Audio Messages Etc 2
Codek/US/CD
XLR8R Magazine
March 2002

Listening to Cosmic Rocker's (a.k.a. Sasha Crnobrnja) superb selections from the always dependable Codek back catalogue makes me yearn for the warmer months of the year when he and his buddies take over New York's infamous Frying Pan for their weekly Organic Grooves parties. No substitute for those heady dj-musician improv free-for-alls, Audio Messages Etc 2 still comes correct with enough dubby bass and polyrhythmic funk to make you forget it's still cold outside.
-James Friedman

Organic Grooves/Black Cherry
Aum Fidelity/US/CD

Pure rhythms run through a drummer's palms. Straight in sync comes a bassist's deep tones. Together they vibrate ears within rooms and minds without. Master percussionist Hamid Drake and multi-instrumentalist William Parker's textured grooves fold into one becoming the album Piercing the Veil. Wide smiles are created and desires elevated. A phone call is placed. Ring, ring, ring, "Hello, Codek headquarters." Message sent and mission confirmed. The Organic Grooves crew don their cosmic headsets, tune into the vibrations and connect with Parker and Drake in the heat of creation. With mystic tools in hand they stretch harmonics and split the spectrum into endless arrays of micro shades. All is dubbed into hypnotic upbeats. Future and past unite. Black Cherry is psychic groove syncopation to rule the nation. -Frosty

Organic Grooves/Pop Music Plug-in
Codek/US/12

Codek says "file under Cosmic" and that about sums their music up perfectly. Space jazz and percussive dub, with driving beats and enough innate funkiness to move the crowd. -Toph One

Audio Messages Etc. 2
Codek/US/CD

Combining the best of world rhythm, dub, hip-hop, live-improv jazz and a laid-back production touch, DJ Sasha and the Brooklyn crew at Codek are transmitting more warm and intriguing information on Audio Messages Etc 2.

Organic Grooves 3
Codek/US/CD
Tokion Magazine
November 2001

Progressing upon the new dub movement where On-U Sound left off, Organic Grooves is a collective of New York musicians and DJs. Recently, they've been doing club nights at the Frying Pan, an old boat docked on Manhattan's Hudson River. The events would be worth checking out for the location alone, but the enthusiastic crowd, mixed with great down-tempo beats, makes this one of the most interesting clubs the city has to offer.

Organic Grooves 3
Codek/US/CD
Mixer Magazine
August 2001

"Organic Grooves, NYC": Dozens of locations, six years of experience, four musicians and three DJs make up one of NYC1s most enduring and unique underground experiences.

