The Eclectic Collective

Last year, I wrote a Dig article about how a few clubs around Boston were giving hip-hop the Timberland. One alleged culprit was Harpers Ferry, which threw the brakes on a Copywrite show just days before the event. Determined to find evidence on how rap was getting elbowed, I called the Harpers Ferry booking agent, who said that I was mistaken. His proof: the Eclectic Collective gig was still on for the following week.

Only now do I know that E.C. was in bed with Harpers. The band’s trumpeting MC, AfroDZak, also masterminds Hip-Hop Anonymous, the club’s recurring smorgasbord of paranormal hip-hoppish artists. And in checking out E.C.’s debut album, Time Flies, I found another striking flaw in the club’s seemingly Kevlar alibi: The Eclectic Collective ain’t no hip-hop group.

“In the beginning, our goal was pretty much to be a hip-hop band,” says Salim, who plays guitar and runs logistics for the nine-piece unit. “But now our goal is to kind of break away from the hip-hop label that we’ve put on ourselves.”

E.C. is like a star high school quarterback who burns with stoners, co-captains the debate team and occasionally nails goth chicks. The group’s nonchalant ability to convincingly genre-hop is almost suspicious, but under careful scrutiny, it becomes clear that it’s not posing.

“People in the band have different tastes in music,” AfroDZ says. “I’m a real hip-hop head, but I think it’s a good balance.” On defining E.C.’s Baskin-Robbins spread, Salim says, “We’ve had a problem doing that. We need someone with good writing skills to come up with something, because when we do, it ends up being like 10 words.”

The band—which currently bills itself as “R&B flavored indie-rock with elements of hip-hop, jazz and soul”—was intelligently designed in 2003, when Salim, along with vocalist Dua Boyake and drummer Sheel Dave plugged their rhyme-friendly vibes into groundwork paved by R.P.’s keys, Graham’s bass, Santi’s strings and DJ Special Blend’s decks. The E.C. sound was developing, but it still didn’t feel quite finished. Their solution? Bulk up the roster—the show money was already getting divvied seven ways, so what the hell?

On Time Flies, AfroDZ breaks down his crew initiation: “Let me recap the origination / Of the E.C.-DZ collaboration / It all started at Harpers Ferry when I opened up a show for these clowns / Heard ‘Souls on Ice’ and it was love at first sound / Now I get down on trumpet and even kick some rhymes, too / It’s AfroD, the eighth wonder of the E.C. crew.”

Even with the perks of AfroDZ’s mic skills and past shows with Digable Planets, Little Brother and Wise Intelligent—not to mention a city’s worth of saggy-denim fans with cocked fitted caps—E.C. contradicts the rap scene. Salim attributes E.C.’s clarity to the group’s Iverson-free BFF lineup; but no matter how well they synch, gigs with tiny stages feel like orgies without pushing room.

“Sometimes it’s a bit of an adventure to figure out where people are going to be,” AfroDZ says. “There’s how we want to be set up onstage, and then there’s how we can set up, depending on the venue. But we always figure out a way to work it, and once we get in our groove, it doesn’t matter where we are.”

Beyond its aural fusion, the collective’s other birthmark is its crowning recruit, Miss Noni Kai, whose soaring vocals cured the band’s attention deficit. After three years of fondling live sets with no supporting album, Noni’s entrance motivated E.C. to finally hit the lab and finish Time Flies. And while her soul touch kleptos tracks like the E.C. staple “Beeadoh,” overall, Noni adapts to the band’s happy-family formula.

“We’ve got hip-hop, plus a little bit of funk and jazz, so we duke it out sometimes, but in the end, it’s a shared product,” Special Blend says. “Like with me, it’s not so much showing off that I can scratch as it is blending in like another instrument.”

Aside from their reluctance to try to cancel each other out at shows, there’s one trait that ultimately casts the band outside the boom-bap realm: They don’t beef with Boston’s other live rhyme unit, Audible Mainframe. In fact, they’ve invited them to play their record release party.

“It’s a friendly rivalry,” AfroDZ says. “We get along well with those guys; we party with them. Some people are like, ‘I like Audible better’ or ‘I like E.C. better,’ but I feel like we just add to each other’s credibility that way.”

