Magic Kingdom by Grant Phabao
The latest Paris DJs release is a kinda Library Funk album, produced by Grant Phabao with the help of friends Frank Biyong (Massak), RacecaR and Sake Smith (Seun Kuti, Les Frères Smith). The album is released as a 300 copies only limited edition LP, with a download code to access three exclusive, unreleased Paris DJs Soundsystem mixes, which were part of the creative process…
Way back in 2012 we were asked to do the George Clinton website, the kind of job you're proud to be offered. We were told we should work with a specific graphic guy from France, named Ben Hito. We thought "well another designer who never produced web images" but we contacted him anyway. He sent a handful of AMAZING banners, totally on-point with pure P-Funk colors. So we asked him to do a few visuals for our Paris DJs' label releases. Very soon, we handed him the keys to all Paris DJs imagery. Carte Blanche. For 12 years now he's created more than 200 visuals for Paris DJs. With him we put out 45s, LPs, CD boxsets, CDs, T-shirts, stickers, magazines, flyers and even some beach towels.
Most of the time, Ben Hito has been illustrating our music. With the artists names, the titles and the tracks themselves for inspiration.
When we did our Afro, Funk & Hip Hop boxset compilations, he only had the titles and the music genres, for him to create something. Then we would publish the artwork and ask people to send music that would fit the specific theme and its visual interpretation. The results looked so cool, many artists wanted to be on those compilations and sent music our way.
Last year's "Le Son de la Ville Lumière" releases were quite something too. We only told Ben Hito we had a trilogy of Paris DJs compilation to put out, volumes 1, 2 and 3. The sleeves he designed are nothing short of extraordinary. Some of his most beautiful work ever. The music, a blend of reggae, funk, afrobeat and hip hop, is pure gold. We felt we had reached new heights.
Always on the path of re-invention, for this new Grant Phabao LP we tried something completely new. It was Ben Hito who contacted us with a poster he had drawn. He asked us to create a "luxurious, arabic-themed" music mix to illustrate his image. We tried to gather some contemporary productions with a musical arabic twist but failed. So we tried to go into the old school stuff, but what we had amassed we found out 'everybody' knew already. So we went in a totally different direction, and opted to construct a mix of instrumental, psychedelic grooves, from current artists, released on a vinyl 45 (7 inch), which we physically had in our collection. Many constraints but we had so many tunes on that precious little vinyl format, that we ended up cooking 3 one hour-long mixes, called "Magic Kingdom - Volumes 1, 2 & 3".
Strangely, we never had so much feedback on any of the 500 mixes we published on the Paris DJs podcast those last 15 years, than we had with this new trilogy, even though nearly nobody heard it, besides a happy few at the store, or at a special summer outdoor unannounced gig. Djouls prepared the selection of 45s and Grant Phabao did the mixing and mastering. At some point the latter said "I can do an album of instrumental tunes like those". To which the former replied "It's a good idea, and we already have a Ben Hito artwork for it that we never really used". And this is how Grant Phabao went into his studio and produced a brand new LP inspired by those 3 hours of magic psychedelic contemporary grooves, which themselves were inspired by a visual from poster artist Ben Hito! Of course this is purely dialoguing between our own selves, but doing things totally from the end was an incredible experience for us.
For fans of Brownout, The Cactus Channel, Calibro 35, El Michels Affair, Kelly Finnigan, Greg Foat, Serge Gainsbourg, Karate Boogaloo, Shawn Lee, Ocote Soul Sounds, Misha Panfilov, The Poets of Rhythm, Adrian Quesada, Skinshape, The Sorcerers, The Soul Surfers, Surprise Chef, The Traffic…
Tracklist
| 1. | Big Bud | 5:38 |
| 2. | DD One To Six | 4:24 |
| 3. | 3 Is The Number | 5:02 |
| 4. | Gam | 5:59 |
| 5. | Mouduj | 5:01 |
| 6. | Oneotwo | 4:24 |
Credits
Franck Biyong - Bass (1, 2, 4, 5), Guitar (1, 2, 4, 5, 6), Guitar Solo (3)
Sake Smith - Baritone & Alto Saxophones (1, 4, 5)
RacecaR - vocals (3)
Grant Phabao - All Other Instruments, Recording, Production, Mix & Mastering
A&R - Djouls
Artwork - Ben Hito
License
All rights reserved.
Paris-based production team (Djouls, Grant Phabao, Loik Dury & Ben Hito) featuring worldwide guest vocalists, musicians, deejays, graphic/web designers and writers. Reggae, Afro, Funk, Soul, Jazz, Latin, Hip Hop and more audio goodness.