joshuagabriel.com

:joshua gabriel + jillian ann reinventing how electronic music is done :

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all about joshua gabriel                                          

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³Joshua Gabriel is one of those guys who is possessed of a vision, who knows what he wants to hear and By God is going to create it. Gabriel is a turntablist/multi-instrumentalist who leans heavily on soulful vocal samples and constantly-changing instrumentation, builds, digressions and loops in order to create a very original sound in a genre that is filled with ripoffs of ripoffs of ripoffs. He will bend and alter horn snippets and vocal explosions until they are virtually indistinguishable, the voice of something not of this world. He will drop from an a capella vocal line to a tabla/mandolin combo, then sink into a groove that would delight Dee-Lite. Moreover, unlike many of his contemporaries, he doesn't jump in and out of styles simply to prove that he can. When he is finished with a track, the elements will have coalesced so thoroughly that what is in reality a pastiche sounds like something foreordained. Gabriel creates music that hangs together and produces a fully enfleshed image.²
­SPLENDID.COM

When I moved to Brooklyn from Philadelphia in 1998 it was with the intention of giving up on a career in music. the past 5 years i had been working as a graphic designer and playing drums in various bands, but recently i had become obsessed with the producer driven music of Tricky, Moby, Goldie, the Wu-Tang Clan, and band music just didnıt seem to do it for me anymore. Being a drummer and guitarist, i didnıt see any place for me in this realm, so i found a design job in NYC and moved - thinking i was packing in my music career and any thoughts of being a star for good.

³This music demands and inspires close attention...employs samples from a staggeringly broad range of genres­these are mixed, layered and looped with his own contributions on drums, guitar, bass, and turntables. Gabrielıs music is distinguished by the rigors of its construction...each sound is milked for every possibility it contains.²
­NEW YORK PRESS

I came to New York alone, and i knew absolutely noone in the city, so i spent a lot of time by myself - thinking about music, life, art, etc. I started to realize that i hated having a regular job and started goofing around with this simple music program called Sound Edit. I got into it and started to think that maybe i could be a producer. Around the same time i started going to Konkrete Jungle and other NY parties and i started to watch the DJs. Before this i had no idea what a DJ did, but i watched them and thought ³ i could do this.² I bought some turntables and a mixer and set about teaching myself how to beat match and scratch. Originally i just wanted to get decent at it, but after about a month i realized i was going to be really good and decided i would be a producer and DJ. During this same period i met a girl named Joan who showed me her sketchbook, and it got me to thinking that i missed drawing, since all of the art i had been doing since college was on the computer. So i bought a sketchbook and started doing these tiny little hieroglyphic-esque drawings that would fill up page after page. One night i got some ecstacy and decided to do it myself in my tiny studio apt. I was taking a bath when i was hit with a revelation ³THIS IS WHAT IıM GOING TO DO WITH THE REST OF MY LIFE. IıM NOT GOING TO WORK AT A NORMAL JOB, IıM GOING TO MAKE MUSIC AND ART.²

³This guy does it all - heıs battled a robot DJ (and won), designs all his own sleeve-work with his intricate maze-like line drawings and plays the bongos while he DJs. His second EP shows his artistic diversity, melding hip-hop, trip-hop, chill drum n bass, and tribal drumming. Movement No. II is organic electronic music thatıs thoughtful, intelligent, and different.²
-MIXER MAGAZINE

I started out spinning drum n bass w/hip hop. I worked hard to complete a mixtape so i could start to play out. I had no contacts so i went to drum n bass parties and would give my mixtape to anyone who was handing out flyers. This was around the beginning of 1999. Eventually i received a call from DJ Scorpion, who was the head of the HIPSTEP/BASSCLEF NY crew. He liked my tape and wanted me to spin at his parties so thatıs how i got my first DJ gigs. We did various weekly parties, usually in the east village - and this is how i got my live DJing experience. During this same period i got a sequencer/sampler and started working on the tracks that would become my first EP, MOVEMENT NO. I. I also began work on my first short film/music video V1: GET ADDICTED. i quit my job and supported myself by freelancing while working on all these projects and playing out.

