Elements of the Outer Realm

Sadly, hip-hop bands are few and far blah blah you know the term. But "blah blah" is not what you can call Elements Of The Outer Realm, a 7-piece that call Long Beach, California home. Truth is, there are quite a few hip-hop bands but in a time when hip-hop seems catered to image and promotional budgets, it's hard to find those bands that sound good. The musicians of Elements Of The Outer Realm play very well, and along with DJ Havik create a sound that is not only funky, but also demonstrates some of the ethnic and social diversity found within the members of the band. Then you have MC Christian Mendoza, who shows his energy and charisma in each of the tracks. He probably gets everyone going in a live setting, and when you can sense that in a studio recording, you'll want to see him and the band when they play near you. Some of the bands they reminded me of included Groove Collective, Ozomatli, Ill Again, Crown City Rockers, and Bullfrog. Outside of the funk, jazz, and hip-hop influences, I could easily see these guys also playing festivals and associating themselves with the jam band community. Anyone can rap, anyone can play, but the union between the two has to work in order for people to want to hear it. Elements Of The Outer Realm wrap them up together quite nice. - Reviewer: John Book

Elements of the Outer Realm gave an inspired performance Sunday night at St. Mark's in Venice Beach.

The band's eclectic styles gave the audience a wide range of sounds -- from jazz to hip-hop.

One of its songs, "Circadian Rhythm," talked of the unique sensation of the dream state.

With the high pitched vocals of the bassists, the song had a trippy rhthym, mixing a bed-time mood with a psychedelic feel.

The vocals on the song were enthusiastically performed by the combination of Derrick Engoy and Chris Mendoza.

BAND REVIEW
The eight-piece band has been together for one year. The group plans to put out an EP in the coming months. Their sound is described by Enroy as "world music." It takes elements from hip-hop, classical and jazz.

It was the group's second time playing at St. Mark's, with maybe about 70 people watching.

Four of the members go to Cal State Long Beach, two members go to Long Beach City College and two have graduated from other colleges.

Current CSULB students include: vocalist Engoy, who is majoring in print journalism; vocalist Mendoza is majoring in history and Asian American studies, lead guitarist Ian Azuelo is majoring in health science, bassist Jan-Michael Roy is majoring in health care administration.

Current Long Beach City College students include hand percussionist Genesis Roy, who is majoring in music education and drummer Reggie Spivey, who is majoring in science.

Pianist Jojo Villanueva graduated from University of Southern California while Lionel "DJ Lion" Garcia graduated from the University of Santa Barbara in English. - By Jimmy Chai Daily Forty Niner

The Petro Zillia show was packed not only with friends and fashionistas but also with editors and buyers, and it rocked with the live sounds of the jazz band Elements of the Outer Realm. [Nony Tochterman], all smiles, with her quirky pink curls and black glasses, is on her way to becoming a darling of the design set here. She struck a South American beat with a sherbet-colored Guatemalan- stripe jacket that was tailored to perfection, paired with a short pleated skirt in banana wool. Her blush-pink belted sweater coat was polished, worn over a lavender floral silk dress. A gown had the same floral in a long skirt, but with a dollop of chiffon ruffles and a sexy, marmalade-striped knit halter. But the best dessert was a corset tied with pink ribbons over a vanilla chiffon blouse and a black wool trumpet skirt. The cherry on top was a wide raspberry men's tie. It was the designer's first foray into red-carpet dressing, and it worked. - LA Times

The band Elements of the Outer Realm believes that music can be a unique tool. They see it as an art form that in it's most powerful moments can attack all your senses and take you to a place inside yourself that you never knew existed.

"I love the connection with the audience and the band when things are going well" said Christian Mendoza, the band's lyricist and Cal State Long Beach history major. "You could feel this energy and you realize that you've created an atmosphere where time and the outside world doesn't exist."

The Long Beach based band will be playing on campus on Sept. 20 at noon. The show will be a sort of homecoming for the band since four out of seven of the band members are students at CSULB.

"We're anxious for the show," said bassist J. Michael Roy, a senior health care administration. "We've got a fan-base now, but we want to bring more people into our little circle and expand it."

Mendoza and Roy are joined by journalism senior Derrick Engoy on vocals, Reginald Spivey (drums), JoJo Villanueva (keyboards), Genesis (sax and djembe) and senior health science major Ian Azuelo (guitar).

The band was completed over a year, however they not only took a while to find all the correct parts, but also to find their distinct sound.

"We all kind of just met," Mendoza said. "Because a lot of us were supposed to go to different schools, it's one of those things that logically doesn't fit, but does."

About the forming of the band Roy said, "You could almost say it's like fate or destiny that we all met."

The band began when Mendoza, Roy and Azuelo met and formed a rap/rock band which eventually failed.

"It was wasting our musical talent," Mendoza said of the groups beginning. "Everyone was better than what they were actually playing."

