Sleepless Scenes

Insomniac
-Bad Day
-Ape Plague

from the album Polygonal Planet
2005 Soothsay Records
(buy it at: truehiphop.com, CD Baby, accesshiphop.com, etc.)




Spex
-Forgotten Lore
-Small Planet

from the Scene Selection EP
2005 Soothsay Records
(buy it soon)

Again, sorry for the disappearing act. And, just for this one post, I'll be straying from the formula a bit. But, at least it's a clue about what I've been doing during the last four months...

Long about 11 years ago, when I had my radio show over at KZSU, Stanford, I met a local fella named Jon. At first, Jon was a lot like the dozens of other heads who called up the show every week to try and get on the air, because I had a habit of letting people freestyle live over the phone. Jon soon stood out, though, because he would call up during every single show I did, plus every single show most of my friends and/or colleagues did. Now, this wouldn't seem so out of the ordinary much of the time, however, during this particular era, most of the shows Jon would call were on air between midnight and 6 AM. Sleepytime for most solid citizens, yet Jon would still check in without fail, day after day, week after week, month after month.

One particularly festive evening I received the inevitable call from Jon rather early in the show (around 3:45 AM). Then, upon asking if he wanted to freestyle on the air (already knowing the answer), he, like Orel Hersheiser, threw me a curve, suggesting that he instead come down to the station in person and try it from the studio. I enthusiastically agreed.

In what seemed like no time, he appeared like a pizza delivery guy at the front door, we strolled side-by-side into the control booth, and an announcement was made: "Now, believe it or not, we got my man Jon, THE INSOMNIAC, right here in the studio with us."

And so, the dawn of a new hip-hop day had arrived.

To make the rest of a long story short, Insomniac is putting out an album. Finally. The man known primarily for his can't-believe-they're-not-written freestyles has put together 15 tracks of mind-flexing funk called Polygonal Planet. Some of you may remember him as the guy who battled Murs a few years back, then saw that recording end up all over Napster in its free-for-all heyday. Others might recognize him as the guy that shows up on Third Sight tracks every now and again. He did put out a single a few months ago called The Muse, too, that you might have seen for sale on your favorite hip-hop shop website. And, if ya don't know, now ya know.

Not to be overlooked, the album will appeal to fans of turntablism too, boasting appearances by the mighty D-Styles, Mike Boo (who's work you can hear on Ape Plague), Ricci Rucker (on Bad Day), and Spex on the cuts. Plus, the album was mixed and mastered by Dave Cooley, who gave the same treatment to a little project known as Madvillain.

And speaking of Spex, he's got an EP of his own about to hit shelves called Scene Selection. 6 tracks deep, it's the product of a bygone era of hip-hop in which just two cats could get together and churn out some funky-fresh music without having to resort to a long list of helpers. The result is a romping, stomping, rollicking good time that you're sure to enjoy.

And you can hear more from Spex if you point your browser to SoFarWest.com, which carries all of Spex' stuff as well as a wealth of other underground goodies.


Anyway, this is what I've been doing. Getting these two projects together. If you want more info, plese don't hesitate to reach out. Love to hear from ya.