Photo by Adrian Chen
Yellow Couch Music ‘Fool Stop’
Brooklyn's Yellow Couch Music is a collective that is willing to push the boundaries while simultaneously harnessing the soul of music. YCM is led by Layton Weedeman, a drummer/producer who has the utmost experience in multiple facets of the art form. Weedeman is a professional instrumentalist, with a whole tenure in drumming on top of learning the bass and keyboard. With Yellow Couch Music, Layton looks to bring all the elements and sounds of music together to create a full composition of art to fully engage the listener. By infusing sounds from the past and present, from different genres of all types, there’s something for everyone in Yellow Couch Music’s discography. Now in 2024, Yellow Couch Music is getting set to release their debut single spearheaded by Weedeman himself. “Fool Stop” is the new single from the team featuring two legendary greats in John Robinson and JSWISS.
“Fool Stop” is one of the first original compositions written by Layton Weedeman as a solo artist. Prior to this, Weedeman handled the majority of his production through sampled records to create lo-fi instrumentals and study beats. This new release marks a turning point for the collective’s leader as “Fool Stop” serves as the first song in a series of singles planned for release this year.
The single begins with an infectious, heavenly chorus from Brooklyn’s Estephanie who connects the verses and provides a voice of reason throughout. The track sees JSWISS & John Robinson each reflecting and dropping gems of wisdom that we all can relate to and apply to our lives, especially today. This all over the creative and calculated backdrop planned out by Weedeman who brings in an ensemble cast to tackle this with him.
Trumpets by Eric Biondo (Antibalas, Massive Attack, Charlie Hunter), keys & synthesizers by Grady Tesch (Ira Coleman, Jerome Jennings, Huevito Lobaton) flute by Lars Haake (John Benitez, Hiram Bullock, George Burton), and Weedeman’s drumming flesh out this soulful, jazzy hip-hop track that provides a proper introduction to Spring. “Fool Stop” is just the beginning as Yellow Couch Music has plans to put out a full-length album later this year with the same lively & genre bending sounds you’re listening to here. Fans of A Tribe Called Quest, The Soulquarians, and Erykah Badu will agree.
Credits
Written by L. Weedeman, J. Caldwell, J. Robinson, G. Tesch
Produced by LHW
Mixed by Pat Van Dyke
Recorded by Layton Weedeman
Arranged by Layton Weedeman
Drums: Layton Weedeman
Keys & Synthesizers: Grady Tesch
Horns: Eric Biondo
Flutes: Lars Haake
Emcees: JSWISS & John Robinson
Chorus Vocals: Estephanie
Art Direction and Design by Layton Weedeman and Dovel Studio
Mastered by Pat Van Dyke
04 April 2024
POVEDA ‘Otra Noche Más’
Otra Noche Más is one of the first composition by Cuban singer/songwriter, Roberto Poveda, written at the start of his career in 1985. The original song and lyrics speak to an idyllic freedom that transcends all walks of life and brings you back to the state one can only experience in the presence of nature. It is no coincidence the song of freedom was picked up and recorded by the national record label of Cuba, EGREM, but met it's interesting fate and was mysteriously lost without a trace. Nearly 35 years later, during the 2020 pandemic, Roberto brought the song back to life, co-producing it in the home studio of Layton Weedeman, owner of Yellow Couch Music and a founding member and drummer of Courtesy Tier. This updated version brings a new spin, flair, joy, and upbeat tempo to the song's original message.
In 2018, Layton and Roberto started POVEDA, a project re-working and re-tooling Roberto's catalog of songs, spanning the course of 30 years, exploring the music of the Cuban Troubadour. Otra Noche Más marks the beginning of this series of releases. POVEDA is joined by many friends with Roberto as lead singer, Layton on drums and percussion, and features Grammy nominated singer/songwriter, Juan-Carlos Formell, the great nephew of legendary Spanish-Cuban singer Antonio Machin, Loisel Machin Rodriguez, German saxophonist and flutist, Lars Haake, and Cuban Singer and former member of Las Chicas Del Son, Danae Blanco Villanueva.
