The Origins of Iconic Images from NYC's Musical History Explained
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COLUMNS COLUMNS LANDMARKS The places, spaces, 16 and monuments of NYC's musical past, THE BRONX present, and future. A column on PAST FEATURED LANDMARKS the gear and FAT BEATS 1 MAX NEUHAUS’ 12 DAPTONE processes that inform “TIMES SQUARE” RECORDS 2 THE THING 13 THE VILLAGE the music we make. in the early 1990s, independent hip-hop was still SECONDHAND GATE!LIFE!LE an underground phenomenon with few major points of STORE POISSON ROUGE distribution. But Joe Abajian, a Bronx native and bud- 3 THE LOFT 14 THE ANCHORAGE ding DJ, saw that as an opportunity. “The birthplace of 4 MARCY HOTEL 15 ELECTRIC LADY STUDIOS as both artists and audience members, hip-hop didn’t have a dedicated hip-hop record store,” 5 ANDY WARHOL’S we’ve come to expect a live-show experience says Abajian. “So I decided to start Fat Beats.” FACTORY 16 CROTONA PARK JAMS to best, or at least match, the intensity of a The first incarnation of Fat Beats was at 323 East 6 QUEENSBRIDGE HOUSES musician’s studio recordings. Easier said than 9th Street. The store opened in 1994, just as the East 1 7 RECORD MART 6 done. New York’s is a Village, after years of decline, was in the grip of gentri- 7 5 Jonathan Kreinik 8 DEITCH live-mix engineer who’s toured with Le Tigre, fication. Abajian had a hunch his store would do well 8 PROJECTS 5 QUEENS Trans Am, the Rapture, the Presets, and Holy there, but as it was a strictly DIY venture, there were no 9 AREA!SHELTER! 7 5 Ghost!, among many others. He explains the guarantees. “Corporations weren’t capitalizing on the VINYL challenges of making dance bands work in art yet,” he says. But there was another way of getting 10 STUDIO B 15 2 11 MARKET HOTEL 13 live settings. word out to fans: namely Stretch and Bobbito’s influ- 10 3 ential radio show, which aired on WKCR from 1990 to 9 8 8 RBMA: A lot of dance bands end up playing 1998. “Bobbito actually came down during our open- MANHATTAN rock clubs. What kinds of problems do you run ing party, and he was shouting it out that night [on his 12 up against? show],” says Abajian. 4 After just two years, Fat Beats outgrew the 9th Street 14 Jonathan Kreinik: The impression is sup- location, so Abajian moved it to a second-floor space at 12 11 posed to be that it’s a dance club. A lot of times 406 Sixth Avenue, where it prospered. Artists like the it’ll be on a night when there is a crew of DJs X-Men, Cash Money, Funkmaster Flex, and even Em- that are playing before and after [a band]. Peo- inem would come by the shop. Satellite stores soon LOGOS ple are very used to [that loudness], and all of a opened in LA, Tokyo, Amsterdam, and Atlanta. The sudden it literally shrinks down to this very or- New York store—atop the 24-hour Bagel Buffet and just ganic sounding thing where the sound comes a few blocks from the PATH and West 4th Street sub- at you from one spot. Either we have to make way station—always had ample foot traffic. But one gets WHAT: FAT BEATS The origins of the DJs a little quiet, or we have to make the the sense that had Abajian located Fat Beats in the Far WHERE: GREENWICH band sound like a mastered record. Rockaways, hip-hop fans still would have found it. As VILLAGE iconic images from the Village Voice wrote in 2010, “Fat Beats didn’t just sell WHY: INDEPENDENT HIP-HOP RECORD SHOP RBMA: And you choose the latter. records—it created a community.” NYC's musical history But it was too much too soon, says Abajian, and with WHEN: 1994-2010 JK: What I end up doing as a matter of prac- the downturn in the economy, some business missteps, explained. tice is to do multiple compressors like you’re and the ascendance of all things digital, Fat Beats’ indie doing a record, so that by the time you get empire suffered. The New York location was the last to STATEN ISLAND to stereo, everything is kind of managed in a close, to much chagrin, in 2010. BROOKLYN nervous records founder Michael Weiss hero character in the DJ world,” says Weiss. bombastic and delicate way at the same time. I The physical store may be gone, but the store still grew up with the music business in his “This was before DJs were considered the don’t want any headroom. A SebastiAn record exists online, and Abajian has held a few Fat Beats isn’t going to sound like it has headroom. It’s Experience pop-up shops in his warehouse