On their debut album The Spirit of the Apollo (Anti-), DJ/producers Sam Spiegel (Squeak E. Clean) and Ze Gonzales (DJ Zegon), together as N.A.S.A. (North America South America), embarked on their own musical odyssey. As studio astronauts, the duo’s mission was to mix Spiegel’s love of North American hip hop and rock with Gonzales’ passion for Brazilian funk. Together they hoped to create a new musical galaxy filled with Earth’s rising and brightest stars.
From the start, The Spirit of Apollo celebrates humanity’s delicate interdependence with “The People Tree,” and then it ponders the perpetuating evils of worshiping the almighty dollar on “Money.” Both tracks juxtapose David Byrne’s soulful siren against the barbed spitfire rhymes of Public Enemy’s Chuck D and Blackalicious rapper Gift of Gab. As the rest of the album unfolds, the other collaborating crew members (Kanye West, Santogold, Karen O, Ol’ Dirty Bastard, Tom Waits, Kool Keith, KRS-One, Fatlip, et. al.) send the 16-song shuttle ride surging towards a dance-floor party on the surface of the sun.
Though the journey isn’t conceptually cohesive track to track, the universal groove of the Spirit of Apollo still mines the depths of human emotion. Among the other party tracks, “Way Down” stands out as the album’s deepest trip to a dreary and emotional underworld as Barbie Hatch’s dark and cathartic croon, RZA’s nimble flow, and John Frusciante’s psychedelic rock riffs take your heart and mind through a compelling journey filled with pain, sadness, and loneliness.
A few weeks before the album’s launch date (February 17, 2009), Spiegel explains how the project began nearly six years ago, when he and Gonzales first considered combining their music passions. “We started talking about using the Apollo theme because that’s what we wanted the album to be about,” he says. “The album’s first collaboration with [Yeah Yeah Yeahs singer] Karen O created the song ‘Strange Enough,’ and then we added the Ol’ Dirty Bastard vocals. That’s when we realized that this album is all about avoiding the things that keep mankind separated musically and culturally. We focused on the unity idea because it’s the unexpected collaborations that bring the world together.”
For the last several years, Spiegel has sharpened his producing skills by scoring commercials and movies. And those experiences helped capture The Spirit of Apollo. “Scoring a picture is a very dynamic process; it has builds and falls,” Spiegel says. “I’ve really learned a lot about how to translate that to music. Being able to play and have a wider range of instruments has really helped widen my production palette too. When you’re confronted with different types of music, you’re forced to grow and open up a new part of your musical vocabulary.”
As a producer who has a long list of previous credits and collaborations, ranging from movie and commercial scores to album and remix production, Spiegel says that he began tapping his “list of favors” to accomplish his mission. “Calling in a few favors meant different things depending on who I was talking to,” he says. “Santogold was the very last song on the album, and we needed to get it finished or we would have had to push the release date back. She was on ‘Gifted’ with Lykke Li and Kanye West. She was telling us that her vocal chords were trashed and that she was way too busy touring, but I begged her to take time out so we could finish this song. She was generous enough to meet me in New York and record the song.”
Ever since his adolescence, Spiegel has been in love with hip hop. “This was the album that I was dreaming about making since I was a kid,” he says. “Even though it took a long time, it was the most amazing experience I’ve ever had. It was a very special honor to work with my hip-hop and rock heroes.”
Once he had his wish list of collaborators, Spiegel sent letters to the album’s hip-hop emcees. “We presented the music to the emcees by sending them the track with a letter about what the album was about, why they fit into the album, and what the song was about,” he says. “We already had the hook and melody, and sometimes each emcee would write with us in the studio. I ended up going all over the world to record this album. It was a big, crazy adventure.”
Spiegel received unexpected inspiration from folk/blues journeyman Tom Waits, who gave the project depth and support. “Waits was really into the project and wanted to support us by donating his services from the start,” Spiegel says. “I was going to pay him because I didn’t know him that well, but we became friends fast. He would call me with ideas for the album’s film and suggested other collaborations. He’s such an amazing and terrific person.”
Spiegel and Gonzales also relied on the historic spirit of the original Apollo space missions to merge their different producing styles. “We’re both very eclectic DJs and producers,” Spiegel says. “Keeping with the Apollo spirit, we wanted to celebrate the shared creative nature of our tastes and interconnectedness. I was so amazed at the ease and speed at which the world’s cultures are connected through music. You might not be directly exposed to certain types of music, but on an album, that connection can happen instantly. The power behind mankind’s musical unity inspired us to make this record.”
Spiegel also relied on Gonzales to bring artistic balance to the album. “My tendency is to be really crazy, and he’s more grounded,” Spiegel says. “So we balanced each other really well, and that equilibrium translated well to the record because it doesn’t feel too far in either direction.”
With Spiegel based in New York and Los Angeles and Gonzales in Brazil, the duo followed a regular beat-building process. “He would come for our seasonal beat meetings to compile beats,” Spiegel says. “Then he would go back and develop them in Brazil. From there, we would travel together or individually to meet the artist to record each song.
“It took a while to get the project where it needed to be. We tried a lot of different options and remixes. It took us almost six years to make the album, so we could hear the sound and feel our styles and music tastes evolve over that time. We really had to work at capturing both but not let the past dictate the present, or vice versa. We tried the best that we could to stay true to what types of music we were into now and then.”
Spiegel approached Anti- for distribution once the album was complete. “We didn’t sign to a label until it was finished,” he says. “I used my own money to fund [the album], and we had to do a ton of legwork. We kept it pretty quiet when we started it. We only told our friends and didn’t reach out to magazines. Doing it that way took a lot of work to wrangle all the artists in.”
So do Spiegel and Gonzales have any remix or producing favors to reciprocate? Spiegel chuckles, “Yeah, we both do. We’ve worked out a lot of future remixes and production deals with some of the artists.”
With five versions of album artwork created by visual artists — Shepard Fairy, Marcel Dzama, et al. — from diverse cultural backgrounds, and a tour that began this spring, Spiegel and Gonzales will take The Spirit to venues across the world. “The live show will be a mix of Apollo tracks, remixes, and clips from the ‘making of’ film and music videos,” Spiegel says.
“We’ll have [DJ Zegon] and myself working four turntables. And to keep the spirit on the dance floor during the live show, we also designed these crazy space-monster, alien-booty-dancer, and astronaut costumes. And as we tour, we won’t have our own dancing crew; we’re going to work with people and local dancers in each city and have them be onstage with us during the live show.”
Though its intention to encourage musical solidarity is admirable and ambitious, the complexity of N.A.S.A.’s mission is still its greatest challenge as visionary producers. By itself, the album doesn’t fully possess a common chord or unifying message that sets it apart from other similar dream collaborations. In order to transcend genre boundaries, communicate universal themes, and capitalize on the collaborative boundary-pushing, The Spirit of Apollo will need to develop in the hearts and minds of fans. The duo created the recorded blueprint, and now it’s time to let the fans define what The Spirit of Apollo is and hope for a combined cross-cultural resonation of the artwork, live show, and “making of” film. Should that happen, the inspiring spirit N.A.S.A. first envisioned might take on deeper significance than the duo ever imagined.