Archives for posts with tag: garfunkle

Garfunkle – Broad Brushstrokes ///

May 27, 2022 //

From Garfunkle: In around 2002 or 2003, I was working on Splash and DJ Image was working with Stainless Steele on Mindstate of the Art, a very dope straight-ahead hip-hop record. I remember talking with the two of them about the music we were all working on at the time and the two of them saying they really wanted to get this straight-ahead hip-hop project out and then take it way out there. (They did that – Chromatica, among other things they did, is a must-listen in my opinion, and Image’s Love Weather Dinner Party is a wild turntablist album, but I digress…) At the time I was more focused on instrumental music and wasn’t recording as much of my vocal stuff.

Fast forward twenty years and DJ Image and I were able to connect, first for a few tracks on A Fish That Noticed the Water, then a few tracks on how? i never saw that, and now for the entirety of Broad Brushstrokes. This project is not backward looking to twenty years ago, but is a straight-ahead hip-hop record from right here and now before the next trip to the stratosphere or wherever it might take us. Banging beats and precise cuts from DJ Image coupled with my rhymes. I’m honored to have Steele’s vocals on here destroying things on Buddha Monk and the ill cover from Bloodmoney Perez, and I hope… more
credits
released May 20, 2022

All songs produced by DJ Image
All cuts by DJ Image
All lyrics written by Garfunkle except for Stainless Steele’s verse on Buddha Monk, written by Stainless Steele.
Additional keys by Garfunkle on ‘Ceiling Fans’ and ‘Buddha Monk’
Cover art by Bloodmoney Perez
Mastered by Stainless Steele

Tags beat generation, beat scene, Beats, cassette, dj image, electronic, experimental, garfunkle, hip hop, jazz, underground hip hop, vinyl

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Garfunkle – a fish that noticed the water ///

January 31, 2022 //

Garfunkle – A Fish That Noticed the Water is my first full-length vocal project, despite releasing my first vocal tracks on Splash in 2003 and a handful of tracks and verses between then and now. The album is a result of collaborations and re-connections with Stainless Steele and DJ Image (the other two-thirds of Headpiece, along with myself) and PT Cream along with my own solo basement recording sessions. The inspirations behind the album have been present in the various instrumental projects I’ve released over the past decade and a half or so, but are made more explicit in the lyrics on this album.

The production on the album ranges from the fairly straight-forward beats on ‘Unless and Until’ and ‘Well Then What Man What’ to the more abstract and loose production on ‘No Really It’s Nothing’ and the denser music on ‘Non-Euclidian Geometry.’ The album opens staring at the nothingness behind the eyelids and aiming to see both that nothingness (and what’s underneath it) and closing with a recognition of the organisms swimming there in that apparent blankness.

How’s the water?

credits
released January 7, 2022

All songs produced by Garfunkle except where indicated
All cuts by DJ Image
Additional Keys on Tracks 1 and 11 by Garfunkle
Alternate version of Track 10 on ‘Nothing is Revealed’ from Headpiece (Extra Lovely Records, EL017)
Alternate versions of Tracks 4 and 11 on ‘No Sunsets in Her MakeUp Room’ from DJ Image
Cover Artwork by Tai
Mixing and Mastering by Stainless Steele except tracks 8 and 10 mixed and mastered (to the extent those words apply here) by Garfunkle
license

Tags beat generation, beat scene, Beats, cassette, electronic, experimental, garfunkle, hip hop, jazz, underground hip hop, vinyl

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Garfunkle – We Are Waves ///

June 19, 2019 //

Garfunkle – the bio-engineering scientist by day and producer on the keys by night, returns with his new release “We Are Waves”.

Ursula K. Leguin’s translation of the Tao Te Ching includes some of her commentary along the way. “We are waves. It is the sea,” she wrote, It being capital-I It, the Way. (This commentary is on a verse that includes the line “To know harmony/ is to know what’s eternal.” Hmm.) This album, these songs, do not represent some sort of reduction of Taoist principles, but the process is – always – an attempt to lose the self in it (It?). The wave is clearly less than the sea, and yet the wave is the sea. These songs, the end result of letting what happens happen, are some solid joints, and I hope the joy of the process shines through here.

