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Ape Records launches with 2 incredible new music videos.
Marina Maximilian’s My Boy
Ukraine-born singer, songwriter, and actress Marina Maximilian emigrated to Israel at the age of three. She studied with her mother, a classical pianist, sang in choirs, attended a music conservatory, and by the age of fifteen was performing in front of thousands at the Red Sea Jazz Festival.
Being a star comes with some baggage – like personal managers with high expectations. “That can create artificial pressure when we’re making songs, because everyone expects a hit,” Muskat explains. But the combination of Maximilian’s humility and undeniable talent makes all the tension disappear. “Every time we’re in the studio together, the music always comes out a bit off-center, and everyone starts getting worried,” Muskat laughs. “But the proof is in the end result.”
Maximilian and Muskat wanted a vintage-sounding sample for ‘My Boy’, so the producer recorded and re-recorded into a tape machine until he found the perfectly damaged sound. “Tamir is really inspiring to work with,” Marina says. “He has an amazing brain. I learn so much every time.”
So where did the lyrics come from? “Tamir’s crazy beat painted a scene in my head, some mysterious environment with lots of action and movement,” Marina says. The singer was several months pregnant while working on the single. “My unborn baby was always on my mind,” she says. Through the writing process, Marina discovered the theme: carrying love from the inside to the outside. “I felt the melody should be a bit childish and repetitive. I guess the song is about the adventure that is life, but also the hidden dangers.”
“Shooting the video was a bit weird. I was very pregnant,” Marina remembers. “But I wasn’t worried because I knew I was in good hands.” The video also features Muskat’s son, Ilya, playing a marching drum. “We both felt that Ilya could represent the idea of the imaginative kid, the one that is in Marina’s head,” Muskat says.
Can music change the world? “Yes! Music is magic,” Marina says. Every time we let a song into our hearts, it alters us. In such a crazy world, I think creating change through positive energy is critical. Music rises above all the differences that divide us as humans. Music brings people together through beat and harmony.”
You can watch this music video in our video box at the side.
Loco Hot’s I’m A Tribe
Loco Hot is a duo comprised of producer / drummer Tamir Muskat and singer Gilad Kahana. Born in Mexico, vocalist, composer, and author Kahana is the founder and lead singer of Girafot, a critically acclaimed Israeli rock band who went gold in 2006.
Loco Hot’s 2014 debut album burst onto the scene through the back door. The duo avoided radio and mainstream media, instead developing their own ground-breaking tools to mount a viral campaign which generated millions of hits. “Magazines and blogs kept talking about our bizarre methods,” Muskat says. “It totally changed the game, especially coming from two established artists like us.”
A-Wa
A-Wa (the Arabic word for ‘yes’) is a band of three sisters who fuse Yemenite traditional music with hip-hop and electronica – a style they call Yemenite Folk’n’Beat. Born in a desert commune, the Haim sisters were raised on the music of their Yemenite grandparents.
When the lead singer of Balkan Beat Box, Tomer Yosef, heard the Haim’s demo, he joined as producer, and immediately put the band into the studio. The video for A-Wa’s debut single ‘Habib Galbi’ (‘Love of My Heart’) went viral world-wide, while becoming the first ever song in Arabic to hit number one on the Israeli pop charts. Following concert tours of Europe and America, A-Wa began work with Loco Hot on ‘I’m a Tribe’.
‘I’m a Tribe’
The song was jump-started by Kahana’s English lyrics, which A-Wa translated into Yemenite – riding on a custom Muskat beat. Kahana says his words originated from the idea that humanity is one tribe – despite the fact that societies can seem fragmented. A-Wa agrees: “We wanted to remind people of the true essence of why we are here: Love and unity.”
The ‘drop’ (instrumental melody) was created by Muskat editing A-Wa’s voices into a synth sound, then re-playing it like an instrument. From there on, A-Wa recalls, “We all worked together in the studio, brainstorming and developing the melodic structure.” Kahana plays with lyrics as adeptly as Muskat manipulates beats and samples. “He’s a master of his craft,” Muskat says. “So working with him on ideas is amazing. Great stories just flow out of him!”
You can catch this music video here – https://goo.gl/icztWh
“APE Records is like a musical family for us,” A-Wa agrees. “So the collaboration was natural and inspiring. The way we worked in the studio opened up new channels and ideas, which we will definitely use making our next album.”
APE Records:
Of the newly founded label that plans to only release singles APE’s unconventional business model is mirrored in founder Tamir Muskat’s unorthodox creative method. Songs are created spontaneously in the studio by artist and producer, with nothing prepared in advance. “Since the singles are stand-alone – not locked-in to an album concept – it gives us the freedom to go into uncharted territory,” Muskat explains. “We want to surprise ourselves, and the listener. That’s the goal. That’s the APE sound!” The Balkan Beat Box star further explains, “A song is words and a beat – it’s that simple,” says Muskat. “It’s been that way since people were living in caves. Call it hip-hop, call it what you want. Returning to the primal source and bringing back something new – that’s what APE is about.”
With these and another release to follow before the end of 2016 APE Records do not appear to be monkeying around.
Marina Maximilian ‘My Boy’ and Loco Hot featuring A-Wa ‘I’m A Tribe’ are released on APE Records on November 11th 2016.