³...the camera pans over models on billboards and mannequin torsos in shop windows. Gabriel graffitis his drawings on an ad on the side of a phone booth and walks down a winter street making turntable-spinning motions with his hands.²
-NEW YORK PRESS

When i finished my first EP of original tracks, i sent it to all of the ³cool² electronic labels, but with no response. So i took a chance and hired a company called Vision Trust to do college radio airplay for me (in this period i still had credit cards and a decent amount of paying work, so could spend on my career). The risk payed off and MOVEMENT NO. I ended up getting a lot of college airplay - receiving heavy to medium play at over 60 stations and charting at 18 stations, including #1 at WLFR in New Jersey. This is where things really started to happen in my career. I had 2 solo shows of my artwork and my short film ended up getting into 6 film festivals. I started playing at some colleges and put up my website www.joshuagabriel.com.

³One of Gabrielıs claims to fame is that he plays bongos while DJing...²
-GROOVES MAGAZINE

It was during this exciting period that my DJing style began to change drastically. When i had moved from philly to my small apt. in new york, there was no room for my drumset, so eventually i got some bongos, just to have something to play. I started to get good and thought that maybe i could introduce them into my live set. I put the bongos right next to the mixer and began to experiment with a technique where i would spin and scratch records while simultaneously playing the bongos, using the crossfader to take out the beat at certain points and fill the empty space with just the bongos playing. As far as i know this is a technique i invented. I also began to expand my music selection from just drum n bass and hip-hop, incorporating everything i liked: opera, tribal, classical, downtempo, classsic rock, spoken word. This of course left me without a genre or niche. What club could you go to and play every type of music while also playing the drums? I was now not a DJ but a performer, and there werenıt many places where i could do this. But when i did get shows, my new performance style of DJing with live percussion always drew a crowd of amazed onlookers. Noone had ever seen anything like this.

³This is a more nuanced record than anything else you are likely to come across. Imagine a one-man AVALANCHES who doesn't bother with the melodies.²
-SPLENDID.COM

In 2001 i independently released my second EP of original songs MOVEMENT NO. II. The response was immediate and overwhelming. MOV. II entered the CMJ Radio Adds chart at #8 and went on to receive  airplay at 312 stations, charting at 37 stations. The reviews were also raving. NEW YORK PRESS associate editor and music writer Eva Neuberg heard the CD and contacted me, saying she wanted to do the lead music feature for the next issue on me. This feature article ran in the NYPress in Feb. of 2001. Hip culture magazine FRANK 151 also ran a 3-page feature on me, showcasing my music and artwork. Again things started to go into high gear. I was picked to play at the 2001 CMJ Music Marathon, and was a runner-up in the BPM/ DJ.MIXED.COM mixtape contest. I opened for DJ Logic at the Bowery Ballroom, and had another solo show of my artwork. While my art and career were going great, my financial situation had become a disaster. I had pretty much stopped working to concentrate on my own projects, and i had amassed a staggering amount of credit card debt spending on my career (CDs, radio promotion, hiring a publicist, etc.). At the end of 2001 i declared bankruptcy, and started to ³busk² - playing my bongos in the street, parks, and subways for money. This was a very eye-opening experience. When you are playing an instrument outside most people think you are a lunatic or street person or both, and it was interesting to be on the other side of this equation - playing my bongos with a box out for people to put their change into. I would also get all kinds of confused, strung out street people coming up and harassing me while i played. Though this was unpleasant, it definitely toughened me up and the whole busking experience definitely opened me up and freed my mind/ego in a whole new way.

³...as I watch his hands glide between the records and crossfader and it takes me back to a set Gabriel did last month at the Tunnel. Some suburban DJ with two left hands chased most of the crowd out of the hip hop room. Then, Gabriel stepped up and 15 minutes later the room was packed again. It only took one barrage of well-crafted scratches to remind everyone why they came out in the first place.³
-FRANK 151 MAGAZINE


In 2002 i began to start playing my guitar again, which was my main instrument, and i also began to experiment with ³off-the-top freestyling², a type of rapping which is completely improvised. In the old days i had always thought more traditionally - youıre a DJ or a producer or a drummer or a guitarist. Now i was envisioning something quite different: an artist who does anything and everything - a producer/DJ/drummer/filmmaker/guitarist/poet/MC/singer/writer/visual artist. So for the past year i have been working on becoming this new type of artist - locked away in my room, practicing 6-10 hours a day. Learning to rhyme and play guitar simultaneously, writing hundreds of songs, scratching, mixing, finding my singing voice, working on my debut full-length album MOVEMENT NO. III (which is going to be a double album). I have accomplished a lot since i moved to new york, naively thinking i was giving up on my music career; but i have so much more to do. I have albums upon albums already written in my head, films to make, artwork to create. Iım excited about my future and a lifetime devoted to doing exactly what i want, quite simply - making art.

