Vicelounge Makes Love Music

You may or you may not recognize their faces.

But the guys behind vicelounge have been making noise on the creative and music scene at least long enough to make a make a baby, raise it and then send him or her off to college.

Tyron Allen, Dalmar James and John Nubian quietly have produced music on a bunch of albums you know, have written lyrics on songs you recognize and have created the branding for images you’ve seen many times.

They are the soldiers behind vicelounge, a Bed-Stuy-based creative house for all things related to music, art and technology.

“We make things for artists,” said Allen, vicelounge's creative director. “But for us, art changes according to the artist or according to our whims. And it’s actually kind of fun that way.”

He understands people have more choices than ever these days. But with so many choices and so much more noise, people begin to pay more attention to the superficial aspects-- the subjects or trends around the music -- that they have stopped listening.

Last week, vicelounge celebrated the soft launch of its latest album, “Love Music,” a soulful compilation of poetry set to music, centered around various expressions of love. The album is on sale now for $1, and it is getting excellent reviews.

“People have called me and said they’d played it six times and forgot it was me. And I was like, ‘perfect!’” said Allen.

“I’m trying to get people to just enjoy music again, and try not to overanalyze it and try to figure out what we were doing. If you don’t like it, that’s fine. But if you like it, that’s great. Now share it.”

Sharing what they do has become second-nature for vicelounge, which is why they’re practically giving the album away. Plus, they’ve worked as creative stylists for so long, it’s no longer a job; it’s as natural as breathing.

“Having been a Brooklynite all my life and growing up with who I grew up with, I couldn’t have ended up doing anything else,” said James, vicelounge’s music director.

James went to junior high school (I.S. 383, Philippa Schuyler) with Mos Def aka Yasiin Bey, Evil D and Mr. Walt of Da Beatminerz, and MC Lyte long before they were stars.

“A bunch of us artists used to hang out back in the day, way before any record deals: Mr. Man of Da Bush Babees, Pharoah Monche, Jean Grae…  Then, I didn’t see them for like 8 years, until one day, we found ourselves all in one room!  Except this time, it was no longer a room full of 40s with a t.v. set going,” James laughed. “We were actually going into a recording booth, signing contracts, making music, doing what we’d always been doing, except at a much higher level.”

It was the mid-80s, and the group of budding stars all began meeting up regularly around West 4^th Street in the Village, making beats, spittin’ rhymes, writing lyrics, playing basketball, painting, recording, just being creative.

“When NYU started pushing us out, we ended up on the Lower East Side, around Alphabet City,” said Allen. “The Nuyorican Poets Cafe opened their doors for us, which was really cool. But then we kept getting pushed east, across the bridge and ended up in Fort Greene.”

By that time, it was the early 90s, and the music, poetry, film and culture scene in Fort Greene was bubbling over.

Allen and Nubian later were hired to head up music and media at Urban Box Office (UBO.com), a chance to converge their talents in music while sharpen their Web programming skills. Things were popping creatively and financially-- that is, until the Dot.com bubble burst, and UBO shuttered overnight.

“When UBO fell, we were like, ‘what are we going to do?’” said Allen. “We had all these skills, but no one would hire us. So we were like, let’s just keep doing what we do, but do it ourselves.”

Nubian and Allen, with Dalmar James formed vicelounge and began working with companies, artists and producers they’d met over the years, including REEBOK, Spike Lee; Uptown Magazine; Uniworld Group; Apollo Theater; the Brooklyn Arts Council and Black Enterprise, to name a few.

It’s 2012. A lot has changed artistically and musically. But with their latest project, “Love Music,” the vicelounge team hopes to bring back a little bit of the simplicity, honesty and rawness that existed for them when it all first started --when making music was about having fun and just doing what you do for the love of it.

“Before, when all we had was the music we heard on the radio, we took it in and appreciated it for what it was,” said Allen. “Now, everyone wants to sit in front of a computer and be a critic.

“The one thing radio did was let us live with music and just enjoy it in that moment. I know we’re probably too far gone to go back to that now. But with 'Love Music,' we’re just trying to get people to enjoy music again.

"...And to listen again."