JAM (s)andwich [New Noise #024]

bob soss
Sep 15
3 min read

[FIREFLY 0:00]

You wake up to the sound of creaky pinball machines and drunk marimbas. Being roommates with a drummer has had its' lows and hi (hats), but this outfit he's jam(min) with today is on some new shit.

You hear the MC muffled through your bedroom wall...

[jams 0:40-1:20]

"Truth is I dont know no more, still hopeful"

A sax punctuates, acting like a wild bird trying to escape through the window.

The beat stumbles on as the organ splashes paint around the room. The MC is a caramel macchiato, smooth but powerful.

"Look at that little light of yours

Tell me where you'll go with it

Tell me if you'll fold again

Tell me is the way outside that tunnel

To record this shit (?)

......

Better tell me how it ends

I might just shut it here

Didnt we make it clear that's not an option anymore?"

You chug the coffee on the nightstand left from yesterday's angels and go to link with the jam.

But it's too late - Drummer Boy's pogo stick is gone so you know they are headed to a gnarly sesh somewhere. You see the mixtape on the snare

JAM(s)

"frig it" you think. You'll just swing it back to him when you link.

You grab your board and hit the road with your headphones on like little cochlea cocoons.

[TOWNHOUSE 0:00]

You hit play and the retired bassline and breezy guitar molds your mental map. Carving left to right, up and down ramps and curbs through the posts, poles, and Polish people.

Ok here we go....Flatbush Ave.... [0:26]

Onto the bustling avenue you kick it up some, pumping harder as the 808 drops. Keys slide around in your pocket and your ears:

[0:42]

"They gonna ask me J like where you been?

Where the f#$% you think?

I was on my job

I was on my shift Tryna make a shift

workin on my sh!t"

It feels good to catch a vibe through the city to something uptempo. Floating over the sewer grates while zoning out, doing the mental math on where the supreme pizza slice in the area will be.

But that's for later. Drummer Boy left you a +1 to his gig tonight and by the time you reach the venue, sliding down the stairs into the neon smudge of smoke, sweat and hip hop....

[JAM. 0:00]

Drummy Boy is on stage laying it down in his typical broken clockwork style. The beat lurches like fresh amputee. They keyboard player seems amazed at what they're able to play, playing each chord to their own reaction shot, turning knobs in guesswork. Somehow, the frequencies intermingle with the smoke....

"What is the goal if not to get peace?

Every flow do bring me one step closer to freedom...(it do)"

That's him! The MC you heard through the wall today. With critical control of his cadence every phrase punches powerful, resonant.

[JAM. 2:05] Suddenly the band shifts on a dime, half time and steady while the piano play hopscotch there is -