Music
The best kept secret in music
Press
What a writer in germany thinks
read the part about NHI about
http://www.hiphopsection.com/albums/remnants/
Bubbling the Californian scene abounds an incredible number of groups devoted to the cause in the hip-hop. The Mystics is ultra representative of this scene, going on the steps of Freestyle Fellowship and Hieroglyphics. But which is really this group able to convince of the "pointures" (in term of notoriety) like Pharcyde, Black Eyed Peas or Supernatural to pose on its album?The Mystics is composed in fact of two groups (Phantom Zone, combination of MC/producteurs M.A.T.T.s and Fourever, and Not Human Intelligence formed by Abyss, Dimension and by Prizm a little in withdrawal on l'album) and of two soloists (Okie Dokie and Express Fresh). feedback Let us pass in the sharp one of the subject, namely the music. After a intro briefly presenting their connections on bottom of chamber music (of the "Yo kind, it's Planet Asia representin' whole The Mystics... " etc, etc...), one attacks by an end of piece cut down brutally to pass to one of many the posse cut of l'album, l'égotrip spiritual 'Tecknowledgey' : beat mid-tempo, dry batteries, use of synthetic sounds (one finds oneself per moment in a space will opera!), flows swift with more or less of skills according to l'intervenant is the broad outline of this piece and c'est d'ailleurs in this form that almost all the beaches of l'album will be declined, with a contribution played d'instruments live which becomes prevalent about the middle of l'album. Second piece, second posse cut, 'The Arrival' is a less dynamic tantinet but more hooker, shorter, the rappeurs s'enchaînent without idle period what gives a piece more memorable than the precedent. Perhaps the best piece of l'album.Les others posse cuts do not mark unfortunately as much as these two pieces. One would be even last featuring of very rare Medusa on 'Breaking Atoms' for an afflicting refrain. In spite of its old established facts, it should have remained terrée this time at the fine bottom of l'univers of Project Blowed. Worse, the first guest of l'album makes us share of his pompeuses demonstrations in about fifteen seconds. And Mystics present the beat to us the heaviest boxer of the galaxy, j'ai named Rahzel! Fifteen seconds of trop.Les other guests s'en do not draw too badly in particular Imani from Pharcyde and Will.I.Am of Black Eyed Peas which pose on very the sympathetic nerve 'Chain Reaction' and give a different impulse to l'album. Idem for Supernatural on the crude 'Enhale'. Finally Hard Abstract is of all its weight on magic the 'Mystic Music', very simple piece soul but which is a lung for l'album.D'autres errors of taste were not saved to us. For example 'Lack Of Comprehension', the solo d'Okie Dokie, a piece which starts from finer feelingss but which, though pleasant, is sullied with songs "r'n'bisants" very not felt with the refrain. L'effet is even more lamentable on 'Heaven's Brigade'.Mais will not n'enterrons this album for as much, the very clean productions of M.A.T.T's and those, more stripped, of Fourever are rather good. Failing to revolutionize the musical landscape, the two producers are able to be distinguished in l'underground Californian. This group has also remarkable MC's which retains l'attention, mixing égotrip mystical and social considerations. Special mention for the members of NHI and Okie Dokie who make really good impression with the microphone and who emphasize themselves on 'Celestial Elements' (single piece of complete NHI), 'Traffic' or the other pieces previously cités.Il is a pity that Mystics "se plient" with their guests on the musical level, to believe that c'est a means of emphasizing their pretty window of featurings and that l auditor does not feel dépaysé. One would have done well without these too many "petits" details, but this album revèle nevertheless an interesting potential on its two thirds and gives desire for following the future projects of the groupe.P.S.: 2 pieces hidden at the end of l'album - HIP HOP SECTION
Intresting reading
read the part about NHI
http://untamed.sanguinolence.com/muse/archives/cat_oxnard.html
was reading this really amazing chapter on animal intelligence last night (yes i know such a dork, my night reading is scholarly...). this guy put into words things i had been trying to say for years, and a lot more things i never thought of. and now my head is spinning.
2 days!
and hey arnold wasn't lying
i'm going to have to try to summarize the chapter here to try to process it. so fair warning.
he was talking about how when non-human intelligence is measured, it can be done in 5 ways, but most likely its anthropocentric, which i've always thought was entirely wrong. a species' intelligence is measured by how similar they are to ourselves - can they talk, can they lie, can they build like we do, etc. and that kind of got me thinking. why do we always consider humans to be the most intelligent. how do we know that the rest of the world's species aren't sitting around in their trees and mountains, and ocean homes "talking" in their own ways about how idiotic we are in what we do. think about this: a sparrow gathers dead leaves, grass, string littered around by us, anything it can get its hands on, and builds a home in the branches of a tree. this tree is near food resources, away from enemies, and generally safe, with a fantastic view (not that birds care much about that, they see it every day). we build a home out of trees as well, but we cut down living trees, bulldoze a field, and cause so much destruction to build these enormous habitats for ourselves. then we build a "convenience" store down the street, so that we can have nutritional resources since we just killed all the local ones. i think you get the analogy so i don't really have to go on - the point being, why are we so "smart" because we can adapt our environment to fit us. wouldn't that just be strength or stubbornness or rigidity? how many people do you know who can live in ANY environment who HASN'T been in the green berets? the bird, who adapts to fit her environment is much more intelligent in my eyes than we are. perhaps we have "immediacy intelligence" in that we live for the now, and think we know what's best for us in this very moment, or decade even, but what's going to happen years down the line? who's to say that little sparrow doesn't know?
