THERE ARE BETTER DAYS FOR US:
SCORP: The chords came to me on a weekday evening…I was doing my usual tinkering on keys and these two chords jumped out at me…the other chords just came as I constructed the progression…I did the rest of my parts on a Saturday, I think…I let Sean hear it and he thought it was dark…I would say less dark than melancholy…those are the chords that I dig most…I was gonna make it a ballad but we sped it up and we thought it worked as a dance joint…the lyrics are standard fare about a man tryna keep his thang together with his lady…taking accountability for the wrong he did and tellin her that the bad times will pass…JV came in cold, learned the song, and smacked it out of the park…be on the lookout for this bad young brother from the Chi…
SEAN: To be totally honest, I thought I had to put my man Scorpeze on suicide watch cuz of the darkness of the song. I showed up to do some session work and he presented me with the title (working title was "There Are Better Days Ahead For Us"). Eventually, we got busy on it (actually, it was pretty damned dope before I laid hands on it), and Scorp wrote out the lyrics and we went from there. I just kinda filled out the drums and percussion and let his keys tell the story. JV came in and laid down the vocals with minimal effort. Dude is a pro and I hope we get to work with him again.
FEVER:
SCORP: When we got time we used to work one day during the week in addition ton our usual weekend sessions…we had finished up a joint and we had a lil more in us, so Sean jumped on the gear and freaked a lil drum and percussion groove...it felt kinda Afro-Latin to me, so I just improvised by just stabbing some chords in rhythm with the beat…it sounded good to us and we had the basis for the joint…I think we wrapped this up the following week…I think this is the first joint where Sean used the tympani…I didn't do much, its pretty much Sean getting his on drums and percussion…
SEAN: There's two things I REALLY dig musically. Drums and Afro-Latin percussion. So, Fever is me getting nasty on drums. We kinda wanted an uptempo Dance floor smoker, and I think we got one here. Sometimes we tend to try to go a little Deeper with stuff, but this one was meant to be just what it was. Givin' you that Fever on the dance floor. Scorp's chord progressions give it that tension and the drums bring it all together…
SINISTER BEAUTY:
SCORP: This song is almost a solo joint…it came to me damn near finished…I added some Rhodes and the synth solo at the end…this is Sean's baby…I think Sean would like to explore this kind of sound more in our music and I'm all for it…to me, this is more pure electronic than our other stuff, Sean still considers it "deep", though…
SEAN: Well, here's the backstory. Sometimes I tend to be an early riser on weekends (I have NO idea why…) and every now and then, I fire up the mixboard and see what happens. So on the day I came up with Sinister Beauty, everything was clicking. I laid drums, played 'em back and REALLY liked what I did, so I dropped a bass line on it and then a few pads and keyboards underneath it. The funny thing is, I wanted this one to be a happy, bouncier type of track. But for some reason it just kept getting darker and darker, thus the title. I sent it to Scorpeze and he put a little Mild Sauce on it for me. A lot of times we do 'regular' music (bridges, progressions, etc), but I wanted this one to be a flat-out Deep House track. I hope that's what people think of it.
FIND THE WAY:
SCORP: Actually, this started with me just fucking around…I'd love to do some slow deep industrial shit and I was kinda trying it here…I didn't want it to sound "warm" at all…I didn't think we would do anything with it…I let Sean hear what I had and he dug it and kept me from trashing it…then he went to work on it…I had been talking with Fiona at this point, who I got linked to through my boy Uchenna…Fiona is half of the duo Mahon, which bears her last name…please check them out should the chance arise…I sent her the track blind and she sent it back complete a couple days later. I really dig her lyrics on this…
SEAN: Interestingly enough, this is another "Happy Accident" as we like to call them. I was outta town, and while I was gone, Scorp got into a mode and cranked this one out. He let me hear it and I was ALL OVER it. It was mechanical as hell and sorta downtempo, but still had that Fonk to it. I don't think he liked it as much as I did. But either way, I laid some drums on it (and doubletimed the tempo), and we kept at it. Now I would've been cool with it as it was, but then he sent it off to Fiona. Her lyrics fit the color of the song PERFECTLY. Her delivery was downright amazing, as she fit the mood of the track like a glove. I think this is one of our better tracks.
