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DD0345 Dusk Dubs - Joseph Malik

[ Joseph Malik ]

Podcast: Dusk Dubs
Artist: Joseph Malik
Title: DD0345
Style: Soul, Motown, Jazz, Joseph Malik
Time: 96 minutes
Date: 2016-09-018

Dusk Dubs returns with another incredible journey through sounds. As always, our guest provides us with music that has a special place in their memories and in their souls. Music that moves them, that invokes images of sunrises, sunsets, good times and good people. We then play each record, in full, giving it breathing space and allowing it to shine.

For this week’s mixtape, we invite singer, songwriter, producer, DJ and all round musical talent, Mr. Joseph Mailk to the Dusk Dubs family.

Back in 2002 Joseph released his first solo album, "Diverse", on Compost Records out of Munich, Germany. After another LP and a number of singles, EP's and guest vocal appearances, Jospeh moved away from music.

However, Joseph is now BACK !! Recently falling back in love with writing and production, resulting in what we believe to be his best album to date - "Diverse Pt.2".

Joseph explains.....

"I'd like to thank Jon Brent and the Dusk Dubs Family, for letting me do this Mixtape. Me and Jon have been music pen pals for the last 3 years and i've been sharing my studio mixes and ideas with him as a second pair of ears outside my production team. We shared not just music but personal loss in both our lives and a good bond of friendship.This helps me explore what it's like for the listener. So I went back to my 1st solo Album because its still a huge part of me, its an honest open book of music and now after many years the next chapter is ready to record and as my label boss Jo Wallace calls it, DNA music.

When i start out to write and compose an album I see the big picture, the variations of styles, the musicians I need to book in to play in the studio and most of all my inspirations, information is all fully mapped out as a battle plan for production. Diverse 2 is a celebration of music, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Charles Mingus, Brian Wilson, David Alexrod, Alice Coltrane, Bernard Herman, Allen Toussaint, The Funk Brothers, Mussel Shoals Swampers were just some of my musical inspirations who gave me wisdom to make this album."

You can find Joseph Malik here:
ramrock.bandcamp.com/album/rrr...-diverse-part-2
discogs.com/artist/31916-Joseph-Malik
beatport.com/artist/joseph-malik/7228
Juno.co.uk/artists/Joseph+Malik

DIVERSE PART 2 MIXTAPE

Tracklisting

1) Outlaw Blues Band - Deep Gulley
2) Freddie Scott - Hey Girl
3) Joseph Malik - Love Bound
4) David Alxerod - Holy Thursday
5) Galt McDermond - Woe is Me
6) Joseph Malik - Mixed Combination
7) De La Soul - Pattie Duke
8) Joseph Malik - Vanguard
9) Prince Lasha - Congo Call
10) Frank Comstock - Out of this world
11) Joseph Malik - Awakening
12) Stevie Wonder - Jesus Children of America
13) Joseph Malik - Lost Not Found Reprise
14) The Supremes - Your Love Is Like An Itching In My Heart
15) The Soul Brothers - Some Kind of Wonderful
16) Joseph Malik - Take A Left
17) Joseph Malik - Intermission
18) Charles Wright - Mothers Love
19) Joseph Malik - Country Yard
20) Duke Ellington - Thanks for the Beautiful Land on the Delta
21) Charles Mingus - Fables of Fabus
22) Joseph Malik - Basquiat
23) Donald Byrd - Cristo Redentor
24) Joseph Malik - But I'm Lost Not Found
25) Anne Peebles - Still In Love

Joseph Breaks it down.....

1) Outlaw Blues Band - 'Deep Gulley' mixed with 2) Freddie Scott - 'Hey Girl', back in the day as DJ I would cut both of these joints up, and it came to me... it sounded like Prince Paul, so we looped it up and it took me a very long time to get the lyrics right, then heart break came into my life and it was so simple.... my hip-hop break up song 3) 'Love Bound'.

4) David Axlexrod - 'Holy Thursday' mixed with 5) Galt McDermont - 'Woe Is Me', I really have to show respect to David Donnelly on the drum programming on 6) 'Mixed Combination', I wanted to make some thing powerful, I was angry at all the death in the world, and how governments just really don't give a fuck about folks, and I was in a very low place and fighting back.

7) De La Soul - Pattii Duke, I picked this record as De La Soul,Tribe Called Quest and The Jungle Brothers have been a major influence on my life as a teenager,The sound and what they stand for so when it came to making an Anti Trump, Anti Labour and Tory Goverment track, 8) Vanguard, like Charles Mingus - Fables of Fabus in the civil rights movement, so I dug deep in my crates and found 9) Prince Lasha - Congo Call that deep dirty organic jazz sound of the double bass and drums just clicked and when my co producer David Donnelly flipped the cymbals to stutter like a mistake it was one of the many times we looked at each other in the studio saying holy fuck.....

