When looking at the various writings on Plantlife, a number of extraneous, superfluous, or nonsensical words are thrown about. Words such as ‘Revivalism’, ‘It’s not a group, it’s a movement’ and ‘Nostalgic’. Plantlife is none of these. Call them a necessity. A logical necessity.
Plantlife is filling a void that was left barren over the years by futurist-traditionalists, such as Prince. (Why couldn’t he even give his last album away?) Having recognized the absence of music embedded in such traditions as funk, soul, RnB and hip hop, the members of Plantlife are carrying a new torch with their break-out album, ‘The Return of Jack Splash!’. A flag that is preaching eclecticism, joi de vivre and good old-fashioned dance fever.
Everybody’s jumping onboard. Gilles Peterson recently awarded Plantlife with the prestigious BBC Radio One’s Worldwide Music Award of Album of the Year. That alone should be enough to convert you. Oh, you doubt? Well, read on.
It all began mid-nineties when Panda One, famed underground hip hop producer for Medusa and The Animal Pharm, and Jack Splash (Plantlife’s front-man and vocalist with whom the interview was conducted) got together to start doing something different. Something real and something leftfield (by hip hop standards). Jack Splash explains – “We just hooked up by bein’ in the LA scene. Just runnin’ with the same crowds, like Medusa and the Freestyle Fellowship. We just shared a love for fun and weird music. But man, time passes quickly. I can’t even remember the first 12” we released.” Soon Rashida followed as the group’s in-house DJ and Dena Deadly got added as another vocalist. This foursome was to build the foundation of what is Plantlife.
When they first began producing, it was under the pretense that not a note of it was to be released. The inspiration came out of the boredom with the state that music was in. It was this absence of projected audience that became the cornerstone for the Plantlife sound. “It was very freeing, artistically,” Jack Splash pontificates on the mindset of the music making. (Forgive me, but with such a groovy name, the surname necessitates the inclusion of the first name.) “I guess on subconscious levels you’re always trying to please somebody. Either you’re writing songs for a specific label or you’re constricted by a scene that you’re in. By isolating ourselves, we were allowed to be free and find instant gratification. When you like it, you listen to it.” Fair enough. It is exactly this lack of intended commercial niche that allowed Plantlife to extricate themselves from any need to please or be accepted. The first line of the Declaration of Plantlife Independence reads ‘Take any aspect of any musical style, find the various points where they bleed together and write for yourself. As long as it’s got a groove.’
With so many genres at play, music journalists are left dumbfounded at describing this anomaly of a band. The common denominator is the deep American-originated music coming into play. Arising out of hip hop, which has been sampling from these genres ad infinitum, Plantlife has found a way to uphold the strict hip hop aesthetic and run with it. Jack Splash explains the roots – “When I was younger, I was into anything that was different or weird. Now we’re more into just what feels good to us. What is fun. All those comparisons [such as the most infamous ‘The Love Below’ comparison] are completely random.” Random indeed.
‘The Return of Jack Splash!’ is more humanitarian; a purist take on hip hop and funk, as opposed to a ‘Sun-Ra-this-is-music-having-looked-back-from-planet-Aquarius’ that Andre 3000 came up with. It is because the roots are in hip hop, thereby rooted in funk, that elements of dichotomous genres can interplay, bridging the gap between electro and R’n’B; all the while keeping the panache of funk.
Comparisons aside, Plantlife is garnishing major acclaim, as was mentioned before and Jack Splash had his own take on this stratospheric rise. “I just try to be humble about it. I just started trippin’ when people who I think are fresh dug my music. Especially people who aren’t even in my scene. I tripped out when I found out the Chemical Brothers were into what I was doing.”
With the roots seeded so heavily in hip hop, it is necessary to understand Jack Splash’s take on sampling. “Everything [musically] is equally important. I don’t necessarily need sampling for my music. I just a need a vibe. It’s like life, it just takes its own shape regardless of how much you plan. It’s the idea of ‘we want a feeling for what’s around’. Kind of like in the Caribbean and the invention of the steel drum. ‘What have we got around? Let’s make something beautiful with it.’ Even Prince and Sly [& the Family Stone] were programming beats back in the day. Most people don’t know that. It’s all about the overall energy anyways.” Even if sampling is not de riguer within the music, it is prevalent even just in the vibe that is manifest throughout their music. Taking bits and bobs from here or there and creating something for tomorrow.
Although a four piece production crew, playing out live is a whole new domain. Plantlife tours with an eleven piece funk-orchestra, I mean a funkestra; slamming their way into the intensity of a live show. “It’s so important to have the whole band on-stage,” Jack Splash explains. “It’s only by having the full band that we can transfer the energy properly from the album to the stage. I was lucky in that we were asked to tour Europe a couple years back, but I just felt like we weren’t ready. We wouldn’t have been able to afford to bring the whole band. I just stuck to my guns and I think it’s paid off. People forget that live horns can be just as explosive as live guitar.” Just look at what The Roots, or 4th Avenue Jones, or Arrested Development are doing for hip hop. Live instrumentation personalizes the music for the audience, it verifies the music, makes it tangible and more memorable for the punters. Besides, who else is giving up on some instant cash to be able to afford to do it right? Not many.
In ‘The Return of Jack Splash!’, major lyrical thematic elements are consisting of traditional funk and hip hop topics. Sex and politics. But what is the relationship between the two? “Ain’t nobody askin’ me that! Everybody wants to know about the sex and the politics within my music, but the relationship between sex and politics? I gotta think for a minute.” Insert a momentary pause in conversation.
“I guess everyone’s different about the things that they care about. Most people just wanna chill and not care, but that’s not me. There are a couple different sides to me. There’s the side that’s hypnotized by the magic of a woman. I used to be a hardcore player and am now more of a hopeless romantic. I’m just writing to be honest. It’s the same with seeing a bum on the street. I feel compassion by the things I see. Sex and politics make me feel.”
Obviously there is a major shift from traditional funk and R’n’B themes of days gone by, where sexual freedom was political. Where sexuality was radically counter-culture. Now both topics are intertwined and celebrated. According to Jack Splash, sexual awareness is political awareness and vice versa.
One statement was needed to throw past Jack Splash to get his opinion on. ‘Looking backward to move forward.’ At first, no response. Then, “See man, you say that and you really understand my music.” Another pause. “It’s like in 2001 I woke up one night and I was just trippin’ out and in tears and the first thing that came to me was ‘remember back in the now.’ Take Prince, or Sly, or Malcom X after going to Mecca, or Martin Luther King and they’re all from the year 5000. They’re just so far beyond us. Take the Nuyoricans in New York, or KRS One, or Bono, or Michael Stipe. Their minds are so much iller than everybody else’s. Every time I sit in the studio, I’ve got one guy sittin’ in front of me and that’s John Lennon.” Not a bad collaborator to have.
The army of eleven that calls itself Plantlife is all suited up to take Australia by blitzkrieg. “Come with the intention of experiencing some shit you’ve never experienced,” warns Jack Splash. “We’re gonna give 300% and we’re gonna get you all sweaty.”
Whether Plantlife is the spearhead to a major shift in music and are the Napoleonic leaders of a new movement, or are the preachers of a new futurist-traditional music intended for year 5000, or are a logical necessity and are taking on a role needed to fill a void within the current status of music is absolutely and completely irrelevant. What matters is the funk is being brought.
Bring it on.
Endnote: All italics within quotation are added by the author.
Don’t miss your chance to see Plantlife complete with 10 piece band this March:
Thu 17/3 – Perth
Fri 18/3 – Melbourne
Sat 19/3 – Sydney
