From its humble beginnings in 2001, the Brooklyn label Bastard Jazz Recordings has trailblazed a unique path in the world of independent record labels. Appealing to both DJs and music fans from all walks of life, BJR has become known for its eclectic sound & community of global artists from Mumbai to Napoli, New York to Kinshasha, who touch on everything from funk to hip-hop, house music to forward thinking beats, soul to jazz and international sounds, along with its unrelenting commitment to the vinyl medium. This November, the label will be celebrating 20 years of operation in various incarnations and are releasing a special compilation and a DJ friendly 4xLP titled ’20 Years of Bastard Jazz’ filled with brand new cuts from its current roster, plus a selection of catalog material, some of it classic, some of it overlooked, and some of it unpressed.
Highlights from the compilation include Australian outfit The Goods, who team up with Steve Spacek (famously of the eponymous British band) on the spacey future soul banger, “FEELS 4 U,” while label stalwarts Potatohead People (who recently teamed up with both De La Soul, Jazzy Jeff, and Kaidi Tatham as well as a host of others on their new album) deliver “Bonzai View,” with its live instrumentation & technical prowess fused with a head-nodding boom-bap beat the group has become known for. Pittsburgh producer Buscrates delivers “Spotlight,” a slinky modern funk / boogie production, while brand new signing POSY gives us “Amai,” a delicate beat construction with gorgeous strings, horns and live bass weaving in and out.
Notable past catalog on the compilation include LA producer Captain Planet’s classic “Un Poquito Mas” featuring Chico Mann (Antibalas, Here Lies Man) which is still being sung along to in clubs worldwide from Mexico City to Berlin 7 years later, and the airy, indie dance vibes of Manatee Commune’s “Majestic Diver.” Los Angeles producer and talkbox wizard B. Bravo’s “Can’t Keep My Hands Off You” featuring Reva Devito goes into more sultry territory, while Rumtum’s “Tropic Air” gives us a fresh splash of wobbly tape synth and relaxed lo-fi drums. Of course, the club is not left out and the catalog includes dancefloor ready remixes from friends of the label like Jimpster, DJ Spinna, Jacques Renault, and the red hot up & coming Brooklyn duo musclecars.
Bastard Jazz started early as so many nascent DJ-oriented imprints come into existence, as founder & president Aaron Schultz just barely out of his teenage years was beginning to find his footing as a DJ in Brooklyn, New York. Culling together a small group of artists early on, the label ran as a side project for many years, releasing a handful of records per year. Following a reorganization & renewed commitment in 2014, the label has experienced exponential growth while moving from a DJ oriented standpoint to an artist focused organization that thrives on signing and nurturing new talent and new sounds, while maintaining a concurrent sonic thread in its music. POC owned with a majority POC artist stable, Bastard Jazz’s story is the slow build of a real indie label with a diverse sound & roster from the ground up, through trial and error, listening, learning, and adapting to the times without becoming jaded or losing its original vision. 20 years on, it’s still here & stronger than ever.
Liner Notes:
Have things changed that much in the past twenty years? On the surface, it’s a pretty ridiculous question — but let’s examine the evidence. In the summer of 2001, the iPod and Wikipedia were unknown. MySpace and its descendents were years away; The term “social media” was a non sequitur. Shrek ruled the box office and the shiny hip-hop/R&B hybrid pop of Missy, Eve and Usher topped the charts. The world stood on the precipice of an unimaginable future to come in September.
It was into this milieu that a tiny new label made its debut. Taking cues from the burgeoning downtempo movement, a surprisingly vital offspring of instrumental hip hop, dub reggae, and high-grade marijuana, Bastard Jazz was launched with an unassuming track by DJ DRM that wouldn’t have sounded out of place on a Ninja Tune Xen Cuts compilation. DRM, also known as Aaron Schultz, grew up a brown kid in Florida, his melanin inherited rather than sun-induced, and had just relocated to New York City. At that time, Brooklyn was moving resolutely away from its untamed past, headed towards the hipster haven it would become as the decade went on. But in those early days, it was still a place where a kid could throw warehouse parties, make beats, put out his friends’ tunes from time to time, and run a record label — such as it was. Bastard Jazz (the name coined by Florida pal and early label designer Jay Marley), barely qualified in that regard, eking out four or five releases a year from homies like Jugoe but garnering growing attention with beat-oriented DJs and fans.
After a decade of sporadic but solid singles, around ten years after his move to Brooklyn, DRM was firmly entrenched in the local scene. Linking up with Erik Schneider, who was then director of Music Marketing for NYC mainstay Giant Step, brought an influx of business savvy. Coinciding with this was the release of Captain Planet’s Cookin’ Gumbo, the label’s first proper long-player album and a precursor to a greatly increased release schedule and bigger things to come. When Captain Planet’s “Un Poquito Más” and Potatohead People’s Big Luxury album made unignorable splashes in 2014 the label was truly on its way to becoming the indie juggernaut it is today. Progressive new artists like Bad Colours and POSY joined the roster, and remixes from big name collaborators Kaytranada, De La Soul, Ta-ku, Jazzy Jeff, Pink Siifu, Touch Sensitive, Jimpster, Shigeto, DJ Spinna & many more made it clear the little Bastard had matured into adulthood.
But back to our original question — have things really changed that much? Sure, the world is a different place. But what about Bastard Jazz, twenty years on? DRM still steers the ship, providing a POC-piloted vessel for a diverse and expanding crew of artists. The label’s sonic identity has branched with authority into Funk, Boogie, Electronic Soul, House, and Global Vibes, but remains rooted in a “beats” mentality. As long as the diverse collection of Bastard Jazz artists continue to bring their own fresh takes on the vibe, it’s a future-facing sound that has no expiration date. Here’s to another twenty — the more things change, the more they stay the same.
-Andrew “Monk-One” Mason, Brooklyn
1. Bad Colours - Evers' Jam 03:22
2. The Goods - FEELS 4 U (feat. Steve Spacek) 03:31
3. Kumail - Without You 03:09
4. Nick Wisdom - Good Times 05:09
5. Kool Customer - Fastlane 03:12
6. Buscrates - Spotlight 03:17
7. Peter Matson - Roma Norte (Jimpster Remix) 06:42
8. Illa J - Sunflower (feat. Allie & Potatohead People) [DJ Spinna Remix] 05:43
9. The Pendletons - Keep It Working (Jacques Renault Remix) 06:42
10. Chico Mann & Captain Planet - Un Poquito Más 04:29
11. BRISA - Astro Funk 04:00
12. Manatee Commune - Majestic Diver 04:10
13. Potatohead People - Bonzai View 03:32
14. RUMTUM - Tropic Air 03:44
15. POSY - Amai 03:06
16. Bad Colours - Skin to Skin (musclecars Remix) 05:43
17. Captain Planet - Hammock Dreams 03:57
18. Jugoe - Tique Toque 04:45
19. B. Bravo - Can't Keep My Hands Off You (feat. Reva DeVito) 04:03
20. Dead Horse Beats - July 03:23
