The group was born of impromptu jamsessions between the two musicians, with James laying down drums and Birchbauerplaying guitar, bass and other instruments over them at his studio. When thepair saw potential in these sessions, they began recording them in theWisconsin Conservatory of Music.
“I’d been there a couple of times, butI’d never been through the whole place,” James explains. “It’s just room afterroom of drum kits and keyboards and orchestral instruments like marimbas andtympanis. I was like, ‘Dude, we could record with all of this.’ So we’d gettogether once a week at the Conservatory and just record everything we possiblycould. Then we’d go back to Brandon’sstudio, chop up those sessions and build drum loops out of them.”
Once Birchbauer built the foundation ofthe songs, James recorded vocals over them. In the spirit of The Lab Partners’jam sessions, these vocal sessions were also unscripted.
“We go through each beat, one by one,live with headphones on, and just improvise and freestyle,” James says. “We’djust improvise and freestyle over them, not just rapping, but conveyingwhatever mood and idea the music suggested to us, laying down whatever feelingthe music gave us. We’d get together once a week to record more of these firstimpressions, then build on them from the week before. We were knocking out 10to 15 songs a week. I’ve never been so productive in my life.”
From a bank of more than 100 songsketches, they singled out about 30 for completion. The 16 tracks that make uptheir self-titled debut album touch on the traditional, head-nodding hip-hopthe Rusty Ps are known for, but the vibe is far looser and spacier. James singsnearly as much as he raps, and many songs ride a dub-reggae groove, withprominent melodica, xylophones and muted trumpet taking the lead for longstretches.
For The Lab Partners’ CD release showSaturday, the duo has been rehearsing a performance that’s more Andrew Birdthan Run-DMC, reconstructing their beats with an arsenal of instruments andgear instead of a pair of turntables.
“I have a couple loop pedals, so I canplay the bass part, loop it, then draw a guitar, drop down the guitar part andloop it and build up the beat on the fly,” Birchbauer says. “Adam is prettymuch a freestyle kind of MC, so we can just kind of vibe off of each other.”
James will be singing and playingdrums, though not, he stresses, at the same time.
“I wish I was Phil Collins, but I’mnot,” he says with a laugh. “My drum abilities really aren’t up to par with myrapping yet, so I’ll probably start working two or three different microphones,one straight and one on a loop pedal and probably another on an effects box.Then once I’m done with my lyrical portions, I’ll go back to the kit. It’sexciting, but I’m a little nervous because there’s so much room for error.”
TheLab Partners’ CD release party is Saturday, Dec. 19, at Mad Planet, withsupporting sets from Rusty Ps, Pezzettino, Chalice in the Palace and DJ Madhatter.The $10 cover includes a copy of The Lab Partners CD.
