El-Producto speaks about the CD that almost killed him.
Well, not literally, but El-P
found enough time in his schedule to step away from the blog
and CD that has nearly consumed his entire life over the past couple of
months. Affectionately titled, I’ll Sleep When Your Dead
(www.iswyd.blogspot.com) the beat maker from the Definitive Jux label has been chronicalling the months of work that has gone into the album. Sometimes with pictures, sometimes with
Jukie guest bloggers like Mr. Dibbs and Lif, the site always delivers and he constantly finds new ways to give his music another outlet.
Def Jux co-owner, Amaechi Uzoigwe, told Billboard a few months back that once they realized they’re payments from
iTunes had reached the six-figure mark they they “were on to something”. The Pharmacy at www.definitivejux.net
, is exactly what the doctor ordered. While songs on iTunes are normally 99 cents, Def Jux has the low low, rock bottom price of 98 cents just to keep you in the money.
Four years removed from the success of his last album, Fantastic Damage, El-Producto is putting the finishing touches on the impending follow-up. The album,
I’ll Sleep When You’re Dead has
the busy producer working with just about everyone you want to see him
work with. The album has a tenative release date of March 6th, so mark
your calendars accordingly.
El-P told Pitchfork on Monday, “It just feels good to be on the mic again.”
He’s not alone, he invited a few peolpe to join him on the mic.
Trent Reznor joins him on “Flyentology”, the Mars Volta, Aesop Rock, Cage,
Lif, Tunde Adebimpe from TV on the Radio (who he just made a great remix for), Rob Sonic,
Mr. Dibbs, Cat Powers’ Chan Marshall and labelmates Hangar 18 on “Smithereen”.
El-P said this of the album,
“I don’t really like
records that are all about hardcore collaboration. It’s really just
about friends, and when I’m making shit people drop by, you know? So
they’ll pop up on little things, background vocals, but most of these
people won’t be listed, except in the credits.”
Since
earlier this year the label decided not to release any more hard copies
of music until 2007, it’s a good thing the album won’t see a release
until March 07.
His
collaborations with Trent Reznor and the Mars Volta guys, started out
as remixes that he made for each of them. He decided, who else would be
a perfect guest on the album but people I’m already fans of. Even
stranger, is his work with Chan Marshall on the track, “Poisonville
Kids No Wins”, which is also the final song on the album. Here’s what
he had to say about the when he was writing the song, “looping up ‘Love & Communication’ [from Cat Power’s The Greatest].
I kind of forgot that I had done that, and then I went in and I sampled
some heartbreaking James Brown shit that I threw in at the end. But I
was like, “Well a) I can’t pay for this ever, and something’s wrong
here. Then I bumped into Chan and asked her to do it, and it wasn’t
until after she said yes that I realized that I had actually written
the song to her music. I didn’t want to weird her out, but I told her
afterwards.”
Without
weirding anyone else out any further, the song list includes a bunch of
titles that leave you scratching your head and awaiting what comes with
it, “The League of Extraordinary Nobodies”, “Drive”, “Everything Must
Go”, “No King” and “Tasmanian Pain Coaster”. El-P says of the titles, “I’m shooting for worst song titles of
all time”. (Drive and Everything Must Go he had been performing on tour to an excellent response)
El-P described the record by saying,
“I don’t think that
there’s a record out there that will sound like this record. And
whether that’s good or bad and whether that’s successful or not, who
knows? There will be people who freak out because it doesn’t sound like
Fantastic Damage, and there will be people who will be pleased that it’s something else.”
He also hopes to cut down on the time in between records, saying, “I’m
officially in my 30s now, and as much as I’ve always taken [a lot of]
time to do my records, I don’t want to do that again. I’m pretty sure
I’m going to do a record again next year [for release in 2008].”
Before that happens, however, he will jump right back into the studio
to finish writing the new Cannibal Ox record, which he hopes will be
released “in the fourth quarter of next year. That’s the next big
record that I’ll really throw myself into, and it’s going to happen
immediately.”