Issue 30
You already know what it is: Miles Davis. The FADER is first and foremost a magazine about emerging music, but lately we haven't been able to escape the mystical, mercurial spectre of the man: his name's been coming up in our interviews as an influence on musicians-emerging musicians-across a range of genres. At the same time, though, there's a kind of pernicious silence around the music of the man himself... a kind of fundamental lack of digging on the dude-as if wilding out and/or getting twisted and/or making crazy love to his musical vision wasn't a fundamental experience we all need to have. Because ours is a magazine that prefers to suggest rather than merely dictate, we reached out to musicians we respect and asked them to share an experience with a Miles Davis song or album. If the responses came in as a multivalent conversation about the life and legend of the man then perhaps that might be one angle on Miles's legacy-a legacy that's very much alive.
KNOX ROBINSON
Cover: Miles Davis
Polyrhythms
"He had done everything he could do in the realm of 'jazz.' The fact is, Miles came to grips with one thing: if you are going to change the music, you have to have access to new sounds." —Mtume
Cover: Miles Davis, Part 2
Under The Influence
"With Miles Davis, the art form was the evolution and through that he pissed a lot of people off—as soon as you finally understand what he's doing, he changes it." —John Mayer
Feature 1: Aotearoa
Maori Youth
"The Maori are very free souls, they're very alive; they aren't sitting at home watching TV. They're in the natural world—the ocean and the outdoors."
Feature 2: Thrasher Latinos
Metaleros
"A lot of the people in bands are first generation immigrants, and they work as dishwashers or in construction. The show is very much like a group of friends getting together to play. After four or five concerts, you realize it's all the same people: you recognize them and they recognize you."
Feature 3: LA Gangs
Playboys
With one of the biggest visual records ever produced on how the members live, grow and die, Yager's images have become an epic narrative about life in a West that is still very wild.
Feature 4: Grime
Open Mic
"It's still underground, but now there are more people involved. Every day the kids are getting more hungry; more confident."
Feature 5: Robert Taylor Projects
Villain City
"The only time we as Americans talk about race, class, or poverty is when there is a crisis. A trial. A riot. A beating."
+ GEN F:
Spoon / Roots Manuva / LDA / Out Hud / Hot Chip / Mike Jones / J*Davey
+ FASHION:
Jamaican Root Down Direct From Kingston.
+ VINYL ARCHEOLOGY:
Black Sabbath
A Closer Look at the Later Catalogue of Black Sabbath with Steve Pestana of SHOUT!
