Music
Press
Reviewed by James Shahan
If you thought Foreign Exchange was the only collaboration between a states-side emcee and a Euro producer, prepare to be surprised. California’s own, Spinz, takes care of the flows while Swiss DJ LKB does his job on the beats on their latest collaborative effort Life, Love & The Low End. They seem to compliment each other’s styles rather well; LKB’s fragmented sampling lends to Spin’s occasional half-stanza rhyme-pattern changes. And no, you’re not hallucinating: Spin refrains from cursing, an all-too rare occurrence in hip-hop music. Perhaps best known as the other half of the duo Dirt Farmers, this guy has been doing big things for a while now. He’s been in an independent movie alongside Jada Pinkett Smith’s brother and was even nominated for a Sundance Film Festival Award in 2003. With this collaboration, we learn that the sunny sky of Cali over the snowy Alps of Switzerland is not just a splendid sight, but also an incredible sound. - Urb Magazine,James Shahan
There is something positive to be said for minimalism in hip-hop. Its stoic beauty allows the track to evolve through the lyrical ability of the artist(s), and sits as a pocket providing support and freedom. Spinz & DJ LKB have created an excellent homage to simplistic beats with Life, Love, & The Low End, and prove that sometimes less is truly mo’ better.
The fiber of this album revolves wraps around a love of older hip-hop. Spinz, a Oxnard,CA native, illustrates how musics reach can influence anyone with means to receive it, and DJ LKB reinforces this with beats that don’t have a ton of backing, ad libs, or superfluous sound effects. It’s nothing but the grits n gravy. "Focus" is a clap happy snare and high-hat production with a furious guitar that isn’t so much distracting, but poignant. Spinz skims across the top of the beat, yet allows the lyrical focus to drop in the center, speaking about how focus can affect anyone and everyone touched by hip-hop. This concept of tough beats, that sit low in dynamics to the lyrics, is carried for most of the first-half of the album. "Kick That Door In", "Staying Warm", and "Back In The Day" have similar themes.
"The End" seems to be a small misstep, with some over zealous scratching and some weird off beat drops, although we could chalk that up to cd- imperfections rather than, music misdirection. That, along with "Rock It" and "I Never" seem a tad cluttered, and stray from the element achieved on the other tracks. All in all, this is an excellent effort from Spinz & DJ LKB, and makes a solid addition to the linage of global hip-hop and simple construction.
- Eavvon O’Neal - Okayplayer.com,Eavvon O Neal
Karriere dank MySpace: Der Romanshorner Michi Looser ist auf gutem Weg, als Produzent von internationalen Rap-Acts den Durchbruch zu schaffen.
Diesen Samstag erscheint gleichzeitig in Amerika und in der Schweiz das neue Album des Untergrund-Rappers Spinz aus Kalifornien. Produziert hat es Michi Looser (25) alias DJ LKB aus Romanshorn. «Es war eine verrückte Zusammenarbeit», sagt Looser. Im Sommer 2006 hat er den Rapper über die Internetplattform MySpace kennengelernt.
Spinz fand laut Looser sofort Gefallen an seinen Produktionen und schlug vor, gemeinsam ein Album zu releasen. «Zuerst dachte ich, er macht einen Scherz», so Looser. Aber der Rapper meinte es ernst und reiste letzten September an den Bodensee. «Fünf Tage lang waren wir fast ununterbrochen im Studio und haben Songs aufgenommen», so Looser.
Innerhalb eines Jahres wurde dann die CD «Life, Love & The Low End» gemastert und mit einigen bekannten Gastrappern wie etwa Ariano von den Visionaries versehen. Einen grossen Profit rechnet sich Looser nicht aus. Er hofft aber, durch die CD in den USA bekannt zu werden und so seinem Traum, einmal für einen grossen Act produzieren zu dürfen, einen Schritt näher zu kommen. DJ LKB arbeitet bereits an einem neuen Projekt für einen Rapper aus New Jersey.
