Send "Various Artists " Ringtones to your Cell 
| Pitchfork |
 Here's a backstory you don't hear every day. The Numero Group, the consummate Chicago cratediggers, found out that a vinyl bootleg of sampled material from their Eccentric Soul series was making the rounds. It comprised dozens, possibly hundreds of loops, breaks, and vocal snippets copped from as many as 70 Eccentric Soul releases strung together in a 40-minute DJ mix. As salt in the wound, the nondescript-looking 12" was stamped with a punny label: "Numbero." "We've been bootlegged before, certainly... but this really takes the cake", Numero wrote in a blog post.Ready to shut down the counterfeit operation, "an interesting thing happened," Numero said. "We kinda got hooked on the flawlessly arranged pastiche." So they did some digging, and discovered the DJs behind the mix were the mysterious production team Shoes, creators of lauded underground remixes and edits of everyone from Al Green to Detroit-house hero Moodymann. Numero decided to flip the script: They seized the vinyl from the pressing plant and released the bootleg themselves, even keeping the "Numbero" imprint. Unprecedented as it sounds, there's plenty of history for this sort of release. Some of pop's most famous records started out as bootlegs-- from Dylan's Basement Tapes to the Beach Boys' original Smile and Prince's shelved-for-years Black Album from 1987. In each case, the public's desire to hear these albums outstripped the record company's wish to keep them under wraps, and Numero is smart to get out in front of this mix because it's precisely the kind of thing people would track down regardless. (Not to mention the savvy it takes to recognize a great mix when you hear one and, uh, bootleg your own bootleg.) The album works on a few levels. It's first and foremost an excellent breaks record in the grand tradition of Street Beat's Ultimate Breaks and Beats series from the late 80s. (The title and dodgy skeleton cover art is an homage to that collection.) But there's more to it than that. The album is both a reverential snapshot of the breadth of the Eccentric Soul series and a pretty seamless DJ mix in its own right. It can be a little difficult to tackle, though. The record's split into two long tracks-- essentially a Side A and B-- and Shoes rearrange the source material in such a way that it's nearly impossible to identify all of the original songs....full text |
| Washingtoncitypaper |
| The Numero Group, the Chicago-based archival label focused on obscure soul, funk, folk, and rock, is used to seeing songs swiped from its compilations—typically in small doses. But it was shocked when it discovered a DJ 12-inch by the production group Shoes composed exclusively of loops and samples from Numero releases. Adding insult to injury, the bootleg even listed a faux label: “Numbero.” “We’ve been bootlegged before, certainly,” the label later wrote on its blog. “Madlib (take a few bows), Mayer Hawthorne, BBE, RJD2, that lame-ass ‘Low Riders’ series…but this really takes the cake.” Numero is fastidious about clearing song licenses and paying royalties to musicians. Recently, the label took its power-pop comp, Yellow Pills: Prefill, out of print because it couldn’t obtain the agreement of one of the featured artists. The Numero guys spend countless hours tracking down original artists, clearing legal hurdles, and researching the regional scenes and labels their compilations feature—the most obvious rewards of their hard work are often engaging and detailed liner notes. So when a couple of DJs came along and swiped the very songs that the label has worked so hard to unearth, the Numero crew was furious. The label began preparing a cease and desist letter but couldn’t bring itself to send it. Instead, the label wrotes on its blog, it “got hooked on the flawlessly arranged pastiche.”...full text |
| Undergroundhiphop |
| Over the course of seven years and over 70 releases from the acclaimed archival label the Numero Group a fan began to create a mega-mix of his favorite loops, breaks, and vocal snippets, chopping them all up and piecing together an incredible musical narrative–a 40 minute, white label 12" boot that was pressed and seeded to handful of DJs and producers. Naturally, word got back to Numero, but instead of issuing the obvious cease and desist letter, the label decided to go one better. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, so in a true nod to all fans out there, the Numero Group, via their Numbero imprint, is issuing Eccentric Breaks & Beats as an homage to the breaks and beats collections of yore, bootlegging their own bootleg, as it were. It took some time and effort, but Numero was finally able to track down the creator of this essential collection, and delighted to discover that it was the apocryphal label and production team, Shoes, who have previously re-worked Moodyman, Al Green, Miles Davis, and dozens more. Featuring over 50 tracks from some of the best artists associated with Numero, it's both an essential turntable item and an intriguing musical puzzle....full text |
Various Artists lyrics
