Parte con questa nostra intervista a Chief, fondatore della label svizzera Feelin Music, una nuova serie che di volta in volta vi proporrà i profili di etichette discografiche che nel corso dell´anno passato si sono particolarmente distinte o che hanno attirato la nostra attenzione spuntando fuori dal nulla con delle proposte particolarmente fresche e valide. Sperando che anche il 2013 ci porti altrettanti piacevoli sorprese.
Per farvi un idea del suono di Feelin Music ecco le parole dello stesso Chief, più alcuni indirizzi utili dove restare sempre aggiornati su ciò che riguarda l´etichetta:
How did you get to found the label?
I started the label to keep full creative control on my music. I did stuff with other labels in the past, but it didn’t work so well, I wasn’t happy with that, things like communication, getting paid, etc, it’s quite boring.
And I was also very interested to know more about the structure of a label and the business side in general. It allowed me to have a bigger overview of what the music scene is about and how it’ evolving. I basically started the label to release my own stuff, but rapidly the label expanded in a real label when I signed other artists such as Moka Only, Jazzo &Melodiesinfonie, Maggz, Willy Sunshine…
Can you tell us something about the Swiss Hip Hop scene and the clubs our readers should check in Switzerland?
I´m based in Lausanne in the French part of Switzerland. In general I’m kind of disconnected with what’s happening in Switzerland, there’s a quite big scene in terms of Swiss rap but I’m personally not a fan of what’s released.
The club situation is great, we have a lot of clubs and festivals in Switzerland which cover a wide range of music styles. But for example the beatmaking scene is a bit struggling here, people doesn’t seem too be curious about it and the same thing applies for other “underground” music genres, but for straight hip-hop there’s definitely a rich scene. We have some great artists tough, such as Melodiesinfonie, Sebb, Dimlite, Willy Sunshine etc.
Can you tell us something about Feelin artists roster and the label´s releases so far?
As I said previously I started the label to release my own stuff. Over the years there has been some opportunities and we released albums by Moka Only,Jazzo & Melodiesinfonie, Maggz, Sene, Willy Sunshine etc. We have a very
close relationships with our artists, these are people that I really like and of course I really love what they do musically. Our policy is to rather release a small amount of releases, but develop them as much as possible.
These days I think it’s important to release quality music and spend the necessary energy to promote them properly. There’s so much music out there, free downloads etc. and I think it’s important to really focus on talented artists and make your best to help them to get a bigger exposure. Regarding the roster, I’ve been in touch with Moka Only a few years ago, I produced a track for him and a bit later he proposed me to release his album “Lowdown Suite 2 – The Box”. We have a very good alchemy with Moka and later we decided to work on a full album together, “Crickets”. The album went super well, the tour went great, and we plan to work again together in the close future.
I met Jazzo & Melodiesinfonie 2 years ago, they are from Zürich, Switzerland. I was really impressed by their productions, also considering that they are very young and were not doing music for a long time, so I decided to sign them and it’s going very well so far. I met Maggz via a remix contest that we did for the “Crickets” album with Moka Only, he sent me some more music after that that we recently released (“Fragments of mind”). Willy Sunshine is a Swiss artist and an old friend of mine, he produced for many rappers here, and did some great stuff solo in a more abstract genre. We recently released his mini-album “Kitchen blues explosion”.
What´s your opinion about the state of Hip Hop in 2012?
I think it’s great and interesting. A lot of people tend to say that hip-hop is dead, but I think it’s a mistake to stick to the “gold era” and say that it was better in the past. Generally, all these instrumental/beats project
benefit from a bigger exposure, and there are more and more “hybrid” genres which I think is very positive. It’s still very underground, but it has a better visibility now, which I think is good. Regarding more straight hip-hop, I think there has been some young talents coming this year which bring very fresh stuff, kind of classic rap with a new approach. For example Kendrick Lamar, Joe Bad Ass, Tyler The Creator, Clear Soul Force, Cool Connexyon… So all in all, I think that the state of hip hop in 2012 was great.
Can you tell us something about the next Feelin releases and your plans for 2013?
There’s going to be a project with Melodiesinfonie (from Jazzo & Melodiesinfonie). Also a collaboration album of Deheb and myself. Deheb is a super talented beatmaker and my partner for the live shows, it’s going to be an instrumental album. Also a full-length by Texas-based BoomBaptist, and a John Robinson & Chief album. 2013 is going to be a great year for us, watch this space!
BANDCAMP / SOUNDCLOUD / SC CHIEF BEATMAKER