"The story goes that we did an acoustic thing just the three of us at a poetry night" Roy said. "It was just me Chris and Ian and it was dope. That night Chris went up to Derrick and asked him if he was in or out and Derrick just said 'Yeah I'm down."

"It was kind of funny because we still didn't have all our parts yet," Mendoza added.

After a lot of trial and error, the Outer Realm finally added Villanueva, Spivey and Genesis. Genesis was the first of the three to be added.

"We had all these musical ideas and we wanted to put them down, but because we had no drummer we had no beats" Roy said. "So Genesis and I went to go see Derrick at work and we saw a flier to go take djembe lessons with some guy at El Dorado Park, so we kind of asked Genesis if he wanted to learn the djembe and he said yes."

The band sound mixes with the messages of their songs, taking your mind on a musical journey and leaving something for everyone to latch onto.

"Some people love Derrick and Chris' lyrics," Roy said. "Other people won't even get the lyrics, but they'll get the music."

"What makes this world beautiful is the diversity of it," Mendoza added. "In a sense our music kind of shows that. With all the different styles of music that we have, it shows that music is a mirror image of culture just like food and language and we show that it can all happen harmoniously."

The band financed, recorded and put out their self-titled EP on their own. The disc is anchored by "Circadian Rhythm," a song that is a trip through a person's sleep pattern as well as sending the message that technology is not god.

"We're just trying to help people out and help them realize that the current trend is going to be disastrous for humanity," Mendoza said.

"I think the outlook has to come from our majors," Mendoza said about the bands lyrical content. "Derrick's a journalism major and I'm in history, so it kind of makes you look at the world and the way things are in a different view."

As for what the future holds, the band though unsure knows just how far they're willing to take their burgeoning success.

"We want to take it as far as it goes," Mendoza said.

"Success to us is what's going on now," Roy said. "We're gaining fans along the way, we get to play a lot and get our music out there. That's success to us, at least how we gage it."

For now, the band will continue to play and spread its beautiful diverse message in an attempt to take you the listener to a place that you've never been.

"The beautiful thing about our music is that it's bringing musical genres to people who otherwise wouldn't hear it," Mendoza said. "It's bringing them a different flavor and breaking the monotony of their life, introducing them to something new that they just might like. - By Alex Roman

The cloud of dust in the West Patio in front of the University Student Union was Cal State Long Beach's own Elements of the Outer Realm.

Playing to an uncharacteristically energetic and responsive crowd Wednesday, the band ripped through their 60 minute set. Following the show, even the band seemed surprised at the turnout and crowd reception.

"I think the show went great," said guitarist Ian Azuelo, a CSULB health science major. "I was really surprised that everyone stayed despite the heat and everything."

The band is comprised of CSULB students, Azuelo, Derrick Engoy and Christian Mendoza as lead vocals, J. Michael Roy (bass), Reginald Spivey playing drums, JoJo Villanueva on keyboards and Genesis on djembe and horns. They seemed to enjoy playing to the large crowd. The crowd also seemed to appreciate them.

"They were really cool," said graphic design major Carlene Concepcion. "I had a good time."

The band ran through songs from their self-titled EP such as "Diluted Consensus of Babylon" and "Radiance." The show went off without a hitch, except for a broken guitar string midway through the set.

Despite the slight delay, the crowd was treated to a solid show, anchored by Engoy and Mendoza's rapid-fire lyrics. Engoy stood on chairs and speakers as he delivered his lyrics. Audience members responded to his energy, bobbing their heads and applauding.

Adding even more excitement to the band's set was bassist J. Michael Roy flexing his classical singing muscles during "Circadian Rhythm." Roy also sang on cover songs by rap artists Common and "You Got Me," by the Roots.

Two of the band's friends, Flipchild and Scarecrow, joined the Elements for "Crowning Jewel Success," a song about colonialism, before hitting full stride again with "Radiance" and "Oblivious." - By Alex Roman Daily Forty Niner

Formed in April of 1999, this Long Beach band has a seemingly deep adoration for the music they play. The band is nicely eclectic with Emcee Mendoza delivering his spoken word over Reginald Spivey's multi-dimensional beats, J. Michael Roy's pumping bass lines and transient vocals, Jojo Villanueva's Jazzy keyboard styling, Ian Azuelo's guitar and Genesis' Sax/Clarinet and percussion. It's all tied in by Turntablist DJ Havik.

What to think? This is a seven-piece band, and it seems each person is coming from a different angle. There is a jazzy feel with Cuban rhythms all laced together and delivered in a hip-hop package with some operatic vocals here and there. There are nice surprises on this record, and there is a good feel to it.

This is a band with a message: peace, love, unity and all that. I am not one for peace and love, but the music is soothing and easy to listen to; the message is the bonus. Bottom line, if you like your Hip-Hop jazzified and soothing, and you want to feel good about changing the world, then you will really like Elements Of The Outer Realm. - Review by: Rusty K. Monson