The video accompanying the release is based on a structural idea from Roberto’s photographs taken on a recent trip to Havana. The sound design and added ambiance heard during the intro and outro, the “voices of the city” and a voicemail message left by Roberto’s mother, were all ideas suggested by his dear friend and filmmaker, Emilio Alcalde.
Spotify | Apple Music | Bandcamp | YouTube
Produced and Arranged by Roberto Poveda and Layton Weedeman for AltoSongo Songs and Yellow Couch Music.
Mixed by Jeff Berner at Studio G Brooklyn
Mastered by Alex DeTurk at The Bunker Studio
Roberto Poveda - vocals, acoustic guitar
Layton Weedeman - drums, percussion
Juan-Carlos Formell - electric guitars
Loisel Machín Rodriguez - electric bass
Lars Haake - flute, saxophone, keys
Danae Blanco Villanueva - background vocals
09 April 2023
The Eternal Night | Coco Fusco
The Eternal Night portrays the journey of three Cuban young men who faced condemnation for their beliefs and creative expressions, highlighting the remarkable ability of imagination to transcend challenging circumstances.
This film draws inspiration from the true story of Néstor Díaz de Villegas, a Cuban writer and former political prisoner. In 1974, Díaz de Villegas, at the age of eighteen, received a six-year prison sentence merely for composing a poem. Prior to his imprisonment, he had already faced censorship multiple times due to his nonconformist attitudes, which were deemed "ideologically divergent" by the revolutionary government. This term, coined by Raúl Castro in the early 1970s, served as a legal and moral classification that criminalized dissent. It encompassed Cuban citizens deemed too intellectual, young individuals displaying an interest in American popular culture and music, presumed members of the LGBTQ+ community, as well as religious individuals whose faith hindered their compliance with political obedience.
The story revolves around a recently arrived poet in the prison, a young man of Evangelical faith from the countryside, and an older actor who was accused of plotting to assassinate Fidel Castro. The actor introduces them to the intricate social dynamics within the prison, teaching them how to resist the authorities' attempts to re-educate them. In order to bring life to the prisoners' evenings, he persuades the prison warden to embrace the idea of screening films as a more effective method of instilling socialist principles, thereby establishing a cinema within the confines of the prison
The Eternal Night will premiere at the Sharjah Biennial 15: Thinking Historically in the Present from 7 February to 11 June 2023.
Cast
Luis Manuel Álvarez
Enmanuel Galbán
Joel Lara
Director Coco Fusco
Producers Coco Fusco and David Leitner
Director of Photography David Leitner
Screenplay Enrique Del Risco
Editor Jessie Stead
Sound Design Roberto Fernandez and Harbor Sound
Music Roberto Poveda, Lars Haake and Layton Weedeman
Animation Melissa Brown and Brian Luna
Colour David Leitner
Subtitles María Cruz Alarcón
Based on testimony by Néstor Díaz de Villegas
Commissioned by Sharjah Art Foundation
Co-Commissioned by The Wapping Project
Additional Support Latinx Artist Fellowship and Anonymous Was a Woman
19 February 2023
LHW ‘Interludes’
Yellow Couch Music debut for drummer and beat maker LHW. Inspired by the beats in-between the tracks from some of his favorite hip-hop albums, Interludes was recorded at his home studio in Brooklyn with Loisel Machín Rodriguez on bass.
01. Love Seeds
02. As If
03. Minted Floss
04. Junk Cereal
05. Parked On The Sidewalk
06. What Have You
07. Underneath Moonlight
08. The Day Is Hours
Spotify | Apple Music | Bandcamp | YouTube
Layton H Weedeman - beats and samples
Loisel Machin Rodriguez - electric and upright bass
Produced by LHW
Associate Producer Roberto Poveda
Mixed by LHW and Omer Leibovitz
Recorded at Yellow Couch Music in Brooklyn, NY
Cover photo by Leyla Lacheri
Album design by LHW
03 June 2022
