Audiocentric Unplugged

Posted on Jan 16, 2010 by Carlito Brigante | Share | |

“I believe that some people were born to create music and others to savor it.”

Jason and Seon were born to create music. Producer/Pianist/Songwriter Jason “Classic Beatz” Minnis and Guitarist/Songwriter Seon Gomez form an instrumental duo called Nicholas Kopernicus. Their first opus, “Audiocentric“, is a homegrown blend of Afrobeat, Funk, Soul, Blues, Folk, Reggae and Hip Hop. The album’s name comes from Nicholas Kopernicus’ quest for sound perfection. The result is an album that transports you back to the 70′s, a time where most albums had that characteristic warmth absent in a lot of today’s music.

The entire album was created in Jason’s home studio. A 6x10ft room in his Brooklyn’s apartment where Nicholas Kopernicus crafted the album note by note - chord by chord - instrument by instrument - overlapping layers of live instrumentation, leveraging everything in their environment from pots and pans to Jimbe drum recording in the bathroom. Methods and tricks that would be considered unorthodox by many recording engineers but techniques that gives Audiocentric a genuine soul and personality.

I am the kind that was born to savor music. I love to transmit my passion through images and try to capture music via my photographs. Most of my music stills are centered on and around live concert photography and I have never had the chance to work directly with a band. When my friend Julius from Laid Back radio asked if I’d be interested in doing a photo-essay on Nicholas Kopernicus, I jumped at the opportunity.

It started with a trip to Philly. I was working on an audiovisual project of Philadelphia’s murals and I needed a wicked soundtrack to set the mood. Julius suggested Nicholas Kopernicus. He sent me the track called “Legacy” and I was blown away. I immediately picked up the phone and called them. Fortunately, they were happy to allow their music be a part of the project.

I first met the guys at Jason’s in Bedford-Stuyvesant. We discussed music for a couple of hours over some sweet Jamaican rum cream and decided to go forward with the portrayal. Nicholas Kopernicus was working on an exclusive acoustic version of some tracks of their album and Jason and Seon were looking for coverage of the project.


This video features Nicholas Kopernicus performing an acoustic version of the track Commentariolus. This live session was filmed and taped at Rachel’s Studio in Brooklyn, New York City. The three songs audio-taped during this unplugged session (I’ll will never forget, Commentariolus and Brisa) are now available as free download.


Pianist/Producer Jason “Classic Beatz” Minnis and guitarist Seon Gomez talk about their music, their creative process and the unplugged project.


Jason “Classic Beatz” Minnis takes us to his home studio in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn. A personal and intimate dive into Nicholas Kopernicus’ natural element.

DOWNLOAD: Nicholas Kopernicus - Audiocentric [unplugged] (zip)

Project by Charles le Brigand & Laid Back Radio
Filmed by Juan Dominguez & Charles le Brigand
Edited by Juan Dominguez
Photography by Carlito Brigante
Audiocentric [unplugged] cover art by Felipe Villarreal

Special Thanks: Julius at Laid Back Radio & Rachel Jimenez


Published by Carlito Brigante - Stephane Missier aka Charles le Brigand and/or Carlito Brigante is a Brooklyn based street photographer and filmmaker inspired by the raw and gritty streets of New York.
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29 Responses to “Audiocentric Unplugged”

  1. vlada stojanovic, on January 17th, 2010 at 1:18 pm Said:

    Perfect EP. Thanks for this amazing music

  2. Jorma, on January 17th, 2010 at 4:11 pm Said:

    Bigg ups to you guys much luv….

  3. paze79, on January 17th, 2010 at 5:00 pm Said:

    good work my dudes. very polished

  4. Lesley, on January 18th, 2010 at 2:44 am Said:

    I love Audiocentric, I can’t wait to hear the unplugged version. Great work!

  5. dylan, on January 18th, 2010 at 6:35 am Said:

    yeah, liking the acoustic versions!

  6. Downloads: Nicholas Kopernicus ‘Audiocentric Unplugged’ (Free Download) | RULE4080.COM - The Difference Between Rap Blogs and Hip Hop Blogs, on January 18th, 2010 at 9:23 am Said:

    [...] HERE - For more, check this Share and [...]

  7. INT, on January 18th, 2010 at 3:59 pm Said:

    its great!!! fina produção!

  8. steezo!, on January 18th, 2010 at 10:02 pm Said:

    Respect!

  9. Gian La Barbera, on January 18th, 2010 at 10:26 pm Said:

    Hey guys, graet videos! Great vibe! Looking forward to listen the new Ep!!
    Peace from São Paulo
    Brazil
    Barbera

  10. afriquedeluxe, on January 19th, 2010 at 12:15 am Said:

    ive been a fan for a bit so really enjoyed this. great share!!

