The Cheebacabra
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The Cheebacabra is a psychedelic funk fusion band on the Mackrosoft Records music label. In 1999, at 18 years of age, Cheeba was hired as a member of the Dust Brothers production team, an opportunity that enabled him to work alongside such innovative and diverse artists as Beck, Money Mark, Run DMC, Carlos Santana, Linkin Park, and Madonna. Three years and hundreds of songs later, Cheeba had learned a thing or two about production and beat-making as can be evidenced on an early Cheeba remix, "Hit Me Again", off of the Fight Club soundtrack. Cheeba then parted ways with the Dust Brothers to focus on his own productions. The first Cheebacabra album, “Metamorphosis”, was released in 2003 to critical acclaim. Now, returning with “Exile In The Woods”, The Cheebacabra continues on it’s path of releasing quality funk fusion music accompanied by beautiful, fantastical artwork. With Metamorphosis' cover painting done by Daved Levitan, the cover painting on Exile in the Woods is by world renowned author/artist Desmond Morris (“The Naked Ape”).
Contents |
[edit] Band Members
- Cheeba- Drums, organ, piano, Fender Rhodes, synthesizer
- Alex Veley- Clavinet, organ, Fender Rhodes
- Steve Black- Guitar
- The Gould Effect (Daniel Gould)- Organ, saxophone
- Snakerythms- Saxophone
- Victor Tapia- Percussion
- Aja West- Drum fill, synthesizer, electric bass, cymbals
- Steve Moore- Synthesizer, piano
- Dave Carter- Trumpet
- Fred Roth- Electric bass
- Money Mark- Keyboards
- David Mullenova
- Peter Scherr- Upright bass
- Jason Vontver
- Mike Porcaro- Bass guitar
[edit] Albums
[edit] Metamorphosis (2003)
[edit] Track Listing
1. Sleepers Awake - 1:08
2. Metamorphosis - 2:15
3. Push - 3:40
4. Zagreb - 0:54
5. The Players Rendezvous - 5:40
6. Osgood-Schlatter - 2:24
7. The Electric Ant - 1:36
8. Salvia - 2:02
9. The Hidden Valley - 3:33
10. Operation Anaconda - 1:39
[edit] Notes
All songs written, produced, and mixed by Cheeba. Mastered by Bill Inglot and Dave Schultz at Digiprep. Cover image: The Perception Epic, 1981, by Daved Levitan. Cover design by Tom Manning and Leroy Smitz. All songs published by Flash and Snowball (BMI). Copyright 2003 Mackrosoft Records. Mackrosoft.com
[edit] Reviews
The Cheebacabra's debut album presents an onslaught of tight beats and catchy instrumental grooves, a unique fusion of soul, funk, jazz, and electronica. Check out the track "Push" which Nic Harcourt spun on his "Best of 2003" Sounds Eclectic show. This CD was also cited by Filter Magazine as one of the "Top Ten Albums of 2003". A Brief History of The Cheebacabra: At age 18, Cheeba was hired as a member of the Dust Brothers production team, an opportunity that enabled him to work alongside some of modern music's most innovative artists, including Money Mark, Run DMC, Beck, and Santana. Three years and hundreds of songs later, Cheeba had learned a thing or two about production and beat-making as can be evidenced on an early Cheeba remix, "Hit Me Again", off of the Fight Club soundtrack. After leaving the Dust camp, Cheeba relocated to his hometown of Seattle and began working on his first solo production: "Metamorphosis". Enlisting the talents of several other musicians, The Cheebacabra was formed, a septet of some of the West Coast's funkiest underground players (including ex-Maktub keyboardist Alex Veley and percussionist Victor Tapia of San Diego's B-Side Players). Enjoy! - CDBaby.com
New school funk for old school heads! A nice new offering from the West Coast, with sly, sinister grooves, punctuated by all manner of keys, be they Fender Rhodes, groovy organ or quacking clavinet. - Dustygroove.com
The Cheebacabra comes crooked with sopping wet funkstamentals. Score your own personal porns with these synth heavy groovers. Like funk in a smoking jacket. - Amoeba Records
Skillfully mimics the sounds and styles of classic jazz-funk. - Expose Magazine
[edit] Exile In The Woods (2006)
[edit] Track Listing
1. The Annunciation - 4:25
2. March of the Biomorphs - 3:23
3. The Secret Agenda - 3:54
4. Auto-Indexing - 3:28
5. Chatter - 4:04
6. Levitan's Eye - 4:04
7. Sneak Attack - 3:03
8. Rebirth of the Electric Ant - 2:53
9. The Treehouse - 4:15
10. Dysplastic Nevi - 3:22
11. A Journey Begins - 3:40
12. Exile in the Woods - 12:25
[edit] Notes
All songs written, produced, and mixed by Cheeba. Recorded in Seattle, Los Angeles, and Hong Kong. Mastered by Evren Göknar at Capitol Records. All songs published by Flash and Snowball Music (BMI). Cover painting: The Arena, 1976, by Desmond Morris. Copyright 2006 Mackrosoft Records. Mackrosoft.com
[edit] Reviews
From sinister to sexy, robotic to playful, the sound of "Exile In The Woods" is undeniably unique and unforgivingly funky. Tight drums consistently hold down these instrumental, analog synth-heavy grooves. Half of the album’s twelve musicians are credited with synthesizers, including bandleader/producer Cheeba, Money Mark (The Beastie Boys), Steve Moore (Laura Veirs, Skerik’s Syncopated Taint Septet), and Aja West (The Mackrosoft). A wide array of more organic instruments are featured as well, including trumpet, violin, sax, clavinet, guitar, and melodica. Also of note is Peter Scherr of the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra on upright bass. Exile in the Woods was recorded in Seattle, Los Angeles, and Hong Kong. - CDBaby.com
Like Disney's Electrical Parade on acid. - Wax Poetics
One of the more madly tripped out albums from the Mackrosoft camp in the past few years -- a very electric bit of keyboard funk that sets a whole new level for the Cheeba sound! The record's got a style that starts with 70s fusion, but which almost moves into an 80s electro sound -- not in the structure of the songs, because they're mostly still jazz-based -- but in the way Cheeba uses the keyboards, and comes up with a slightly flat-edged sound to the grooves, which really gives them a sinister feel! There's a number of guests listed for the record, but the main sound here is really from the keys -- nicely messed-up, almost a bit fuzzy at times! - Dustygroove.com
Future-funk finally has its bandleader. - Michael Ardaiolo (WLUW-FM Chicago)
This funk fusion extravaganza features the perfect blend between organic instrumentation and synthesizers...taking the genre of funk fusion into a very new and exciting direction. - JIVE Magazine
[edit] See also
The Mackrosoft
Aja West
Cheeba
Aja West and Cheeba
