Mike Relm 'Spectacle' album

As an audio/visualist and mash-up DJ, MIKE RELM has become world famous for his mind-melting real time performances. But with the advent of SPECTACLE, his exciting debut studio album, the San Francisco-based musical talent has masterfully upped his game. On the heels of his recent, mesmerizing DVD, Clown Alley and the acclaim of his riveting 2005 CD mixtape Radio Fryer he bespectacled and suit-clad Relm steps into the role of electronic music maestro while effortlessly reinforcing his long-standing reputation for innovation.

“I’m thrilled to finally put out my own songs,” says Relm, who in addition thi o writing and producing also plays guitar, synths and a Moog voyager throughout. “In the past kind of felt guilty when people listened to the things I’ve mixed and said, ‘Oh. I love your music,’ because it really wasn’t mine, even though I was flipping it in my own way. Deep down every DJ knows they can’t call it their own. It feels so much better when someone compliments me for one of my own tracks. It’s already changed my perspective on music and life.”

By collaborating with respected underground talents like Mr. Lif, The Gift of Gab and Lateef the Truthspeaker along with producer Patrick Palaad on Spectacle, Relm’s sonic realm is as diverse as it is ingenious. In between numerous TV themed interludes, just check can’t miss offerings like “Body Rock” – complete with a twangy guitar line and a celebratory tack destined for the dance floor – and the disc’s contagious first single “My Heart” – which boasts razor-sharp delivery by rapper Adeem and vocalist Adrian Hartley, a veteran of both Blue Man Group and Fischerspooner.

After befriending Hartley during a lengthy, high profile stint opening for Blue Man Group, Relm knew he had to have her lend vocals to the latter, capturing her memorable performance in a Philadelphia hotel room of all places. Next came the New Hampshire-based Adeem. “We met during one of those ‘Minivan-Days Inn’ tours,” Mike says. “But I knew I wanted to work with him. He was on this list of people I kept that I knew I’d ask and he did such a great job with that track.”

With “My Heart” front-and-center in Relm’s plan for global domination, it’s matched by the equally great “You Break,” which thrives on a similar and infectious arrangement and is elevated by the adept street prose of Mr. Lif. “That song, like almost everything I construct, started with a beat,” Relm explains. “It’s just one of those beats that I let people listen to and everyone wanted to get on it.” Another notable track on Spectacle include “Hot To Trot” which features vocals and drums by percussionist/beat maker Alfredo Ortiz (Beastie Boys, Chromeo, Ozomatli).

The aforementioned “Body Rock” is also exceptionally strong. It finds Relm masterminding the unlikely (but dead on) pairing of New York alt-rockers Morningwood and Blackalicious’ MC The Gift of Gab. Elsewhere, there’s the unexpected, electrifying rendition of Nilsson’s 1967 single “Without Her” which achieves liftoff with a soaring vocal from the Grammy-nominated Oakland-based Lateef the Truthspeaker.

Simultaneously soothing and upbeat, thanks to a warm and memorably-rendered effort by the Quannum Projects veteran, Relm asserts the performance is distinct. “Lateef kind of sings some songs, but I hadn’t heard a song where that’s all he does,” Mike explains. “And he was totally down with it. I recorded him, added some percussion and that was basically it.”

If the instrumental “Tron” vividly captures the spirit of the decade when this DJ-turned-recording artist formulated his musical dreams, it wasn’t calculated. “I wasn’t really going for that sound,” Mike says. “But I think the whole aesthetic of ‘80s music was anything goes. In any other time period, something that might have been considered awful just worked. And looking back on it, a lot of the stuff just stays in your head.”

For those privy to Relm’s energetic output, the same could be said. His unforgettable A/V mashups wowed crowds most recently during Tony Hawk’s Boom Boom HuckJam tour. But as Mike – who has also rocked crowds at Coachella, Summer Sonic and Mt. Fuji in Japan – moves forward with Spectacle, he’s eager to incorporate it into his live show and in doing so, he’ll be taking a cue from his superstar associates.

“When I toured with Gnarls Barkley, right before they would do “Crazy” at the end of the night, it was like, ‘Alright. We’ve got one left, so you guys know what’s coming,’” Mike chuckles. “I learned a lot because they were so successful with that one album. They showed me how to pull it off, even with just one record. They did some covers, some freestyle stuff, stage banter. They made it work.”

“I’m building a show based on my own original material,” Relm continues. “I’ll still use the visuals and I’ll mix in other things, but the flow will be completely different. I’ll do the scratching and turntablism, but I’m switching things up a bit, while keeping it classy.”

As a pacesetter in the world of modern music, Relm says he purposely avoids gauging himself against stylistically similar acts. “I’ve been looking less and less at people who are doing things related to what I do and looking more at people who do nothing like what I do for inspiration,” Mike says. “That way I’m not locked into a trend. I’m free to do whatever I want.”

For Spectacle, that meant utilizing his vast musical knowledge and his experience in strategically placing songs together for proper flow. “I wanted to make a record that would sound like someone’s iTunes playlist,” he says. “I was inspired by Gnarls, Gorillaz, different instrumental ideas.”

Still, fans shouldn’t expect another mixtape from Mike Relm in the future. “I’m pretty much done with getting ‘cease and desist’ letters,” he reveals. “Of course I’m always free to do whatever I want, but there will be consequences. So I probably won’t go backward. Besides, I’m running out of people that I like that I’d actually want to bootleg.”

And while Relm, who has a successful history releasing his own material, admits it’s liberating and exhausting to put an album out on his own, he insists he wouldn’t have it any other way. “When most people sign to a label, they’re thinking of tour support and money to make the record and publicity,” he says. “For me, the great part is I’ve been on the road playing bigger shows and festivals, and I have a great publicist and I already know how to put music out on my own, so I don’t really need to bogged down by some huge machine.”

With his greatest creative accomplishment now finalized, Mike Relm will continue to dazzle audiences as he moves forward to become an unstoppable creative force with Spectacle. “It’s such a totally new and different step that I’ve wanted to take for a while,” he says. “I’m really proud of what I’ve done.”

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Mike Relm - Spectacle