Nicolay’s City Lights Vol. 2 Coming September 15th
September 15, 2009
Below is the press release. Check out the first single “Lose Your Way” featuring Carlitta Durand. This sounds like what you play in the car after you’ve decided to leave it all behind.
Shibuya is the new project from the creative mind of NICOLAY, better known as one half of THE FOREIGN EXCHANGE. The group (which includes rapper/singer Phonte) and their sophomore album Leave It All Behind (TFE/Hard Boiled; Oct. 2008), continues to gain momentum as the duo and their extended family of singers and musicians are currently touring the United States and Canada. Nicolay and Phonte’s countless performances together have added a new level of sophistication to their musical output, resulting in what they consider to be one of their most ambitious projects yet.
The idea for Shibuya, the second installment in Nicolay’s City Lights series, was conceived after Nicolay’s first visit to Tokyo in November 2006. The experience proved to be life changing for Nicolay, who has studied Japanese culture for most of his adult life. “This amazing place and all of its sounds and colors immediately filled up my senses,” he says. “I felt reinvigorated.”
Once back home, he started to write and record music with a new-found sense of freedom, laying the groundwork for the albums Time:Line and Leave It All Behind as well a third album; a deeply personal homage to the Tokyo district of Shibuya that illustrates both the grandeur of Japan’s age-old heritage (“Meiji Shrine, “Rain In Ueno Park”, “The Inner Garden”) as well as the hectic city life of one of the world’s busiest metropolitan areas (“Crossing”, “Satellite”, “Bullet Train”). Where City Lights Volume 1 was primarily instrumental, on Shibuya the instrumental pieces are book-ended by several vocal songs written by Phonte and performed by Durham, North Carolina vocalist CARLITTA DURAND, who previously collaborated with Phonte on LITTLE BROTHER’s Getback album (ABB 2007). Also appearing is Foreign Exchange liveband-mate ZO!, who adds his virtuoso keyboard solos to two songs.
“It truly is like stepping into a different world”, says Nicolay about his trip to the city. “What fascinated me most about Shibuya was the co-existence of ‘old’ and ‘new’ in seemingly perfect harmony. The most advanced technologies and innovations exist next to traditions that are rooted in thousands of years of civilization.” The album’s musical foundation mirrors this hybrid of different ages, combining influences from ‘70s jazz, rock and fusion with broken beat, downtempo and electronica to form the lush, genre-bending sound that has become Nicolay’s trademark.
Shibuya: City Lights, Vol. 2 drops September 15 on Foreign Exchange Music/Hard Boiled
Executive Producers: Phonte Coleman and Nicolay for The Foreign Exchange Music, LLC
In The Studio With Nicolay
April 23, 2009
Nicolay Tells Kanye To Leave It All Behind
October 25, 2008
By Jerry L. Barrow
In an up-coming interview with TheUrbandDaily.com Phonte and Nicolay of The Foreign Exchange give a track-by-track breakdown of their sophomore LP, Leave It All Behind. During the convo Nicolay was asked if any “additives” were put on Phonte’s voice (the prolific MC is singing for a majority of the disc) and the Dutch producer gave his opinion on the “auto-tune” phenomenon as it relates to one Mr. West.
Foreign Exchange Return with “Leave it All Behind”
September 2, 2008
Four years after the release of their critically acclaimed debut “Connected,” The Foreign Exchange returns with their sophomore set, “Leave It All Behind.”
Consisting of singer/songwriter Phonte and producer Nicolay, The Foreign Exchange came together via the online hip-hop community Okayplayer.com in 2002. After trading files through Instant Messenger for over a year, Nicolay (living in his native Holland at the time) and Phonte (a Raleigh, NC resident) completed their debut album before they ever met each other in person. The album, “Connected,” was released in 2004 to positive reviews, and was praised by legendary DJ’s such as Jazzy Jeff, King Britt, and DJ Spinna for its inventive mix of hip-hop, R&B, and electronica.
“Leave It All Behind” finds The Foreign Exchange much closer in geography (Nicolay has since become a resident of Wilmington, NC), but located much further from their hip-hop origins. The duo’s second full-length is a dark, multilayered affair that features Phonte showcasing his abilities as an exceptional lead and harmony vocalist, while Nicolay extends his musical palette to include sprinklings of jazz, downtempo, and house. The lush, Darien Brockington-assisted “Take Off the Blues” picks up where Connected’s sleeper hit “Come Around” left off, while the complex polyrhythms and dreamy synthesizers of “Sweeter Than You” are described by Phonte as “swing jazz for the next century.” Marc Mac (of legendary UK production team 4hero), also contributes a string arrangement to the duo’s glorious cover of Stevie Wonder’s oft-forgotten 1991 gem, “If She Breaks Your Heart.”
In addition to appearances from longtime FE affiliates Darien Brockington and Yahzarah, the album also features guest shots from producer/keyboardist Zo! and vocalist Muhsinah.
Tracklisting:
01. Daykeeper
02. Take Off The Blues
03. All Or Nothing/Coming Home To You
04. I Wanna Know
05. House Of Cards
06. Sweeter Than You
07. Valediction
08. If She Breaks Your Heart
09. If This Is Love
10. Something To Behold
11. Leave It All Behind
Read Nodfactor.com’s 2 Part Interview with producer Nicolay:
Rolling With the Dutch, Part 1
Rolling With the Dutch, Part 2
Nicolay: “Rolling With The Dutch,” Part 2
April 16, 2008
NF: Phonte once joked that your beats sound a certain way because in the Netherlands it’s cold with a lot of open space and grass.
Nicolay:[laughs] Yeah that’s what makes them airy
NF: But you’ve since relocated to the states, yes?
Nicolay: yup, temporarily
NF: Has that influenced your sound at all?
Nicolay: nah, I’m way to secluded for that. I think if anything it influences me even more to remain original. Just from what I hear and see around me there’s just so much mainstream in daily life. Commercials out the ass everywhere. It makes me want to be different even more.
