ZapTown

[Article by Danielle Look. All photographs below by Kayla Houssian]

Some photos taken at Classic Cleaners Tan & Laundry in Broad Ripple. All others taken at The Underground Studio 9 in Irvington: http://www.theunderground9studio.com/index.html

Links:
Grey Granite: http://www.greygranitemusic.com/
Heavy Gun Blog: http://heavygun.blogspot.com/

On February 22nd, Grey Granite and producer J. Brookinz dropped their latest labor of love on Indianapolis. Lust Poisons Pride effectively blends Granite’s distinctive electro/hip-hop/dance music with fresh and ultramodern experimental tracks. The album is a milestone for both Granite and Brookinz, as they continue to think outside the box and strive to present Indianapolis with music and sounds they never fathomed from a local artist.

The paragraphs that follow are a brief background of Granite’s expansive place in our community, a springboard that explores what’s unique and different about his music and why it has taken so many people by surprise.

Songs birthed early in Granite’s career such as “Highper”, “Totally Pop’d”, and “The Bar” helped him establish a reputation for catchy beats, articulate raps, and high energy performances. From the beginning, products of the Granite/Brookinz collaboration leveraged on up-tempo music saturated in elements of electronica, pop, and hip hop.

Under the radar, Granite soon recognized his ability to sniff out cutting edge news in music, arts, and entertainment… often weeks or months before hitting public media. Heavy Gun Blog became the host for this knowledge- a tool through which Granite (and a slew of other contributors) could connect to the people who respected their opinions.

Remarkably, all this still wasn’t enough. Granite and Brookinz, overflowing with creative energy, knew it was time to take their art to a new level. Last month, after more than a year of studio labor, Lust Poisons Pride was finally released to the public. Although the album delivers standard tracks that any Grey Granite fan can immediately embrace, it also experiments with abstract beats, ventures into new vocal territory, and requires a certain amount of effort from the listener for interpretation.

Below, Granite and Brookinz help me break down the components of the album and understand the thought process that built it.

DL: How does a song typically develop and come to life in your partnership?
GG: I come up with an idea based on whatever Brookinz is into at the time and pitch it to him.
JB: And then I shoot it down. (laughs)
GG: He shoots it down, but then comes back at me a month later with a beat or some music. Then I write to that and we record. Brookinz plays with it for a while and comes back to me with it, a lot of the time with something that sounds completely different than the original concept.
JB: We’re control freaks.

Control freaks? Maybe. Perfectionists? Definitely. With Lust Poisons Pride, the two played this back-and-forth game of song tossing for more than a year, but ultimately ended with an album that clocks in at just under 30 minutes. On the surface, it appears that a significant amount of time was invested in a project yielding little content in return. But after a third, fourth, or fifth spin of the record one begins to hear a theme in the songs and listen on a much deeper level.

The opening track, “Off Safety”, instantly meets musical expectations with a likable beat that’s perfect for dancing. That’s appropriate since the voice in the song “came to let go” but then found a kink in the plans when unexpected, undesirable company was already at the party. “I hear lies coming from your way. And you won’t back up. Get the fuck out my face,” Granite demands of the nuisance. He continues, “You know what you did and what you put me through. Just because it has wings, don’t make it an angel. I see you now from a different angle.” Obviously channeling the heartache from this relationship-gone-sour to find the strength to move on, the song closes in declaration: My pain is now my power.

DL: This is some form of a concept album, would you agree?
GG: No. Not at all.
JB: I thought it was.
GG: What’s the concept?
JB: (laughs) I’m waitin’ on you to tell me.
DL: So maybe you’re not trying to tell a specific story through a series of songs, but rather guide the listener through a range of emotions?
GG: (looking at the floor, scratching his head) Yea. It’s like, in talking with a dude he’ll tell me about some shit going on in his life. And I’m like “Damn. This story needs to be told.” The songs aren’t about any one person in particular, but really just feelings we can all connect to.

Track two, “The Road”, continues the hypothetical saga as Lust Poisons Pride considers the realization of an end: I’ve had enough. It’s been way too long. I’m out. I know you know its time to go. I’ve broken all these laws. These walls won’t hold. Glum subject matter aside, the song itself is catchy and holds much potential for a hit single off the album.

“Teenage Song” is a brief, minute-long track that holds more mystery than a Sherlock Holmes novel. Synth-heavy, upbeat music is absent as Granite slows down to sing “I’ve never been here but don’t tell me the way. I’ve got this thing in my heart, telling me to stay.” The ambiguity of the song (we never really find out exactly what or who he’s referring to) leaves much room for interpretation, allowing the listener to create a bond with the artist through whatever similar situation they be me engaged in. The track cuts abruptly- “a cliffhanger which will be answered in a subsequent release,” says Granite.