SHAKE IT DOWN:
SCORP: We did this right before we turned in Travels…we did this and Afra Natura back to back…we actually started this first…I was noodling on keys on a weekday night and the chords came to me…In my weird ass head, I was envisioning the Dave Chappelle skit where he's testing out how different races react to different instruments and he brings out the electric piano for the Puerto Ricans…so that put us back into the Afro-Latin shit…I sent a rough draft to a friend, he said it was his LEAST favorite of anything we've done…I have to admit it was a pretty rough version as we were working on it at that very moment…Sean and I still disagree on the drums…I wanted a "roomier" live sound and he likes his snares high and tight…To his credit, he rolled with it…he could have easily just put his foot down and said no…but still with that, his drums are wicked, no?…and of course, the percussion stuff he did came out lovely…we got some help from some friends on this…Personally, Im pretty proud of the compostion and arrangement on this. We'll see what you think…
SEAN: Ah…HERE'S where it gets rough. It took us MONTHS if not longer to get this one right. I think we had different visions on this one. You know how you make Chili and keep adding stuff to it, till eventually it's not the way you like Chili? That's this track. Not that we were butting heads-- we simply couldn't find that spot in the middle, and it kept getting cloudier and cloudier. Looking back, I see what Scorp's vision was. He wanted a live sound, and I kept laying DJ flavored drums and perc to it. And on top of that, we could NEVER get the sonics of it right. We worked on it some more, and let neutral ears hear it, and came to an agreement (sorta…). I dig the end results, but I think somewhere down the line we'll revisit this one and get it done the way we really want it.
LOVE YOU MORE (Holding On):
SCORP: We did this May/June 07…the chords fell in my lap and me and Sean finished it in one session…I like the Disco feel to it…a lot of my favorite Disco records have these melancholy, almost sad chords on top of very upbeat rhythm arrangements…and I think we almost got there with this…I wanted this to be as Disco as possible but I couldn't think of anymore I could do to get it there…Luckily, Jaya knocked this out for us in a cpl hours…Kudos to her because she was sick as a dog that day…We gave her the option to get down on it at a later date but she was a trooper and insisted on getting it done…that's a professional for ya…mos def look out for her new stuff when it drops…lyrically, it's about forced separation in relationships…we had specific scenario in mind but we'll let folks figure it out…
SEAN: This was actually the first song we ever wrote specifically for a vocal performance. We didn't know who would end up singing on it, but we knew it was 'singer' formatted, if you will. I'd played it around the house for myself, and every now and then in the car. I never told too many people it was ours, as I wanted to get an objective point of view. Believe it or not, it never really had a home. (Everybody is a singer, but nobody wants to sing...don't get me started) But we knew it was too good to let it go to waste, so Scorpeze made a phone call or two and we got our vocalist. The first time I'd ever met her was in the session, but she blew me away. Scorp wrote the lyrics, and the two of them laid out the vocal arrangements. She wasn't feeling too well, but based on her performance, she must be a MONSTER when she's in perfect health. I even wanted to keep some of the out-takes for a remix down the road (hmmmm…)
SCORP: Sean revised some of the lyrics while we were recording Jaya's vocal…
THREE SCENES:
SCORP: We did this on a Sunday afternoon in the spring of 08 maybe…knocked it out in one session…I wanted the keys to have the feel of a loop…this isn't a dance track at all and a real deviation for us…I'm very interested to see how people will react…Sean brought Francis Adams into the fold…We thought it best for him to kick his piece without having heard the music, but he still falls right in with the beat...We also didn't want standard spoken word, which is why we chose him…
SEAN: Yeaaaah, so this is the kinda stuff we make when nobody's looking. We dabble in the downtempo stuff every now and then. We did the track for ourselves, just to keep the chops up. This was another one that gets burn when I'm chilling out at home, so when we started gathering tracks for the album, I asked Scorpeze if he liked the idea of having a Spoken Word joint on it, and if so, we could use this track (it didn't even have a title yet). He agreed to give it a shot. So I hooked up with my man Francis Adams, who's a Spoken Word/Vocalist type o' dude, and gave him free reign on the lyrics. But the tricky part was, he's a dude with a weird sense of humor ( kinda like the both of us), but I told him it had to be serious and not campy. ALSO, we told him to write his part without ever hearing the music. It was a challenge, but he told an amazing story. He sent us his vocals and we went into the lab and made it work.
