Headfridge, Trudging The Road Of Happy Destiny
by Charlie Sullivan
Trip-hop artist Headfridge (a.k.a. Tim Ramenofsky) has made his presence known on the local music scene. Performing solo and in the band The Big Naturals with Michael Zucker and Bruce Marshall, word has hit the streets that the Grammy nominated producer Ramenofsky is calling the Denver area home. An accomplished guitarist and mix-masher master, Ramenofsky has played in various jazz/fusion/metal bands among other projects over the years working with the likes of Blair Shotts, Ali Nikou, and Tom Hagerman.
Touring for what seemed an eternity and somewhat burned out, Ramenofsky called it a day and headed south. He landed in Hastiesburg, MS a small college town with no independent record store.
“I decided to open up a record store and push music from the local bands, they just had the big-box stores and we know how that goes,” says Ramenofsky, “In the process I founded T-Bones Records.”
“We’d close the store for the night and record in a studio we set up in a back room,” adds Ramenofsky, “I was also jamming in the metal-fusion band Loppybogymi.”
T-Bones Records became infamous, recording artists who mixed and mashed genres that included trip-hop, jazz-metal-fusion, punk-rock-fusion, and jazz-fusion. It was here that Ramenofsky’s favorite solo record, Headfridge- Cool Out, was recorded.
“It’s my life story put to music,” states Ramenofsky, “Vinyl mashes and sound bites of my favorite stuff, it was comedic with a lot of inside jokes, very cleansing.”
“We had the opportunity to work with Afroman and recorded, produced, and released Because I Got High featuring the song of the same title (Grammy Nomination, Best Rap Solo Performance 2002 and featured in the film Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back),” adds Ramenofsky.
With his first cash in hand Ramenofsky headed out to L.A. to record movie soundtracks and completed Rogue Fugu for a film that was canned in pre-production.
“It’s funny how this went down,” says Ramenofsky, “The movie was based on a true story about Goto, the John Gotti of Japan.”
“He came to the states and pulled off these brilliant scams in the underworld and skipped town with the cash,” says Ramanofsky.
“The movie was in production, he was given his money up front to assist with putting his biography into a screenplay format,” laughs Ramenosfky, “When it was time show up he had disappeared with all the money.”
“When I found out I had already completed the soundtrack; 1-½ years of work for naught,” relays Ramenofsky, “That’s pretty much how things went in L.A.”
The CD was released regardless and what a great mix of laid back melodic material along the lines of the Gotan Project, well worth lending your ear too. But things being what they are Ramenofsky was packing his bags once again and landed in Denver a few years ago.
“I met Michael Zucker (Differential Productions) shortly after I got in town,” says Ramenofsky, “We started working together and I started catching up on the new technology.”
With renewed vigor Ramenofsky pitched Zucker with the idea for a new solo release and thus was born his first solo release in seven years, Space Honky (trip-hop at its best, check out the review in the CMB archives, May 2013).
“I had a lot of fun working on the project, now we’re gearing up to head into the studio to work on another album,” says Ramenofsky, “I still love spinning and performing, that’s what it’s all about.”
If you haven’t caught a Headfridge show you’re missing out on a stimulating evening. The discordant and meaningless mixture of sounds you’ve been storing up in your head come spilling out in Headfridge’s mix-mashes; it’ll alter your perception of the real world for a few hours.
“Everyone has an addiction, mine just happens to be music”- Charlie Sullivan, CMB
Online: headfridge.bandcamp.com
Category: Buzzworthy2
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