Lukas Nef
link to story http://www.20min.ch/news/stgallen/story/31592566 - 20Min. Switzerland
Discography
Spinz "Life,Love and the Low End" Vibra Music 2007
Spinz "Proz and Conz" LAV West 2006
Spinz "This Is What It Feels Like" Vibra Music 2009
Spinz "1 In A Million Feat. Koolade" Produced by Koolade Vibra Music 2009
Spinz "Ready Steady Feat.Jacuzzy" Produced by DJ Umek Vibra Music 2009
King Mire Beatz,Spinz "FM JAM" Hayat Production BIH 2009
Spinz "Rosa Espanola" single 2010
Spinz "Self Medicated" EP 2010
Photos
Bio
Spinz began his career at an early age in the trenches of a small beach town called Oxnard,California. He began rapping and performing during the golden era of hip hop music in a time and place that captured the essence of his music today. Spinz grew up performing with and inspired by a long list of artists from his area still active in music today like Madlib (Stones Throw), DJ Babu (Dilated Peoples), Suicidal Tendencies, Dudley Perkins, Jack Johnson, MED, and many others. The scene coming up in Oxnard was one of permanent DIY status. Far from the big city and big music contracts of Los Angeles, the music in the area was made from the souls and minds of real people with real lives. The voice of the people and the cultural diversity of the area was and still is today the voice of the music in the artists. Punk, Hip hop, Rock, Electronic all inspired by the human factor and not the glits and glamour.
From working on techno songs with DJ Umek and Alex Long to rock songs with The Sausages to working with countless hip hop artists like Kurupt of Doggpound, LMNO, Dudley Perkins, Georgia Anne Muldrow, Lexicon and many others. He has been nominated for MTV Europe Music awards as a member of Leeloojamais, Male Artist of the Year in Slovenija (Diamanti/Diamond award), as well as being named Urb Magazine's "Next 1000" artist alongside Amy Winehouse,Kid Sister, Souljah Boy and others. He recently broke a record in the country of Slovenia with Slovene native DJ Umek for biggest attendance at a concert, 30,000+.
2006,07,and 08 were filled with award nominations and praise from fans and critics alike in response to 2 succesful album releases. 2006, Spinz- LAV West "Proz & Conz" featuring artists like Dudley Perkins, MED, Georgia Anne Muldrow, LMNO and others and 2007- Spinz-"Life, Love & The Low End" which recieved the highest accolades among hip hop critics and fans and secured Spinz place in major hip hop as an emerging solo artist. Vibra Music and it's parent label's secured world wide distribution through Dallas Records (Virgin,EMI) for Spinz recent release "This is what it feels like" featuring Ariano of Technicali,Frenkie, Edo Maajka, Koolade, DJ Umek,Jacuzzy and others will again reach every market and audience.
Spinz performs alongside Ivo Rimc (Drums), Lovro Ravbar(Saxophone & Wammy), and Rok Lopatiè (Bass & Keys), and Jernej Trobentar (guitar), a collective that consists of the most talented and educated musicians in the world. The entire trio studied internationally at various schools such as Rotterdam Music School, Drummers Collective New York, and Graz School of Music each are all music instrutors. A fusion of jazz, hip hop, drum and bass, and funk are all tastefully played by the band in a repretoire that includes songs that have been played worldwide on radio, television,movies, videos and known by many people even if they didn't know it was Spinz. The atmosphere of Spinz concert is probably the most important factor for the success of the entertainment of the event.
At Spinz concerts the atmosphere is always positive and people always go away feeling a sense of connectivity with Spinz and the music played. Performing in many states of the U.S.A. in legendary venues such as The Whisky and Viper Room in Hollywood,CA, Harry-O's in park City, UT, Knitting Factory in New York and SXSW Festival in Austin,TX as well as internationally in places such as Holland, Germany, Japan, Croatia, Spain, Austria,Bosnia & Hercegovina and many others. Spinz has performed on festivals in the U.S.A. such as Vans Warped Tour, Cypress Hill's Smokeout Festival, Concert in the Park nationally sponsored tours like Hennessy Battle of the Bands, Hypnotiq Tour, Grey Goose Tour with Bone Thugs in Harmony and festivals & tours in Europe such as Zulu Nation Block Jam Festival, Hague Hip Hop Festival, Concert for a Cause Park Tivoli, Blackout Vukovar Festival Croatia, Absynthe Films Tour, as well as 2 promotional tours and spots on tour with artists like Talib Kweli, Ghostface Killah, J-Ro, Prozack Turner, Dudley Perkins,Georgia Anne Muldrow and many others.
You can expect a mix of good vibes and good times with a Spinz concert. Inspired by maintaing a performance level of Eric Clapton, Bob Marley, Frank Zappa, Mike Patton to music that crosses hip hop, jazz, fusion, rock and more in a tasteful package that isn't hard to follow, music to dance to, with text to take home and think about later.
http://www.spinzhiphop.com/
http://www.youtube.com/spinz805
http://www.myspace.com/spinz805
http://www.itunes.com/spinz
Links