A PENTHOUSE VIEW:
SCORP: I cant tell you how this one started cuz I don't have a clue…I was going through demos we had laid down and I found this…I played it for Sean and he had no recollection of doing it either…*looks at liquor bottle*...but we both liked it and finished it up…I couldn't come up with a B section or bridge for the life of me but I think it still worked out the way it was supposed to…by the time I came up with a new section, we were pretty much finished, so we worked it into the end of the song…I think this is one of Sean's favorites on the album…
SEAN: A lost gem. We found this one in the archives. Sometimes we'll be hanging out socially and just turn the board on and see what happens. Well, this somehow got lost in the shuffle (I think we pushed it aside for a remix we had to do or something). Either way, it had that warm, lush sound. Kinda reminiscent of Larry Heard or that San Francisco Deep House Sound of the late 90's early 00's. But Scorp put that bridge in there and set it CLEAN off. I tried to keep my drum programming to the background. I got the title while listening to the rough mix on the way home from the session; I was driving down Lake Shore Drive and admiring the beaches along the shore, and I saw all the High Rises over looking Lake Michigan. I called Scorp up right then and told him it was a keeper, and that we should call it Penthouse View.
AN AFTERNOON IN RIO:
SCORP: In the summertime in Chicago, they have these neighborhood street fairs…there's shopping, food, and live music…for some reason, I wasn't aware the annual street fair in my own neighborhood…I was on my way to the gym one Sunday afternoon and I heard a band playing some sweet Bossa Nova…I love Bossa Nova, so I took a detour to check out the band…during this time, I was really stressed out and the music was like a massage…when I got home, I called up Sean and asked him if he thought we can do som'n with a Bossa Nova flavor…he's even more into Latin and Brazilian music than I am and was all for it....he sent me a drum track maybe a week later…the drums sparked me and I laid down some chords...when we got together to finish it, I thought we were gonna speed it up and make it dance-y…Sean insisted we keep it straight Bossa Nova…I had no problem with that whatsoever…this is the last thing we did for this album…I want to say this was recorded August/September 08…
SEAN: It all goes back to my 'thing' for Brazilian music (Now if only Sabrina Malheiros would return my calls). This came about after some Saturday morning tinkering (Scorp had the notion of trying some Bossa Nova flavored stuff), so I sat down, opened the blinds to let the Sun into the room, and laid some drums. The only thing I insisted on was keeping it at a leisurely tempo (I wanted it to be Summer-y). I sent it to him and he put some real nice keys on it. So we got at the board together and I added more drums and a real nice percussion track. We worked on about 5 versions of this song and it kept getting better and better. I tried to make the drum break an integral part of the song, and when Scorp came up with the bridge and the second movement, it all fell into place. This is a beautiful track.
SMOOTH IT DOWN:
SCORP: I cant claim any input on this…Sean just did his thing and dropped it in my email…no adjustments necessary.
Well, this was me trying to play Francois Kervorkian. I once read an interview where he said a remix should consist of original parts of a song, not just new stuff with the same old name. So I took the "Shake it Down" session and remixed it. Now obviously, "Shake it down was uptempo, but I stripped the drums completely out, dropped a few of the keys, and gave it a new Downtempo/Ambient type of sound. I added a few snare hits here or there just to give it body, and boosted up some of Scorp's keys (that I thought were really well done, but got lost in the shuffle on the original mix). I added a lot of reverb and 'air' to it ( I LOVE Wide open sonic spaces) and messed around a little more. I sent it off to Scorp and to my surprise, he dug it. A lot of cats would get offended if you took their work out of a song but he didn't.
