“Count To Five” Makes Its Video Debut on VH1Soul

Count To Five VH1Soul

It’s always better when you get to watch it on TV. I’m just as hyped up as I was when I first saw “This Could Be The Night” on Vh1 Soul for the first time three years ago almost to the day (February 14, 2011)… Trust me, this never gets old. Shouts to everyone involved, particularly Phonte, Gwen Bunn, Kenneth Price, Darion Alexander, Chris Boerner, Nick Baglio, and Aimee Flint for pushing the video through the process.

It will be shown on Vh1 Soul’s Sub Soul program.

Watch “Count To Five” Here via YouTube

Zo! Interview in Indy Week (Raleigh-Durham, NC) (July 25, 2013)

Interview: Zo! talks new album ManMade, DIY R&B and happy accidents

Author: Brandon Soderberg
Source: Indy Week

Lorenzo Ferguson, or Zo!, as he’s known to fans, released his new album ManMade — a rakish collection of house and ghettotech-tinged slow jams — back in May. It’s another idiosyncratic and uncompromising release from Foreign Exchange Music, fueled by intense collaborations between Zo! and the Foreign Exchange’sPhonte Coleman (credited as writer and producer). The second single, “Count to Five” featuring Gwen Bunn and Phonte, is propulsive soul-pop about real-life concerns like anxiety and transition. And don’t miss the charming video, which pays homage to the ’70s era of Sesame Street when the kid’s show was almost activist in its embrace of multiculturalism and positive vibes. We spoke over the phone about the new album, being doggedly independent while the music industry crumbles, “jheri curl music,” and even afforded some music nerd trivia about ’80s softies Mr. Mister. Zo! is celebrating the release of ManMade at the Casbah in Durham tonight along with the exploratory jazz trio the Hot at Nights.

READ FULL ARTICLE HERE

“Count To Five” in One Small Seed

#BOTTOMRIGHTCORNER: THE CONTRIBUTOR EDITION

Source: One Small Seed
Author: Kelly Frazier

Every week we compile a selection of music to sing you into the weekend and list them in a post called#bottomrightcorner. Sometimes new tunes, sometimes themed tunes and sometimes we ask a music aficionado to choose the tunes for us. This week, we hand over the selection process to our unofficial Detroit contributor, Mr Kelly ‘K-Fresh’ Frazier. Kelly has been sort of a ‘jack-of-all-trades’ in the Detroit hip-hop scene for the past decade. As the years have gone by, his focus has been that of a tastemaker for not only the hip-hop scene in Detroit, but of the whole music scene. Here’s five of his recent favourite tracks – enjoy and stay posted for upcoming interviews by Kelly over the next few weeks!

READ FULL ARTICLE HERE

Studio Campfire Stories: ‘ManMade’ Edition – “We Are On The Move” (feat. Eric Roberson, Gwen Bunn & Sy Smith)

Eric-Roberson-575-2011

Those who know me and my preferred musical tastes are fully aware of how much love the music catalog of the great Leon Sylvers III. As a kid, there were two albums that I would run REPEATEDLY… Shalamar’s “Three For Love” and “Friends” where Mr. Sylvers was the producer on both. Matter of fact, I used to love anything on that Solar Records label ….Why? Because not only was there some great music being released through them, but I used to get a kick out of how dope the vinyl label looked as it was spinning around on the turntable. That alone would fascinate me for at least a song or two… Once I got older, picked up the bass guitar and revisited some of these songs that I grew up with I noticed that the basslines within Leon Sylvers’ production work were pretty challenging. The bass is so noticeable that instead of playing a supportive role, it’s damn near carrying the entire tune. When I found out that he was also the one playing these lines?!… I got SUPER inspired. So much so that his work was added to my “go to” list in regards to shedding on the bass (Jamerson’s work, some disco jams, and various mid and up-tempo 70’s/80’s songs are my other “go tos”). So one day I was messing around on the bass and kinda thought to myself, “I don’t even have an uptempo ‘jheri curl jam’ in my catalog… It would at least be FUN to try and construct one.”

“We Are On The Move” began on the bass… It was actually the only song on ManMade that I wrote on the bass guitar. I wanted the bassline to move, be playful….but remain funky – I wanted it to “carry” the record. A good number of uptempo records from the late 70’s/early 80’s have very memorable basslines and I wanted this one to be no different… PLUS, I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want to show off my bass playing a little bit. A lot of folks aren’t aware that I play anything outside of the keys. ……Soooooo with that being said, I wanted to make sure to add in a guitar part in there as well. What it ended up becoming was 30 seconds of me playing two instruments that most of my listeners don’t even know I play… bass and guitar. Once the keys roll up into the first chord, that’s a clear indication of jheri curl juice beginning to be flung freely from that “yellow bottle” saturated moistness of a hairdo a/k/a …the official start of the party.