From Brooklyn warehouses, to Queens lofts, from piers on the West Side to antique shops on the east, Organic Grooves has held underground events throughout the last six years that fuse the sounds of contemporary dance music and traditional world music in untraditional settings. The travelling event started in an apartment building basement on Manhattan1s Lower East Side, where four musicians came together, wanting to play music that didn1t exactly fit into the club scene, without any of the scene1s restrictions. The early events drew a like-minded crowd willing to experience a new take on dance music and clubbing. "If you wanted to come in, you weren1t picked, you weren1t chosen. It was open ears, open attitude," says Erika
Lively, Organic Grooves1 party organizer.
Defining Organic Grooves is problematic. The best word is probably "collective." The collective was
originally made up of the core musicians, event organizers and faithful fans. As time passed, the number of
musicians, the size of the crowds and locations and the means for expression all grew. Now, in addition to
the musical group, there are numerous DJs and a variety of visual artists who participate in the events. "I
think the reason that we1ve had such longevity is because Organic Grooves isn1t just a party, it1s a
happening and an event. And, the people help to make the event happen, it1s not just us," says Lively.
Additionally, the ever-changing locations keep the party fresh and different. "Every time the party took on a
new feeling whenever you walked into it. But it was still the same in regards to the content of the music and
what we do."
The music stands at the center of every Organic Grooves event. It1s nearly impossible to guess what the
night1s music will sound like, but one can be sure it will be eclectic and danceable. The current incarnation
of the band has seven members playing turntables, trumpet, keyboard, melodica, kora and multitude of
percussion instruments. Various types of world music, deep house and Afrobeat all meld together to create a
distinctive sound. "Recently, the Afrobeat has become very popular. But this other style of music, which
mixes in everything, whether it be hip-hop, electronic beats or horns from Yugoslavia has already been mixed
into our stuff." There is something magical about the energy of Organic Grooves1 music, which creates a
unique mood at the parties, at which they are always the headliners. With the DJs usually placed near the
back of the group, the focal point is always the drummers, who energetically lead the dancers.
It is not just location and music that make the party; it is also the loyal fans who are willing to travel
throughout the boroughs to catch the latest Organic soirée. "We know that we are going to provide a good base
with the location, atmosphere and music," says Lively, "but (our success) also has to do with the energy of
the people who attend." Like the music, the crowd is quite eclectic. Artists, club kids, hippies, music industry
types and a large international contingent all come together to experience the Organic Grooves happening.
The desire to keep such a well-rounded crowd is one of the things that have kept the party out of the clubs. "I
don1t want to got to big, major clubs who are going to shut down what we are about, who restrict who can
come through the door," says Erika. However, underground locations are becoming quite difficult to come by in
New York, due to the city1s clamp down on unlicensed venues as well as the big clubs. There is a constant
search for new locations, though Erika concedes that they often haphazardly discover spaces: "That1s the
whole Organic Grooves thing."
With such a "go with the flow" attitude, it appears that the event will never be predictable, which is what
keeps it so fresh and organic. Nonetheless, the collective has big plans for the future. They started a Studio
K7-distributed label, Codek Records, whose intent is to give the rest of the world exposure to their unique
music. Organic Grooves has also started taking their happenings on the road, travelling throughout the States
and abroad. However, Organic Grooves will continue to concentrate on their innovative New York productions.
In addition to monthly events, they will start holding small-scale parties "where we don1t advertise, and you
have to call our line to know what is going on," says Erika.
In a city where cynicism, greed, pretension and politics often dominate the dance music scene, Organic
Grooves offers a refreshing alternative to the conventional event. This happening is about people coming
together to dance, where the music is more important that the fashion. Despite their success, the music and
parties refuse to be constricted by any of the rules that dictate clubland. Always evolving and changing,
Organic Grooves judges it1s success not by how much money they make, but how many people they move.
-Orion Ray-Jones

Organic Grooves
Codek/US/CD
JOCKEY SLUT Magazine
August 2001

"Get Into The Groove": It1s a Spiritual Thing, A Communal Thing, A Soul Thing, An Organic Grooves Thing....

It1s all about perspective. A shared way of seeing that can bind together people from the most disparate backgrounds. Or as Sasha Srnobrnja, linchpin of the enigmatic Organic Grooves collective puts it: "We1re more into the music than our egos, and that1s what keeps it together." As visions go it1s an individual one. The sound of Organic Grooves is like music seen through a time-lapse camera ­ constantly morphing dub rhythms that are as likely to blossom into widescreen house as spaced-out skanking.
This sound has taken hold in New York City, where the Swiss born Sasha moved in 1993. Quickly assimilating
himself into the Big Apple1s fecund alternative scene he soon happened upon sympathetic souls, graphic
artist Alex Gloor and acid-house technician Zeb amongst them. The first fruit of this meeting of minds was
the highly-respected Codek label, the eclectic tastes of ist founders manifesting itself in a smorgasbord of
left-of-centre grooves.
"We just needed an outlet for our own creations," says Sasha, "but the music we look for has to be funky in
some way, it has to move you."
The momentum that Codek started has, over six years, snowballed into the Organic Grooves parties that have
become a focal pint for New York1s underground set. An amorphous set-up of live musicians bulwarked around
Sasha1s electronically manipulated rhythms, the group has long been providing a blissful soundtrack to any
number of twisted shenanigans. The vibe, if not the music, is similar to the Grateful Dead1s infamous Acid
Tests in providing a space for frolicking freerange heads.
"I1m not really a hippy though," he claims. "We just kind of like the aesthetics of that period. I love disco and
reggae ­ they gave us the club sound of today - so there1s a lot more to it than just hippies."
It1s a freeform soundtrack they1ve managed to pin down on the Organic Grooves compilations, the third
installment of which has just been released.
But the DIY ethic is still at the core of the Organic Grooves outlook. Alongside his musical dabbling, Sasha
has a sideline in clothes design with his partner Erica, and runs the Timtoum store which also serves as
Codek HQ. "It's an urban survival tactic," he says. ."Independence is important because Organic Grooves is it1s own
entity which we're trying to expose to the world. The masterplan is to keep flexible and not get stuck in one
corner." And it1s these fine ingredients that make Organic Grooves such a healthy choice. -Paul Clarke

