Ordinary K
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It’s the archetypal, cliché story of the entertainment industry: bright eyed, blue-collar artist from cowtown lands in New York City with big dreams of stardom. Artist strives for success, but quickly learns how cruel the big city can be. The hip-hop and reggae fused funk quartet Ordinary K formed in Colorado in 1999, and quickly gained a devout following among the indigenous population of jam-banders and snowboarders for their reggae-splashed, Beastie Boys-meet-Stevie Wonder grooves. Without a major label deal, they released an album and several successful EPs. They regularly sold out Boulder’s premier venue, the Fox Theater, and eventually landed a huge-beer-company sponsorship. In other words, they did everything a band could in Colorado. So in 2003, OK relocated to NYC.
They weren’t expecting a ticker-tape parade, but they probably weren’t expecting what they got, either. In some ways their upswings and downbeats were typical: they lost a founding member, then the rhythm section left. They ploughed through relationship and job problems, and struggled to save enough money to record by touring the Northeast. There really isn’t a happy ending here: there’s still no record deal, and the band isn’t even pimping a new album. Instead, they’re now touring in support of singer Todd Woodward’s new self-titled released solo disc, Paradise. They’ll play Jose MacIntyre’s on Milk Street in Boston this Friday.
Woodward, or Woodz as fans know him, recorded Paradise in his apartment studio with producer Pat Lee, a set-up that afforded him the opportunity to experiment with arrangements – namely, with hip-hop sounds -- and with his own singing as well. “I wanted to get into different realms and sounds,” he says. “The content of it is pretty personal stuff, not Ordinary K-type stuff. I experimented to see what I could do. I didn’t have to go into a studio and spend a bunch of money so I saved up a couple grand to get it mastered.”
That solo disc opens with “Pieces,” which telegraphs the album’s positive vibes. In a funky wail, Woodz sings “Forget for a second, categories you’re falling in/Take a minute, think about tolerance/Hate somebody, you better give good reason.” It’s a far cry from the last Ordinary K nugget, 2005’s Naked EP, which dabbled in catchy hip-pop funk. Paradise retains some of Ordinary K’s feel-good grooves, but the lyrics are more intense, dark, and introspective.
On “Dream Life,” which features a cameo by Brooklyn soulstress Shae Fiol, Woodz sings about not getting the chance to say goodbye to a high school sweetheart whom he lost in 1995 to a drunk driver.
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“One Thing,” with it’s acoustic guitar backing, is the disc’s biggest departure. The guitar part comes from a riff Woodz used to play at house parties while singing Led Zeppelin lyrics over it. Now he sings lyrics about being bummed out when he first felt the pressure of living and working in NYC.
You might say things are looking up for the band, who are currently based in Brooklyn. After splintering on arrival, they’ve since patched the band back together with new drummer Joe Spinella, bassist Matthias Schaefer, and veteran keyboardist James Walton. They played MTV’s Jamaican Spring Break, opened for Jimmy Cliff in Colorado, and are back in the studio working on the long anticipated follow-up to their pre-New York release, Sidebyeach (Machine Made Records).
Despite good reviews for Paradise
, Woodward says he has no plans to leave the band to pursue a solo career. In fact, he’s couldn’t be happier that OK is back in the studio. Plus, when I reach him by phone he’s on vacation in Puerto Rico – so, shit, things can’t be that bad.
“I think we’re shooting to put something out pretty soon,” he says.