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Vibe DJ hosts The Quartertones live mediumonline.ca The Quartertones - Hidden In Plain Sight [URBNET Records] By Octavio Santos “Live rare groove funk over a laptop and a drum machine” is the way to describe the fresh sound of The Quartertones. DJ ONCS6 of The Vibrasonic Experiment (that’s me) invited three out of the five Toronto-based members (Philip Rae a.k.a. Planet Pea, Katherine Bates a.k.a. Ms. Bates and David Yan a.k.a. DJ Serious) to UTM’s VIBE radio on Saturday, March 5 to do a live in session for In Tune, a show that plays live jams for ear candy. Their solid unit is composed of professional jazz musicians and hip hop experimentalists with the ability to create music that can tip the Richter scale with their enormous funky energy, jazzy licks and up-tempo hip hop kicks. The session started a bit later than scheduled; however, it was well worth the wait. Before the show, DJ Serious got serious on the Technics and showed us his magic by providing a set filled with diverse grooves, funky tunes and head-nodding beats. During this time the group got cozy and let their down-to-earth, homeboy/homegirl personalities fill the booth. The interview was very pleasant, with DJ Serious dropping mellow hip hop beats in the background. Each member answered questions about how the group started, what was in store for their future and other tidbits of information, not to mention the laughs and inside jokes. DJ Serious revealed during the interview that he’s produced heavy hitters such as Masta Ace, Canibus, Kool G. Rap and Choclair. Amazed at Planet Pea’s choice of weapon, the A.k.a.i MPC 2000 XL drum machine, I asked him about it. “I’m not a drummer, I’m a hip hop producer,” Pea responded. “I’m a new version of musicians that have emerged since the onset of hip hop.” I asked Ms. Bates what she thought of the U of T jazz program, from which she recently graduated. “The program itself has really helped me and gave me a really strong foundation in music,” she explained. Guitarist Tai Ara a.k.a. Jimmy Green and bassist Kori Ayukawa, a.k.a. C5KO, sadly couldn’t make it for the session, so the trio remedied the situation with an electronic set. The set consisted of two live joints, “Purple (Lifted)” off their Hidden in Plain Sight album and “Summertime” which is an exclusive track done in their live shows. There was so much expression in Ms. Bates’ vocals on the ethereal “Purple (Lifted),” which was backed up by the reworked Jay Dee beat provided by Pea and Serious. Ms. Bates continued to bless the mic with her vocals on “Summertime,” where the beat picked up the pace, containing a constant bass line, stutter beats and scratches provided by DJ Serious. The combination of Ms. Bates on vocals, DJ Serious on turntables and Planet Pea on the MPC 2000 drum machine was a perfect match to give intensity and playfulness to the sampled beats, allowing fusion with the sultry vocals. After the live session, I dropped gems like the high-energy gospel/neo-soul driven music of Tye Tribbett & G.A. called “No Way (The G.A. Chant)” and broken beat/key work of Mark De Clive-Lowe featuring Bembe Segue on “State Of The Mental,” just to name a few tracks chosen to compliment the justice that the trio did with their instruments. The event was an amazing experience and it was a pleasure being able to hang around musically talented people with cool as cucumber personalities. | ||||||
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