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The Lunchboxing Interview: Tables of Content by tim molloy Once there was a guy named Anthony Valadez who worked in the theater department at Cal State University Northridge. One morning a fellow drama student named Audra Triska appeared and asked for directions. "This cute little Filipina comes walking up to me asking where room 214 is," explains Valadez, who goes mostly by Tony. "I was like 'Wassup shawty? It's your birthday' and she wasn't having it. So whatever, she went her way." But soon they ended up in a play together, and made some important discoveries: Tony was a DJ. Audra was a singer. Before long they were recording funked-out dirges in a group they called Tables of Content. And that, gentle reader, is where you come in. Tables of Content is playing this Sunday -- July 13 -- at The Temple Bar in Santa Monica, Calif., and we at lunchboxing think you should go. We also suggest you listen in on Tables of Content Radio late Monday nights on 88.5 FM or at www.kcsn.org. We traded e-mails with Audra and Tony recently, and learned about life, music, and new saxophone player Sol Katz. What follows are some secret excerpts from our sexy exchanges. LUBO: So how would you describe your sound? Audra: Thanks for starting out with the hardest question -- I really appreciate that. Um, I guess it can be considered jazzy hip-hop. I've always found it really hard to classify what we do, people will just have to listen and decide for themselves. Tony: In the lyrical spirit of Jodeci, I think a lot of what Audra sings about are the struggles of man-woman, and the struggle of relationships, and so on. LUBO: Describe your creative process in lots of detail. Audra: Tony makes beats and does the live scratching. I collaborate a little with my minimal piano skills to the composition of the songs, write melodies and lyrics. Sol blows his horn. It's all a sort of organic process in the sense that a lot of the tracks have grown out of jam sessions. LUBO: If you guys arm wrestled, who would win? Audra: Probably Tony considering he's an ex-marine. But we actually wrestle often and I put up a good fight. I'm small but scrappy. Once I accidentally kneed him in the nuts -- but he deserved it. LUBO: If we said you kind of remind us of Portishead would you be all pissy about it? Audra: Hell no -- I love Portishead. I would say her music is maybe a bit more ambient, more trip-hop, if you will. Portishead is the shit -- plus she smokes while she sings -- which I think is ultra cool. I myself am a smoker. I know -- so bad. Suck it. LUBO: Tony, talk a bit more about Portishead. Tony: Portishead was def -- a major influence in defining the kind of music that I love. Beth Gibbons carried so much soul, and the band was able to match her soul! The beats were dark, and yet there was so much life in each of the songs. Then you had Tricky with a much more darker sound ... flirting with the meshed sounds of hip hop. The whole Bristol sound captures a mood and setting which is what I think it we try to do. Music does not have to be 100 beats per minute to prove a point, and Portishead was always good at conveying a message at such a slow bpm. ... I realized the other day at one of our band practices that most of our songs are somewhat downtempo, which is something that I think just comes natural. LUBO: What's your favorite of your songs? Tony: I would have to say "Battle." We have live guitars that my boy Evan dropped and sampled gritty kicks and snares. Audra pours like 150 percent into that song and it's one of our most upbeat songs. Its enough to make me shake my ass. I scratch a Common sample where he says "battle" and it just gets live and energetic. LUBO: Finally, you guys do a cover of "Moon River," made famous by the film Breakfast at Tiffany's, and I've had it stuck in my head for days. How did that recording come about? Audra: I grew up in a pretty musical family, someone always playing the piano and people always singing around it. I know a shitload of old classics and jazz standards. One day while rehearsing I just started singing it. Tony put on a record -- starting scratching -- and that was that. LUBO: And it sounds smoking hot. I really can't wait for your show. So where else can people hear your totally awesome shit -- besides the show Sunday at 9:30 p.m. at The Temple Bar on 1026 Wilshire Blvd. in Santa Monica? Tony: Um... shameless plugs, eh? Late Monday Nights on 88.5 FM and on the world wide web -- www.kcsn.org -- we have Tables of Content Radio which features me on the mic and turntables spinning a lot of our influences from Bjork to Stevie Wonder. Mos Def to Portishead, Ozomatli to Raphael Saadiq, Roots Crew to Cody ChesnuTT. Check out Tables of Content on Sunday at 9:30 p.m. at The Temple Bar on 1026 Wilshire Blvd. in Santa Monica. Then tune in the very next night for Tables of Content radio on 88.5 FM or at www.kcsn.org. Yes, we know we're giving you these details for the third time. We really want you to come through. |
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