Drop what you’re doing and head over to TanyaMorgan.bandcamp.com to download Tanya Morgan’s new EP, You & What Army?. It’s free (with an option to cop a dope, limited edition tee), ridiculously good (I’m biased, so check for yourself) and drops just in time for you to listen and be thankful that dudes like this are making music. If that wasn’t enough goodness, your favorite DJ contributed cuts on “We Rollin” and an Aeon beats listening session at my house over the Summer led to “Rock The Bells”. Once you download and enjoy the songs, check out these great liner notes, courtesy of Von Pea from over at VonPea.com to make it an even better listening experience:
Disclaimer: this is long.
ha.
You & What Army. The latest attempt at proving we’re supposed to be making music. Not so much to you, but to myself. I wont speak for Don, but we’ve absolutely had talks about proving ourselves right as opposed to proving anyone wrong. As I sit here watching this hip hop video show and wondering why there’s no actual hip hop in this current video that’s playing (not in a “this aint real hip hop!†way, the song is literally not a hip hop song at all. its not a rap beat, and there’s no rapping), I cant help but feel like we all look like Disco Stu from The Simpsons. Its as if we’re holding onto something that doesn’t exist…but it does.
Most of the guys we all consider great are still doing it. Most of us relatively new guys still care about being skilled and saying something…or at least evoking good emotions through music.
All we need is you. For more than one listen.
In the past, Tanya Morgan has been about the act. Every album was like a play for us. The concepts and themes and characters were all about creativity. Making actual cassettes to go with the concept of Moonlighting, city planning-accurate maps to go with Brooklynati, or how Don Cusack was supposed to come in a DVD case and PGHI in a mini 3 ring binder. All that is fun, but It all started to feel like a cute lil high school play to me. To keep that metaphor, I feel like we have to turn this play into a good ass movie in theaters everywhere. Or at least get it on IFC. This EP is meant to serve as a reintroduction. We have always aimed to bring fun and our perspective on life, as well as what we go through as artists. I personally feel like there’s a lot left to say and do that we haven’t even scratched the surface on.
Intro
If you have Brooklynati you know that it starts with “On Our Way†and formally ends with “Just Arrivedâ€. Ilyas Jr. also asks “are we there yet?†throughout the album. I had another one of those “it would be dope if!….naaah†ideas and as usual Don says “lets try that!â€. Just in case its not clear to everyone that hears it: that is in fact Ilyas, the former 3rd member of TM, leaving the group…ON the album intro.
So I get to talking with Il about this intro and how it could be done in a way that metaphorically answers all questions. He was with the idea and further went on to explain how he was going to do an intro from his perspective on his next LP…what happens/where he goes when he gets out of the car. Whats cool about that is we did the same “skit from 2 perspectives on 2 different albums†thing on the Sunlighting mixtape and Moonlighting. He’s always TM regardless. We all are. Our friends Filthy and Aeon said it was sad. Evoked emotion FTW.
Do It Tanya
For people with short attention spans that don’t really want to give us a fair listen anyway, they might just turn the album off after thislikethemarkassbustasthattheyare. I call this the Tommy Boy jam because while it reminds me of “Me Myself & I†(De La, not Beyonce), its really inspired by “Doowutchalike†and “Kiss You Back†by Digital Underground. I think the latter is amazing to this day…both songs sound more like ‘hanging out over music’ than actual songs and that’s what we were aiming for with this one. I’ll explain why it comes back on at the end of the album later.
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