.  Crowd members ask each other if that sustained buzzing is a sound effect or another technical hitch.  
 

The second half runs much smoother.  More new tracks are performed and with the band back on stage Otis plays more confidently.  Many musicians reach a creative nadir such a long time after their debut, yet these new tracks are muscular, sensual and memorable.  The old classics ‘Ice Cold Day Dream’ and ‘Strawberry Letter 23’ have the crowd in raptures.  Whilst Otis plays the latter’s swift, complex chords admirably, his facial expression suggests he wonders why he choose to make them so difficult to replay. 
 

On record Otis comes across as an enigmatic genius.  Tonight he is an endearing paradox.  He has superstar charisma alongside crippling awkwardness.  His music is lovely yet he appears in pain when performing it.  He’s the musical master who can’t work his amp. 

Take your time, Otis, we love you.



Popular posts from this blog

About The New Beatmaker

Hi!  I'm Lee.  Welcome to my blog.  Here we talk music: news, reviews, interviews, tips, tutorials and more.  I'm also working on the upcoming podcast  Influenced  as a guest, writer and researcher alongside music aficionado Mark Williams and friends.  Watch this space! I have been a lover of music for as long as I can remember, an amateur lyricist for 25 years, a music writer for 15 years and a hobbyist musician and blogger for almost 10 years. My tastes range from jazz to house to hip hop and I love helping artists from all genres develop their sound. My music, videos, reviews and interviews have been featured in a variety of magazines and websites, including: B-Boy Tech Report Gimme That Beat Humanhuman Audio Skills Dream House Beats Where Did the Road Go Beat Tape Co-Op Push Power Promo Drum Magazine You can find my music on Bandcamp: Monkey Mind Sounds AKA LeeTNB And you can find me on Facebook: The New Beatmaker page Lee's personal page

Learn How to Play D'Angelo's 'How Does it Feel': Piano Couture

Barely a week goes by without me playing 'Voodoo' at some point and with it, a desire to learn how to play 'How Does it Feel'.   This tutorial video by youtube user pianocouture is one of the best 'how to play' videos I have seen for the classic track.   I think that instructional videos like this are good for two main reasons.  Reason one: obviously, a learner player will gain confidence and enjoyment from learning a favourite song of theirs.   Reason two: Even if a beatmaker has no desire to learn to play the keyboard, but wants to create a loop or a riff (a feeling) similar to 'How Does it Feel', what better way to, than playing the song itself (or similar sounds), sampling it and chopping it up? Either way, this is a great tutorial video.  I've subscribed to Piano Couture's youtube page and, if you are looking to get your key game up, I suggest you do too ;) Related Posts: ?uestlove talks new D'Angelo, J Dilla Video: youtube.com/user/pian

Objects In Orbit 'Panoramas'

REVIEW :  The New Beatmaker favourite changes his name, hones his craft on potential best album of 2020 Producer, Sound Engineer, Musician and Videographer Objects In Orbit has been a favourite of the site since 2013. Whilst there is not a single bad project in the catalogue of the artist formerly known as Evil Alex, he has evolved and improved almost constantly from one project to the next. He is a master of sonic suspense with many of his projects sounding perfectly at home in an art installation or art-house cinema. His trademark style mixes hip hop born sample-based techniques and 4/4 beat composition along with jazz influenced time signatures and experimentation. He often incorporates eerie, industrial stylings and at times dissonant tones.  Whilst predominantly instrumental, Objects In Orbit finely weaves into layers of musical samples either long stretches of dialogue, which make the listener feel as though they are eavesdropping on private conversation, or snip