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Entering into week two of Bring Me The Remix of Zilla Rocca (here's week 1), an ongoing series of remixed songs from Zilla Rocca's mixtape Bring Me The Head of Zilla Rocca, our latest entry comes from the musician/writer behind the blog Fresh Cherries From Yakima, Douglas Martin. Even for those of you who don't read his blog, Douglas Martin might be familiar to you as one of the figures in the now-infamous article from the New York Times on "blipsters." About a year after that article ran, Zilla began collaborating on a side project with Martin under the group name 5 O'Clock Shadowboxers. Here's what Zilla had to say about him:
"After being lucky enough to collab with Douglas on our upcoming LP "The Slow Twilight" as the 5 O'Clock Shadowboxers (dropping earrrrly '09 y'all), I wanted my man to get sum on this project!
Douglas is great at creating an atmosphere with each and every one of his beats. His beats are layered and moody -- he's not just a "beatmaker." It challenges you as a writer when he sends out a beat, so I wanted to turn the tables and throw an acapella at him and see what lane he would pick. The beat for his remix of "First Order of Business" is a good idea of what to expect from our project. "
I was pretty excited to hear that Douglas Martin was doing a remix for Zilla, as the beats that he's been putting together for the 5 O'Clock Shadowboxers are unlike just about anything else I've heard in hip hop. While a certain mainstream producer is currently being lauded for his "groundbreaking" collection of autotuned love songs, Martin is one of the few producers I've heard in the past several years that truly has been breaking new ground in the genre. He's been able to mix folk, indie rock and emo melodies together while still staying true to the sound of hip hop, a feat that I was not entirely convinced was possible when I first heard about the project. It may not appeal to, say, the people that are keeping Ron Browz' career going, but for everyone else, Martin's an artist definitely worth keeping an eye on.
Here's his remix of the song First Order of Business, put out under his "producer name" Blurry Drones:
Zilla Rocca - First Order of Business (Blurry Drones Remix) (d/l link)
The original version of the track was put together by RhymeCity Records co-founder and J-Direct front man Griff:
Zilla Rocca - First Order of Business OG Version (d/l link)
You can listen to some of the music Douglas Martin has put out with his folk band Fresh Cherries From Yakima, as well as find links to download his first two EPs, over at the group's MySpace page. To hear some of the songs from Martin and Zilla Rocca's upcoming collaboration, 5 O'Clock Shadowboxers, stop by Passion of the Weiss and the 5 O'Clock MySpace page. Be sure to check out the song Sharpen Their Teeth while you're over there.
Still haven't copped Bring Me The Head of Zilla Rocca yet? Here's a link to download it for free.
11/23/2008 07:01:01 PM posted by Fresh