Six songs into the album the tone changes significantly with two minutes of “Bad Honesty”. The track is raw and stripped down to two simple elements: Brookinz’s one-layer experimental beat that mimics a pounding heart and Granite’s voice delivering an unpleasant message. It is here that the truth is told, distressing as it may be.

I might tell you things that break you down
I might do some things that I know are wrong
I might do some things that cut your skin
I might do some things that hurt you

It trails off into a muffled one-sided conversation, mostly an inaudible Granite who sporadically mumbles the word “sorry”. The song is served in a variation of the spoken word format- full of emotion and dependent on the rhythm to which it is delivered. At this turning point in the album, one finally recognizes the goal of Lust Poisons Pride: to connect with the listener on a profound, expressive level. While mainstream music is only skin deep (and thus, widely appealing), Granite and Brookinz strive to take their fans to another dimension of the musical experience. Granite explains:

“It’s like, with ‘Off Safety,’ I don’t see any art in that. A lot of people were expecting me to go one way; to repeat a specific sound. But that mainstream sound, to me, is like someone trying to claw their way out. ‘Make something that sounds like the radio,’ people say to me. ‘You need to make songs that sound like this.’ But when you make something that sounds like the radio, by the time it gets there, it’s already outdated and old news.”

Standout tracks completing the second half of the album include the daringly sultry “Lay You Down” during which Granite promises, “She can’t compare to you- without a doubt! But I guess she could be you… with the lights out.”; “Villian”, another vocal experiment driven by a pounding gong; and “Date With The Future”, a happily-ever-after conclusion to the emotional roller coaster that is Lust Poisons Pride.

When asked who else had important roles in the creation of the album, Brookinz speaks first, explaining that he wouldn’t be doing work at this level of creativity without Granite. Echoing his musical partner, Granite elaborates on their synergy. “Brookinz has helped me to keep doing what’s new. If it wasn’t for him, I wouldn’t be singing instead of just rapping. We like to stay ahead of the curve.”

JB: Push the envelope.
GG: Blaze your own path.
JB: Choose Your Own Adventure, like the books.
GG: What?
JB: Check it out man. You get to a certain point in the story and if you want to go left, you turn to this page. If you want to go right, you turn to a different page.

After a brief session of early 90’s reminiscing about bookmobiles and the Book It reading program (personal pan pizzas and holographic buttons with stickers included), Granite is still shook up over the interactive approach of the Choose Your Own Adventure series. Conversation moves in the direction of bridging the gap between artists and fans.

DL: In a blog entry titled “The 11th Dimension” you declare that “there are so many pivotal moments and important people that play a part in the creation of an album.” The objective of your blog, a separate entity from HeavyGun, is “to allow you [the listener] to walk in and see it all.”
GG: Lust Poisons Pride was released on iTunes with no physical distribution outside of Indianapolis.
JB: Because it’s only been released online, there are no liner notes. Back in the day, you got fold-outs, stories, and pictures when you bought a new record or CD. (pauses) We wanted to get into peoples’ hearts. (pauses again) We wanted to make it like we’re first cousins.

Again, Granite and Brookinz discuss their ultimate desire to connect with their listeners. The Lust Poisons Pride website successfully surpasses this goal by providing the same level of creative insight one would receive with a hard copy of the CD (album artwork, lyrics, credits) and then some (outside feedback, other artists’ interpretation of the album, stories, pictures, and commentary of milestones in the creative process).

In the end, an artist doesn’t make a hit; they create a work of art. Support and conviction are ultimately what will turn that song into a hit. Unfortunately, Lust Poisons Pride has yet to find its way into the hands of believers. Admittedly, it’s unique and avant-garde, but that’s what makes it so amazingly great. Granite cites Brooklyn’s Matt and Kim as an example of musical artists that are an acquired taste. They, along with MGMT and other New York-based experimental rock bands, are not immediately appealing to the average ear. But when placed in the proper environment and exposed to the right level of diversity, it becomes possible to find a niche for almost any kind of music. Perhaps, dare I say, Indianapolis just isn’t ready for the explosive ingenuity of Grey Granite and J. Brookinz.

Before a bigger city with a higher tolerance for abnormal thinking snatches up Lust Poisons Pride and puts these guys on the map, I can only hope that I’m wrong and that Indianapolis opens its eyes and ears to the masterpiece before it.