³It is still the true creators that get my blood flowing, those who invest more than samples and loops to the music world at large. Joshua Gabriel is one of those guys. In fact, he is living the life many of us creative types long for. He is an artist, musician, tonal sculptor and innovator."
AUDIOGLYPHICS MAGAZINE

http://www.joshuagabriel.com

NEW YORK PRESS FEATURE
http://nypress.com/14/52/music/music2.cfm

I was just moving to Williamsburg last summer and I remember that the first time I saw the place on, I knew it would be home. I remember having dreams of playing out live, of meeting people in coffee shops, and having talks about the music and how it was starting to become what I always saw.  I moved here for many reasons -- to change my life, to come out of hiding, to start playing out, to start connecting and, most importantly, to create.

 

I hadn't even yet, but I knew this is where I wanted to be.  Where I had to be.   So I began the move, running back and forth between my old place and my new home. It was hot and I had been running all day. I came down the steps of the L train and missed the train.  He was there too.  He had also just missed the train. We looked at each other and something clicked.

Sitting across from each other on the train, I don't remember what happened or what was said, but the next thing we found out was that we were both musicians.  We talked and we swapped CDs. I got home and didn't expect much, but when I listened to his CD, I was into it. Then, I read the liner notes and I looked at the message. I listened and I heard an artist. I saw someone who was as addicted to it as I was. He inspired me in many ways with his ability to do everything. "I want to be like that," I thought.

So over time, we kept in touch. Nothing came of it until one day when he asked if I would come over and do vocals.  One thing led to another and then we were lost in a trance.   We were two artists who could improv easily together.  We also discovered that we could just go and go and go -- each of us feeding the other.  He would go from downtempo trip hop to jungle I would sing rap or speak over it all. He would pull out the guitar or the bongos and we would get quiet. We could go from one side of electronic music to the other, dancing easily from place to place, mood to mood. Throw in some rock, some rap, some opera, mix it all together and we made a unique, beautiful, sound that was live and real.

We talked.  "No one else is doing this, so why don't we? Electronic music could use something new."  So we started doing it more and more and then we started to play out. What is amazing about it is that it is unique.  It is real; it is soul; and it is something that changed everytime. And that means it won't get old or boring. It is about being from the soul and drawing from there and just letting it all come out in musical form.

Now we are building a press kit and we are going to continue playing out live. As two solo artists  collaborating on a project, it is unique because there isn't any war over what happens. No egos get in the way.  We just help each other.  Together we can do something live that is unique. As collaborators, we can inspire each other not only in recording, but live.  We can be in a room together and feed off each other.   What we give is raw and it is real. It is not structured. Because it is raw and unstructured, it depends only on the soul from within to exist. If we don't feel it, it isn't there. 

We are lucky that the inspiration never seems to end.

So that is the short version. We are going to post mp3's of our live work.  And we will post listings of our performances too.  If you are into music, you will love it because it is about all kinds of music. It is about bringing elements of all of them together and enjoying all their aspects. It is about soul, and what's going on inside right then and there.

To learn more, check out the info and email us to join the list.  Or, if you want us to play out, let us know.  If you want us to open or close for you, let us know that too.

Till then, just enjoy the music.

more coming soon: if you want to help us please email us: without you we starve: we are currently seeking those to help us promote our music and work online as well as in real life: if you would like to help us out drop us an email and let us know:

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jillian live journal = read about whats going on inside

jillian journal collection from childhood to the present = the history

jillian poetry & lyrics = bits of songs

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-I would have to agree with that: my entire life has been built around on thing and that was creating: nothing else mattered very much: except creating: I am addicted to it: I have over the years ventured from one end of the industry to the next seeking others who share the same passion: when I meet Joshua the thing that caused me to want to work with him the most was he really loved what he did and would do whatever it takes to do it: -

Jillian Ann had an impactful independent film career, an interesting modeling career (that took her all over the world) and now, like a colorful songbird, sitting on a rickety branch, in the middle of all the seasons at once, Jillian Ann has launched herself into the world of music.-MEDIA PLUS-

- i was always on my way to the music land. i just made the decision i would rather make all my learning mistakes in the modeling world opposed to the music world: so when i was 18 and brought to new york to meet big lawyers and managers about music: when i saw the stack of papers they wanted me to sign with a 5 year commitment: and basically giving them my life: i decided there had to be another way: because music is my soul: i would rather sell my body then my soul: so i went into the modeling world and spent years reading about programming, producing the business: i hung out with rockers: producers: i was a sponge: i was taking it all in: through the modeling industry i learned a lesson when the public wants you they will play by your rules: so i knew i had to do just that: cause i wasent about to get beat up again after going through hell and back once: so i set out to do music:

