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The annual international collaborative album created by Diles at Central Root in Albuquerque, NM. Presented by Visceral View Entertainment this series continues to deliver timely music each year with vibes and topics encapsulating the specific time period during the creation of each project. Much like a batch of green Chile every year offers subtle differences but overall you can begin to expect a certain frequency when playing these records. Speaking of frequency this is the 8 consecutive year of the project which makes it the longest standing series to come out of New Mexico and perhaps ever. Having featured artists from around the USA and more than 6 countries around the world, GCITA is starting to show promise as a true export of New Mexican flavor and vibe. This year stays true to the series being a platform for emerging artists and veteran professionals all at once. Most notably are features from Moka Only (founder of Swollen Members/Battle Axe Records which sold hundreds of thousands of records and won consecutive Juno awards which are the Canadian Grammy equivalent) and Scarub of the famed Living Legends crew who were pioneers in early underground Hip-Hop music worldwide. Also, Illuminati Congo is a notable name and upcoming artist who has emerged as one of Hip-Hop/Reggae’s freshest voices with a prolific work ethic. Rounding out the album is mostly the hometown hero cast of Ras Elijah Tafari, Hakim Be, Ras Illy, Laura Cruz, Simatic, Eli Del Puerto, and Kayohes. Also, Po.10.Cee from Taos, NM brought some authentic New Mexico vibes, Alphounce Wolfe from neighboring Phoenix, AZ contributed a verse and also a new voice in Keren Kmanwey from Havana who brought some Cuban flavor to the project. Another batch for the freezer!

#WhatTheThelonius

Concept by Molina Speaks
Produced by Diles for Visceral View Entertainment

Vocals performed by Molina Speaks and guest emcees
Beats and Mixing by Diles
Mastered by DJ Icewater

All tracks recorded in Denver in 2014 in the spirit of Jazz and Hip-Hop improvisation.

1. #WhatTheThelonius features guest vocals by Ill Seven and Yuzo Nieto on Saxaphone. Written, recorded and improvised start-to-finish to Diles beat in a two-hour studio session at Dryer Plug Studios, October 2014.

2. #Check features guest vocals by Mike Wird, Asia Fajardo on Saxaphone, and Chris G on Flute. Written, recorded and improvised from scratch including beat in a two hour studio session at Cherry Sound Studios, February 2014.

3. #TimePiece features Randy Runyan on Trumpet. Written, recorded and improvised start-to-finish to Diles beat in a two-hour studio session at Dryer Plug Studios, August 2014.

4. #Hustle features Joshua Trinidad on Trumpet. Horns recorded at the end of #WhatTheThelonius session at Dryer Plug Studios, lyrics written in a 30-minute stream-of-consciousness session on a Wednesday morning at sunrise, then recorded in a 90-minute studio session at Late Nite Studios.
credits
released 02 October 2014

The second installment from Diles’ Instrumental series “Adobe Starship”. Staying true to the Visceral View motto, “Conviction arising from one’s mental or spiritual being, obtained through intuition rather than reasoning.” This album is a collection of instrumentals made on the spot and from scratch with a lot of improvisation and lack of revision or editing. A diverse, yet cohesive, blend of spacey, melodic-synth riffs, “in the pocket” programmed drums and smooth simple bass lines. The use of organic percussion sounds, nature, insects, and effects were all implemented during the recording process. “Please prepare your synesthesia kit…. we are about to enter a wormhole…” Bienvenidos a bordo the Adobe Starship.

Special bonus track featuring Chris Brennan from ¡Reviva!

Songwriter/MC and performer Bianca Mikahn is back with the release of her latest EP NightDreams & DayMares on November 19th. The record, a Visceral View Entertainment release is a collaboration that came together between Mikahn and New Mexico producer Diles.

Arriving in New Mexico in June of 2013, only one song from NightDreams & DayMares had been written. Escaping numerous hard situations back in the Mile High City, Mikahn used her studio time with Diles as cathartic release and emotional exercise.

The trip to New Mexico was a spiritual retreat of sorts and the result is an EP about foresight, redemption and the explosion of creativity. Mikahn is a swordswoman of words and uses her lyrics to create stories from the deep recesses of her mind. The majority of the album was written in the daytime and recorded at night, yet the stories began to take on an inverted nature, hence the word mashup. NightDreams & DayMares was recorded and mixed at Central Root Studios by Diles and mastered by DJ Icewater.

