Watch for the Fuzz (New CS)

Label: Record Breakin'

"Music, films, and cinematic soundtracks have always gone hand in hand in playing a major part of the production process that myself and my mentor in Hip Hop, Groove Da Moast (aka Fredy Blast) pulled inspiration from when it came to creating and crafting beats. Groove Da Moast, a Philly DJ legend and a serious historian and collector of nostalgia always knew the perfect way to create musical landscapes that captured listeners' imaginations to paint the picture. Watch For The Fuzz combines those elements and takes a deep dive into our love of both film, and in this case 1970’s cop and exploitation film and cinematic soundtracks.

Watch For The Fuzz was an idea that we, then under the production moniker of Sesion31 came up with back in 2004 to create a soundtrack to a fictional but inspired 1970’s crime drama film that we would want to hear and would score accordingly. Think of movies like Taxi Driver, The French Connection, Dirty Harry and Bullitt or TV series like The Rookies, Kojak, or Streets of San Francisco during a time when the streets were gritty, crime-filled, and a dangerous walk through the park. 42nd Street was still a hustler’s playground, and the backdrop of, police sirens, bright lights, and theater marquees were the norm. This was the atmosphere that we set out to create in capturing a time and era that we loved so much. The process to creating Watch For The Fuzz began over an extended holiday weekend where Fredy Blast and myself sat in the lab for 3 days revisiting our favorite crime films and TV series from the 1970s, all on VHS, which we had an archive full of tapes that we had both been
recording since the mid-1980s. Long forgotten series that have not seen a syndication run since the 1980s, as well as favorites that still would air from time to time on network television or cable TV. The creative process was simple, watch these films and when there was something that we dug into, we’d instantly sample into the MPC2000xl or SP12. Yes, you read that correctly! The entire project (minus the kicks and snares to formulate the beats) was created by sampling from VHS because that would give it the most authenticity to capture the time period. After a weekend of viewing and pulling samples directly from VHS, it was time to create the perfect soundtrack from the opening scene and sequence to the closing credits. What you’ll hear after pressing play is the true grit and drama of the era and a genre of film that no longer exists, which captured the city perfectly. A setting where no-nonsense detectives like Popeye Doyle (Gene Hackman) and witty crooks played cops and robbers around the city in a game of cat and mouse to see who would get the cheese first.

Watch For The Fuzz was originally released as a promotional CD inside of Philadelphia-based music, art and culture magazine, B. INFORMED MAGAZINE, which also featured a full interview with Fredy Blast and myself. To visually capture the soundscape of the project, art direction was then handled by Bret “Downroc” Syfert who also pulled inspiration from one of his favorite movies. Being the creative genius that he his, he asked his father to model for him and dressed him up to look like one of the crooks in the particular film, complete with a fake mustache, tweed coat, and hat, and the family shotgun. Talk about going the extra mile!

For the first time since 2004, Watch For The Fuzz is getting an official label release on cassette via Record Breakin’ Music and is dedicated to Fredy Blast, who passed away two years ago but his legacy and memory lives on through his music. So sit back, grab yourself a soda pop, popcorn, and some penny candy, and enjoy the show!"