and my other brainstorm was this. i have been watching dolphin video for 2 days straight (and for those of you who say "oh i would love to study dolphins, i'd never get sick of it..." if i don't see another everloving dolphin for the next week i'd be perfectly content...i love this job, but there IS such a thing as too much of a good thing). one thing i noticed in the video is how the dolphins treat us in the water. i constantly see this. the camera enters the water, you hear echolocation clicks, and then you see 2 young dolphins approaching head on. they circle around you a few times, whistling and clicking, and then take off still whistling. a few seconds later they return with a few more animals, and do the same thing. they often tire of kathleen because she can't move around all that much with the array (which is 3 feet wide and weighs about 30 pounds) so they move on the other passengers. and these 4-5 animals will circle around the passengers for a few minutes at a time, and the passengers swim around and around in circles trying to follow.
now this: a child runs up to a prairie dogs cage at the zoo. "daddy daddy come see this, look at him, how funny, look! watch what he does." she runs back down the path, grabs her father by the hand and drags him over to the prairie dogs. the two ooh and aah about the animals, point and bobbing their heads around. more patrons come over, doing the same, ooh and ahh.
we treat what we consider "inferior species" the same way the dolphins treat us in their own environment.
anyway that's what i came up with last night. i haven't given it the once over technically cuz i just woke up, so please retort if you have any "better" ideas. being the most intelligent species by tradition, we've got to have some ideas, right?
i may actually have a friend out here soon. the guy i met this weekend called yesterday, whodathunk. i'm going to give him a call tuesday when i get back and we may be hanging out. how cool is that. since george of the jungle never called me AND didn't want to dance with me (after i gave him shit for not calling) when i saw him saturday night, i gave up hope. figured i was a lost cause and just decided to have fun and not worry about what's-your-name-wanna-dance, just grab 'em and go. but matt came through.
ok, work time. ta ta - Posted by dana at 12:24 PM | Comments (1)
Discography
no formal releases as NHI. But music has been published and many people know who these guys are, do an internet search!
here's a bonus track:
http://nonhumans.com/members/mp3/hi/commercial_terrorists.mp3
Photos
Feeling a bit camera shy
Bio
LIVE HIP HOP LOS ANGELES!
Genesis
It all started way back in 1986 when long time friends Eric Blanco - known as Abyss and Dennis Gomez known as Prizm had jumped head first into Hip-Hop music when still in their early teens. They enjoyed the music itself, but after meddling with freestyle emceeing, there was an undeniable fact that they were talented lyricists. There was a growing interest in taking the art form more seriously.
In 1989 Abyss abruptly moved one city over, but stayed in close contact with Prizm. It was music friday at his school, where Abyss met up with a like-minded Carnel Lee - known as Dimension. “After meeting Dimension I was surprised that he was into the same stuff we [Prizm and I] were into [artists, writing, dancing], we even went to some of the same gigs”, Abyss said during an interview in 96’.
After Abyss introduced Dimension to Prizm they became close friends and hung out almost every weekend together. They were still young, in fact a lot younger than the most people at the hip-hop shows they would attend. One was a place called Unity - probably one of the only clubs in Los Angeles that consistently had performances by artists that they appreciated.
Finding a Voice
1993, they would go to a weekly Hip-Hop open mic event called The Foundation in Los Angeles. It was there that they would develop their craft in front of audiences and gained the respect and friendship of local artists. The people behind the organization held small showcases around Southern California and helped the trio gain a modest fan base.
1994, the group was named Non Human Intelligence by Unyousual [lyricist/friend]. They soon joined a collective of local artists and went on to release their first recordings on tapes in 1998, then later a CD release on an indy label in 2001 which left the members of NHI gaining acclaim over seas. NHI’s was writing and recording songs over these years.
Making the Band
2003, Abyss was at a block party celebration where he heard a small band that was playing unusually great music. On a whim Abyss introduced himself to the power trio [Adam Valdez on Bass, Anthony Verdugo on Drums, and Justin Tessier on Guitar]. He picked up the mic and jammed with them, and more people began coming out of their house to listen. Equally impressed they exchanged phone numbers at the end of the night.
“The next day, I called Dimension and Prizm, and told them the story. We had talked about having a live band one day - the guys were crazy about the possibility of actually having this live band as part of NHI”, said Abyss in an interview in ‘04.
Adam and Justin have been playing together since 1993. Later Anthony joined them in 1995 through a spur of the moment jam session at the house of a mutual friend. “Back then we were all about improvising, we liked playing psychedelic rock and jazz, when Anthony joined in, we knew he was a perfect fit for us”, said Adam during an interview in ‘04. They went on to play local pubs and were best known for doing their own renditions of Beetles b sides.
All Together Now
Af the first jam session with both parties [emcees and musicians], they were impressed how well they completed each others sound. “it was crazy, I was in a room with these guys I didn’t even know, and we made music on the spot that sounded as if we had been doing this together for eons”, said Prizm during an interview in ‘04. They looked to ad more melody and ambience to the overall sound, which they found in keyboard player Joe Rodriguez. His multitalented background goes 10 years deep, playing guitar and keyboards in a latin jazz band, and experimenting in his electronic noise band.
NHI Present Day
As the sound of this new combination progressed, they would explore and develop their own brand of Hip-Hop. Music having world influences of Rock, Reggae, Jazz, Drum’N’Bass, combined with lyrics using a relatable, uplifting, inventive approach seems to be the sound of NHI. They are currently seeking to bring their music to listeners worldwide with the help of the right music company. That’s just a brief of the story so far but it seems like there will always be a continue.
mySpace users
see http://profiles.myspace.com/users/7128451
Links
