SaxG (UltraLoveForce)

*Song review - TRNSPRT Digital

*Song review - TRNSPRT Digital

Sax G
5/19/2013
In-Studio Performance
Seattle-based hip-hop wizard Sax G dropped by Street Sounds for a hypnotic live set of otherworldly tunes, equal parts trip-hop, jazz, IDM, poetry and landscape painting. Sound unlikely? Give a listen- you won't be disappointed. -

- KEXP

Footage from live show! - Uni

Recap of my first show, with THEESatisfaction OCnotes and Kingdom Crumbs, which sold out! - The Stranger

Sax G, ‘Tu Me Manques’ (Cloud Nice)

Seattle hip-hop music is enjoying a creative peak, and there are a few clear narratives running through it. Macklemore is the big one, a chaste, chart-topping success story. His flip side is rude dude with attitude Nacho Picasso. And then there are the spiritual seekers: Shabazz Palaces, THEESatisfaction, OC Notes, Kingdom Crumbs. Add Sax G to that list. He has abandoned traditional rap on his debut album “Tu Me Manques,” which means “I miss you” in French, and decided to explore his newfound passion for producing.

The result is intimate synthesizer funk, a continuous, smoothed-out listening experience that feels like hip-hop but features rapping only intermittently. Sax G would rather cede the vocal spotlight to local singer Choklate and sing a little himself. It works in the context of the album. All the lyrics are about love, and the music sounds like gentle touching. From his previously released mixtape material, we know he can rap, and about lots of topics. Maybe we’ll get that next time. But what we have here is a statement of style and focused emotionalism.

Andrew Matson, Special to The Seattle Times - The Seattle Times

This talent we’re premiering today with Audibase is an audio and visual craftsman based in Seattle, Washington going by the name: UltraLoveForce. Born in Hilltop Tacoma, Washington, weeks after, he moved to Strausberg, Germany with his parents. His mother taught in the military and his father fought in the Gulf War. Somewhere in between, his parents split and his mother wanted him to be cultured so they lived in many different cities. Some include South Central California, Columbus, Georgia, and Colorado Springs. Six years ago, he started rhyming in a barbershop and now, the energy he’s trying to harness is the one you’re about to experience. How can you ever really be mad at a name like that? So far, he’s worked with his heroes Dudley Perkins and Georgia Anne Muldrow, his comrades Jarv Dee from Moor Gang, Eric G of 9th Wonder’s Soul Council, Raised By Wolves, and Nacho Picasso.

I don’t know if you’ve ever seen somebody make beats. I tend to pick up things pretty quickly and sometimes, it makes me feel like I’m not doing it right or something like that,” UltraLoveForce admits. “So when I watch my homies make beats, it usually takes them like a couple of days or something. I make them [right] there. I just like to make beats when people are there. I see them moving [in] a certain way and it kind of encourages a certain [action]. My brain tells me to add something just to see them react a certain way and it’s just done right there. Writing is a little more difficult because of the way I perceive Hip-Hop in itself and how I try not to be associated with that — the rank rapper type thing — but it is a great feeling when someone’s reciting your shit. I like them both the same, but right now, I like making beats more.”
It has been a year since I met UltraLoveForce, formerly Sax G, via a submission email. At the time, he was promoting “Groove You”, a single featuring vocals from Dudley Perkins and Georgia Anne Muldrow. From what I remember, it was his approach that made me want to write about him. *That’s where good artist etiquette gets you. He says that he came across my magazine when looking for cool publications in New York and when he thinks of it, he thinks of Suzi Analogue. He really admires her. He automatically assumed that “we were going to be too cool for it.” He didn’t think we were going to listen to his music at all.

When asked what was the Seattle rap scene like before his emergence, his response was:

Personally, I’m not from Seattle so it always seems like I am kind of bashing but it’s not my intention. What I say is an honest feeling: Seattle lacks a certain identity. Not that it doesn’t have its own identity, because the family that I run with now are all about their true selves: THEESatisfaction, OC Notes, and our big brothers Shabazz Palaces. You know, they have a true sense of self. But even cats like Nacho and the Moor Gang — it is clear that they are being themselves — before we came on the scene. Not saying that we’re responsible for that, but before we came on the scene, it was really humorous. It was really happy rap. It was on some happy shit. It was like young hyphy. It was like, ‘Look, I’m a rapper’ and not ‘Look, I make music.’ That’s kind of the feel I got from it and I’m not from Seattle, so it will probably be looked at in a certain way but I don’t really give a fuck either.”
When I asked him about his relationship about Dudley Perkins, he had some nice things to say:

