Lucky for us, Brooklyn’s own Marco Benevento seems to enjoy inhabiting his own sound-world.  On his debut Invisible Baby (2008), it’s a place where chalky acoustic pianos collide with bursts of drum accents, a banjo rubs shoulders with globs of distorted electric bass, and using an old film projector for amplification seems right at home next to a drum kit supplemented with old car parts.  Few records of this past year have been as fun to listen to, the listener reeling in anticipation of whatever sonic curveball Benevento has up his sleeve, joined by a devastating rhythm section tighter than a steel cable. To follow-up my initial coverage of the album last week, I asked the pianist ten questions of shaky relevance.

Floodwatchmusic: What is your favorite city - anywhere in the world - to visit?

Marco Benevento: Brooklyn. Frankie’s 457 has the best meatballs in the city! Oh, to visit? Well, I like Seattle a lot – the coffee is insane.  And three of my favorite musicians, Matt Chamberlain, Skerik, and Bill Frisell, all live there.  A lot of musicians I’ve met there are super creative and involved in so much different music, live and in the studio. I guess I could say that about musicians that live in San Francisco, Portland, Boston, Chicago, or Boulder, too. There is definitely a huge spark flying around the world that I feel is hitting a bunch of musicians right now. When I hear my friends’ new music that they’re currently working on I’m just blown away at how different it was from their last, or how different it was when I first met them. Lots of musicians are reshaping the music that they are into, including musicians that they collaborate with.

FWM: Do you have a favorite chord, and if so, which one?

MB: My favorite chord is the one that happens at the right time, in the right place at the right moment, when you had nothing to do with it.

FWM: What is the most bizarre incident you’ve ever witnessed on the road?

MB: Buying a dried-out buffalo scrotum from a place called Tatanka Take Out in Tacoma, Washington.  It’s still hanging from my rearview mirror in my van.  I use it as a cell phone holder – it’s real nice!

FWM: If you could gain a superpower (strength, invisibility, etc), which one would it be and how would you use it?

MB: I think about that frequently.  I mean, why don’t we have super special secret hidden powers? I think I’d have to say the ability to fly.  I know that’s a little run-of-the-mill, but that would make everyone’s life a lot easier with gas prices and airlines charging extra for baggage.  If I can’t have the power to just fly naturally then I’d at least want a jet pack. We need to bring those back – people invented those in the late ‘50s. I can’t believe we haven’t figured out that technology yet.  If you know of anyone involved in making one, please let me know.

FWM: In the film adaptation of your life, which actor - dead or alive - would best play you?

MB: It would have to be some cartoon or furry Muppet, maybe Grover.  He and I have the same Mayan calendar symbol: the purple flying monkey.

FWM: There are ten minutes left before the end of the world.  What do you do in your last final moments?

MB: Wow. I thank Kevin Calabro for his guidance and inspiration.

FWM: What is the one corny song that you feel guilty - or not - for enjoying?

MB: I feel bad for people who don’t like Billy Joel’s “Piano Man.” I mean, come on, folks! Myself? Well, I feel guilty for liking “Piano Man.”

FWM: If you could play in any band in history, which one would it be?

MB: Miles Davis‘ [second] quintet.  It sure would be nice to hang with Tony (Williams), Wayne (Shorter), Miles, and Ron (Carter), not to mention sitting behind a piano with those cats around me would be damn surreal, and mind blowing too.

FWM: What was the first record/cassette/CD you bought as a kid and what are your reactions to it now?

MB: Slippery When Wet (1986). I also had The Big Chill (1983) soundtrack. Still dig Jovi’s rock excellence and the soul of all that Motown.

FWM: What is the biggest misconception that people have about you?

MB: I have no idea. Maybe people think that because I like the song “Piano Man,” I have no idea what I’m doing behind my instrument.  They’re right though.  I don’t know.  I just party.

“Atari” – Marco Benevento 4:12 (Invisible Baby, Hyena 2008)

Those in the Northeast can catch Benevento’s live set at the following locales this fall:

November 7 – Real Art Ways, Hartford, CT
November 8 – Drom, New York, NY
November 10 – The Flynn Center, Burlington, VT
November 11 – Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, NY
November 12 – Cafe 939, Boston, MA
November 13 – Iron Horse, Amherst, MA
November 14 – Narrows Center For The Arts, Fall River, MA
November 16 – World Café Live, Philadelphia, PA

As many visitors to this site are aware, there are a group of us out here in the audioblogosphere who are dedicated to promoting All Things Beat Garden Entertainment, a label helmed by Philly’s own Zilla Rocca and Nico the Beast, and it’s not just because they’re genuinely nice dudes who drop by every now and then to leave a comment. Last month saw the release of Nico’s No Beast So Fierce (2008), a sprawling, 80-minute hip hop monolith riddled with street philosophy, experience, and authenticity – or as Zilla accurately put it, like “The Game’s The Documentary (2005) meets Brother Ali’s Shadows on the Sun (2003) with a hint of Big Pun’s Capital Punishment (1998).” With solid, forward-thinking production handled mostly by Zilla and Alex Wood, it’s easily the label’s most ambitious release to date. To help promote the record, Nico’s been “feeding the beast” by dropping freestyles over two classic beats per week and letting the fans vote on which one he murders better. Fresh recently conducted a thorough and insightful interview with the man over at 33Jones, so rather than retread covered ground, I asked Nico ten random and somewhat irrelevant questions as a supplement. Prepare to get beasted.