Organic Grooves 3
Codek/US/CD
DUBLAB.COM for XLR8R Magazine
July 2001

Six musicians are taken to a house in Pennsylvania. This isn't so strange. Instruments are played in various tunings, tones, and tempos. This is no mystery. A quiet figure concentrates with
headphones and recording tools. Nothing is out of place. Time passes and discs are pressed and
played. The emanations from scattered speaker horns send Sherlock heads spinning through
Scotland Yard. Skies fill with billowing mushroom clouds coaxed on by atomic shakers. Raindrops freeze their descent and combine into mid air tidal waves curled by electric bass. Sunbeams breakdance into fresh spectrums with every wash of multi-hued echo. Do these meteorological phenomenon sound like false choices on a pop quiz? They are not. Check the frayed pages of your almanac for proof. Organic Grooves are elements all around us. Activate them for positive shifts in your atmosphere. - Frosty

Organic Grooves
feat. Muhamadou Salieu Suso
"Sutukung"
African Travels - Six Degrees Records
CD Compilation
Mixer Magazine
July 2001

WOW. If only all world music sounded like this. Unlike most Afrobeat albums,
the African elements come first here, overshadowing the dance elements. African drums, kora harps, Ivory coast vocals and the kamale n'goni (a three stringed guitar) meet the drum machine on this successful fusion album. The African spirit is shown to exist all over the world, with contributions made by English, Brazilian and New York producers. Yet, it is the Mother Content that truly represents on this excellent compilation.

KEY TRACKS: Organic Grooves feat. Muhammadu Saliu Suso "Sutukung"
Masters At Work "MAW"
Neba Solo "Noumou Foly" (Frederick Galliano mix)

D'Afro Disco EP
Codek/US/12"
PAPER Magazine
February 2001

The Best and the Worst of 2000

The Organic Grooves crew and pals are the folks behind
these four Afro influenced dub-funk stunners.

