These Are Powers. — Photo courtesy of the bandThe cover of the new release by These Are Powers features an unidentifiable soul covered in a splatter of minty green sludge, lumpy mauve slime, and a slippery vermilion sauce. This messy artwork is an ode to a sexual fetish called "sploshing." And, honestly, it acts as a good representation of the music contained within. Their sound is brash, loud, and colorful. It’s all about shedding inhibitions and enjoying an unkempt freedom. Within this chaotic swirl of guitar drones and melodies, scratchy electronics, and lyrical shriekings, the pulse of the beat is constant. And this is the work of Bushwick’s own Bill Salas.
Salas is partial to ghetto house, hip hop beats, and sub bass kicks — and these tendencies are clearly visible when he’s collaborating with Pat Noecker and Anna Barie of Powers. His hectic beats and syncopated stomps drive much of their music into overdrive when combined with the screeching guitar melodies and rumbling basslines of Noecker and the haunting, persistent vocals of Barie.
All three of them pour their individually disparate tastes into this melting pot of a group to create the messy whole of the finished product labeled Powers. "Our influences are all over the place," says Salas, who is the newest addition to the band. "I think it stems from the simple fact that all three of us are originally from different places and of different ages. Yet at the same time, we are also very much into the same kinda stuff, musically and otherwise."
When performing with the group onstage, the Chicago native sometimes eschews live drumming to focus on creating sounds and melodies with his sampling machine. While some purists might scoff at the idea of programming drums, he values the broader range of possibilities only available through such electronic methods: "The sampler was my first instrument and is still my favorite. Your options are limited only by your own imagination."
Under the Brenmar alias, Salas explores his gutter dance floor inclinations to their unmediated end as a producer and DJ. The moniker was bestowed upon him by his brother — who was two years old at the time. One of his tracks was featured for free download on XLR8R magazine this week, so go grab that.
Below, we’ve offered up for download "World Class Peoples" by These Are Powers and a streaming dubstep remix of that track by Costa Rica’s Cosmetics. Both tracks are featured on their new Candyman EP, which drops Tuesday, the 23rd. You can catch the release party this Saturday in Greenpoint at Coco66 (which has a GREAT sound system).
These Are Powers — "World Class Peoples"
These Are Powers — "World Class Peoples (Cosmetics Remix)"
Joseph Krings February 17th, 2010 at 12:49 pm
A video for Candyman from the EP: http://vimeo.com/6804416
Nino February 19th, 2010 at 4:53 pm
Unidentifiable:YES ?
Soul: NOT!
Music is not bushwickbk.com’s Steyels forte that’s for sure. |
I spent 10 years writing, producing and engineering for Sony in the 80′s
Otis Redding, Roberta Flack, Aretha Franklin, Etta James, Joe Cocker, Paul Williams are example’s was SOUL !
All these “characters” running sampling machine’s, audio bits is not music let alone Soul that’s for sure.
What you have here is poetry shouted out of tune with no melody or form of intonation over a wall percussive noise.
Without melody you have no music, you cant even put it on a sheet to do a ASCAP or BMI publishing.
It cracks me up how every hip hopper with a cellphone, sampler, mic and Pro Tools software thinks that they are a writer and producer.
When you hand most of these “producers” a guitar & some chord charts, 48 track MCI console and wall of outboard you end up with a deer in the headlights.
Jeremy Sapienza February 19th, 2010 at 4:59 pm
The “soul” here is a person.