The original instrumental for this joint was titled “Eighty Three” as in the year 1983 for obvious reasons. The music for the joint literally took me back to that particular era. I can remember playing this one for everybody in The Foreign Exchange live collective at my house the night before we hit the Capital Jazz Fest stage last year and from their reactions to the just the music, I could tell that I had something pretty special on my hands. Once the crew and I returned hom from that early/mid June 2012 +FE run, Phonte and I got to work. Phonte was sent the instrumental and immediately sent me a vocal referenced version back. We had ideas…. We had HUGE ideas. And they seemed to come through for this one piece by piece….

First of all, I think I let out a clear, “OH SHIT!!” when I heard Gwen Bunn hit that “Get ready!!” on the hook because I didn’t tell Phonte exactly where I pulled inspiration from to create the music, yet he wrote an almost Shalamar-inspired hook for it providing me with further evidence as to why we work so well in that studio. We had a couple of challenges in getting a lead vocalist, that is until we turned to the brotha Eric Roberson. Now as busy as Erro remains with EVERYTHING, he always seems to have time for our music and it’s a blessing to have a kat that talented in your corner – especially since I was a fan of his before we started working together. Now he has appeared on my last THREE albums (ManMade, …just visiting three & SunStorm). Phonte hit Erro up with the reference and he turned it around in less than a week… I mean, the dude is a PROFESSIONAL and I love working with him for that very reason. He simply gets the music, walks in a studio, murders it, sends it back to you, and keeps it moving like nothing ever happened…. But right before the final lead vocal was done on it, Phonte said, “Ive got an idea for the ending… just give me a minute.” …..Ok, bet. Now, I admit I can be a bit impatient sometimes. So I created an ending of my own…. One that has a few percussion instruments on it and once the song is completely over, it breaks off into a SECOND part… and that was cool. But one morning at about 6am, I got one of those, “G MUTHAFUCKIN MAIL” texts from Phonte and I already KNEW what the deal was. I opened the email and there was a new version of the song. I played it through and didn’t notice anything different…..UNTIL

*chiiiiiimes* into……. *conga playing*

“Wait…… Hol’lup. Who?……. What the f…… YOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!”

Phonte had gotten Brevan Hampden to add some live percussion playing at the end of the song and it took on a whole new LIFE. I think I played that shit about 25 times in a row that morning. From there, I added a synth line and rhodes key chops at the very end of it so that the joint would in the words of Phonte, “go out in a blaze of glory”. We wanted the listener to be PARTYING by the end of the song. And then to hear Sy Smith, Erro and Phonte go back and forth as if all three of them are on stage together clowning out…. maaaaan, that was a treat for me. And when Erro says, “Come on, come ON, Come OWN, COME OWWWN!!!!” …That’s when the stage is set for a full out “dance as if you could give a damn about ANYthing else in your life right now.” Brotha was tryna bring some MJ to the table on this joint… We hear you brotha Erro, we hear you.

Purchase ManMade HERE • Or on iTunes

Zo! – ‘ManMade’ (2013) FULL Album Credits

ManMade

Zo!
ManMade
PURCHASE ALBUM
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-Listed at #3 on CentricTV’s Best R&B Albums of 2013-
“…the album maintains an easy elegance and never derails.”
-AllMusic.com

01. The Train featuring Sy Smith
Produced by Zo! for Chapter 3hree, Verse 5ive Music (BMI)
Written by Sy Smith for Sybersong Publishing (ASCAP)
Vocals Recorded and Mixed by Grant “G-Nick” Nicholas
All Vocals by Sy Smith
All Instruments by Zo!
Recorded at East Wing Studios, Silver Spring, MD and Rumbo Studios, Winnetka, CA

02. Count To Five featuring Gwen Bunn
Produced by Zo! & Phonte for Chapter 3hree, Verse 5ive Music, LLC/The Foreign Exchange Music, LLC
Written by Phonte Coleman for Daddy’s New Bowtie (ASCAP)
Lead Vocals by Gwen Bunn
Background Vocals by Phonte and Gwen Bunn
All Instruments by Zo!
Recorded at East Wing Studios, Silver Spring, MD and The Peanut Gallery, Raleigh, NC

