THE END.
J here ... Believe it or not, we've been running into a lot of recent Damu fans who were unaware that he is one half of the group
Y Society. For those folks we'd like to bring em up to speed and let em know that Y Society consists of Damu on the beats, and Insight on the mic.
Y Society dropped a DOPE album in late 2007 called
Travel At Your Own Pace, on Tres Records, which QUICKLY became way too hard to find, but proved that Damu was more than capable on the beats and the tables. I actually first linked up with Damu shortly after the release and we've been working together since then.
It's been a while and from then to now, we have done a lot of great projects, all FREE and on our own dime, stuff like Spare Time, Overtime, one-offs like Bright Side, Same Beat (when Damu 1st sent me a song with him rhyming I was both impressed and kinda shocked. YOU RAP? And you're THIS good? WTF?), numerous live performances (some paid, some just for teh love of it) a ton of video clips, and behind the scenes we've built a solid archive of material that we intend on releasing soon (Damu, you play the drums?! Wait, this beat has no samples?! But ...). Guys like MuzikJunky, Max, and many more got a 1st hand preview of what we'll be dropping throughout 2010 outside an event last week in Brooklyn. We had some tech issues inside, but still hung out in front of the venue til almost 3am on a Thursday night and played beats outta the truck. (The WFMU show went on without a hitch; if any of you were there pls let us know what you thought. Thx for the great intro, Spice)
Ok, lemme get back on track ... my point is that during the past two years we have experienced a lot of fun and exciting moments, and of course some frustrating times as well. The good times far outweigh the bad. I personally believe that Damu is one of the best EVER at what he does, and am proud to work with and to know him. Since I started working with him, i've learned a lot about a lot. I'm sure that we both have. We've shopped projects to numerous labels, many of whom were very interested but then offered REALLY shady deals and/or low percentages. The typical "Industry Rule#4080" stuff you have heard about or could imagine. Classic material, such as one label guy, who after approaching us and offering a record deal, demanded that WE pay HIM $500 to enter into the agreement with his label!). Others, from labels to press contacts fronted on us for any given number of reasons. It's hard when you're not on a Stones Throw type of label where you'll get attention just because of being affiliated. Through it all, we stay positive and focus on the bigger picture. We want to get things to the point where Damu can continue to grow as a musician, and be able to make music and travel as a full time artist (he prob wont tell you which instruments he can play, at least not yet, but i've heard him play a few. and he's good. but after 12 hours at work, who has the energy?). It's an uphill battle that we have been fighting every step of the way. Every chance we get to learn or improve, we make sure that we do exactly that. We've met alot of amazing people and for that we are both grateful. You know who you are.
I always believed in what Damu is capable of doing and what he has done to date. I'm constantly impressed by how he always seems to be improving his craft. We both have pretty busy day jobs so taking care of this music/business stuff is always second priority and is treated more or less as a second job. Bills must stay paid. Like James Brown said, "if you dont work, you dont eat." We've been traveling at our own pace, I guess. I'm really satisfied with the progress but at the same time I am the first to admit we have a long way to go. We met and continue to meet a lot of great people and new friends, people whom i really appreciate knowing ... And for the record, while i'm on this long and boring post thing, i'm sure you noticed that we NEVER acted like the desperate, blog pleasing artists who come and go every week (make a song about rabbits! rabbits.com will post it. fuck your rabbits! lol... You get my point.) And we will NEVER spam your inbox with bs if you're on our OPT-IN mailing list.
We are focused on quality, and I appreciate you sticking with us. The lessons we learned brought us to this stage. We get a lot of people reaching out, especially overseas (what up UK and japan), and ask us when Damu would be releasing new music on wax, cd, and for stuff like shirts. First- thanks for asking, second, we're on it. We're about to get that stuff moving and don't plan on slowing down so long as there is a demand. Right now, we have a few releases planned with indies, who operate much like we do (what up Simon, Chris, Smith, etc) and we also have the attention of some reputable distributors who are willing to help us extend our reach to places where we need to be.
So in a nutshell, we'll be doing 2 things from now on - releasing records on
Redefinition Records, a label that Damu and myself own and co-operate, and releasing projects with indies with whom we establish working relationships and trust. We have a direct digi distro deal with The Orchard, and we have solid connections with vinyl plants and cd manufacturers. We're in a good position to enter into the next phase of our plan. We just set up our own online retail shop, which will be stocking the Travel instro CD/Wax, as well as anything else we release moving fwd. The first release will be available soon. Other projects will follow shortly after. We'll continue to release free projects as well. As a matter of fact, i'm gonna post a new, unreleased song next week produced by Damu and featuring a friend of mine on the mic, someone you may or may not have heard of (check back before Nov 6). Anyway, I'm not gonna list a bunch of upcoming releases on here, because i've said more than enough, but as things come together, we'll continue to post them here. Its not the end, its the beginning. If you read this whole thing up til this point, lemme know what you're thinking or just tell me to shut up ;)
Long story short, I feel great about the projects that we have coming up, and I KNOW you're gonna love the new music. It will be a lot of work. But its our work, which we own and control. I'm really looking forward as is Damu.
On With The Show... The
instrumental version of
Travel At Your Own Pace will be available in
Late November on
CD/Limited Edition Vinyl via Redefinition Records. (digital version available via Tres Records)
Next week I'll post some more info and video clips.
Until then, you might wanna grab this zip file. It features a couple MP3s you probably heard before, but maybe not, and a PDF with the tracklisting for the Vinyl / CD versions of this album.
Thx for the time.
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