and office blood—his father was a record distributor massive stars they are now. But in my world, just maxed out. It’s not necessarily the most space in Dumbo, using pieces of the old store: the DJ who also ran a disco label called Sam the independent NYC dance label scene, DJs beautiful sound, but when you’re standing in booth, posters, light boxes. “They went really well,” Aba- Records. That Weiss might end up starting and producers were our stars.” the middle of the room, it kind of is. jian says. “I’ll probably do them again in the future.” !ADRIENNE DAY his own label around his generation’s dance Weiss knew an art director at EMI/ RBMA: Do you think volume can affect peo- music—hip-hop and house, by artists such Chrysalis named Marc Cozza who had done ple’s attention? as Black Moon, Todd Terry, Armand van some covers for Sam Records, whom he JK: People have a tendency to talk during Helden, and Masters At Work—was an easy asked to design a logo. “My first and only shows. It’s hard. One way to defeat that is just bet, certainly nothing to be nervous about. So idea was to create an iconic character that to make it really fucking loud. When you’re dealing with a band that makes dance mu- why the name? “Before I launched Nervous could live on its own, without even using sic, people are more inclined to stop and chat Records I was promoting hip-hop tracks for the word ‘nervous,’” says Cozza. “I was with their neighbor when they start to become a different label, and I was a bit hyperactive channeling George Herriman’s self-aware—when they’re not immersed in this Krazy Kat whole thing. TOP 5… in my approach. I used to bring records to and also the Superwest comic books. At the NYC MUSIC ZINES a well-known hip-hop DJ named Chuck time, the Arsenio Hall flat-top hairstyle was RBMA: Live drums seem like the hardest thing to get right for dance music. 1 2 3 4 5 Chillout on WBLS. I would go up there at in vogue and I thought of the idea of having DINGUS AD HOC 1.21 GIGAWATTS THE REPORT NUTS! An online zine (soon A collective of ten A bimonthly arts and This biannual music A monthly zine based 11:30pm on Friday nights and was very a speeding record buzz the top off of the JK: When you think about it, a lot of these to be in print) that tastemaking music music magazine made and culture journal in NYC after starting really cool drum sounds on records are these PRESENTED BY looks at the DIY blogs from around the by Brooklyn-based (started by music in Olympia Washing- insistent that Chuck play my songs before character’s afro, leaving him shaking but music culture around world, Ad Hoc focuses artists and focused blogger Michael Mc- ton. Nuts! #11, out weirdly defeated drum kits. They’ve been made the world with an em- on emerging artists on the New York music Gregor) is a multi- in April, features the show ended at midnight. He would call with a perfect haircut.” to submit. It doesn’t sound like the guy’s beat- phasis on the fringe that characterize the scene. Every is- media bundle that interviews with Hank me Captain Nervous ’cause I was always so The first logo was circular, since it was ing the shit out of the drums at all. But when underground. grassroots music cul- sue includes a free brings together Wood and the Hammer- you get a brand-new kit shipped from SIR, Newtown is more than just another Internet radio ture. It’s a quarter- downloadable playlist experimental artists, heads, La Misma, and nervous that the show would end before he designed with vinyl in mind, and used station. Our goal is to redefine what you hear dingusonmusic.com ly zine, available in as well as an origi- writers, musicians, Deformity, plus giant and you get the drum tech to tune it up like on the radio, from new local artists to hot indie electronic and paper nal piece of artwork. and visual art- fold-out posters by had a chance to play my song.” a simple sans-serif font. In 2004, Weiss it’s “supposed to sound,” to me that just sounds tracks and undiscovered classics. In the same way formats, and full of The staff met while ists into a singular Sam Ryser and Heather like shit. It sounds like a jazz-fusion record that early punk fanzines provided a necessary al- original artwork and interning at Paper package of books, Benjamin, wild news, The logo Weiss commissioned for his had it updated to better suit the digital ternative to mass media, Newtown Radio offers new long-form features.