And reaching out to fellow crabs in the bucket, especially in the Bean, is anything but hip-hop. - The Weekly Dig, Chris Farone

Last year, I wrote a Dig article about how a few clubs around Boston were giving hip-hop the Timberland. One alleged culprit was Harpers Ferry, which threw the brakes on a Copywrite show just days before the event. Determined to find evidence on how rap was getting elbowed, I called the Harpers Ferry booking agent, who said that I was mistaken. His proof: the Eclectic Collective gig was still on for the following week.

Only now do I know that E.C. was in bed with Harpers. The band’s trumpeting MC, AfroDZak, also masterminds Hip-Hop Anonymous, the club’s recurring smorgasbord of paranormal hip-hoppish artists. And in checking out E.C.’s debut album, Time Flies, I found another striking flaw in the club’s seemingly Kevlar alibi: The Eclectic Collective ain’t no hip-hop group.

“In the beginning, our goal was pretty much to be a hip-hop band,” says Salim, who plays guitar and runs logistics for the nine-piece unit. “But now our goal is to kind of break away from the hip-hop label that we’ve put on ourselves.”

E.C. is like a star high school quarterback who burns with stoners, co-captains the debate team and occasionally nails goth chicks. The group’s nonchalant ability to convincingly genre-hop is almost suspicious, but under careful scrutiny, it becomes clear that it’s not posing.

“People in the band have different tastes in music,” AfroDZ says. “I’m a real hip-hop head, but I think it’s a good balance.” On defining E.C.’s Baskin-Robbins spread, Salim says, “We’ve had a problem doing that. We need someone with good writing skills to come up with something, because when we do, it ends up being like 10 words.”

The band—which currently bills itself as “R&B flavored indie-rock with elements of hip-hop, jazz and soul”—was intelligently designed in 2003, when Salim, along with vocalist Dua Boyake and drummer Sheel Dave plugged their rhyme-friendly vibes into groundwork paved by R.P.’s keys, Graham’s bass, Santi’s strings and DJ Special Blend’s decks. The E.C. sound was developing, but it still didn’t feel quite finished. Their solution? Bulk up the roster—the show money was already getting divvied seven ways, so what the hell?

On Time Flies, AfroDZ breaks down his crew initiation: “Let me recap the origination / Of the E.C.-DZ collaboration / It all started at Harpers Ferry when I opened up a show for these clowns / Heard ‘Souls on Ice’ and it was love at first sound / Now I get down on trumpet and even kick some rhymes, too / It’s AfroD, the eighth wonder of the E.C. crew.”

Even with the perks of AfroDZ’s mic skills and past shows with Digable Planets, Little Brother and Wise Intelligent—not to mention a city’s worth of saggy-denim fans with cocked fitted caps—E.C. contradicts the rap scene. Salim attributes E.C.’s clarity to the group’s Iverson-free BFF lineup; but no matter how well they synch, gigs with tiny stages feel like orgies without pushing room.

“Sometimes it’s a bit of an adventure to figure out where people are going to be,” AfroDZ says. “There’s how we want to be set up onstage, and then there’s how we can set up, depending on the venue. But we always figure out a way to work it, and once we get in our groove, it doesn’t matter where we are.”

Beyond its aural fusion, the collective’s other birthmark is its crowning recruit, Miss Noni Kai, whose soaring vocals cured the band’s attention deficit. After three years of fondling live sets with no supporting album, Noni’s entrance motivated E.C. to finally hit the lab and finish Time Flies. And while her soul touch kleptos tracks like the E.C. staple “Beeadoh,” overall, Noni adapts to the band’s happy-family formula.

“We’ve got hip-hop, plus a little bit of funk and jazz, so we duke it out sometimes, but in the end, it’s a shared product,” Special Blend says. “Like with me, it’s not so much showing off that I can scratch as it is blending in like another instrument.”

Aside from their reluctance to try to cancel each other out at shows, there’s one trait that ultimately casts the band outside the boom-bap realm: They don’t beef with Boston’s other live rhyme unit, Audible Mainframe. In fact, they’ve invited them to play their record release party.

“It’s a friendly rivalry,” AfroDZ says. “We get along well with those guys; we party with them. Some people are like, ‘I like Audible better’ or ‘I like E.C. better,’ but I feel like we just add to each other’s credibility that way.”