Flora & Fauna "Schoehn" Codek/US/CD Justin Hardison for hybridmagazine.com December 2000 Codek records, formed in 1996 by DJ Sasha Crnobrnja and Alex Gloor in a New York flea market, is a label and artist collective that has been producing a number of exciting releases as well as the Organic Groove parties, store and graphic design outings. On his latest, Sasha teams up with Fa Ventilato as Flora and Fauna to create some cultivated down-tempo material that sounds fresh and lets your mind retreat into a more relaxed state. Not as Dub-heavy as either volumes of the Organic Grooves albums, Schoen stills has some Dub elements as well as Afro-beat rhythms, both old and modern synths, vocal samples, and yes, melodies created by someone just whistling them out. A lot of the percussion parts rely on intricate and funky snare rolls created by more acoustic sounding kits. The bass on tracks like Even Airflow is immersed in lush reverbs and filters that lead their way into Japanese gongs and a rolling keyboard line that will make for a perfect Sunday morning selection. Similar to Thievery Corporation's Sounds of the Thievery Hi-Fi, Shoehn is a primarily instrumental album with some vocal samples and snippets that add nicely to the tracks. You can see why Sasha was selected to remix for a recent Tosca single. The Indian chants of Beauty and efficiency push the track into a heavily ethereal esthetic already established by the beautiful classical piano part and reverberated percussion. The vocal sample on the opener Sensual Discourse sounds exactly like, erm, Louie Armstong, and again gives the track that extra push to laid-back perfection. Perhaps it is their Swiss/European upbringing but Sasha and Ventilato have this kitschy, Julie Andrews, Sound of Music vibe buried just below the surface of some of their tracks. They seem to have an affection towards old, and sometimes silly, keyboard sounds that are by no means bad, but most definitely a creative alternative to the heavily used Hammond organ sounds on a lot of today's trip-hop records. These older key sounds on tracks like the purposefully titled Aggressively Modern provide the back-up to the previous mentioned whistling that drops you right on top of the Swiss Alps for a late day picnic and flower collecting. Summer in San Tropez also has whistling but this time with a more spaghetti-western atmosphere and intertwines with the samples of kids playing in the pool and a basic synth-bass line. This album has many different styles that come and go through out the album and does anything but stick to just one formula. As opposed to some of the more goofy synth songs, tunes like Teak-Paneled Gangway have fluid and modern keyboard sounds, drum breaks that are funkier than any track by The J.B's, and yes, R2-D2 sounds. Smooth Landing is probably the roughest and moodiest tracks on the whole album with a desperately lonely harpsichord playing alongside of hard drums and expressive French Horns. Towards A New Architecture might remind you of early Black Dog Productions material with its rhythmic pattern established by a looped international dial tone and ambient synch washes. One of the most pleasant things I found about Schoehn is that Sasha and Ventilato have created a record that is easy going, soothing, dramatic, and highly produced with a variety of different styles that won't demand all of your attention. It kind of sits as a soundtrack in your head and worked wonderfully on the subway when I wished to escape and pretend as if I was headed to San Tropez instead of work. www.hybridmagazine.com   D'Afro Disco Codek/US/12" Jockey Slut Magazine December 2000 Slut.faves of the month. D'Afro Disco, Voodoo funk from nyc.         Flora & Fauna "Schoehn" Codek/US/CD by James Friedman for XLR8R Magazine December 2000 There's something eminently tasteful about minimalism. No overwrought melodrama, no excessive sounds clutter the mix. Codek founder Sasha crnobrnja and partner Fa Ventilato keep things uncomplicated on Schoehn, but never simple. The beats are slow and their melodies hover between music box pianos and wacked-out-dubby whistles. The tunes are wide open, letting the different rhythmic elements float in and out of the fore with the occasional vocal sample firmly anchoring Flora and Fauna's cosmic down tempo right here on Planet Rock.     D'Afro Disco Codek/US/12" by TOPH ONE for XLR8R Magazine October 2000 Another gem of Worldwide Funk. Bolliger & Gloor have themselfs quite a little dancefloor number with "Schwarzweisskopie"and then Sasha Crnobrnja comes and remixes UZO's "2000 Elephants" and all sorts of hell breaks loose. Cosmic Slop by MARK "FROSTY" @DUBLAB.COM for XLR8R Magazine OCTOBER 2000 You walk through the rickety aisles of a back alley flea market. The sun beats on each vendor's tilted booth with nearly enough force to topple it. Dust particles reflect on the cracked pavement and drift through the rare space between bargains. The corner of your eye catches on a macramé shrine to the urban bargain. You approach to find bins marked "Cosmic music." Rows packed tight with used wax virtually melted together into singular funky organisms. Your fingers commence flipping through warped selections as they spin your eyes into kaleidoscopic rotation. These are joints you've never seen or heard. Magic Carpet, The Orchard Compilation, Generation 78, D'Afro Disco,... They seem almost like the rare grooves of a planet somewhat parallel but twisted off center. Curiosity collides with vinyl lust and tilts your head back to ask what you're sifting through. Your eyes turn upward to find reality replaced. You have discovered Codek. Born four years ago in an East Village Flea Market with the meeting of Alex Gloor and Sasha Crnobrnja, Codek has become a spectacular world that remains hidden to 99.9999...