3 KEYS: WOLFOXE w/ Jouquin Fox & Virgil Wolfe
The ‘3 Keys’ series discusses intriguing albums, with three key pieces of commentary from the artists’ themselves!
Oftentimes when I review an album, I wish I could ask just a few things to the artist that would allow me to clarify my understanding of what they were going for, and potentially deepen my appreciation for their art.
This is precisely why I am starting up this ‘3 Keys‘ series. I will be discussing intriguing projects with additional commentary from the intriguing artists that created the music in the first place!
The first installment of this series will be discussing Naked Machines by WOLFOXE, with additional commentary from Jouquin Fox and Virgil Wolfe.
———
WOLFOXE is a duo comprised of Jouquin Fox and Virgil Wolfe, who brought a take on the hip-hop genre that is very left-field on Naked Machines, to say the least. Although the project is only 14 minutes long, there are a ton of interesting lyrical and musical ideas, along with general strangeness that has kept me coming back.
Starting with the lyricism on this record, there is an obvious thoughtfulness to the content this duo explores. Rapid-fire stream of consciousness rhymes, that acts as the steady calm head within this hailstorm of sound that is this production. There is a lot going on in these songs, where ideas are often thrown at the listener in manic fashion. Therefore, the first key I attempted to uncover is what themes was this duo looking to explore on this project.
1) Could you provide more insight into the themes that you were attempting to explore on Naked Machines?
JF: The creation of Naked Machines first was an unfocused thing. Virgil and I just wanted to create a project of me producing for them by a certain date. It ended up coming together so smoothly, that it felt like there was something else at play - the universe and some sort of interconnectedness, the theory of attracting others like-minded, technology even, and taking into consideration that if we had been born in any other time period, how probable would it be that we would be making music together.
Listening back on the project and lyrical themes, I took the name 'Naked Machines' from two of William S. Burroughs books combined 'Naked Lunch' and 'The Soft Machine'. The 'Naked Lunch' side of things coming from how canderous the creation of this project was, how pure and unfiltered it ended up even in its final stage, and 'Soft Machine' side from how that purity came together from both Virgil and I traveling and doing some sort of ancient human magic via technology to communicate and create this beautiful thing.
VW: Naked Machines was centered around mania to procrastinate about moving out of an apartment that was crammed with too much to keep living in. I decided that the life that existed inside of that home (for more than 2 years) was more than enough important to document, so heartbreak with an undying idea of romanticism or, spiraling after greeting someone down the street because they didn't acknowledge you, or the power of anime and being in a crew filled with people who live thousands of miles away (aka friendship), or creating proper self intentions to further the fulfillment of life while living in complete chaos.
I find this idea of the ‘ancient human magic’ that Fox details here to be very interesting. How their collaboration and final product that is filled with significant sound manipulation, could have only been created with the existence of today’s advancements in technology. It’s a particularly interesting take on this constant all-encompassing force known as technology, which tends to be explored only from the negative consequences that it brings. Instead, Fox and Wolfe bring forward the concept of how technology can actually help humans stay connected… versus the “technology is killing us'“ narrative that consistently gets shoved down our throats 24/7.
The ideas surrounding romanticism and vulnerability are found in lines off of “ORANGE IS THE MIND”:
“My inner child is a b**** sometimes/that wants to be held, especially when you feel like melted ice cream sandwiches on a hot summer day”.
This bar encapsulates a lot of what I get from this project’s lyricism. On its face, its kind of a simple piece of self-depreciation with nicely detailed imagery. However, when you take a closer look, that bit about feeling like a melted ice cream sandwich on a hot summer day is really powerful. Since in this situation, Wolfe already feels depleted yet is surrounded by an environment that is only going to make it worse (i.e., a hot summer day will only further melt the ice cream). How Virgil expresses his longing for comfort here is just incredible. I love lyricism like this, which is both layered and provocative.
When the bars aren’t as personal, they are heady and clever when tackling more societal-based issues. A particularly amazing line that made me hit rewind was from Jouquin on “DIVINE TIMING” where they rap:
“I feel bad for QAnon participants sucked up/Michael Flynn makes money off of visbily sturdy falling apart IKEA frames”
Damn.
From a musical perspective, this project is just nuts. The elements of chaos that Wolfe detailed in his first response is beautifully captured by the disorienting production style from Vellum Bristol (Fox’s production moniker).
I am actually familiar with the sound of this album (to an extent), having heard Jouquin Fox’s production style as Vellum Bristol on his April LP, WON’T HIDE THE MADNESS. Back when I heard that, I was very impressed with the incredibly vibrant and forward-thinking instrumentals.