These were recorded in 2018 and 2019, and the album was finished as I prepared to move with my family, feeling very much tossed by the sea, and making every attempt to embrace the change and consider how the sea’s waves are all essentially interconnected through the ocean, something vastly larger than any individual wave and that we know very little of.

I’ll also say that “we are waves” is a reference not only to Ursula K. Leguin’s commentary, but also to a fundamental physical truth about what we are. Some of that thinking pops up in “electrical output,” one of two tracks featuring vocal samples.

Well, this is all high-minded and I mean it as well as plenty more where words fail. Thirteen jams, held together as an all-but-completely instrumental album that I hope you’ll enjoy.

Tags beat generation, beat producer, beat scene, Beats, brainfeeder, cassette, electronic, experimental, Extra Lovely, flying lotus, garfunkle, hip hop, j dilla, jazz, keyboard, limited edition, los angeles, mixtape, music, new york, nu jazz, piano, records, soul, spiritual, underground, vinyl

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EL013 /// Garfunkle – “This is My Home”

September 7, 2018 //

Garfunkle, the bio-engineering scientist by day and producer on the keys by night, returns with his new release on Extra Lovely “This is My Home”. Available now on limited edition cassette and digital download here.

Tags beat producer, bio engineering, brainfeeder, cassette, electronic music, experimental music, Extra Lovely, garfunkle, hip hop, jazz, jazz piano, limited edition, music, records, spiritual jazz, Stones Throw, underground hip hop, vinyl

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EL009 /// Dr. Gray and Mr. Steele – “Can’t Poison the Sunlight”

March 6, 2017 //

Can’t Poison the Sunlight (Inspired by a poem from e.e. cummings) is a collaborative album between Ben Gray (aka Garfunkle) and Brian Steele (aka Stainless Steele).

Instruments Used: Sampled drums from Billy Martin & J-Zone, vintage keyboards, effects pedal, MPC2000, turntables & vinyl records.

Artwork by Jon Barwick
jonbarwick.com

Tags beat producer, beat scene, beat tape, brainfeeder, cassette, dr gray, electronic, electronic jazz, experimental music, Extra Lovely, french hip hop, garfunkle, german hip hop, hip hop, japanese hip hop, jazz, live mix, lofi, los angeles, low end theory, music, new york, philadelphia, psychedelic, records, spiritual jazz, stainless steele, Stones Throw, turntablism, underground hip hop, vinyl, warp records

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Recent Favorites ///

January 19, 2017 //

BeatPete, Wun Two & Digitalluc – Vinyl Session #69 Beatmaker Special ///

DJM – Silence’s Garden (Acorn Tapes release) ///

Quelle Chris – Being You is Great, I Wish I Could Be You More Often ///

Garfunkle – Nov. 2016 EP ///

Tags acorn tapes, beat, beat gen, beat generation, beat producer, beatpete, cassette, cavalier, digitalluc, DJM, electronic, experimental, France, garfunkle, germany, hhv.de, hip hop, iman omari, jazz, limited edition, mix, music, Quelle Chris, rap, session, spiritual jazz, Stones Throw, tapes, UK, underground hip hop, vinyl, warp records, wun two

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Recent Favorites ///

September 7, 2016 //

Garfunkle – Elephant Noise (EL007 promo video)

The Fawbak Experiment – Third Space EP (My Bags cassette release) ///

Uffe – Whose Life ///

J&L Defer – No Map ///

Tags beat gen, beat generation, beat producer, beat scene, beat tape, Beats, cassette, electronic, electronic music, electronica, experimental, experimental hip hop, experimental music, Extra Lovely, fawbak, garfunkle, german hip hop, hip hop, hip hop beats, instrumental, J&L defer, japan, japanese hip hop, jazz, live, lofi, los angeles, mix, my bags, new york, psych rock, psychedelic, psychedelic music, records, rhymes, soul, spiritual jazz, uffe, UK, underground, underground hip hop, vinyl

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EL007 Garfunkle – “Fog” ///

September 6, 2016 //

The new album “Fog” by Garfunkle is out now on Extra Lovely Records! /// Available on limited edition cassette and digitally here.