03. New In Town (Happy) featuring 1-O.A.K. and Carlitta Durand
Produced by Zo! & Phonte for Chapter 3hree, Verse 5ive Music, LLC/The Foreign Exchange Music, LLC
Written by Phonte Coleman for Daddy’s New Bowtie (ASCAP) and Carlitta Durand for Durand Music Group (ASCAP)
Lead and Background Vocals by 1-O.A.K. and Carlitta Durand
Additional Background Vocals by Phonte
All Instruments by Zo!
Recorded at East Wing Studios, Silver Spring, MD and The Peanut Gallery, Raleigh, NC

04. Making Time featuring Phonte and Choklate
Produced by Zo! & Phonte for Chapter 3hree, Verse 5ive Music, LLC/The Foreign Exchange Music, LLC
Written by Phonte Coleman for Daddy’s New Bowtie (ASCAP) and Choklate for Chokolesta Music (ASCAP)
Lead Vocals by Phonte
Background Vocals by Choklate and Phonte
Trumpet by Al Strong IV
Trombone by Andrew Kleindienst
All Other Instruments by Zo!
Recorded at East Wing Studios, Silver Spring, MD and The Peanut Gallery, Raleigh, NC

05. Tell Me Something New featuring Jeanne Jolly
Produced by Zo! & Phonte for Chapter 3hree, Verse 5ive Music, LLC/The Foreign Exchange Music, LLC
Written by Phonte Coleman for Daddy’s New Bowtie (ASCAP)
All Vocals by Jeanne Jolly
All Instruments by Zo!
Recorded at East Wing Studios, Silver Spring, MD and The Peanut Gallery, Raleigh, NC

06. ManMade featuring Phonte
Produced by Zo! & Phonte for Chapter 3hree, Verse 5ive Music, LLC/The Foreign Exchange Music, LLC
Written by Phonte Coleman for Daddy’s New Bowtie (ASCAP)
All Vocals by Phonte
All Instruments by Zo!
Recorded at East Wing Studios, Silver Spring, MD and The Peanut Gallery, Raleigh, NC

07. We Are On The Move featuring Eric Roberson
Produced by Zo! & Phonte for Chapter 3hree, Verse 5ive Music, LLC/The Foreign Exchange Music, LLC
Written by Phonte Coleman for Daddy’s New Bowtie (ASCAP)
Lead Vocals by Eric Roberson
Background Vocals by Gwen Bunn, Phonte and Sy Smith
Congas, Timbales and Other Percussion by Brevan Hampden
All Other Instruments by Zo!
Recorded at East Wing Studios, Silver Spring, MD and The Peanut Gallery, Raleigh, NC

08. Show Me The Way featuring Anthony David and Carmen Rodgers
Produced by Zo! & Phonte for Chapter 3hree, Verse 5ive Music, LLC/The Foreign Exchange Music, LLC
Written by Phonte Coleman for Daddy’s New Bowtie (ASCAP) and Walter Baker for Songs For The Rebel (ASCAP)
Lead Vocals by Anthony David
Background Vocals by Carmen Rodgers
Additional Background Vocals by Phonte
All Instruments by Zo!
Recorded at East Wing Studios, Silver Spring, MD and The Peanut Gallery, Raleigh, NC

09. For Tina
Produced by Zo! & Phonte for Chapter 3hree, Verse 5ive Music, LLC/The Foreign Exchange Music, LLC
Written by Phonte Coleman for Daddy’s New Bowtie (ASCAP)
All Vocals by Sy Smith
Flute by Claudia Hayden
All Instruments by Zo!
Recorded at East Wing Studios, Silver Spring, MD and The Peanut Gallery, Raleigh, NC

10. Out In The World featuring Choklate
Produced by Zo! & Phonte for Chapter 3hree, Verse 5ive Music, LLC/The Foreign Exchange Music, LLC
Written by Choklate for Chokolesta Music (ASCAP) and Phonte Coleman for Daddy’s New Bowtie (ASCAP)
Lead Vocals by Choklate
Additional Background Vocals and Rap by Phonte
All Instruments by Zo!
Recorded at East Wing Studios, Silver Spring, MD and The Peanut Gallery, Raleigh, NC

11. Body Rock featuring Sy Smith
Produced by Zo! & Phonte for Chapter 3hree, Verse 5ive Music, LLC/The Foreign Exchange Music, LLC
Written by Phonte Coleman for Daddy’s New Bowtie (ASCAP)
Lead Vocals by Sy Smith
Background Vocals by Sy Smith and Phonte
Flute by Tim Smith
All Other Instruments by Zo!
Recorded at East Wing Studios, Silver Spring, MD and The Peanut Gallery, Raleigh, NC

