Waiting for the Future (Soul)
Some of the most patient people in Seattle are finally seeing some success with their tireless efforts. The Sun Tzu Soundsystem has been trying for years to find success flying the broken-beat/future soul flag, and this weekend the Sun Tzu crew will be celebrating the fruits of those efforts by hosting a show that has the potential to surpass the highly-acclaimed Jamie Lidell performance from a few weeks back.
The members of the Sun Tzu Soundsystem got together in 2002 to bring their special blend of downtempo, broken-beat, and future soul to the Northwest. Comprised of DJs, promoters, and producers, with a halo of Sun Tzu collaborators, they rode out the peak of the "chill CD" movement and the fall in broken-beat's prominence, and kept with their mission of bringing forward-thinking music to Seattle.
Where house music takes its cues from disco, downtempo takes its cues from a wider array of sources, with a lot more coming from non-traditional world rhythms. Broken-beat furthered that sound by chopping up the beats, often making them stop, stutter, and shuffle in ways that only made sense with focused attention. It was a coupling of modern production and organic sounds that took Europe by storm, along with pockets of the United States. Future soul is another such coupling, with new vocalists/producers extending on the legacies of such soul godfathers as Otis Redding and Roy Ayers. Sun Tzu has been trying since their inception to gain a foothold in Seattle, but club-goers were initially resistant to adopt anything so unwilling to musically stay in place.
Sun Tzu's patience is finally paying off with Seattle crowds. They have gathered a new following as part of the Worldwide monthly at Nectar, where the Fremont crowds consistently work themselves into a frenzy. They've started doing a radio show called City Soul on KBCS on Wednesday night/Thursday morning from 1am-3am (not to worry, the archives are available online). Their biggest recent accomplishment is finishing their first record. It's already made its way across the Atlantic and onto the BBC, and has already garnered some remix interest from some high-profilers.
To celebrate their record release, Sun Tzu is bringing in a Detroit dynamic duo that promises to absolutely electrify the Baltic Room with their performance. John Arnold and Jeremy Ellis (aka Ayro) are both incredibly respected producers, but their live shows have reached near-legendary status. Seattlest was absolutely amazed when Ellis played the Baltic Room earlier this year. Lurking near the back, we couldn't help but to wonder why so many were huddled toward the front of the room when the music was so dance-worthy. Making our way up there, we realized that the music, flawless as it was, was being created on the fly. Jeremy Ellis had an array of keyboards, microphones, and an MPC (a sampling drum machine), and was improvising music that rivaled the studio output of lesser performers. The vision of Jeremy Ellis (pale with red hair), arms stretched playing keyboard with one hand, creating intricate beats with the other, and singing his take on soul music is one that easily ranks as one of the top moments for 2005 (later matched by the Lidell performance, although Ellis gets the edge based on the Baltic Room's more intimate environment). With two people of that caliber on the bill, we're expecting the Baltic Room to provide a landmark show this weekend. Seattlest has given high-praise to many shows, but whether you're a future soul diehard or novice, a hipster or a weekend warrior, this is where you'll want to be Saturday night.
John Arnold + Jeremy Ellis/Sun Tzu Sound Record Release (View flyer)
Saturday, October 15th, 9pm-2am
Baltic Room, 1207 Pine St.
$7 before 11pm, 21+
