Perfect Friends

Friday, July 8, 2022 For Immediate Release MUSIC FOR LIFE RELEASES A NEW REGGAE AND SKA COMPILATION OF ORIGINAL MUSIC, PERFECT FRIENDS. (AUSTIN, TEXAS - JULY 8, 2022; source: Music For Life) - Austin-based reggae record label, Music For Life, releases a new reggae and ska compilation album called: Perfect Friends. (Listen here) “I ain’t got no perfect friends. There’s somethin’ wrong with every one of them.” Those lyrics from Alan Moe Monsarrat’s song Perfect Friends, seemed to be just the right title for this collection of original reggae and ska tracks. We’ve all got something wacky about us, that’s just not quite right, so we decided why not celebrate it. Music For Life artists Phillipidon and Alan Moe Monsarrat each have two songs on this album along with Sean Austin, John Coupe, Ana Barajas, Karina Nistal, Mark Wilson and Tom Robinson each having one song. The release date includes a live performance of the full album at Austin’s infamous reggae venue, Flamingo Cantina, along with DJ JahBill playing reggae and dancehall. Doors open at 9:00pm and the band will start around 10:00pm and perform two sets. See the Facebook event for more info.

THE SONGS & THE STORIES: PERFECT FRIENDS: Alan Moe Monsarrat shared his thoughts on the meaning: “We all have friends who are less than perfect. In other words... all of them! Every time we play this song people sing along because they relate to it. We hope you will too!” This one is a Tex-Mex ska mashup that makes you move. It features accordion master, Joel Guzman mashing up the squeezebox. Matt Jacobs and Jeremy Carlson both played keyboards. Steve Carter played guitar and Marc Schaefgen played guitar and ukulele. Kim Pollini did the background vocals. UNDA SPELL: This one is a different kind of riddim! It’s a two-part spooky electronic roots adventure which Phillipidon and RJ cooked up. Dane Foltin from played bass guitar and Marguerite Elliot brought in some sweet Irish fiddle vibes. Jessica Sanchez played the flute while Claude 9 bubbled on the synthesizers. Marc Schaefgen dropped in some sweet skanking and African guitars and Kim Pollini handled the background vocals and sneaky voices. Phillipidon had this to say about the song: “My inspiration for writing Unda Spell was driven directly from the instrumental created by RJ. The intro and the first two lines came instantaneously after listening to the music. I wrote this song as a tribute and testament to the beautiful and sultry appeal of a very sexy woman. She is angelically hypnotic in her powerful and seductive yet surreal nature, as she illuminates every arena she ventures into; although her magical effervescence is subtlety tinged with a touch of deliciously, spicy cunningness.”

FOLLOW MI QUEEN AGAIN: The message is simple, when you have a good woman —keep following and loving her. RJ built a funk track with a hook on it and Sean Austin came over and did the vocals in 90 minutes and that was how it went down! Jimmy Blazer played the funky bassline while Marc Schaefgen and John Coupe played guitar. Background vocals by Kim Pollini, Bianca B-Lo and RJ. CHANGING MY STORY: This is RJ’s latest installment, reminding us all to be aware of the stories we tell ourselves. Mark Wilson added some smoky laid back saxophone to it and Ras G added percussion and Nyabinghi drums. Marc Schaefgen played both bass and guitar on this one. Big huge thanks to co-writer Dr. Pele Ugboajah who helped arrange and cut the original demo. RUDIE’S DREAM: RJ built this riddim with memories of a CD series from the 90s called The Rebirth Of Cool that he still loves. RJ told Mark Wilson that he wanted something that would sound good when you might be out chilling by the water. Mark Wilson adds: “When RJ and I started putting a melody on this rhythm track, we started with tenor saxophone and added flute, baritone saxophone and finished with Daniel “Tiger” Anaya on trumpet and Christoper “Zumbi” Richards on trombone— giving this song a 5-piece horn section.” TIME WITH YOU: In February of 2020, Phillipidon came up to Austin to Music For Life and started working on this track with RJ. It flowed out of Phillipidon effortlessly in just one take and they went back and had to edit just a few things to finish it. Alan Moe Monsarrat laid down a rock solid bassline. Jeremy Carlson added some smooth keyboards and a solo to the track. A whole crew of vocalists sang on backgrounds: Kim Pollini, Jessica Sanchez, RJ and Marc Schaefgen. Guitars were covered by Marc Schaefgen and Steve Carter. Phillipidon had this to say about the song: “Time With You is a song that was created as a heartfelt plea from me to be with the woman that I love. I appeal to her to stay and to not walk away, although at this particular time we are going through some difficulties; I have no doubt in my mind that the love that we share will only grow.”