10) Frank Comstock Out of this World, There comes a time in every musicians life where you ask your self why am I doing this, am I just making tracks or do I want to make something that can change the world like, Marvin Gaye's "Whats Going On" or John Coltrane's "Love Supreme", I was making a track about the homeless crisis in my city of Edinburgh as at this time i was homeless and sofa surfing and sadly sleeping rough in the streets, I had the drums and the bass and a demo vocal recorded, but when I heard these strings it was a pivotal moment in my whole music life, I just knew I called David Donnelly and said we have to sample these right now i called my son Rakhime Malik to come and bear witness to the magic that onIy I could hear in my crazy mixed up head, I may add I suffer badly from mental illness, but I knew I was right.

11) Joseph Malik - Awakening. So we get to the studio an add the string samples and break it up over the verses, I was in tears with my son beside me looking on proud of his dad. I explained why it means so much to me with the lyrics, "AS I LAY MY HEAD DOWN ON THE STREETS, TO A PLACE I KNOW WHERE DEMONS COME TO ME, I was close to jumping off the Waverly Bridge that dark night in the cold, homeless and alone a few weeks back. Those lyrics and Steven Christie keyboard melody was what saved me that cold dark night. I was still homeless and recording, and out on the streets at night, I had a notepad, one of my fellow brothers of the street asked what are you writing big man ? I said, this pain we are living, he hugged me and said tell our story brother. The track still had to be mixed, I put pressure on poor David Donnelly and said we really have to fucking mix this i don't care about anything else in the world... lets get this done. We went to Summer Hall to mix it and i called Saleem, Stevie, Chris and Jo Wallace and Ashley Beedle playing the track over the phone saying "i've done it, i've made my Love Supreme" crying again as i've done through out most of this album. To recap the story, David was in tears after hearing the masters back from London saying you were right Joseph it captures the darkness of living rough, that taxi driver Bernard Herman film score that holds you until the very end of the song .

12) Stevie Wonder - Jesus Children of America. As a 7 year old kid Stevie Wonder was my world, it gave me an escape from the race hate I faced as a child. There was times I was not allowed out the house by my granny as she feared i'd get beaten up again, so i had Stevie records and my head phones and I would escape to another world, dreaming one day i'm going to make music like this when i grow up.

13) Lost Not Found Reprise. I was so dam lucky that out of the blue Ashley Beedle and Jo Wallace came to save me and gave me a record deal. It was welcome to the Ramrock Records family and they like me had a deep love of Motown so I sampled The Supremes, and Jo Wallace told me I would get my ass kicked for it, so i got my own version of the Funk Brothers in the studio. A band I named the Easter Road Northern Soul Band and re-created the whole loop with the biggest and best band i've ever worked with. Poor Rusty the engineer had 86 tracks of audio, and by this time I had brought in Chris Greive as a co writer and arranger, due his amazing skills and dealing with so many musicians in the same room, also I brought in my Old Skool DJ Brother Saleem aka Awunsounds from the Mo Wax Headz album, as co-producer, which would pay off big time as his skills in the studio are really something to behold.

14) The Supremes - Love Is Like An Itching In My Heart. This was a massive production job with so many players and the energy in the studio at Rusty's that we got on tape was something else. It was now Motown meets Mussel shoals on one track. There was 3 of us on production duties, doing our best to get the sound right, Saleem came up with the idea to keep mixing and using Shazam until it didn't say the Supremes, and the sheer scope and work that he put in himself working very late alone to make it sound like this, but still keep the feeling of the studio takes, is the main reason why we made the next track.

15) The Soul Brothers - Some Kind of Wonderful. So I was in my mate Mikey's bar and this came on from one of his Northern Soul playlists. It stopped me in my tracks saying what the Fucks that ? I wrote the title down on a scrap of paper and put it in my pocket. We went on a huge bender that night, I got home about 3am, still out my head reached into my pocket and Bingo "Some Kind of Wonderful". I looked it up on YouTube, and kept putting it to the start. I wrote some lyrics down and passed out drunk !, When I woke up, I went for a drink at 9am and sat in the pub and wrote the whole song in 15 mins. I called Saleem, saying can you loop this up and the next day i went into Rustys studio with Chris Greive on bone with Kris the Bigman Howden on fender bass and we layed down Take a Left.

