Inventive ideation is something that all humans strive to achieve. Toddlers do it, as they press their pant covered fingers on construction paper to form their Mona Lisas. Teenagers do it, as they write the perfect college essay hoping it’s the one that gets that scholarship. Adults do it, as they materialize the modus operandi for their company. No matter the stage in life, human nature is to create, but most of us won’t ever ideate in ways that will influence culture. Fortunately for us, the gifted ones rise above to speak the murmurs of our souls and emotions.
One such artist with a renowned sense of invention is bad tuner, which becomes clearer than the skies above Tuscany with a singular listen of his new record, “Weather Report”. It’s his followup to the creative spectacle Operational Interference, an album that is a collaboration with Ian Urbina, a New York Times investigative journalist, which sees bad tuner utilize excerpts from his interviews and sounds derived from The Outlaw Ocean project. The album is so profoundly cool that I wish I could rewind time to experience it for the first time again. It’s no wonder TOKiMONSTA has plans to have him support her on the Oasis Nocturno Experience, brought him on-board for the Young Art Sound II compilation with his “Yerba Ti“, and is now releasing “Weather Report” on her label, Young Art Records.
Similar to Operational Interfencer, bad tuner weaves and chops his own production work with audio samples from a late-night weather report to give us the aptly named, “Weather Report”. The spell-bounding sound design has a natural flow that it envelops you and entrances your body to move in rhythm. Around the flow, is an intricate array of rich sounds that culminates in an aural mosaic. The perfect elixir for the ears, mind, and body.
In conjunction with the release, bad tuner has also released a spectacular accompaniment. A music video that features Risa Morales, a specialist in Bone-Breaking Flex, which saw her featured by New York Magazine. Her mesmerizing movements around the nocturnal cityscape harmonize flawlessly with “Weather Report”. It’s as if she’s become one with the beat and sounds of the song and is able to convey the necessary movements to express it visually. Simply, the perfect complement.
To help us better understand “Weather Report” bad tuner provided us with the following insight:
Weather Report was crafted from a late night weather broadcast chopped up around breakbeat drums. The chords came naturally, channeling the nostalgic sound of the Yamaha DX7. From there I played a rolling 303 style bass line that opens up into a driving house chorus with layered 808 claps and 909 hi-hats. This song craved a visual component so I reached out to my friend Risa, a New York-based flex dancer and we explored Chinatown with her moving to the sounds of Weather Report. The video was shot by Brooklyn based cinematographer Patrick Elmore.