THERE ARE BETTER DAYS FOR US
Music by Scorpeze and DJ Sean Haley
Lyrics by Scorpeze
JV: Lead and background vocals
Sean Haley: Drums, Percussion, Drum programming
Scorpeze: Rhodes, Synth bass, Synthesizers, Piano, Synthesizer programming
Strings by the Windimoto Orchestra (Karen Wolczk, Rodney Lane, Jarvis Minton, LaTasha Bond)
Rhythm arrangement by DJ Sean Haley
String arrangement by Scorpeze
Vocal arrangement by Scorpeze and JV
Recorded at The Temple of Windimoto/Chicago, IL
Engineered by Windimoto
Vocals recorded at Tye’s Spot/Chicago, IL
Vocals engineered by Tye Hill
Mixed at Plant Nine Studio and The Temple of Windimoto/Chicago, IL
Mixed by Windimoto and Sean Owens
Mix engineered by Sean Owens
FEVER
DJ Sean Haley: Drums, Congas, Bongos, Wood block, Claves, Agogo bells, Shekere, Tambourine, Tympani, and Drum programming
Scorpeze: Rhodes, Organ, Synth bass, Synthesizers, and Synthesizer programming
Paulo Conte: Timbales
Arrangement by DJ Sean Haley
Recorded at The Temple of Windimoto/Chicago, IL
Engineered by Windimoto
Mixed at Plant Nine Studio and The Temple of Windimoto/Chicago, IL
Mixed by Windimoto and Sean Owens
Mix engineered by Sean Owens
SINISTER BEAUTY
Written by DJ Sean Haley
Publishing: Lee’s Basement (ASCAP)
Sean Haley: Synthesizers, Synth bass, Drums, Percussion, Drum and Synthesizer programming
Scorpeze: Rhodes, Synth solo
Arranged by DJ Sean Haley
Recorded at RB3 and The Temple Of Windimoto/Chicago, IL
Engineered by DJ Sean Haley
Mixed at Plant Nine Studio and The Temple of Windimoto/Chicago, IL
Mixed by Windimoto and Sean Owens
Mix engineered by Sean Owens
FIND THE WAY
Music by Scorpeze and DJ Sean Haley
Lyrics by Fiona Mahon
Publishing: Songs For The Rebel (ASCAP)/Lee’s Basement (ASCAP)/Irish Cream (PRS)
Fiona Mahon: Lead and background vocals
DJ Sean Haley: Drums, Sound effects, Drum programming
Scorpeze: Rhodes, Synthesizers, Synth bass, Synthesizer programming
Rhythm arrangement by DJ Sean Haley and Scorpeze
Vocal Arrangement by Fiona Mahon
Recorded at The Temple of Windimoto/Chicago, IL
Engineered by Windimoto
Vocals recorded at The House of Mahon/London, England
Vocals engineered by Trevor Goodchilde
Mixed at Plant Nine Studio and The Temple of Windimoto/Chicago, IL
Mixed by Windimoto and Sean Owens
Mix engineered by Sean Owens
SHAKE IT DOWN
DJ Sean Haley: Drums, Percussion, and Drum programming
Scorpeze: Bass, Rhodes, Synthesizers, and Synth programming
Perry Vasquez: Guitar
Strings by The Windimoto Orchestra (Karen Wolczk, Rodney Lane, Jarvis Minton, LaTasha Bond)
Rhythm arrangement by DJ Sean Haley
String arrangement by Scorpeze
Recorded at The Temple of Windimoto/Chicago, IL
Engineered by Windimoto
Mixed at Plant Nine Studio and The Temple of Windimoto/Chicago, IL
Mixed by Sean Owens
Mix engineered by Sean Owens
LOVE YOU MORE (HOLDING ON)
Music and lyrics by Scorpeze and DJ Sean Haley
Publishing: Songs For The Rebel (ASCAP)/Lee’s Basement (ASCAP)
Jaya: Lead and background vocals
Sean Haley: Drums, Percussion, Drum programming
Scorpeze: Rhodes, Synth bass, Synthesizers, Synthesizer programming
Odus Ricker: Tubular bells
Strings by the Windimoto Orchestra (Karen Wolczk, Rodney Lane, Jarvis Minton, LaTasha Bond)
Rhythm arrangement by DJ Sean Haley
String arrangement by Scorpeze
Vocal arrangement by Scorpeze
Recorded at The Temple of Windimoto/Chicago, IL
Engineered by Windimoto
Vocals recorded at Banger's Alley/Chicago, IL
Vocals co-produced by Harvy Allbangers
