Neferiu’s Mantrakid (a.k.a. Nate Schmold) knows how to celebrate a birthday.
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Summertime; the living is easy and the time is right for family reunions. What better to celebrate than a decade of churning out incomparable beats and rhymes from a bevy of Canada’s premier electronic, experimental and hip hop artists? Gathering his own Family Stone together to commemorate the inception of Neferiu Records, label founder Nate Schmold, a.k.a. Mantrakid, is just as amazed by the transformation his little enterprise has undergone as he is by the fact that they’re still around, putting out great music 10 years later.
“It’s funny because the whole idea of putting out our compilation album came into play without us realizing that this year is actually our 10th anniversary,” Schmold admits. “We had created an original compilation when we first formed the label in 2000 that featured 18 artists from around the world. At that time, we thought we’d be going in a much more electronica- and world-music-based direction, style-wise. Many of those musicians were never heard from again. In the end, only a few remained on our roster and as a result, that CD is not as representative of our overall sound as we had intended.”
Capitalizing on an innate ability to go with the natural flow of things, Schmold followed his intuition and his ears in opening his studio’s doors to an increasingly specialized group of musicians who would ultimately end up building his cottage-industry dream into a cutting-edge funk factory. Upon recognizing the chronological significance of their forthcoming portrait in wax, the Neferiu clan elected to go all-out for its fans. The label’s newly minted anniversary compilation, Tendown, is a shining example of Canadian hip hop innovation. Produced and mixed to trance-inducing perfection by the Mantrakid himself, Tendown winds its way through some 20 dynamic creations that effectively chart Neferiu’s remarkable evolution. Covering the spread from the digitally enhanced ambiance of bands like Tetrix, Wyzaker and SuB to the ballistic poetry of erudite urbanites Profound Sound, DJ Move and Impirical, Tendown wears the “royal sampler” crown. Or, you could say, it’s the royale with cheese of hip hop hybrids.
“Obviously, we’ve morphed into a predominantly hip hop vein over the years, and we felt it was important to put out another CD that compassed who we are now and what we’re going to become over the next 10 years,” Schmold explains. “Instead of remixing old tracks or previewing upcoming releases, we decided it would be cool to do something extra for the people who have supported us and to have the album made up entirely of songs that would be exclusive to this compilation. We collected something from every one of our artists, and I mixed the whole thing to flow together like one massive DJ set, as opposed to going the straight track-by-track route.”
Recently relocated from the bustle of Toronto to the infinitely more tranquil Vancouver Island, Schmold has set his sights on Calgary as he prepares to showcase his label’s best and brightest as part of this year’s Sled Island festivities. Reaching out to festival head Zak Pashak, the Neferiu label has nailed down an entire evening dedicated to roof-raising electro-fusion with enough hip hop clout to balance out the festival’s rock ’n’ roll heavyweights.
“Calgary’s hip hop scene really opened my eyes to the level of talent in this country,” Schmold says. “I was surprised how many diverse guys were making beats, even back in 2002. You could tell it was something very personal to them and I idolized them for it. Coming back into that environment is very symbolic for me, and I’m so glad I hit up Zak to get something going for our 10th anniversary showcase. He just smiled and handed over the reins; I packed a solid schedule that’ll run the gambit from glitchy, ambient, warped experimentalists like Miranda Lee and Pete Meadows to a full-on hip hop set with myself, Ricca Razor Sharp, EquAzn and many more. I’m billing it as ‘Your guitar-free Sled Island destination.’”
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