And reaching out to fellow crabs in the bucket, especially in the Bean, is anything but hip-hop. - The Weekly Dig, Chris Farone

This debut from Boston’s Eclectic Collective proves they are what their name suggests, with tracks that bring to mind everything from the blunted hip-pop of 311 to the fusion funk of Herbie Hancock. It’s a classy yet fun album, with jazzy horns dominating “Souls on Ice” and smooth guitar riffs propelling “Useless Parade.” With his melodic crooning on “Rufio” and “Time Flies,” Dua Boayke brings to mind 311’s Nick Hexum. DJ Special Blend, trumpet player Afro DZ ak, and keyboard player RP Thompson all have chops to burn, and they pepper the disc with the musical equivalent of exclamation points. Only problem: the disc is overloaded with laid-back grooves that leave you wanting more of the intense improvisation and emotive soloing this band are capable of. You may think even drummer Sheel Dave is holding back, particularly if you’ve seen the Eclectic Collective live. - The Boston Pheonix, Matt Burke (2006)

“Remember 311? Remember the good parts of 311? Well, if you took all the good parts of 311 and added some soul-influenced vocals, At the Drive-In-esque guitars, fusion-y keyboards, and a female vocalist that could put most pop singers to shame, you might be getting somewhere near what Eclectic Collective is. But you wouldn’t quite be there yet.” –WERS 88.9 Boston"

- WERS 88.9FM

This debut from Boston’s Eclectic Collective proves they are what their name suggests, with tracks that bring to mind everything from the blunted hip-pop of 311 to the fusion funk of Herbie Hancock. It’s a classy yet fun album, with jazzy horns dominating “Souls on Ice” and smooth guitar riffs propelling “Useless Parade.” With his melodic crooning on “Rufio” and “Time Flies,” Dua Boayke brings to mind 311’s Nick Hexum. DJ Special Blend, trumpet player Afro DZ ak, and keyboard player RP Thompson all have chops to burn, and they pepper the disc with the musical equivalent of exclamation points. Only problem: the disc is overloaded with laid-back grooves that leave you wanting more of the intense improvisation and emotive soloing this band are capable of. You may think even drummer Sheel Dave is holding back, particularly if you’ve seen the Eclectic Collective live. - The Boston Pheonix, Matt Burke (2006)

"Eclectic Collective is a band with a unique blend of jazz, rock, rhythm and blues and social consciousness, with a little bit of the Fugees mixed in for good measure. Interesting songs and lyrics are always a good foundation to begin with. Add to that solid musicianship and the interesting male-female dynamic of their vocal duets, and one can see why Eclectic Collective possesses a recipe for success." - Mike Barbiero

your very first judgment, and oftentimes, it's the right notion. Metallica, Iron Maiden, Mastodon - they just sound like the names of heavy metal. Sugarcult, Bowling For Soup, Plain White T's - you know once you hear any one of them, you'll be needing an insulin shot immediately afterwards.

Point in case, The Eclectic Collective, an eight-piece band (or perhaps, small country) that composes a sound that is a blend of hip-hop, R&B, soul, jazz, funk and punk rock. Yes, those are quite a few genres, I know - but that's what makes this group so remarkably fresh and original. Unclassifiable in nearly every way, you just have to listen to them to make your own distinction.

Hailing from Boston (although many of the band members are first-generation Americans), E.C. brings a large cultural pallet to the table: they bring much of organic sound that bands like The Roots and Fishbone create, along with making their own unique combination of grassroots R&B/funk blended together with a bit of soul and punk for good measure.

Following up a year after their debut LP, Time Flies, the group passes right through the sophomore slump and hits one out of the ballpark with The Flux, a seven-song record that may seem short on the outside, but feels like an existential journey through your own private heaven upon one listen.

Further listening is required, because there is so much going on throughout the album. The basic four-piece requirement for a band is there, along with two duel vocalists (male and female), a keyboardist and a sax player to add some flair. The atmosphere surrounding this disc is incredibly potent; there seems to be a light casted upon you, the listener, as if you're in a funktastic fairy tale, being enchanted by a large group of drifters who make the kind of music that would make Sirens fall on their knees.

