Hot Chocolate
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Although many fans now identify it as a Ninja Tune creation, the groundbreaking collection was originally released by a tiny year-old Miami label called Chocolate Industries, run by a 20-year-old named Seven. “I hate to say it was my ‘idea,’” Seven says now. “It’s just what I was always into. I wasn’t trying to fuse anything. I would just play this and then I’d play that.”
Everything on the recent Chocolate Industries compilation Rapid Transit revolves around beats, but they still diverge pretty radically, ranging from the splintery rhythms of Funkstorung to the mad scratch collages of Ko-Wreck Technique to the schmaltzy retro melodicism of Sluta Leta to the moody ambience of While. In the near future, several Chicago musicians will turn up on some of the imprint’s releases. Push Button Objects, the main project of Miami producer Edgar Farinas, recently cut an album track in Chicago with John McEntire, Rob Mazurek, and Douglas McCombs, and Atlanta producer Scott Herren has been working with transplanted Australian thrush Tania Bowers.
If all goes well, this year should be the label’s most productive yet, with ten releases slated, including a recently released Push Button Objects single, “360*,” featuring Del the Funky Homosapien and up-and-coming MC Mr. Lif, and a forthcoming Ko-Wreck Technique remix EP that includes dicing and splicing by Luke Vibert and former Company Flow mainstay El-P. Also in the works is “Urban Renewal,” a multimedia project pairing 17 graffiti artists with 17 music acts, including Tortoise and Autechre. A label showcase is planned for May at the Empty Bottle.
