Ernie Fresh Mophono Egyptian Lover – California Colors EP
Title: California Colors EP
Artist: Ernie Fresh, Mophono, Egyptian Lover
Catalog number: CBR003
Released: July 2017
Media: Vinyl 12″/Vinyl 7″ cut out/Digital
500 Limited Edition Black Vinyl
50 Limited Edition Black Vinyl 7″ Hand Cut
Main Information:
“From the 80s to the 90s that’s where you will still find me”
The California Colors EP is a pilgrimage to a sacred place. The trio Ernie Fresh, Mophono, and legendary electro producer Egyptian Lover bow at the altar of the artform, offering only the realest expression of the elements. It’s is the four elements, graffiti, breaking, emceeing and deejaying, in harmonious, head-nod bliss.
From Ernie Fresh’s dedicated toast, “this one is going out to all the straight up, motherfucking b-boys,” the California Colors EP calibrates to a symposium dedicated to the breakers on linoleum, and the renegade artists that paint in rustoleum. The title track is a head trip down the krylon aisle as Fresh dreams of Oxnard Oranges and Gardenia Greens he’ll ignite to the shell of a clean train. Fresh is most notable as the ring leader with the Rakim cadence on DJ Shadow’s “The Sideshow” from 2016’s The Mountain Will Fall, but he’s cut his teeth in Northern California as a member of the group Who Cares.
Behind the boards is San Francisco producer Mophono and the legendary Egyptian Lover. The two producers encapsulate a sound that feels like the result of getting lost in video clips of Detroit’s legendary The New Dance Show footage. The California Colors EP is a living time capsule of electro futurist production, particularly Egyptian Lover’s mastery of the 808. It’s the result of Mophono obsessing over Kraftwerk’s “It’s More Fun To Compute” and Just Ice’s “Little Bad Johnny,” only to arrive at legendary Rusk Studio in the presence of creator of “Egypt Egypt.”
“At the time I was really inspired by old school electro drum machine raps,” Mophono says. “Def Jam’s first few releases and really obscure low budget drum machine recordings with interesting effects and dubbed out delays. I knew I wanted to bring some of these elements to the project.”
Among the collaborators on this project are Young Aundee who produces with Mophono as Electro Freeze Force and long-time Egyptian Lover collaborator Jaime Jupiter. In Rusk Studios the group had access to Egyptian Lover’s extensive cache of vintage synths like the Jupiter-8 and the same vocoder he used on “Egypt Egypt.” The commitment to electro authenticity breathes ancient life into the project. At no point in the California Colors EP does the trio employ fake methods. The snares shatter with the same effects on Schoolly D’s “PSK What Does It Mean,” the Kraftwerkian influence is coded into the synths, and the bassline of “Racks” (Mophono’s ‘91 Remix) boogies through the beat like it’s the last train stop was Rakim’s “Know The Ledge.”
The California Colors EP is dedicated to the ones that grew up on Rapmasters tapes in their Walkmans, clipped to their shorts as they pedaled through the neighborhood on BMX bikes. It’s for the ones that snuck out through the bedroom window at midnight with a Jansport full of krylon cans. If you had a black book with no blank pages or a mountain of D batteries in the waste bin, this EP will have you seeing colors as bright as the fresh paint on a burner.