Garfunkle aka Ben Gray is a scientist by day working in the field of bio-engineering. He obtained his PhD from Cornell University and is currently living in North Carolina. By night, Garfunkle’s focus and scientific approach turns towards his music. He continues to tinker in the laboratory but his instruments of experimentation are different. His latest project “Fog” was produced using only a keyboard, drum machine and delay pedal with no samples; recorded on analog 4-track. The sound is experimental, minimal jazz beats created during the time of his wife’s pregnancy and inspired by the birth of his first child.

Tags analogue, beat gen, beat generation, beat producer, beat scene, beat tape, Beats, cassette, electronic, electronic music, experimental, experimental hip hop, experimental music, Extra Lovely, fog, garfunkle, german hip hop, hip hop, instrumental, japanese hip hop, jazz, lofi, mix, north carolina, psychedelic, records, soul, spiritual jazz, underground, underground hip hop, vinyl

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Extra Lovely Vol. 1 ///

May 4, 2015 //

Extra Lovely is proud to announce the first release as a label, ‘Extra Lovely Vol.1’ /// An introductory compilation that features a collection of artists who provide exotic, electronic, hip hop, psychedelic, jazz & melodic sounds as a shape of things to come. E.L Vol. 1 is available digitally and on limited edition cassette and can be purchased at our Bandcamp page. Much love and thank you for your support, E.L ///

01 DJ Image – Rep Da East
02 Swarvy – Park Slope
03 N.O.M.A.D – (((Condenser)))
04 All Shapes – 1,2 1,2
05 Sir Froderick – Things About You
06 Maf Maddix – Other Side (produced by Deflon)
07 Headpiece – Take 5
08 N.O.M.A.D – (((Hello Low)))
09 Garfunkle – A-Ok
10 Yikes the Zero – Sleep Walk (produced by Adam Jeez)
11 Ghost McGrady – Take off the Mask, Maria
12 MogillaH – Bowgie Break
13 Stainless Steele – Solitary Enlightenment remix (prod by DJ Image)
14 Asonic Garcia – Cancerian

Tags adam jeez, All Shapes, asonic garcia, beat generation, beat producer, beat scene, cassette, deflon, dj image, experimental hip hop, experimental music, Extra Lovely, garfunkle, ghost mcgrady, headpiece, hip hop, jazz, limited edition, maf maddix, mogillah, N.O.M.A.D, sir froderick, stainless steele, swarvy, turntablism, underground hip hop, vinyl, yikes the zero

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Garfunkle – Tinkering

October 1, 2011 //

Ben Gray aka Garfunkle a Pennsylvania native now residing in Boston is a scientist. Whether it be music, photography or bio-engineering Garfunkle disects his subject in order to understand fully the origin of its function. Once he’s gained that understanding he can rebuild that subject by his own hand. Garfunkle began as an MC and producer in high school then started working more with playing keys, programming drums and looping samples while attending college at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. He produced a number of works while in Baltimore and developed a sound of his own. Tinkering being one of them is available for free download via bandcamp. Garfunkle’s music is rooted in jazz and hip hop. Using vintage keys synths, chopped up drum breaks, mathematic chord progressions and disection of samples; the science is in the sound. Garfunkle recently earned a PhD in Bio-engineering from Cornell University in Ithica, New York and is working on renewable fuels in Boston. Look for more releases from Garfunkle in the near future at Extra Lovely.

Tags baltimore, bio engineering, boston, electronic, garfunkle, hip hop, jazz, pennsylvania, photography, science, tinkering

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