Living Legends, the LA based hip-hop collective with their roots in the Bay Area, have long had a strong bond with Amoeba Music, dating way back to the nineties when Amoeba Berkeley was the first record store to believe in them and carry their underground tapes when they were still a (virtually) unknown crew living in a warehouse deep out in East Oakland. Back in those tough early days, in efforts to make ends meet, the struggling artists used to slang their lo-fi cassettes on the streets of the East Bay, publish the simple but entertaining Xeroxed and stapled rapzine Unsigned & Hella Broke (UHB)* and throw Top Rawmen/99cent "survivor" parties at their community living space. These inspired events not only allowed them to practice their craft but served as a necessary way to buy groceries (noodles galore) and scrape together enough money to pay their overdue PG&E bills.

That seems like a long time ago to the Legends, whose membership includes Mystik Journeymen (consisting of Sunspot Jonz & Luckyiam.PSC -- the two main founding Living Legends once simply known as Tommy & Corey), The Grouch, MURS, Scarub, Eligh, Aesop, and Bicasso. Through all the good times and tough times Amoeba Music has always supported the Legends, and in turn the Legends have always shown much love for Amoeba. At a 2006 instore at the Berkeley Amoeba MURS made mention of the fact that Amoeba was the first record store to sell his music.

But perhaps the best Living Legends/Amoeba moment was a few months ago, April 8th 2008 in LA, when the collective did a great instore performance at the Hollywood Amoeba Music. Above is the video, which is not just one song but the whole damn instore performance, running almost 33 minutes. The great performance includes the collective doing the song "The Gathering" (also the title of their group album just released that month on their own label, Legendary Music). The Grouch can be seen doing his funny-but-true song "Artsy" (off his solo album Show You The World, which had also just dropped that month on Legendary Music).  The Legends also perform "Purple Kush," featuring The Grouch with Eligh, followed by Murs performing "3:16," The Grouch doing "Never Die," and the Living Legends extended crew closing out the show  with  "2010."  Check it out!

AMOEBLOG:  I've heard many descriptions of your music, but how do you describe the music you make?

MOCHIPET: I like to think of my music as "experimental music," but more in a sense that I am always experimenting with new sounds and ideas. Not necessarily sounds that are new to the human ear, but sounds that are always new to mine. I used to try and always make sounds that no one has ever heard before but then I realized it doesn't matter if anyone else has heard it. It only matters if I had. Other people like to call my music. IDM, Glitch, Breakcore, etc etc..  But I just make music.

AMOEBLOG:   According to the liner notes, your new album, Microphonepet , was recorded over a five year span but you don't give years for each track. In which years were most of the tracks recorded?

MOCHIPET:  Yes, the songs were all spaced out and recorded over the past five years. I have always enjoyed making hip hop beats and collaborating with MC's. However, I never had enough for a full album, because it was not the only thing I did. But recently I had a chance to finish up these songs and compile them into a LP. The newest ones were "Girls and Boys and Toys" with Jahcoozi, "Banna Split" with Bicasso of Living Legends and E Da Boss, "Mr. Malase" (featuring Casual of Hieroglyphics, Dopestyle, and Humanbeings), and "Take You Down" (featuring Sindri andTaiwankid). The oldest one is probably "The Graduate" (featuring Dubphonics). The older ones were generally more sample based while the newer ones were more glitch and synth based.

Once again Amoeba Music has been immortalized in song. This time it is courtesy of the brand new album Show You The World by Cali hip-hopper The Grouch (out tomorrow, April 8, when he and the whole Living Legends crew will perform for free at Amoeba Hollywood @ 7PM).   Amoeba Music is name-checked in the song "The Bay To L.A." that features fellow Living Legends crew emcee MURS. The song -- off the 15-song new album from the LA artist with deep Bay Area history, not to mention Amoeba history, since we were the first store to carry the once struggling mid-1990's young hip-hop collective -- includes the lyrics, "the Bay to LA, like Amoeba player" - and with its distinctly Bay Area- flavored, synth-drenched infectious beat and catchy lyrics, "The Bay To LA" is the hit of the summer of 2008 just waiting to happen. I bet money on it. 

Also on the recommended new album from The Grouch is the observantly sharp & witty song "Artsy" (with lots of LA references) which has an equally great video (shot reportedly for just $3000), which you can see above. And the new Grouch album, his first since his collab with Zion I two years ago and his first solo in five years, is influenced greatly by the 2006 arrival in his life of his young daughter Rio, who is featured both on the album's cover art (see left) and on the new release's intro track.  The album and also the Living Legends new hip-hop collective project, The Gathering, are both on Legendary Music and are both dropping tomorrow (April 8th). To celebrate the two new releases, the entire collective will perform a free show at Amoeba Music Hollywood at 7PM which will be streamed (audio/video) live via this website. Don't miss it!