N.A.S.A. Throws A Star Party

If you’re gonna get down with the best party record of the year, it’s best to know who you’re dealing with: at the heart of the N.A.S.A. project is the duo of Squeak E. Clean (Sam Spiegel, Brother of Spike Jonze) and DJ Zegon (pro skateboarder Ze Gonzales), two friends brought together by a shared love of vintage Brazilian soul and funk records.

The concept for the project was first conceived at a packed party in São Paulo, Brazil, where the two hit it off and began spinning ideas together that eventually developed into fantasy collaborations between musicians that, at a glance, would seem totally incompatible. But once you hear it, there’s no mistaking The Spirit Of Apollo for a half-assed patchwork album of guest appearances; this record is a brilliant tapestry of strong, diverse flavors that hits a harmonic pitch unlike anything before it.

While the tracks for The Spirit Of Apollo didn’t begin as pieces intentionally designed for a particular artist, Spiegel and Gonzales didn’t shy away from the songs’ individual gravitations. If it was beginning to sound like a George Clinton piece, the duo fully embraced that- but also looked for the keyhole opening for a collaborative twist, in which they’d dream up the most unlikely pairings of musicians.

“We would start to feel the song out, and feel the artist through the song as we did it,” Spiegel said in a recent interview. “Basically, we’d sit around as we were making these tracks and say the nuttiest combination of names, like our dream of who we could get on the song. It’s crazy, a lot of times they actually happened.” 
 
After putting the core beats together on their own, the two enlisted the help of pretty much everyone in the music industry to get their dream project off the ground. It took five years of bartering, begging, haggling and sleight of hand to put all the many pieces together, but in the end N.A.S.A. had compiled a jaw-dropping collection of tracks from a veritable who’s who of the cream of today’s musical crop. Once complete, the duo found a launch pad for The Spirit Of Apollo at the visionary label Anti Records, home to Antiquiet favorites One Day As A Lion, William Elliott Whitmore and Tom Waits (the latter of which makes a guest-vocals appearance).

On paper, there’s no way in hell a reggaeton groove with David Byrne and Chuck D can work, much less kick ass- but in execution (on the excellent Money), it’s the celebration of a bizarre flavor mix that by all accounts should never have been considered, much less pursued. The same goes for Strange Enough, featuring a posthumous appearance by Ol’ Dirty Bastard, verses by (the underrated) Fatlip and an irresistible chorus by the Yeah Yeah Yeah’s resident weirdo/vocalist Karen O:

Kanye grabs hold of the spotlight with both hands on Gifted, rockin’ the laser beams but leaving the Autotune at home for a quick-drop ego-stroke verse that actually kicks ass. Santogold rolls out a decent second verse, while Lykke Li steps up and delivers a chorus that’s a great deal less annoying than the majority of her solo work. 

Check out a making-of clip from the album sessions:

While most of the collaborations hit like butter, a few seem, in hindsight, to be no-brainer team-ups- like George Clinton and Chali 2na on the big-organ, big-chorus singalong There’s A Party. It’s always good to hear from Del Tha Funkee Homosapien, who teams up with DJ Qbert for Soul Samba, a synth-slap groove jam that’s possibly the smoothest track on the record. Much to my dismay, however, the fiercest track on the record is The Mayor, featuring The Cool Kids, Ghostface Killah, Scarface & amp; DJ AM. The energy’s high, the beat’s sick and the flow’s on ten as each artist brings their A game to the most hip-hop song on the album.

For all its vast diversity, The Spirit Of Apollo is a surprisingly cohesive work, due largely to the beat core, and a truly inspired one at that. Nothing seems rushed, impulsive or, worst of all, claustrophobic- a gargantuan feat, given the range of performers and personality on the album. It’s a collaborative masterpiece, and anyone with a working set of ears and even a passive appreciation for a hot party jam is all the better for it.

The aim is to turn the N.A.S.A. live show into a high-octane multimedia extravaganza, with the help of their friends in the heart of the art world. Some have already lent their visual talents, and animated music videos for several of The Spirit Of Apollo’s tracks with original artwork from Shepard Fairey, Sage Vaughn, Mark Gonzalez, Barry McGee, The Date Farmers, Splunny, Marcel Dzama and others. The artists were paired with directors and animators who brought their images to life on the screen. A full-length documentary was recently completed that including interviews with many of the artists who contributed to The Spirit Of Apollo, as well as behind-the-scenes footage from the studio sessions.

The Spirit Of Apollo
February 17, 2009
Anti Records

1. Intro
2. The People Tree (w/ David Byrne, Chali 2na, Gift Of Gab & Z-Trip)
3. Money (w/ David Byrne, Chuck D, Ras Congo, Seu Jorge & Z-Trip)
4. N.A.S.A. Music (w/ Method Man, E-40, & DJ Swamp)
5. Way Down (w/ RZA, Barbie Hatch & John Frusciante)
6. Hip Hop (w/ KRS-One, Fatlip, & Slim Kid Tré)
7. Four Rooms, Earth View
8. Strange Enough (w/ Karen O, Ol’ Dirty Bastard, & Fatlip)
9. Spacious Thoughts (w/ Tom Waits & Kool Keith)
10. Gifted (w/ Kanye West, Santogold & Lykke Li)
11. A Volta (w/ Sizzla, Amanda Blank & Lovefoxxx)
12. There’s A Party (w/ George Clinton & Chali 2na)
13. Whachadoin? (w/ Spank Rock, M.I.A., Santogold & Nick Zinner)
14. O Pato (w/ Kool Kojak & DJ Babão)
15. Samba Soul (w/ Del Tha Funkee Homosapien & DJ Qbert)
16. The Mayor (feat. The Cool Kids, Ghostface Killah, Scarface & DJ AM)
17. N.A.S.A. Anthem