"Jillian Ann gives a unique gift to the world. A glittery, sparkling gift that only she can give. A complete package of wondrous sounds, visions and thoughts." - MEDIA PLUS-

- so those visions and thoughts and sound are what   the record industry didnt get when i was 18 , " where is the hook" i heard it too many times so  i funded the fallen ep/ and beta single handed with the money i made in modeling: i did BETA and fallen with David Kirby: BETA was in the top 40 of MP3 got 18,000 downloads and then  once we where done david went home and i was alone: in my studio with the knowledge: with the talent now it was only a matter of discipline:those visions and thoughts are so precious to me that frankly i would not allow strings to be attached to them: they were not for sale: i would continue to model to feed my music: because i don't want to add to the negative energy out there: i want to create music that reaches in and touches people: not sucks the life out of them: so i went Vegan: cleaned out my skelotons: tied up some strings in the past: faced all the demons i had been running from: went to Milan and spent two months getting ready mentally emotionally and spiritually to make the transition from one world to another: i continue to model and act but music is the primary focus: i am like a mother music is my baby i will die for it-

"In a root-nature, Jillian Ann’s music is almost Sopor Aeternus-ish minus the blatant sadness and overall goth vibes - although - a slight thread of both are definitely threaded throughout the songstress’ structure " - MEDIA PLUS-

- i was gifted from the get go. i knew it. because of it i knew i could  just do it. i was trained classically. i passed my teachers - i learn fast- when the music biz first found me they wanted me to be a dark version of briteny spears: i wanted to throw up: they wanted me to sing there songs: i found them boring: they wanted me to conform: i wasn't into it: i want to do what i love: i want to create from my soul: i dont want to be a puppet: so i started doing music alone: and putting my solo stuff on mp3: all of the sudden i was in the top 40 then i was in the top 5 then 7 songs in one week where in the top 10: these where the first songs i did all of the production all of the writing everything: i sleep very little i work all day all night in my room alone with the angels: alone commuication the music: but there was always the question on how to do it live:

"skeletons. The music can also be compared to the likes of Enya, Love Spirals Downwards or perhaps, even, Black Tape For A Blue Girl - Projekt Records’ flagship ensemble." -MEDIA PLUS-

- my music is the inside of my soul. it changes depending on the day the moment the emotion: so then i got an email from a label after less then a month of posting my solo project: they offered me what i wanted one hundred percent creative freedom: so the rebel did it: i got picked up without having to sell my soul: - so i wanted to start playing out: i figured i would wait till after i finished my album and figure it out: then joshua and i started talking: and it all came together: by bringing multiple solo artist together and doing live shows with each other we create something new, interesting, original, because most electronic music live is BORING, i couldnt do something that i wouldn't see: so then it came together: we are both gifted to the point that like david and i we can journey together live: we can go and flow and follow and go from trip hop to classical piano to rap to jungle from opera to guitar antics: so as two solo artist who create live together we create a live show no one can touch: because it isnt this plastic: fake: stuff that puts me to sleep: so who knows because now i want to bring in some visuals as well as another artist: so maybe it is a band: but not in the typical sense: we are in this together: but we are both egoless about it because we are both doing our own thing: jsut together:

"The best way to venture into the mind and heart of inexorably beautiful Jillian Ann though, is simply to become enlightened by a few of her very own quotes:" - MEDIA PLUS-

“I have lived many lives. I think I am a cat and I am on number seven.”

“As a child I went to church at least three times a week, but I learned that God hung out near the piano and in the woods. I found him in the fields next to Percy, Byshe, Sheally, and Beethoven.”

“My childhood was beautiful and strange.”

A friend of hers, named Anastasia, once had this to say regarding the brilliant Jillian Ann:

“Sometimes she models nude. Sometimes she goes to church. She says she can’t function without her spiritual life. People are either intensely infatuated with her - or call her odd. Her modeling agent says she doesn’t look like anyone else. Someone said she looked like a witch - mysterious.”

To us, here at Emperor Penguin Recordings, Jillian Ann is a pride and joy. The exact type of artist that puts a neon pink feather in our caps.

Jillian Ann is a joy to work with, an inspiration to listen too, and most of all - an emotional blast of controlled energy, which we are thrilled to have aboard our vessel.