Vocals engineered by Harvy Allbangers
Mixed at Plant Nine Studio and The Temple of Windimoto/Chicago, IL
Mixed by Windimoto and Sean Owens
Mix engineered by Sean Owens
THREE SCENES
Music by DJ Sean Haley and Scorpeze
Spoken word by Francis Adams
Publishing: Lee’s Basement (ASCAP)/Songs For The Rebel (ASCAP)/Teacher's Pet Projects (ASCAP)
Francis Adams: Spoken word vocal
DJ Sean Haley: Drums, Percussion, Samples, Sequencing, Drum programming
Scorpeze: Rhodes, Piano, Synth bass
Rhythm arrangement by DJ Sean Haley
Recorded at The Temple of Windimoto/Chicago, IL
Engineered by Windimoto
Vocals recorded at The Fuzz Palace/Jacksonville, FL
Vocals engineered by Adam Pearthree
Mixed at Plant Nine Studio and The Temple of Windimoto/Chicago, IL
Mixed by Windimoto and Sean Owens
Mix engineered by Sean Owens
A PENTHOUSE VIEW
DJ Sean Haley: Drums, Percussion, and Drum programming
Scorpeze: Rhodes, Synth bass, Synthesizers, and Synth programming
Strings by The Windimoto Orchestra (Karen Wolczk, Rodney Lane, Jarvis Minton, LaTasha Bond)
Rhythm arrangement by DJ Sean Haley
String arrangement by Scorpeze
Recorded at The Temple of Windimoto/Chicago, IL
Engineered by Windimoto
Mixed at Plant Nine Studio and The Temple of Windimoto/Chicago, IL
Mixed by Windimoto and Sean Owens
Mix engineered by Sean Owens
AN AFTERNOON IN RIO (ONLY YOU)
Music by DJ Sean Haley and Scorpeze
Lyrics by Fiona Mahon
Publishing: Lee’s Basement (ASCAP)/Songs For The Rebel (ASCAP)/Irish Cream (PRS)
Fiona Mahon: Lead and background vocals
DJ Sean Haley: Drums, Percussion, Drum programming
Scorpeze: Rhodes, Piano, Bass
Drew Krag: Guitar
Trisha Newstead: Flute
Strings by the Windimoto Orchestra (Karen Wolczk, Rodney Lane, Jarvis Minton, LaTasha Bond)
Rhythm arrangement by DJ Sean Haley
String arrangement by Scorpeze
Vocal arrangement by Fiona Mahon
Recorded at The Temple of Windimoto and Plant Nine Studio/Chicago, IL
Engineered by Windimoto
Vocals recorded at The House of Mahon/London, England
Vocals engineered by Trevor Goodchilde
Mixed at Plant Nine Studio and The Temple of Windimoto/Chicago, IL
Mixed by Windimoto and Sean Owens
Mix engineered by Sean Owens
SMOOTH IT DOWN (DJ SEAN HALEY'S NEGRA LUNA MIX)
Remix by DJ Sean Haley
DJ Sean Haley: Drums, Percussion, and Drum programming
Scorpeze: Rhodes, Synthesizers, and Synth programming
Perry Vasquez: Guitar
Strings by The Windimoto Orchestra
(Karen Wolczk, Rodney Lane, Jarvis Minton, LaTasha Bond)
Arranged by DJ Sean Haley
String arrangement by Scorpeze
Recorded at RB3 and The Temple of Windimoto/Chicago, IL
Engineered by Windimoto
Mixed at Plant Nine Studio and The Temple of Windimoto/Chicago, IL
Mixed by DJ Sean Haley and Sean Owens
Mix engineered by Sean Owens
Jaya appears courtesy of J.A.W. Entertainment
Sinister Beauty produced by Windimoto for Windimoto Music
All jams written by Haley/Baker
Publishing: Songs For The Rebel (ASCAP)/Lee’s Basement (ASCAP) except where noted
Windimoto is DJ Sean Haley and Scorpeze
Recorded Spring 2007–Fall 2008
Executive Producers: DJ Sean Haley and Scorpeze for Windimoto Music
Mastered by Carl Saff at Saff Mastering/Chicago, IL
Art direction by Shari Neal and Windimoto
Design & layout by Shari Neal
Front cover digital imaging: Shari Neal
Contact: winmo@windimoto.com
Booking: gigs@windimoto.com
www.windimoto.com
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Copyright ©2009 Windimoto Music, LLC
All Rights Reserved