The usual hip-hop/soul lyrical wordplay is minimal and seems like its taken from a diary; the words Noni Kai and Fredua Agyeman sing are honest and about self doubt, questioning yourself and making sacrifices. They sing in passionate voices, as soft instrumentations back them. The songs become stronger and stronger as they go along, all containing choruses and bridges that most times, make the song's identity intact.

Each song has a different mood set to it, and as such, each song has changes in tempo, vocal style and melody. It's obvious the craft that went into this record (especially with eight minds - nine, counting the producer - in the mix) was carefully done...and when you have that many people in a band, it can sometimes be fatal, but each member seems to have a tender ear for music, and for what belongs and what doesn't.

Few mistakes or flaws lie in this disc, and if there are any, they are difficult to pinpoint. The Flux is one of 2007's most thrilling, most creative, and easily one of the year's most original records to hit. The band combines a flurry of sounds to create one mind-bendingly original mash-up that will make any lover of emotional, motivating and energetic music want to open up their arms and wrap them around the next person to walk in the room.

Yep, it's that good.
- Absolute Punk

"Eclectic Collective is a band with a unique blend of jazz, rock, rhythm and blues and social consciousness, with a little bit of the Fugees mixed in for good measure. Interesting songs and lyrics are always a good foundation to begin with. Add to that solid musicianship and the interesting male-female dynamic of their vocal duets, and one can see why Eclectic Collective possesses a recipe for success." - Mike Barbiero

The Eclectic Collective continues their passage through a multitude of musical genres with their appropriately titled new album, The Flux. It may only be their second release, but fear not — there is nothing sophomoric about the culturally bold and sophisticated fusion of this 10-piece hip-hop/soul/funk/indie-rock group. Furthermore, the members of The Eclectic Collective attribute their album’s diversity to the cultural blending of each member’s individual ethnicity and self-awareness. Imagine a mix of 311 and Herbie Hancock; and yet, spouting a few similar sounding musicians hardly encapsulates the entirety of The Eclectic Collective’s intricate hierarchy of cultural awareness and diversity.

Drummer Sheel Dave comments on The Flux, saying it “has given us the opportunity to experience different worlds and bring [our] ‘sides’ together while writing and performing and living everyday life.” Lyrically, The Eclectic Collective demonstrates their socially conscious sensibilities with songs such as “Changes,” further adding to a truly unique blend of music: “I walk around here looking for answers / Cursed with a life similar to cancer / While ladies move their bodies like belly dancers / What they know about soul? / Making the dumb feel bold, hot feel cold / In the intelligent effortless, more or less / Don’t deny and lie, look into these eyes.”


If The Eclectic Collective’s purpose is to experiment without locking themselves into one particular genre, they definitely accomplish their goal. And yet, The Flux pushes the band into the rock realm, succeeding in the enhancement of their individual breed of music with a more cohesive sound. (Self-released)

- The Northeast Performer

The Eclectic Collective continues their passage through a multitude of musical genres with their appropriately titled new album, The Flux. It may only be their second release, but fear not — there is nothing sophomoric about the culturally bold and sophisticated fusion of this 10-piece hip-hop/soul/funk/indie-rock group. Furthermore, the members of The Eclectic Collective attribute their album’s diversity to the cultural blending of each member’s individual ethnicity and self-awareness. Imagine a mix of 311 and Herbie Hancock; and yet, spouting a few similar sounding musicians hardly encapsulates the entirety of The Eclectic Collective’s intricate hierarchy of cultural awareness and diversity.

Drummer Sheel Dave comments on The Flux, saying it “has given us the opportunity to experience different worlds and bring [our] ‘sides’ together while writing and performing and living everyday life.” Lyrically, The Eclectic Collective demonstrates their socially conscious sensibilities with songs such as “Changes,” further adding to a truly unique blend of music: “I walk around here looking for answers / Cursed with a life similar to cancer / While ladies move their bodies like belly dancers / What they know about soul? / Making the dumb feel bold, hot feel cold / In the intelligent effortless, more or less / Don’t deny and lie, look into these eyes.”


If The Eclectic Collective’s purpose is to experiment without locking themselves into one particular genre, they definitely accomplish their goal. And yet, The Flux pushes the band into the rock realm, succeeding in the enhancement of their individual breed of music with a more cohesive sound. (Self-released)

- The Northeast Performer