Mixed and Mastered by Chris Boerner at The Burlap Palace, Raleigh, NC

© 2013 The Foreign Exchange Music, LLC
P.O. Box 12208
Wilmington, NC 28405

Studio Campfire Stories: ‘ManMade’ Edition – “Count To Five” (feat. Gwen Bunn)

Gwen Bunn

The story of “Count To Five” begins in my car while sitting at a red light. The music was turned off, as it often is as I drive… As odd as that may sound for a musician, the quiet in the car allows my mind plenty of room to race. Therefore, when I hear something that sounds good in my head I can immediately pick up my phone and record those thoughts into its voice memo. Well, that’s exactly what happened in this case. For some reason I kept hearing a drum pattern in a 5/4 time signature – meaning simply five counts per measure (see The Foreign Exchange’s “All Roads” for example). This was kinda crazy because at that time I had never composed a joint in five before so I was already excited about what the song had the potential to become. So I ended up putting my phone up to my mouth and literally beatboxed the drum pattern I kept hearing in my head so that I wouldn’t forget it and could work with it later. A day or so afterward, I created the drums to sound completely IDENTICAL to the voice memo I recorded in the car (I still have the voice memo in the archives too – I may post it one day). Musically, I had no idea where I wanted to go with it……. So I proceeded to play around on the keys for a bit. No more than five minutes later, I started playing what ended up becoming the intro piece of the song. It was different, but I loved how it sounded. It reminded me almost of some 80’s New Wave stuff. Once that part fell into place, the piece that wound up becoming the verses and the hooks came instantly. Going from that intro to what became the hook sounded craaaaaaazy – the contrast was huge, but it made SO much sense to me. When I laid everything out and began recording, the sound took an even more interesting turn once the different elements were added. Layering the wah-wah guitars at the beginning over top of the keys, over top of the brand new Moog Minitaur synth bass module I picked up a couple of months prior to recording this music in 5/4 gave me a sound that I had never created before. This was a song that even while laying it down felt like creative growth right there in the studio… Now THAT is a helluva thing.

Once all of the music was recorded… I hit up Phonte, then sent him the joint. Maaaaan, he turned that shit around in less than a day with all of the lyrics written and a recorded reference. I can remember him telling me in a brief conversation soon after, “Man, I’ve got something for this one already.” He sent that final back to me and we got on the phone buggin’ OUT – The joint was a WINNER. He already had someone in mind to record the final vocals for us and proceeded to reveal who it was via this track from Darryl Reeves’ ridiculously dope album Mercury (which I attempted to buy in May while I was in Atlanta but Moods Music was sold out of it!!!) with a sweet-voiced singer named Gwen Bunn on it. The song was called “Every Time I See You.” I was like… “Yoooooooo, get her on it!” He ended up sending her the reference track, instrumental and the written lyrics and she said that she would have something within a couple of days. …Sure enough, she returned with a raw recorded version that may have even been done via laptop. It definitely wasn’t gonna be the final version, but we knew that she was what the song needed – she sounded dope over the music. About a week or so later, she was in NC recording the final vocals with Phonte. Then to find out that Gwen is only 21/22 years old?! Sheeeeit man, she’s only beginning!!! At the time that this story was written, I still have yet to actually meet her in person to thank her for acting a fool on this joint, but we follow each other on Twitter and tweet sometimes… In 2013, that qualifies as the same thing, right? ….Maybe not? *shrug*  ……Haha.

Purchase ManMade HEREOr on iTunes

Zo! – ManMade

ManMade

The sophomore release from producer/keyboardist Zo! of The Foreign Exchange’s +FE Music family. Includes appearances from Phonte, Eric Roberson, Sy Smith, Jeanne Jolly, Carmen Rodgers, Anthony David and more.

1. The Train feat. Sy Smith
2. Count To Five feat. Gwen Bunn (VIDEO)
3. New In Town (Happy) feat. 1-O.A.K. & Carlitta Durand
4. Making Time feat. Phonte & Choklate
5. Tell Me Something New feat. Jeanne Jolly
6. ManMade feat. Phonte
7. We Are On The Move feat. Eric Roberson (VIDEO)
8. Show Me The Way feat. Anthony David & Carmen Rodgers
9. For Tina
10. Out In The World feat. Choklate & Phonte
11. Body Rock feat. Sy Smith

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• #3 Best R&B Album of 2013 by CentricTV
“ManMade is a complete work — his best creation yet.” -Andy Kellman, AllMusic.com