funk gumbo 5 - analogue transit - david l. $money train$ watts & howard hobson - funk gumbo radio

8/6/2019 FUNK GUMBO 5 - Analogue Transit - David L. $Money Train$ Watts & Howard Hobson - Funk Gumbo Radio

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FUNK GUMBO RADIO - http://www.live365.com/stations/sirhobson

Funk Gumbo Radio is proud that indie rock duo Analogue Transit has done

our Funk Gumbo 5. Analogue Transits debut album on iTunes is called ATR.

BIO:The name speaks for itself: Analogue Transit represents the transition of sound fromanalog to digital. The members of the group, Kwaku Aning and Jeff Shreiner, have takenthe basis for their sound and christened themselves with it. The Brooklyn-based duo,however, is more than just a catchy name. Artistically methodical in their approach, thetwo musicians incorporate both analog and digital techniques to make music that isprogressive and forward-thinking without losing the lovingly hand-crafted touch of analog

production. To be clear, though, this is not the tired battle of old school vs. new school.Rather, Analogue Transit place themselves in an alternate universe where the old and newco-exist, engaging in a seamless dialog uninterrupted by disputes between generations andthings lost in transition.

Analogue Transits debut ATR marks the realization of a concept several years in its

formation. The album strongly showcases the individual talents of the band members who,after five years of working together on various projects, stripped down their personnel andtheir approach and produced an album of power and grace. ATR is a marriage in whichneither partner eclipses the other; both the art of the process and the beauty of the endproduct are equally present.

Kwaku Aning

Mild-mannered music teacher by day, Kwaku plays lead guitar andlends his salt and pepper vocals to the recorded music, which is thenimprovised and reiterated on stage

Jeff Shreiner

Jeff is the production wunderkind that pushes and pulls sounds intoshapes, helping them achieve equilibrium

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FUNK GUMBO56-15-2011 - Written By: David L. $Money Train$ Watts & Howard HobsonFunk Gumbo Radio

Funk Gumbo1: Since Analogue Transit embodies the transitionfrom analog to digital how is that reflected in your music and do you

feel any burden to be digital music activists that shun traditional

corporate label deals and CD sales driven music distribution

methods?

Kwaku:That is an interesting issue b/c corporate label model has been proven to fail forartists, in fact we were signed for 2 years and it didn't really help us that much. I don't see

anything wrong with selling as many cd's or mp3's as you can but I don't feel that should

determine an artists value in the music industry.

Jeff: With that being said, we are talking about two different things, the music and the

medium. We embrace all the available mediums such as CD, Digital download, Vinyl,

etc.,...However we still keep the focus on the music and try not to let such limitations

prevent and or box us in to any one thing. At this point Analog and digital have become one

for us. They are tools and nothing more. We have had more success connecting with people

at shows and performing than selling our music digitally. At any moment that couldchange...and thats fine with me.

Funk Gumbo2: Was there any initial disagreement that AnalogueTransit was too cerebral or esoteric a name for a new band? And

were there other alternative group names that you seriously

considered before you both agreed on this one?

Kwaku: I feel that we've had that debate about several aspects of this band but at the end

of the day we want this band to represent who we are as people and that includes our silly

side and our cerebral side. Before choosing this name we were toying with "Rapid Audio

Response" but we decided against it because I had used that name with a previous band

and we wanted a name to represent the kind of music we were creating not just something

that sounded cool.

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Jeff: We haven't had any real disagreements. There was a time when we both said "whatare we going to call this". Like Kwaku said, we did toy with some other names however

Analogue Transit seemed to really stick for us.

Funk Gumbo3: How does working a 9 to 5 job influence yourmusic or your long term career goals being artists?

Kwaku: It has made me more business minded. A few years ago I would play every gig

that was offered to us. But having a 9-5 makes you examine the bottom line a little more

(i.e. Where is the gig, how much does it cost to get there, Will we make fans or play to anempty room, is it more beneficial for us to stay home and work on new music) We want to

have a career in music so it has made me treat music as more of a profession.

Jeff: In ways it makes me sad, knowing that the thing I love (music) is patiently waiting toconsume my every day. It becomes hard to find the energy and the will to come home after

an exhausting day and be creative. Finding time to sleep and eat right becomes more of a

priority.

In other ways it is exhilarating to leave the job or take off for a gig or work on a new

production. Totally immersing myself into another word. Its a tough balancing act to staysane and I don't recommend it.

Funk Gumbo4: What do you think are the pros and cons with somany singers today trying to achieve overnight music stardom on

popular music reality TV shows like American Idol, The Voice or

the upcoming "X-Factor"?



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Kwaku: The shows are a double edged sword. From one perspective it gives musicians anamazing opportunity to showcase their talents to a large audience. Additionally we have

friends who have been working musicians for a long time and this process has really helped

them launch their careers. The other side of this is that some of these shows turn music into

a beauty contest (i.e. those who look good on camera are the ones who are successful on

these shows) At the end of the day if the artists is good than I think they should use

whatever means necessary to get their music out there.

Jeff: The pro is you get noticed/ recognition from a very large audience. The con, most

people are not ready for the scale of recognition either talent wise or mentally. Also it reallydilutes the music scene. Those type of shows put average singers and performers out on the

biggest stages with some of the best musicians all in the name of the mighty dollar. In

doing so, a certain specialness is lost to the craft. It's more of a mockery to the artists out

there. However its a means to an end for certain people. At the end of the day,

entertainment is a business and those shows are a gigantic force in the music industry

today.

Funk Gumbo5: Can you describe the creative process in AnalogueTransit? And is writing your lyrics and producing your music a 50/50

collaborative process?

Kwaku: This band is great b/c it is a 50/50 process and the process happens in differentways. We can each come in w/a song basically written or we can come in w/parts which we

work on together. Since Jeff has an engineering background he produces most of the music

and asks me for my feedback before we finish a song. As far as lyrics go, sometimes Jeff

writes lyrics and I add to them like on "Breathe", sometimes we sit down and work on

them together, but most of the time I write the lyrics and get feedback from Jeff.

Jeff: The process is, there is no process. Theres no calculation or formula behind what we

do. Most of it happens by chance. Kwaku and I have been writing songs long enough that

we know how to do it. We have either a feeling of what we want at that exact moment and

go from there, or there is a recurring idea that we hash out to make sense of in song

format. We both have a basic understanding of what a song should be...from start to finish

is always an interesting journey and almost never sounds the way it did from the start.



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ANALOGUE TRANSIT

www.analoguetransit.com

http://www.analoguetransit.com/mailto:[email protected]://www.funkgumbo.com/http://www.funkgumbo.com/mailto:[email protected]://www.analoguetransit.com/

funk gumbo 5 - analogue transit - david l. $money train$ watts & howard hobson - funk gumbo radio

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