Public Service Announcement 003: The Billboard Top 40.

I shouldn't have to say this, but every once in a while, turn off your fucking television and listen to something not being pushed into your brain by ClearChannel or Viacom. The situation is ridiculous nowadays. Honestly, it's not that hard to expand your boundaries if you're so inclined, and nowadays new music is literally a mouse-click away. No excuses. I'll be 35 in a few months (yes, this fact saddens me a little), and I'll be damned if I let some countdown run by a faceless corporation continue to dictate what should be vibrating my eardrums.


I know too many people in my age group who only listen to one type of music, claiming that other genres hold no interest for them. Okay. I'm not mad at that reasoning, but in my opinion it's self-limiting. No one genre can capture the entire range of emotion/atmosphere/feeling/ambiance that I need to experience to feel satisfied musically. Which is why my collection looks almost schizophrenic. I'd say that of the music I currently listen to, 90% of it was discovered via some independent discussion board or blog, and almost none of it will ever touch the Billboard 200. And that's okay.

Note: This is not to say that pop music shouldn't be liked or doesn't have a place. It definitely does -- I very well can't dance to Lights Out Asia, for instance. And I'm the first to admit that a sizable chunk of some of the stuff in my playlists has a pop influence to it. but the Top 40 isn't the end-all-be-all. That's the beauty of the music "industry" today -- you don't have to like what's put in front of you. You can make your own decisions.

Or maybe I'm just getting old. Yeah ... it's probably that.

Beats From The East.

Last Saturday I was a guest on CJLO's Beats From The East radio show, based out of Montreal and hosted by DJ Mister Vee. The 2-hour program highlights "the best urban music (Soul, RnB, Hip-Hop, Funk, Electro, Acid Jazz, Reggae...yes, Asian-Reggae exists!) from Far-East Asian communities worldwide." Mister Vee had gotten hold of our album Pacific Central and wanted a live interview with Reggie and me; unfortunately R'SENULL already had plans for that evening and so it was left to me to hold it down.

CJLO Beats From The East

Mister Vee also had a guest in the studio, an upcoming French artist named Océane who was part of a band that covered K-Pop songs. He interviewed her in between tracks, and towards the end of the first hour spun "Grown Past That" to segue into the interview. As the song played, he called me on the phone (off the air) and we talked for a couple of minutes. As the song ended, he gave a pretty nice introduction -- mentioning us alongside Blue Scholars no less. Haha, dope.

For the 20+ minutes I was on the air, I think I did a good job fielding questions. Topics ranged from Seattle sports, to the state of the music industry, to the origins of J-Pros. I did enjoy answering questions about our music-writing process, as it definitely had been an interesting challenge to collaborate and successfully complete an entire album while Reggie and I lived in different time zones. I capped the interview off with an exclusive freestyle that I'd written earlier in the day. (I believe I stumbled a little in the beginning but a few bars later I hit my stride. Cut me some slack -- I haven't performed in a long time haha)

You can listen to the entire podcast here, or go straight to my interview here.

Overall, I had a great time. Mister Vee was an excellent host, and J-Pros definitely appreciates the shine we got on the show! (Not to mention the numerous mentions on Facebook, Twitter and the CJLO website.) Beats From The East has earned itself a new listener, and maybe we can build and off this new friendship. Mike: Thanks again for hosting me! Let us know if you're ever in Seattle! One love.