Songs from the Sixth Borough

Talking with Downtown Records boss Josh Deutsch about his label's love affair with the sound of Philly.

by A.D. Amorosi

When onetime Elektra and senior Virgin A&R executive Josh Deutsch founded Downtown Music LLC in 2006 as an independent company operating Downtown Records, Music Publishing and Licensing, he didn't mean to make it into the second coming of Philly International.

But along with getting Amanda Blank to finally prove her mettle, Deutsch's company holds the publishing, licensing and releasing contracts for Spank Rock, onetime Philadelphian Santigold and Diplo (as an artist, producer and owner of the Mad Decent label).

"I've been in Philly a lot since I crossed into the dark side of the record industry 19 years ago," says Deutsch from his New York City office.

Deutsch's brother went to the University of Pennsylvania; the label exec had family in New Jersey; and during Josh's days at Elektra, he spent time at Larry Gold's studio on North Seventh Street while the string parts were being recorded for Mark Ronson's 2003 debut, Here Comes the Fuzz (an album that also featured The Roots' ?uestlove on drums).

"I've long enjoyed your landscape," says Deutsch. "We have a strong Philly presence because of that."

That's because Deutsch calls the shots at Downtown. Though he's intentionally vague about things being "complicated as to why I left the major label biz," the main reason was that he had a vision and wanted to control it entrepreneurially. "In 2005 I saw the major label experience wall coming at me. It was time for a new model."

But who could have predicted that new model would call for equal doses of discs from Philly and Paris with Justice, MSTRKRFT and Carla Bruni on board?

"Spank Rock really opened a number of doors for us from a repertoire source standpoint," says Deutsch. "When I signed Naeem, I reconnected with Santi [White] who I'd known from working on Mark Ronson's music. Amanda was part of the Spank collective and they were both very close with Diplo. We started doing a bunch of non-Spank Rock-related stuff with Wes [Pentz, aka Diplo] which led to the strategic partnership we have with his Mad Decent records and Diplo's Major Lazer project."

Sounds pretty simple: With a relationship built on the recording and publishing side, Spank Rock became the epicenter of Deutsch's connections to Philly. Combine that with Deutsch's predilection for innovation in the sweet spot where electronic music, hip-hop and indie rock collide (see Gnarls Barkley, etc.) and you get Downtown's Philly family, one with connections and influence that could go far beyond the East Coast.

Deutsch mentions how Spank Rock influences Kid Cuti and Kid Sister (the latter a Downtown signing whose October-due Ultraviolet Spank Rock's Armani XXXchange has a hand in producing); how Diplo is leading the charge for bringing electronic music in to the mainstream ("He's a renaissance figure"); and how Santigold and Amanda Blank seem to inspire each other — all of which creates a scene that constantly breeds cross-pollination.

"I can't give you an answer about how the cultural landscape of Philly works, it's just what I hear with these guys," says Deutsch. "They're all over the place. If I could anticipate how this works, it'd make A&R so much easier."

Naeem Juwan has a theory.

"It's true that they got us all, but I don't want to give Downtown too much credit," says the Spank Rocker. "I think what's happening is that there's a group of friends who stuck together throughout their whole careers and formed a sound."

Philly's mash-hop crew forged an identifiable cultural movement well before Downtown came calling. "Before they had a clue as to what was going on," laughs Juwan, who reminds me that Diplo got Spank Rock its first label deal on England's Big Dada so that when other labels came calling, his profile was already huge. "Amanda, XXX and I were touring throughout Europe, blowing up a storm at the same time there's this new label popping up wanting to get in on something they see. When they got here, they wanted to jump on just like any other label did."

Juwan reminds me of a dinner party Sire Records' Seymour Stein attended with Blank and mentions how Capitol, Atlantic and the Domino label had also came calling.

Everybody wanted the Spank/Blank crew. The Internet has made it so that artists have already been around before they walk out the front door.

"It would be different if Downtown had been the only interested party, but I had already had dinner with the likes of Seymour Stein before I spoke to Josh," says Juwan. Then again, he's completely appreciative of the fact that Downtown is a no-pressure label that's given Spank Rock room to breathe and record at its own pace as they have started to do in just the last few months.

"Naeem's first record was so casually contrived, conceived and so well received, he was immediately anointed," says Deutsch about the tall order of a follow-up. "Whenever he's ready we'll be ready to take it aggressively to the marketplace. Until then, we chill. At Downtown if we have to tell an artist what and when to do, he's not the right artist for the label."

Deutsch could be talking about the one that got away: Mr. Phil-a-del-phi-a himself, Kevin Michaels, who was Downtown's first Philly signing with an EP (YaDig) and an eponymous October 2007 CD that found the R&B singer nowhere fast and dead in the water upon release. "Ahhhhh, Kevin," Deutsch says wistfully. "We made an enormous investment and it never panned out. It should've happened. He's an incredibly talented kid, but we just couldn't get the traction we needed at radio and sales." Michael, no longer a Downtown artist, is currently in Atlanta rejiggering his career.

With any luck, Amanda Blank won't have that same problem.

Downtown's Philly artists are doing great in Deutsch's estimation. Santigold's debut has sold more than 150,000 copies in the U.S. with her "Lights Out" single currently the theme to what's being called Budweiser's biggest media buy ever, which means neither the label nor the artist is dependent upon recorded music sales as a sole stream of revenue.

Diplo's Major Lazer jawn with Switch, Guns Don't Kill People Lazers Do, sold 3,500 records in its first week. ("We're more interested in where an artist is at week 20 than he is at week two.") Deutsch signed Major Lazer without ever hearing a note, trusting entirely the Diplo/Mad Decent brand. And while Deutsch says he isn't done signing artists out of Philly quite yet (he won't say who), Downtown's going to have its hands full with Blank, given all the hype and attention given to her live gigs with Spank Rock, opening for Santigold and a few recent shows between Manhattan and Europe.

"Signing Amanda was a no-brainer," says Deutsch. "She's doing a subversive sort of pop that's holistic and broad-ranging, whether it's that ballad with Lykke Li or a dirty rap song with the Cool Kids, and because she's so not manufactured, she's acceptable to the public; more relatable."

(a_amorosi@citypaper.net)