The current music scene in Oxford is one that encourages new, original music and also seems to bring together unity and harmony. Having recently featured Master of None, itself an off shoot from Little Red, this week we have Tiger Mendoza, the solo project of Ian De Quadros who also plays in Master of None. Having started in 2009, Tiger Mendoza has evolved into mainly solo music from Ian, featuring a range of collaborative artists, Kate Herridge and Asher Dust being just two. Electronic music is the sound here and unusually for the genre, playing live is a big part of it, with regular collaborators Dan Clear, David Griffiths and Asher Dust forming a band line up of sorts. Thus, the live audience gets to experience the tracks in a different way.
Tiger Mendoza’s previous two albums were named Old Ideas 1 and Old Ideas 2 and for the third, we now have New Ideas, the new ideas being remixes of songs from the back catalogue. The exception to this is two new songs featuring Kate Herridge and Asher Dust. Ian says that he has now finished with the idea of old ideas and new ideas (“no new ideas 2”) and is enthused about the process of remixes: “Let’s see what happens when you give an Industrial Hip Hop song to a hardcore punk band or a electro country track to a drummer from pop punk band. And if someone happens to turn in a pretty huge electro house / beats / trip hop remix as well…so be it. ”
Before you read on, Tiger Mendoza is giving a FREE download of “Missing You”, to Angry Baby readers. If you’re not already subscribed to Angry Baby, just pop the email address that you’d like it delivered to here and it will be on its way to you straight away, together with a bumper collection of music that has been shared by Angry Baby. The music comes from outstanding artists that you may not have heard before. With a mix of rock, pop, folk…you name it…there’s bound to be something new that floats your musical boat, and all for free! What’s not to like about that?!
‘Perish The Thought‘, features long time Tiger Mendoza collaborator Asher Dust and will feature on his new album. The clear yet raspy vocals over the hip hop meld combine well, whilst the lyrics speak of forgiveness and repentance and their effect on what is termed our fragile existence. Similarly, the first song, ‘I Need To Find You‘ featuring Kate Herridge makes the most of Kate’s haunting vocals against the fast pulsing music. The acoustic sounds of ‘Missing You’ from Dan Clear’s remix with evocative vocals from Lucy Vee and rapper Half Decent were unexpected but effective, adding to the chaotic sound that comes from rap and acoustic being juxtaposed.
Of the remixes, a couple of songs get more than one reinterpretation; ‘Maverick Souls‘, for example, has four different versions, including some big samples and walls of sound. ‘Jazzer‘ becomes both an energetic house number (Reels) and a slower, more laid back song from Breezewax.
Overall, the idea of remixes is not new but giving each track to a different style of musician is original and as a whole approach, works very well. Ian said that he wanted to find out what might happen and the result shows that there is still much new to learn and to produce from the world of electronic music.
Being an independent musician is not for the faint hearted – it can be a tricky road for anyone and Ian’s advice to aspiring musicians tackles this:
“Keep at it! Yes, it can be difficult and the number of times I’ve asked myself this year alone why am I still doing this are ridiculous but then you play an amazing gig, or someone says ‘hey you did that thing that I really like’ and I remember. If you really love making music you’ve got to keep going.”
New Ideas was released on April 21. Get your copy here.
Catch Tiger Mendoza live here. Or if you can’t make it, follow him at:
Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram
And get your free download of music from Angry Baby now, including Tiger Mendoza’s “Missing You” – just pop your email down below!
