Lots of Beats, but No Drum in Sight
For about 12 minutes at a recent installment of One Step Beyond, a monthly party at the Rose Center for Earth and Space at the American Museum of Natural History in Manhattan, no one danced. Instead people were clustered around the stage, watching dumbfounded as Araabmuzik pounded out live drumbeats with his fingertips on a pair of Akai MPC 2500s.
It was a blistering performance. Araabmuzik took familiar beats — including his own for “Salute” by the Diplomats — and dismantled them, then improvised off the themes, playing furious fusillades of sharp drums, shrieks and all sorts of sounds programmed into the machines. He played them like drums, with force. He played them like a piano, with dignity. And then, as if giving out at the end of a long sprint, he stopped, stepping away from the machines as the room caught its breath, and grabbed a Red Bull for fortification.
A hip-hop producer who’s worked with Busta Rhymes, 50 Cent and others, Araabmuzik is also one of the most visible practitioners of live MPC playing.
The MPC — which stands for music production center (originally MIDI production center) — is a combination drum machine and sampler that allows users to upload a variety of sounds and manipulate them as a percussionist would. Crucially “it allowed you to make your own drum kits,” said Glen Darcey, who oversees new product development for the Akai brand.