But on Naked Machines, I feel the sound is pushed even more to the extremities. To a point where it really tests the boundaries of how abstract music can be, before it devolves into something that isn’t all that listenable. Therefore, my next key was to gain insight into the duo’s POV on musical structure, and pushing the limits of experimentation.
2) Do you ever feel the urge to make your music sound more “structured”? Do you feel there ever exists a limit to a piece of music becoming too abstract or glitchy?
JF: I'd say that for me there comes a time when I’m sifting through the instant transmission, ultra-glitchy early sessions of making beats, and when I am making sure they are ready for someone else to rap on or use in some form, I like to try and at least cut away some of the intro and outro to make the beat sound more streamlined...
In the case of WOLFOXE, our idea was to create something in a short period of time together. So me trying to calm things down production-wise wasn't on my agenda. This time around, it was to sit down in front of the 404, go wild, [and] send the wildness to Virgil. See what they did, and figure out how to cut up and create a cohesive thing with what they did, and what I end up doing. Virgil surfed the chaotic glitchiness Vellum Bristol provided perfectly though, and at the end of this all I feel like it came out with just the right amount of wildness.
VW: (This is totally VB/JF's question, we literally had 3-4 days to create this, back to back, send an idea, send another idea, through the GOD DAMN INTERNET. That's really cool, to be able to catch the wave proper, like Johnny Kapahala, trial and error and BOOM you're doing the surf or whatever cool terminology he used, I don't know). I always wanted to be decent enough to rap while doing live vocal effects, creating this project with Jouquin was the perfect way to portray what my live shows(pre-COVID)/practices(during COVID) sounded like vocally.
Also Ceschi said that art is dog shit on a wall. All I'm ever interested in while making music is what it's supposed to mean. Somewhere in the world is a person making music with a CRT TV attached to a 1/4 inch cable, and it probably bumps. I vow to be that person one day.
The fact that Bristol didn’t do the extra step of streamlining these beats, which I would assume would make them slightly more straightforward… is VERY clear to me. Naked Machines feels like decomposition and reminds me of what Will Basinski is famous for doing. At many points in this project, the sound just unravels, warps into something completely new, then fades out, then glitches and switches up again… you can really envision Bristol going crazy on the SP-404 Bristol, toying with all the settings and adding in random sounds that make these beats sound incredibly invigorating.
Not only will I say that Naked Machines sounds like organized chaos, but I would also say that it’s a very warm album, despite all of the jagged glitchiness present through. The sound is all processed through this warm analog tone that has defined my experience with Bristol’s beats so far… WON’T HIDE THE MADNESS similarly featured this kind of tone to great effect.
Finally, the last key I wanted to uncover was the reasoning behind the two versions of the project being presented. The “whole shabazz edition” being the album as one long track, and the songs individually separated but in a different order.
3) What was the significance of having two versions of your project, the “whole shabazz edition” vs. the individual tracks separated?
JF: I forget who came up with it, but we decided to keep a version with the project as one track because that's how I completed the mastering, it sounds better and complete that way, and I think if you listen back to the 'whole shabazz edition' and then the individual tracks, it has a little bit different mastering (very very little bit lol), and its structured a bit differently. The individual tracks are only there so people can go back and listen to their favorite song if they are vibing with friends. 'whole shabazz edition' ended up being what I created the short film to directly as well, another launch component that adds a lot to the experience of listening to 'WOLFOXE - Naked Machines'.
VW: Shabazz is such a cool word too, the extra bit of work that's in there would probably be nice as a tiny, "I need to at least finish this mile" and then it's 14 minutes later and you're just, really annoyed that you walked a good bit instead of running, but what a comfy little EP right?
I like the "whole shabazz edition" better because of the subtle song rearrangement but also because variations are nice.
As it relates to the “whole shabazz edition” version of the project, versus listening to the project as individual tracks, I definitely preferred the shabazz (and not just because “shabazz” is indeed such a cool word). The track structures felt more natural, but mainly, this project really needs to be listened to in one sitting. This wild ride Wolfe and Fox take you on should not be derailed or delayed midway through for any reason whatsoever.
Additionally, the album’s free-flowing positivity is displayed in the duo’s short film that accompanied the project, which you can watch below.
WOLFOXE created something very immersive and bite-sized that is well worth your time and money, where all profits are going towards their fellow BearTooth Collective artists’ (cunabear, vast ness. and Freddy Stone) “God Isn’t Bias” tour.
There is a palpable liveliness that Naked Machines gives me when I listen to it that makes it a highly rewarding listen. Cop this now!
Buy Naked Machines here and stream below.
For more quality hip-hop content, listen to/watch The Rap Music Plug Podcast wherever you’d like: Apple Podcasts / Spotify / YouTube.