The album, written from the place of a wild woman on a quest for inspiration and understanding, is chock full of stellar production and, as Mikahn calls it, “deeply magical” sentiment.

This is the third edition of the annual album GreenChileInTheAir by Albuquerque producer Diles, with Visceral View Entertainment and Central Root Studios (Central Root Music Group, LLC). Volume two featured artists from around the Southwest, Midwest, and West coast regions highlighted by artists such as Anacron, Idris Goodwin, Carlos Contreras and Kevin Coval. This year’s batch ended up connecting with artists on a global scale. GreenChileInTheAir Vol.3 features artists from Vancouver, Los Angeles, Denver, Colorado Springs, Trinidad and Tobago, Gabon, and of course Albuquerque. Featuring the likes of artists such as modern renaissance artist Anacron, The prolific underground Hip-Hop legend Moka Only, critically acclaimed poet, author, MC, and playwright Idris Goodwin, Albuquerque Poet Laureate Hakim Bellamy, Bianca Mikahn, Kayohes, Jungle One and many more.
Diles compiled 90% of the songs between August and October 2013 during “Chile Season”. Most of the songs were recorded at Central Root Studios in Albuquerque, NM. It is an eclectic mix of modern Hip Hop while still staying true to Diles’ notorious blend of nostalgic golden age vibe and dark traditional boom bap styles. The wide array of artists, locations in which they reside, and cultures they represent, along with the mix of Spanish, French, and English languages add to the underlying emphasis that Hip Hop can unite people and offer a common “language” to all. It is also fitting due to Albuquerque being such an ethnic melting pot and international destination, as well as our recent global recognition from Hit T.V. show Breaking Bad (Which is also a theme for the artwork on GCITA3).
Much more music to come soon from Diles, Visceral View, and Central Root. Albums with artists Bianca Mikahn (“Nightdreams and Daymares” due to release Nov 19, 2013), Kayohes (“Zia Sun 16 Bars” due to release early 2014), Hakim Be, Asliani, and Jungle One are already in motion and several nearly finished and due for release in near future. Diles also has several instrumental albums in the works and expected for release in early 2014 including “Adobe Starship Volume 2.”

With more than 35 years and 100 titles to its credit, West End Press is fiercely independent publishing house founded in New Your City and now based in Albuquerque, NM. Joining a roster of distinguished West End Authors (such a Pablo Neruda and Meridel le Sueur), Albuquerque Poet Laureate Hakim Bellamy was also founded in the Northeast and now based in Albuquerque.

Though West End Press invited Bellamy to submit a manuscript many months before Bellamy was selected as Albuquerque’s first poet laureate, SWEAR is in print eleven months into his two-year appointment. With a book release party and reading announcement coming soon, here is what West End Press had to say about its newest author:

In his debut collection of hard-hitting poems, Albuquerque Poet Laureate Hakim Bellamy addresses the issues important to our day—politics, work, and art. Bellamy moves from a free-thinking attitude of deliverance to a provocative new space where the reader can reflect on the poet’s inquisition of the 1%, working class life in urban and rural America, and the transcendent value of hip hop as one of our top exports and global contributions.

Here are a few endorsements of the book:

SWEAR politicizes the human condition in a manner that balances the abstract with the concrete. Bellamy’s work is polemic like Amiri; satiric like Nietzsche; iconoclastic like Mao; passionate like Neruda. Ministering without preaching, Bellamy’s sense of metaphor whistle-blows on the top-down without fear of consequence.

Bruce George
Co-Founder of Russell Simmons Def Poetry Jam on HBO

Hakim Bellamy is a man engaged with the world. His words are more direct than lyrical. His poems are warning signs, headlines and prescriptions. From government to Occupy-the economic and political blues finds Bellamy wearing Langston’s hat and coat. Here is the same type of urgency Hughes felt in the 1930s after the Harlem Renaissance. Today our eyes turn to Albuquerque. SWEAR will tell you what’s coming next.

E. Ethelbert Miller
Author, activist, and director of the African American Center at Howard University
For more endorsements and information (including the electronic press kit) about SWEAR, visit beyondpoetryink.com Distributed by University of New Mexico Press, review copies and author interviews can be requested from West End Press by contacting Amanda Sutton at Amanda@westendpress.org. For more information on Hakim Bellamy, please visit hakimbe.com