Dudley is my J Dilla. I knew about Slum Village — I didn’t have no older brothers or nothing like who lived with me so I came across them at the end of the 90s by some random White dude in Minnesota who just wanted to share love. I’m talking like some super White dude like… Do you remember those pants called “JNCO”? They looked like elephants? He had those shits on with like a mesh shirt and everything. He was like, ‘You need to hear this. You need to check this out. It’s called The Slum.’ And I’m looking at it and I’m like ‘Man, this dusty ass cover…’. That was like middle school for me so I was on some No Limit Soldier type stuff. So, when dudes be talking like, ‘J Dilla saved my life’, I be like ‘Don [?] from No Limit Soldiers is just like me bro’. That was their Nicki Minaj back in the day. So stop fronting like you know about J Dilla because you don’t, and we didn’t have any computers. I didn’t know anything about J Dilla, like I said, until 2008-2009ish. The cold part about it was, I had a connection to him without knowing. The only song off the Common album that I liked was ‘The Light’. When Busta put out the “Genesis”, it was like, ‘Why is this the only song I like on here?’ Hindsight would show me: Oh, cause Dilla did it. I like that swing.
But Dudley Perkins was one of the first people where I was like, ‘What is this? What is he talking about? Oh, I like this shit.’ He wants me to make some beats for him, and he wants it in a specific way, and its kind of that unsure moment for me right now bu - GrungeCake Magazine

Back in February when we were introduced to Seattle-based MC/producer Sax G and his stellar collaboration with Choklate, "Get Down," I had a feeling that this somewhat elusive character was one to keep an eye on. Now, with the release of his quietly captivating debut album, Tu Me Manques, I'm realizing without a doubt that it's the unassuming ones you need to watch out for.
Tu Me Manques is a collection of ethereal, synth driven, experimental sounds that come together to create a wholly satisfying sensual aural experience. From the opening track, "Sax's Heartbeat," it's clear this album is here to be more than just another chill out nu-soul meets hip-hop album. The subtle nuances in the production are what set it apart from the usual -- from a woman whispering sweet nothings on the aforementioned song to the sheer lack of vocals on many of the tracks. The sparsely placed vocals invite the listener to take note of every element of each track, rather than simply letting the album pass them by. It appears in the case of Tu Me Manques that less really is more. The songs are short and sweet, yet filled to the brim with stories thanks to the facets of jazz, soul and hip hop that they are made up of. When vocals are featured prominently on tracks such as on "U R Me," they are an accent to the music and enhance the intricate production.

Although it doesn't make too much of appearance on the album, Sax G's style as an MC (he's a member of hip-hop group Cloud Nice) is clear and crisp, which is most evident on "Now What?". His spoken-word style flow, coupled with a guest appearance by the flawless Choklate on the first single "Get Down" as well as on the title track, work to draw the listener further into the picture that Sax G is painting as producer with his debut. Tu Me Manques is a complexly beautiful tale of love, relationships and life that scratches well below the surface. The album will illuminate your imagination with its the atmospheric, nu-soul style offerings, while leaving you feeling a little melancholy, never moreso than when the short album is over. Who'd have thought it was possible to feel that you want more, are content, sad and yet missing someone all from the same album? Well, Tu Me Manques does just that and in doing so essentially lives up to its title. Have a listen to Tu Me Manques below, and head over to Bandcamp to purchase your copy. - Soul Bounce

Sax-G

Tu Me Manques

(self-released)

The opening moments of Tu Me Manques begin with, of all things, a line by Baudelaire. “When, like a poet, the sun goes down into cities,” a female voice whispers in French, “he ennobles the fate of the lowliest things.” In comes the beat with finger-snaps, shakers, languid synths and melancholy.

The sun alights on all of creation. Its warmth binds us together, to everything. Tu Me Manques is about the desire for universal connection—and the impossibility of it.

The latest release by young rapper-producer Sax G, Tu Me Manques transcends standard hip-hop—it’s an incantation, a work of understated psychedelic soul. More production-based than lyrically charged, ethereal rather than boom-bap, it belongs alongside minimalist, sensualist beat music like Erykah Badu and Kid Smpl. In sound and in theme, it’s all about distance: The title, translated from French, means I miss you.

But who’s missing what? Everyone, everything, all the time, it seems. Sax says a lot by speaking very little. The album suggests some existential questions about the imperfection of artistic endeavor, about the gap between inspiration and interpretation. It is also, at some level, a love note. “Listen to your heartbeat/It’s mine,” Sax chants on “Sh… Listen.” Then he launches into an icy, Vocoded verse about voyaging through the solar system.

Sax G—aka G Sexton Brown—is better known for trading bars with fellow Cloud Nice guys like Nacho Picasso and Jerm D. But even those more straightforward rap tracks are so lean and laid back that they almost float away. Which is Tu Me Manques’ only fault: At 26 minutes, there just isn’t enough of it. This is the beginning of a brilliant idea.

Instead of rappers making guest spots, veteran soul singer Choklate appears twice, another nudge away from standard hip-hop toward something softer. “I’ll stay and wait for you,” she croons on the title track. Beautifully sung, but the sentiment rings false—her voice is set so low in the music it’s as if her back is already turned. Choklate shows up more assertively on “Gotta Get Down,” a sort of neo-soul cloud-rap lovers duet, singing about the rain that used to hide her tears. Responds Sax, “I used to be the cloud that showered you with love, but there’s different storms to weather in every season.”

Human voice is rarely present on this mostly instrumental album. Tu Me Manques is the sound of loneliness, but with a deliciously smooth groove that balances cold isolation with warm emotion. With each song, Sax makes another attempt at connection; the man is clearly a romantic. “Do you know who you are?” he croons late in the album. The answer is in the title of the song: “U R Me.”

- See more at: http://www.cityartsonline.com/issues/seattle/2013/04/album-month-sax-g#sthash.3LTgewuB.dpuf - City Arts Magazine