The Dirt:
The commercialization of the music industry has reached such heights that becoming an artist is so rarely about pushing one’s music. Add the store versus online sales struggle to the power of the marketing machines that want every artist to be a brand with licensing deals and you have the state of music today. It is a world that is slowly driving artists, both visual and audio, out of the major metropolises in search of smaller, more laid-back areas that are open to new acts. Theses artists increasingly learn to juggle their own work and multiple collaborations to grow as artists and cross promote. Such is the case of Nicolay and Kay.

Nicolay, a North Carolina-based native of Holland trained in classical music, and Houston-based Kay, teamed up after meeting in 2003. The two met on the Okayplayer message boards but were also introduced by a mutual friend that designs some of their covers. After learning they had similar interests, the two teamed up to work on an album where Kay lays the lyrics and raps, and Nicolay writes the music and handles production. As for influences, the duo sings praise for The Beatles, with Nicolay noting, “The more I listen to it, the more I don’t realize how they pull it off. There’s a lot of freedom in that music that young artists today could learn from.” Kay pipes in to add another big influence, Curtis Mayfield.

Their joint album, Time:Line, mixes hip-hop with a retro feel and lyrics that tell short stories. The Gunshot, a track with former Fu-Schnickens member Chip Fu, is a smooth mix of hip-hop beats with reggae-infused vocals that speak of street violence. The music that guides Kay’s lyrics on I’ve Seen Rivers conjures images of old sitcoms from the 70s and 80s but speaks of the injustices of modern life, such as pollution that causes cancer and a government that often forgets its people, but the overall theme takes its influence from the Langston Hughes poem The Negro Speaks of Rivers. The river, Kay notes, has longevity, which he hopes his music will have too. The Grand Theft Auto track, a great song for cruising, laces upbeat tones with lyrics that stem from a dream Kay had where he was “stuck in Grand Theft Auto” with Houston as a backdrop. As the Wheel Turns, another song that echoes retro beats, is an almost nostalgic journey through a few characters meant to represent various city dwellers struggling to grow despite the odds. But it’s the first lyrics of What We Live that represent their aim and could be an anthem for the movement: “See we keep it raw with no strings attached, and like, you want the real with no bling to match, and I got a song that the world respects…”

Next on the menu is pushing Nicolay’s next album, which is expected in late summer or early fall. As for their dream collaborations, Nicolay notes that since many have already worked with Chris Martin of Coldplay, he adds they’d like to work with “free minded people, Jazzanova, Radiohead, people that are doing their own thing, outside of the industry.” Explaining their mission, and possibly the struggle of many independent artists, no matter their medium, he references the movie superheroes, noting that it’s like “an underground resistance.” To survive, he explains, since they don’t have a chance in mainstream, they stick together to promote their work without comprising their art.

Where:
For more information on Nicolay and Kay, visit
the Nicolay Music website.