SCANDAL BAG: Alan Moe Monsarrat shared his thoughts: “The whole idea intrigued me when I heard about it. In Jamaica, the shopping bags that you get at the market are all black and cannot be seen through and are commonly known as “scandal bags.” Everybody has things they don’t want everybody to know, but people will go to great lengths to find out what’s in your bag. As soon you say it to somebody, they get curious about what it could be. In my song, I’m using it as a metaphor for nosy people trying to get into your business.” RJ loved Moe’s idea for the song and they decided to use a track they created called “Side Steppin’ Riddim.” Omid Aski Laridjani played Persian sitar while Mario Vela played percussion. Moe also played bass on this one. DESDE QUE TE VIE: RJ met Ana Barajas in 2016 and they decided to create a single together. Their initial idea started out as a Drum & Bass track and ended up being Reggaeton with a touch of Drum & Bass when it was finished. Karina Nistal from Houston added the rap section with DJ Fizz putting some Amen breaks in it. Alan Moe Monsarrat played the bass guitar with Mario Vela on percussion and Mark Wilson on flute. Guitars were played by Marc Schaefgen and Steve Carter. Ana describes it very well: ”Desde Que Te Ví is a song about love written while I was expecting my son. I think that was the first time I experienced the purest form of love, a love that makes you feel happy, unafraid, and fulfilled. When we met at RJ's studio to work on a song, the lyrics and the melody came easily and fast, we finished the first version in a couple of hours. And now that my son is 5 years old I can see a lot of his personality reflected on what I was feeling at that time. He is just like that song, filled with joy and energy and cool vibes.” Karina Nistal adds: “Working on “Desde Que Te Vi” with RJ and Ana was one of the best collaborations I’ve had to date. It felt like a winning combo with RJ’s production, Ana’s powerful vocal and my addition with the Spanish rap! I’m excited to see where it goes!” WAKE UP EMMA: RJ met John Coupe several years ago at an annual event put on by Austin Music Foundation and they instantly vibed together when John told RJ

about his love of P-Funk. During Covid, John came to RJ’s studio to record his first full-length album. John is a very talented musician and played almost all of the instruments on the album. One of the songs was a sweet Indie-pop song that RJ kept hearing as a Ska version, so they remixed it for inclusion on this album. Alan Moe Monsarrat came up with a nice walking ska bassline with Marc Schaefgen and John Coupe on guitars and Ras G on percussion. Emma Wooten is on lead and background vocals and Mark Wilson on saxophone. John had this to say about the song: “I was living with my friend Emma off of Burnet Road in North Austin. We had to be in Dripping Springs in a couple hours to rehearse with our band. I had started to develop feelings for her, and unbeknownst to me at the time she was feeling the same feelings for me. She was asleep on the couch and I needed to wake her up for rehearsal, so I thought ‘what would be a really nice way to wake someone up from a deep sleep and just feel great upon waking up?’ So I got my acoustic guitar and started strumming some chords and singing the chorus to her. I stood next to her and started playing and singing really softly, and just got very gradually louder and louder like an alarm clock. She woke up with a smile on her face which put a smile on mine. The first thing she said after we laughed about it was that it was a great song and I really needed to do something with it. When we got to Dripping Springs, I sat down and finished the song in about 15 minutes. To this day it makes me feel good to listen to, and I think it’s because it came solely from wanting to do something nice for someone that I liked a great deal.” AFROTHERIA: The riddim came to RJ one day while grocery shopping and he invited Tom Robinson to collaborate with him to create an instrumental track. Tom delivered using his collection of saxophones (alto, baritone, soprano, and tenor). When the track was complete, Tom said it sounded like “elephants parading across the landscape” which led to the song’s name. Afrotheria is a clade of mammals, the living members of which belong to groups that are either currently living in Africa or of African origin: golden moles, elephant shrews (also known as sengis), tenrecs, aardvarks, hyraxes, elephants, sea cows, and several extinct clades. Gordon Mulrain played bass guitar while Ras G and James Fenner

played percussion with Marc Schaefgen on guitar. The big voice in the dub section is none other than legendary engineer Steven Stanley, of Jamaica, who also mixed the track. ABOUT MUSIC FOR LIFE: Music For Life is run by producer and Austin radio disc-jockey, RJ. His bi-weekly radio program, Reggae Evolution, has been on the air on KAZI 88.7 FM since 1989 and he has been performing in Austin’s reggae scene since 1987. His mission is to support as many people as possible to live their musical dreams. If you need help with your music or production, please get in touch. PRODUCTION CREDITS: Alan Moe Monsarrat: bass guitar (1, 6, 7, 8, 9), guitar: (7) Bianca B-Lo: background vocals (3, 4) Chris Fischer: mastering Christopher “Zumbi” Richards: trombone (5) Claude McCann: keyboards (2) Dane Foltin: bass guitar (2) Daniel “Tiger” Anaya: trumpet (1, 5) Dre Domorr: Graphic Design Emma Wooten: background vocals (9) Gordon Mulrain: bass guitar (5, 10) James Fenner: percussion (10) Jeremy Carlson: keyboards, keyboard solo (1, 6) Jessica Sanchez: background vocals (6), flute: (2) Jimmy Blazer: bass (3) Joel Guzman: accordion (1) John Coupe: guitar (3, 9), keyboards & background vocals (9) Kim Pollini: background vocals (1, 2, 3, 6) Marc Schaefgen: bass guitar (4), electric guitar (All) ukulele (1, ) keyboards: (6), background vocals (6)

Marguerite Elliot: violin (2) Mario Vela: percussion (5, 6, 7, 8) Mark Wilson: saxophones (1, 4, 5, 9) flute (5, 8) Matt Jacobs: keyboards, organ (1) Mike Franklin: electric guitar (5) Omid Aski Laridjani: Persian sitar (7) Ras G: percussion (4, 9, 10) RJ Johnson: keyboards, drums, percussion, drum programming, recording engineer, background vocals (2, 3, 4) mixing engineer (1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9) Steve Carter: electric guitar (1, 6, 8) Steven Stanley: mixing engineer (2, 10) Digital Distribution by Zojak Worldwide Thank you for supporting our works! ### MEDIA NOTE: For general inquiries about this project, please contact Jenn Cheshire: Jenn Cheshire 619 820-0782 reggaewerx@reggaewerx.com Music4LifeMedia.com