Smooth maneuvers

>>Ohani Kuba describes the Velvet vibe

by RUPERT BOTTENBERG

Velvet. Good handle for a B.C. collective that dishes out a silky-smooth crossover club sound. Chief Velveteer Ohani Kuba gives us the scoop from an NYC taxi (honking, yelling and squealing tires omitted).

Mirror: I'll start with the most painfully obvious question: how would you define your sound?

Ohani Kuba: It's a constantly evolving sound, dude. We've had so many so many different members. We do it as a weekly, and have different cats in every week. If there's a trumpet player or a violinist or DJ or vibes player, there's a different mood, so it's had a lot of different forms. It's a real evolving species, there's a lot of improv. But I guess the sound is a jazz/soul vibe over fat hip hop and house beats.

M: Is this indicative of what's going on on the West Coast right now?

OK: Yes. We're representing the West Coast vibe, for sure. Buncha ganja-smokin' chilled cats, y'know, total love vibe philosophy. West Coast groove culture, y'know? It's not in-your-face, force-fed dance music. You either dig it or you don't.

M: Do you pay much attention to what's going on over here?

OK: I try to. I like what those guys at Bombay Records are doing. They threw a night at the Miami Winter Music Conference, and it was the coolest music I saw at the whole conference. Everybody who's anybody was there.

M: The visual side of things is important to you guys, too, right?

OK: It is, but unfortunately our visual guy couldn't make it, 'cuz he's got a kid to take care of. In our West Coast show, it's a big part of it, the visual stimuli. And he vibes off what we're doing. If we're jamming off into a certain zone, he'll follow. But for Montreal, we just brought some of his slides. 'Cuz it's a small room, Jello. I've seen that room once--we'll fuckin' rip that shit up. Our objective is to vibe all four corners of the room, right? The smaller the room, the better.

At Jello Bar on Thursday, June 17 and Friday, June 18, 10:30pm, $6, with DJs Tyger Dhula and Bellyfish. Also at Stereo, Friday, 4:30am, $15