% of the human race. Sonic structures crafted from ancient bells, worn drum skins, displaced chants, swirling vibrations, tidal echoes, and the force of 10,000 lb. bass. This is Cosmic. What it is, what it is? Sasha fills in the blanks of the beautiful mystery "cosmic music was never defined as a music style, it is something you have to create." This loose classification leaves room to breathe. If it connects to the wavelength, it belongs. Sasha back flips into the history, "I heard stuff almost 20 years ago, tracks speeded up that sounded like drum & bass and then mixed with a slowed down track, half tempo, which made it sound like trip hop or mixing afro beat and Brazilian music with early 80's electro. I got the first tape in '83. It totally changed the way I was listening to music." This concept of wide-open fusion runs deep in the sound. Codek productions gather elements from all corners of rhythmic soul and anchor them with dub. You will catch familiar glimpses but it's difficult to pinpoint the exact mixture. Why bother? The result is fresher than the dots on a Wonder Bread bag. Codek releases have a handmade appeal. Only around 500 copies are pressed of each. Gloor's amazing psychedelic cover art provides the face to accentuate rock solid tunes. Each sleeve looks individually printed by ink soaked wooden blocks. They have a vibe straight out of the JA by way of San Francisco 1968. Cosmic fuel comes in the form of Organic Grooves. This frequent gathering brings the Codek DJs together with master musicians in improvisational unison. The physical plane connects to the circuit board set and together flow on uncovered waves. You might catch Gloor grinding his custom Hähner Turntable with pitch sliding from 8-88rpm, Riain vaporizing tone arms with solar rays, or Sasha (aka Cosmic Rocker) meshing dub riddims into live African percussion. Repetitive sounds hypnotize, flip, rotate, and fall into place. Codek keeps it low-key and stunning. Discovering this crew is like finding a rare freaky gem stuck between the seat cushions of a second hand corduroy couch.. Yam Yam "Subduction Zone" Orchard Compilation Vol. 3 Codek/US/12" by Sirkus' Ben Wilcox for Stright No Chaser Magazine Autumn 2000 Loopy disco cut up with added percussion for a little "Beef" between the basslines. If the Idjut's are your thing, check this.       Organic Grooves BLU Magazine Autumn 2000 Organic Grooves is a weekly collaboration of artists and DJ's performing "cosmic" music genre music. Similarly to hip hop, the focus of cosmic is on the DJ and his dexterity with vinyl. However the DJ is not bound to any class of the records-he creates his music from any records that has the right groove. The resulting effect is a decentralizing chaotic mix of sound with rhythms breaking and repeating, defining it distinctly original while hearking back to its roots in tribal, ethnic, and folk musicbring on the incense and herbal tea.   ORGANIC GROOVES, "DOIN' WHAT COMES NATURALLY" Organic Grooves marks five years of unadulterd funk and fun by BRUCE TANTUM for TIMEOUT Magazine AUGUST 2000 From the outside, the old factory building near the Gowanus Canal in Brooklyn appears to be just another dilapidated, postindustrial space. But the crowd of party people and the distant echo of percussion are clues that something unusual (for the neighborhood, anyway) is happening inside. Upon entering the building's immense open courtyard, an awe-inspiring scene spreads out before you-hundreds of people are getting down on an impromptu dance floor, shaking to a distinctive psychedelic-dub sound that is utterly off-the-wall by current New York party standards. The funky genre-bending music is coming not only from a DJ, but also from a slew of improvising musicians who are somehow gelling into a coherent yet otherwordly sort of dance music. Organic Grooves is throwing another hoedown. Over the past five years, Sasha Crnobrnja (pronounced "Sir-no-burn-jah") and Erika Lively's roving Organic Grooves bash has become a mainstay of the city's clubbing scene, growing naturally from modest roots into one of the more anticipated nights of the underground arena. This Friday, the duo and the rest of the Organic Grooves collective (which includes DJ Riain, musicians Zeb, Mike T., Gregory, Tamir and Takuya, and graphics-man supreme Alex Gloor) celebrate five years of hip-shaking action with a big blowout at the Bowery Ballroom. The Organic Grooves story begins in the early '80s, when Crnobrnja began deejaying in his hometown of Basel, Switzerland. Although his record-spinning was certainly more traditional than it is now, it was still a bit left-of-center for its day, especially in the conservative Swiss environment. "I was playing a mix of whatever was around that wasn't disco," Crnobrnja recalls, "like early Eurythmics, Liquid Liquid, Konk, Kraftwerk, DAF, Medium Medium, A Certain Ratio-stuff like