16) Joseph Malik - Take a Left. We were dancing in the Studio as we recorded Take a Left, the energy was unreal like we kinda knew we had a hit record. We brought in Tom the Harp on Harmonica and Miss Dominika Czernig on backing vocals, she also sings on many of my tracks with her gusty brassy vocals, I love her voice so much. Just every one on this track knew it. Then I sent it to Jo Wallace and the reply was well Joseph that's the 1st single sorted then. Brother Saleem again on production skills gave the track this extra edge, and please understand i've been making music for 30 years with lots of record deals and always told yeah you got it kid but you need a hit, and this time we smashed it right out the ball park.

17) Joseph Malik - Intermission. Much like my mentor Prince Paul, I love skits, its a way for a producer to change direction from one style to another and as you are about to hear we are moving direction now.

18) Charles Wright - Mothers Love. As many beat heads know to well, it was sampled by KRS-1, but no one had sang over this loop. So me and David got our fave all time horn players Chris Greive and Colin Steele in for our Sunday New Orleans Special it was an amazing session, all the horns for the Album recorded in one Sunny day in our Abbey hill Studio. I really wanted that Deep South feeling and i think we found that ..

19) Joseph Malik - Country Yard. My Brother Chris Greive has a saying that's swinging, and it sure was. I have a Deep love for Allen Toussaint, just every thing about him, lyrics and music, that lazy feel he gets. I'm just so very lucky to have such a rich talent of Musicians who all live in the same hood... this is why I love Edinburgh.

20) Duke Ellington - Thanks For the Beautiful Land of the Delta.

Edinburgh has a very rich talent of Jazz Players, me and Saleem would DJ before Jazz Bands played, and would get there numbers at the end of the gigs to record them in the Studio. At first they would ask what's a DJ know about jazz music ? But we were both so well read about Miles and Duke and the fact that it was David who brought Colin and Chris into the studio Family, we understood the music, hence why we are planning our Spritual Jazz Album for later this year.

21) Charles Mingus - Fables of Fabus. I've already spoken of the reason why I choose this, but I need to let you know just how good an all round player David Donnelly is. We shared a flat in Abbey Hill which was also our recording Studio, David has a Double Bass which features on many tracks on this Album we would sit up late a just listen to Mingus.

22) Joseph Malik - Basquiat. Malcom X is my all time hero, but I could never be him, but Jean Micheal Basquiat... I could aim to be him as a 17 Year Old. He was every thing to me, and I was deeply upset when he passed away, he was art, Hip-Hop, style all in one. I've read all the books, seen everything ever made about him and I wanted to give him something back and pay my respects. I've had this idea in my head Circa 1989, to make the music be the picture, no vocals. It was very special in the studio recording this, and i hope and pray he is looking down from Heaven happy that i've done this for him.

23) Donald Byrd - Cristo Redentor. I heard this on the Spike Lee "Malcom X" soundtrack, and was the main reason I wrote "Malcom X Strings". It's what you hear at a funeral, the passing of a great life. I had the pleasure of meeting the Great Man Donald Bryd when he played my club in the 90s. Yes we all love Rock Creek Park and Think Twice, but this is my kinda music, so much so that when I die this is getting played to send me off to the After World.

24) Joseph Malik - But i'm Lost Not Found. Oh boy this is a hard one. You ask yourself why is there two versions of this song, but i will answer that question. At the end, love and heart break is why this album began, hence why music is the soundtrack to our relationships. One dark night my soulmate told me she no longer loved me, and the bombshell took its toll on my Heart. "Love Bound" and this song were both written for her, and my way of a healing process to move on in life. To this day, I cant even listen to it, have to leave the room, but i wanted to go back to the song with a reprise, but with my Band and 4 singers backing me with Soul Power so i could get something back with no fear, hence the up beat reprise version.

25) Anne Peebles - I'm Still In Love With You. So i awoke the morning after still hurting like hell i looked at her Records and put on Anne Pebbles, and this came on, and again it stopped me in my tracks. I went home and wrote verse one...chorus...verse two, crying on to the paper with the tears blending with the ink. David returned from work gave me a big hug and turned the studio on and said sing Brother sing the pain away. I did it all in one take, and then went to sleep. The next day, I awoke and got some rope to hang myself. David again stopped me and said sing, I wrote the 3rd verse and that was done. I've only heard it about 3 times since, as it still hurts like hell for me, but for me music is real, honest emotions... nothing more, nothing less. I'm not going any where now, as i've more music to make. I'm in a much better place, with my music family and label, this is the end of my Music Of Life Book - Diverse 2.