Floodwatchmusic: What is the biggest misconception that people have about you?

Nico the Beast: I would say that, right now, I get molded in that class of “white rappers” trying to fit in. This is a misconception among those who first meet me. But I deal with, and have dealt with, too many dope MCs, white or black, that know me and understand that I’m just a monster MC, not just a good white rapper.

FWM: Blastmaster KRS-One said that every MC remembers the first verse that they ever wrote for the rest of their lives. Do you remember the first lines you wrote, and if so, what were they?

NB: Yes sir, I do remember my first rap. I was on some Canibus shit back in 98. I think I remember the first eight, so here they go:

Renegades of black shade persuade to invade the earth wit nuclear raids.
Bloody blades engraved with the mark of Satan’s grave behave brave.
Like slaves being whipped by forms of hate.
Insane like the pain of this rap game.
Emcees get slain from their backs up through their brain.
You heard of change of the estranged stage of the plague of human rage?

Yea, I know, kinda simple. But at fifteen and in a time where Wu-Tang and Canibus were the best thing in hip-hop – outside of Biggie, obviously – that’s the way I wrote for my first verse. I guess you can say I got worse over the years [smirks].

FWM: What is the one corny song that you feel guilty for enjoying?

NB: You know what, cuz? The one song that I felt when it dropped was that Gnarls Barkley “Crazy” joint. No guilt in saying that either – that shit was catchy. Cee-Lo’s voice is dope as hell. Plus the hook and beat is hook, line, and sinker when you put it together.

FWM: Which producer - dead or alive - would you most want to collaborate with on a full-length?

NB: Dead, the obvious answer is Dilla. End of story on that one. Alive, I’m a huge fan of Premo, Havoc, and Alchemist. As you can tell by my beat selections (mostly piano with heavy drums), dark beats with a story already to them before I even write are my cup of tea.

FWM: What is your favorite dinner that you like to serve?

NB: Well, anybody who knows me knows that I’m a husky Italian from South Philly. So my favorite meal is chicken parmigiana with some angel hair spaghetti and a good homemade meatball. In some outstanding gravy, not sauce.

FWM: If you could gain a superpower (strength, invisibility, etc), which one would it be and how would you use it?

NB: Any power? Man, I’m gonna get in trouble for this one, but fuck it – any man who says they don’t want X-ray vision is a goddamn liar [laughs]. I can be politically correct and say Spidey senses or some shit and that I would save the world. But let’s be realistic, it would take a lot more than one man with superhuman power to save this planet, feel me?

FWM: Who is your greatest influence as a lyricist?

NB: Right now, Brother Ali. Dude just has a reason to rhyme. He talks about everything, from his kid, to his personal life with his chick, to dealing with being “abnormal.” I mean, if you can’t feel what he’s saying you must be a zombie. That’s why I approach writing the same way – give people a piece of you every time you go in and they will either relate to you or not. Simple as that.

FWM: There are ten minutes left before the end of the world. What do you do in your last final moments?

NB: I spend every second with my two kids and tell them I love them, and that the final ten minutes of my life are worth more than the past 25 years because it was spent with them.

FWM: Is there a subject, for whatever reason(s), that you refuse to write about and why?

NB: No subject is untouchable, but I prefer to stray away from demeaning chicks. I also never talk about selling drugs – that is something I ain’t never done. I was around cats who did it, but to glorify something that cats do to survive is a cop out in regards to song substance. If you can paint a vivid picture of drug related events that occurred in your life, a la Jay-Z or Biggie, then that’s different. But if all you talk about is flipping coke – come on now, that’s just ridiculous.

FWM: What was the first record/cassette/CD you bought as a kid and what are your reactions to it now?

NB: I remember the first physical cassette I ever bought was Wu-Tang’s Enter The Wu-Tang: 36 Chambers (1993), hence me being a huge Wu fan. But I remember always putting my stereo on record with a Maxell tape running while the radio played new joints. I captured some good shit doing that. So most of my collection was Maxell tapes that I had made off the stereo. My reaction to it now is the same as the day I bought it: love it!

FWM: What’s the craziest thing you’ve ever witnessed at a show or on tour?

NB: Well, being fresh in the pond of hip-hop, I’ve yet to dip my feet into the touring end of the pool. But as far as shows are concerned, the craziest shit I’ve ever seen was actually shit on the underside of a toilet seat. Yeah, I’ve done it in some bad places, but come on, how the fuck did it get under the lid? It was like dude was trying to make a shit sandwich with the seat bottom and the bowl. Nuts, absolutely nuts. I had to laugh, because I was baffled thinking, “How?!?”

“My Life Is Mine” – Nico the Beast 3:48 (No Beast So Fierce, Beat Garden 2008)