that. Basically funky music, but the new type of funk that was coming out at the time." He was also heavily influenced by the "cosmic" scene, a little-known movement that had its origins in Italy in the early '70s. "It was a mixture of all different musical styles," he explains. "The cosmic DJs were mixing Krautrock with ambient, African, Brazilian, rock, all this weird stuff. It wasn't just haphazard-it had to work on a dance floor." This blending of styles was to become a big part of the Organic Grooves style. Eventually, Crnobrnja hooked up with fellow Baseler (and current New York scene-maker) Benno Hotz. "He was into samplers and electronic music, and I played drums and percussion, and we started incorporating that with the deejaying, along with some rappers and a friend who played guitar. We were calling it the Go Global Sound System then. When Benno moved to New York around 1990, he told me there were these guys doing kind of the same thing-they turned out to be Giant Step." Although Giant Step and Organic Grooves were both exploring the DJ-with-musicians concept, Giant Step's sound was coming from a more traditional jazz angle. (Coincidently, Giant Step just celebrated its tenth anniversary last week-see TONY 255 for more on them.) In '93, Crnobrnja made the big move to NYC to work as a designer (a sideline he continues today, along with partner Erika Lively-you can check out their wares at the pair's Timtoum boutique at 179 Orchard Street). "When I hooked up with Erika, we decided to start doing events again-she had already been doing some parties in New York," Crnobrnja says. "We did a few Go Global parties at some spots. The first one where we used the Organic Grooves name was in '95 in a basement artist's studio on Stanton Street, and that's when we first joined up with [guitarist] Zeb, and a few other musicians. Erika was working then for XVI-when we saw the [Middle Eastern-looking, heavily mirrored and tiled] basement of that place, we said, 'Wow, we have to do something in there!' " The space became the home of Organic Grooves' first weekly events. "At first, we were playing some classics and more well-known music, along with the more underground stuff, but we were getting the people who just want to hear what they already knew," Crnobrnja says. "So we stopped playing [well-known music] entirely, and that's when we really started getting our own sound and our own crowd-when we really were doing something that we thought was different. >From there, it just kind of evolved into what it is today." Since those early days, the party has intentionally wandered from venue to venue, playing in fab spots like a Loisaida antique shop, the good ship Frying Pan and the American Can Factory (the party described in the beginning of this article). All the while, Organic Grooves has been attracting more and more attention-it now consistently pulls in 500 or more revelers per party-and refining its sound further. When asked to define exactly what that sound is, Crnobrnja momentarily hesitates. "We used the description 'trippy dub-funk' in the beginning. You have to call it something, just to give people some idea of what it is, but we play all different kinds of music, with dub being the main ingredient. Whatever we do, that dub sound is always our backbone." Whatever you call it, the music sure seems to get people on the dance floor-a typical Organic Grooves soiree has very few wallflowers. So is the Organic Grooves musical cadre a DJ with musicians, or a band that happens to have a DJ? "We're getting to the point where I think we're more of a band," says Crnobrnja. "We don't rehearse or anything, but over the years, we've become very in tune with each other and can kind of predict what the others are going to do. Zeb can play guitar all night and not be out of tune with what I'm playing-people don't know how hard that is. Just like our recordings [on the excellent Codek label]-we're learning step by step, and we feed off each other." As for Organic Grooves' future plans, Crnobrnja says, "We're of course going to keep doing the parties, but after five years, we're looking to take it into the next direction to keep it fresh. We definitely want to bring Organic Grooves to other cities, and we're going to be putting out a lot of stuff on the record label and try to work with vocalists for that." For the fifth-anniversary Bowery Ballroom bang-up, expect more of Organic Grooves' patented "trippy dub-funk" psychedelia. Be sure and congratulate Crnobrnja, Lively and the rest of the corps for forging something unique on the New York scene, then get yourself out on the dance floor. That's what it's all about, after all.   D'AFRO DISCO 1 Codek/US/12" by TOMAS for XLR8R Magazine JULY 2000 Five summer skanks from the brooklyn based-world-groove fusionists at Codek. Multi-layered percussion and Fila Brazilla-style jazz warmth coalesces in Zeb's "Swimming Pool" where west African chants dip and sway around his superb chopped-break/beat-down house mix. Else where Cosmic Rocker and Zeb smoke "Hashish" and launch into a space-funk groove that would make Fela smile and Bolliger&Gloor go uptempo with some early-garage/Sugarhill-type beats juiced up in ESG-style manner. Perfect for rooftop gatherings when it's 96 degrees in the shade.     