  11. L-ROX, on January 19th, 2010 at 6:37 am Said:

    A truly talented duo, the pictures and videos give these guys’ project a very proper feel. I was fortunate to have worked with these guys on mixing and mastering the Audiocentric project and was an instant fan (as is my 7 year old son!) Here’s a Spotlight I did for them on my website, for those who wish to learn a little more (and listen to some audio from the Audiocentric project): http://www.redsecta.com/NicholasKopernicus.html

  12. Julius, on January 19th, 2010 at 1:29 pm Said:

    @l-rox Big up for the great interview and the nice sound on the audiocentric project.

  13. RG Tull, on January 20th, 2010 at 3:28 am Said:

    I’m loving the music of Nicholas Kopernicus! It’s my style … acoustic, world sound. Congratulations from Maryland!! I love the music and appreciate the production of the videos. It’s nice to see and hear the background stories! It’s kind of old-school jazz … as in my parent’s time in the 60′s (based on what I’ve heard from my Dad’s records), but with a new flavor. Congratulations!!!

  14. Nicholas Kopernicus, on January 21st, 2010 at 8:30 pm Said:

    Thanks for all the love family, its much appreciated. Its great to see people from all aspects of my life commenting, My old graduate school adviser, one of my best friends, my audio engineer. Producers friends from various parts of the world. This is great! Shouts out to Carlito and Laid Back Radio for making this happen. We look forward to more collaborations

    -Jason

  15. Laid Back » Thank you Mixcloud!, on January 23rd, 2010 at 2:12 am Said:

    [...] Chris. Give us a few weeks to be fully in the groove. In this episode, I played one track from the Nicholas Kopernicus project, a special shout out from JtotheC to celebrate the release of his 7inch, the new Gil [...]

  16. kamau ware, on January 27th, 2010 at 5:04 am Said:

    nice work, gents. love the music, honesty, and the incorporation of still photography with video. keep on pushing, nk.

  17. Joan Q. Minnis, on January 30th, 2010 at 8:46 pm Said:

    I am being a little partial but this is great…appreciate all of the positive comments and support you are giving Jason and Seon…

  18. Nicholas Kopernicus, on January 30th, 2010 at 8:49 pm Said:

    HAHA! Thanks mom!

    Jason

  19. Barbara Hires, on January 31st, 2010 at 1:42 am Said:

    We love the music!! Awesome job, Jason & Friends…..
    Keep it coming. We wish you much success.

    J.D. & Barbara Hires

  20. Emil, on February 1st, 2010 at 8:27 am Said:

    Beautiful Music.. Very inspiring!!

  21. Internet Radio « Contentiousbenjamin's Weblog, on February 18th, 2010 at 2:38 am Said:

    [...] http://www.laid-back.be/blog/?p=3008 [...]

  22. Laid Back » Discussing LDBK Radio with Radionomy, on March 28th, 2010 at 1:16 pm Said:

    [...] presenting some ideas from the radio manifesto, explaining how we built our player, mentioning our Brooklyn partners and trying to share some advice on how to promote an online radio project. This interview is in [...]

  23. Nu-Soul Magazine | Nicholas Kopernicus Interview, on March 30th, 2010 at 7:44 pm Said:

    [...] Download Audiocentric Unplugged FREE [...]

  24. Jeff, on April 18th, 2010 at 8:02 am Said:

    wonderful stuff. thank you for sharing it and thank you to the artists, both musicians and photographer/writer for doing this for us.

    you should look into the way your links share on facebook. they do not pull an image or a page title+description for me. could be a FB temporary glitch but I think you may have your pages setup a bit off. I hate to see this stuff not get as shared as it should.

    peace

  25. Julius, on April 18th, 2010 at 8:40 am Said:

    Jeff,

    Thank you for your comment. I think it was a temporary FB problem. Tried this morning and everything was fine.

  26. Laid Back » Back from Brooklyn, on September 25th, 2010 at 10:28 am Said:

    [...] just perfect! After collaborating with them for more than a year, Carlito Brigante and Jason from Nicholas Kopernicus invited me to spend 10 days in Brooklyn together with my lovely girlfriend. I saw so much during [...]

  27. Nicholas Kopernicus « charles le brigand, on October 31st, 2010 at 11:37 pm Said:

    [...] This video features Nicholas Kopernicus performing an acoustic version of the track Commentariolus. This live session was filmed and taped at Rachel’s Studio in Brooklyn, New York City. The three songs audio-taped during this unplugged session (I’ll will never forget, Commentariolus and Brisa) are now available as free download. [...]

  28. Laid Back » Audiocentric Deluxe edition, on January 24th, 2011 at 7:00 pm Said:

    [...] thing lead to another and eventually the idea for the Audiocentric [Unplugged] Project was born. As we continued to promote the album we knew we wanted to get physical cd’s made. [...]

  29. Sulejman Serija, on February 20th, 2012 at 1:59 pm Said:

    great video guys, keep working so super-good!

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