SASHA CRNOBRNJA "STOP SHOPPING" REMIXES Codek/US/12" by TOPH ONE for XLR8R Magazine MAI 2000 You couldn't find better music to play between Ravi Shankar & Fila Brazillia. Or Dollar Brand and Hawke. DJ Sasha and the Codek camp of Cosmic enthusiasts are leftfield worldbeat specialists, and they approach thir music with knowledge, love and humor. Check "Hut Made Of Dung", Fantastic Craftsman," or Sublime Porkrinds" for further evidence. Viva the freak tempo and its heavy band of veteran supporters! Viva Codek!     THE MACRAME REVOLUTION INSIDE THE ORGANIC GROOVES URBAN-HIPPIE COLLECTIVE by Mark Jacobs for Paper Magazine April 2000 Erika Lively and Sasha Crnobrnja are seated in Timtoum, the Orchard Street retail headquarters of the Organic Grooves mini- empire, sorting out exactly what they've been cultivating over the past decade. "This is not a planned thing we do, really," Crnobrnja attempts to explain from under his hooded sweatshirt. "We already were doing the things, and it somehow all came together. " Organic Grooves, the fever-pitch weekly gathering of space-age funk-started 5 years ago as a hot $1 party that left the turntables slick with sweat-has grown into a tangle of ambitious artistic and business pursuits (see "Groove Theory," below). In addition to the boutique and the roving party, the O.G. collective now boasts a record label, a line of bags and apparel, and a visual sensibility that brands all their wares. These ventures are distinguished by a similarly intricate web of organizational names-Go Global, Go Global Soundsystems, Codek Records, People to People-that lends the whole mess the air of inscrutability that has always made the underground fun. So let's spoil it. Lively, a 37-year-old upstate New York native, keeps everything shipshape with her business sense. Yugoslavian-born Crnobrnja, 33, is the musical guide and DJ anchor, as well as a tailor who designs clothes and bags. Alex Gloor co-founded Codek Records with Crnobrnja (whom he met in Switzerland) and provides the collective's amazing graphic look. And Zeb is a guitar player at the parties who also helps run the shop. The artistic whims of a host of other musicians (including Mike T. and Gregory) and creative types contribute to the day-to-day direction. Governing the creative sprawl is a steadfast advocacy of the urban hippie-that breed of city folk reinvigorated by fashion's recent fascination with ponchos, patchouli and dung huts. The Organic Grooves crew has termed this moment the Macrame Revolution,; they call its soundtrack, simply, "cosmic music." Sonically, this translates as down-tempo beats shuffling with spacey dub elements and freely appropriated world music. "I've always been into any music from around the world and mixing it with contemporary electronic music," Crnobrnja says. We call it hippie-hop. The resulting O.G. dance floors elicit a sort of voodoo-fit-on-the-floor response that Lively thinks is just fine. "There were guy couples that were totally into each other," she says of a particularly transcendent evening. "There was this heavyset guy in front, shaking his arms next to this woman with blue hair. All the musicians, you could see the awe in their faces." A totally organic experience. Photo by Eric McNatt 212.358.7738   DJ Sasha Crnobrnja "Stop Shopping, Start Crafting" Codek/US/CD Reviewed by Timo Phelps for XLR8R Magazine February 2000 The DYI movement has a long, storied history in punk scene that's left a trail of 'zines, homespun labels and bands that manage their own affairs in its wake. The dance scene encapsulated this aesthetic when it sprang out of illegal early-90"s raves, but consumer culture soon exerted its stranglehold. Enter Brooklyn's Codek collective, headed by musician/artist Sasha Crnobrnja and Alex Gloor whose home-produced "organic grooves" (as they call their fusion of funk-worldbeat- triphop) and hand-screened graphics have arrived to brighten up the scene. Their tougue-in-cheek "Stop shopping, Start crafting" campaign throws down the gauntlet at their listeners to recharge DIY values in dance music. Immerse yourself in the thick, instrumental walls of grooves on "popsickle Sticks, Beads and Glue". where drum machines, djimbe loops, and wild flanged bass lines hop along to a Brooklyn gait. Elsewhere, Ukrainian jazz trumpet samples get fed through druggy, effected analog synths with dancehall-bouncing Middle-Eastern hand drums ("I'll Fitting Tunic") while well-aged disco-house betas get retrofitted with a Flabba Holt bass treatment ("Fantastic Craftsman"). That's about four continents in two songs! Not unlike an advancement of Ninja Tunes stalwarts Up, Bustle And Out's confident flamenco-trip-hop, DJ Sasha effortlessly stirs the the melting pot of ethno-riddim with simmering results. Similarly Codek's Organic Grooves Volume 2 compilation pairs Sasha with friend Zeb, Nappy G and Greg Cage for an equally chunky stew. Get the dirt at wwww.codek.com and for god's sakes you crafty folks, get out there and do it your own dam selves! Various Artists "Orchard Compilation Volume 3" Codek/US/12" Reviewed by Timo Phelps for XLR8R Magazine February 2000 DJ Sasha's Codek Records EP (Orchard Compilation Volume 3) is a cornucopia of samples and breaks with a crooklyn-dub swagger. Ethno-jazz tracks by Zeb "Spy From Cairo", Cosmic Rocker "Lovegrass and Magic" and the disco-meets-Latin percussion gem "Subduction Zone" by Yam Yam add up to a creative, soulful beathead symphony. Fuck illbient-these are the true beats. DJ Sasha Crnobrnja "Stop Shopping, Start Crafting" Various Artists "Orchard Compilation Volume 3" Codek/US/CD/12" Reviewed by Peter Shapiro for WIRE Magazine February 2000 Codek Records is undoubtedly one of an infinite number of labels run from a cramped apartment in Manhattan by some dodgy geezer with a second-hand scanner and a pirated copy of Photoshop Making great use of thrift store flotsam and jetsam, the label's cover art is some of the best in the biz (check out the great Macramé Revolution EP). With looped field recordings and samples of morning ragas and andean nose flutes layered over stoner beats and bongwater atmospheres, the music on both of these releases follows a similar logic. You can't argue with the sentiment of Sasha Crnobrnja's debut album or any of the song titles ("Popsicle Sticks, Beats And Glue", "Buckskin Thongs", "Fun With Jute", "Rainy Day Activity"), but the music never quite lives up to the happy camper shenanigans even though it tries valiantly, featuring contributions from Mr. Crnobrnja, Sonic Monks, Zeb and Yam Yam, The Orchard Compilation EP is a more bizarre collection of ethnic forgeries. File somewhere 'Twixt Muslimgauze, Three Mustaphas Three and Stock, Hausen & Walkman.   DJ SASHA CRNOBRNJA "STOP SHOPPING, START CRAFTING" Codek/US/CD CD review by Eric Demby at PAPER Magazine February 2000 An easy way to shock a non-New Yorker these days is to explain how we no longer have a Cohesive underground scene and that's really more about doing your own thing now. We can, of course, offer you the Organic Grooves vibe, to which Yugoslaw-Swiss transplant Sasha Crnobrnja, along with his pal Alex Gloor, gave birth at an Avenue A flea market, in 1996. Sasha is still the crew's driving musical force, and Stop Shopping, Start Crafting!, in addition to being an overt anti-materialism statement, is the first fully developed recording of the mix of laid-back percussion and spaced-out jams that organic grooves could patent if they were so inclined. Sasha's tempo rarely rises past the slow grind, just like at the crew's weekly parties, so you can dine, recline or shake your behind­it's all good, the mellow rhythms keep saying. some focusing of the mind is also rewarded. mostly with paths for a cosmic journey, as on the wandering trio of tracks in the album's middle: "Raw Materials," "Hut Made Of Dung" and "Rainy Day Activity." Like New York, there's a lot going on here, you just have to look for it. DJ SASHA CRNOBRNJA "STOP SHOPPING, START CRAFTING" Codek/US/CD CD review by Mark "frosty" McNeill" at DUBLAB.COM December 1999 Create something! Create Something! Create Something! Fuck it if it's not perfect. Flaws bring flavor and flavor brings feeling! Sasha Crnobrnja provides inspiration for Summer camp flunkies and shopping mall junkies on "Stop Shopping, Start Crafting." The man behind Codek and the Organic Grooves parties in NYC has already established the fact he doesn't color within the lines. His first LP brings the point home riding on lopsided plexiglass oxen. Can this music be categorized? They say file under: Trip Hop, Leftfield, Cosmic. Am I wasting my time. No, that is the point, this is uncategorizable by name but fits many comfortable niches by vibe. I'll give it a go and throw something at you...Sounds of the World with shaky bead stoned folk banjo slangin' hippy flip flops with mad dub echoes. Fuck it... Put this in the player and you get "Let's Make a Cap" which starts off with some ancient strings then jumps into a faded pygmy who bops around to some roots style drums with rubbery bass. Sasha surely earned his Boy Scout merit badge with "Ill Fitting Tunic." He must have stayed up all night fashioning those Spanish trumpets to fit so nicely with metallic drums, and somehow a thumping dancehall bassline. The soap box derby is won with "Hut Made of Dung." It cruises down the lane with groovy organs and crisp drums before deep analog stabs drop in to accompany the snares as they get their flange on. If you missed the Smithsonian Folkways series buy this album. It has nothing to do with the Smithsonian Folkways and will make you forget you ever thought about that in the first place. This music has a true Earthy feel. You might not know who Sasha with the strange last name is yet but soon you will. This is just the tip of the iceberg as he slowly lifts the covering from his sound. dub diagnosis: Are Sasha's drum machines and samplers made out of punched leather and paper mache?   Audio Messages Etc. Codek/US/CD Review by Allen Voskanian, LOTUS Magazine 1999 The CD opens with a mystic downtempo groove, provided by Organic Grooves and appropriately titled "Sound Serpent." I was hoping that this same vibe would continue throughout the entire CD, but instead the album progresses into a harder mid-tempo beat, with several transitions. Track 6 through 11 recapture the brilliant opening vibe with loads of organic sounds. The concept of this compilation showcases the label's style and stems from their weekly Organic Grooves parties in New York. All 20 tracks are taken from the label's vinyl catalog, including 5 unreleased tracks. This full-lenght CD is continuously mixed by DJ Nickodemus, taking the listener on a splendid journey into tripped out midtempo chill, New York style.