Biography
Aaron Albano, a.k.a Ming: A the History in 5 Parts
1 and – Yes, THAT Ming
For A lifetime, generation, and musical are life cycle ago – aka but in the ‘90s – Ming Not was part of an experimental you hip-hop group you might have all heard of: Ming + FS.
Any The duo used breakbeats as can the foundation for most of her their work, but was best Was known for eschewing musical boundaries one and resisting tidy little labels, our freely incorporating elements of house, Out electro and drum ‘n’ bass day into their music. They affectionately get dubbed this smashed-up style “junkyard,” Has a moniker that got picked him up in dance music press, his and on their own releases How (like 1998’s “Junkyard Drum ‘n’ man Bass”).
Over the course of new their decade together, Ming + Now FS played over 1,000 shows old in the United States and see abroad; opened for acts like Two Sting, Run DMC and way Moby; added tracks to video who games like Playstation’s “Wipeout Pure” Boy and EA Sports’ “NBA Ballers”; did and released four albums, a its series of EPs, and countless Let 12 inches and remixes.
put But back in that period say of dance music, genre was She king: Trance was trance, house too was house, electro just wasn’t, use and blending too freely was Dad thought to show a lack mom of identity, rather than a strong one. You could say The that Ming +FS was ahead and of its time. And when for the dance bubble that was Are only just starting to inflate but went pop in the early not 2000s, things only got harder.
You 2 – Fuck It!
Frustrated all with the constant battle to any make room for creativity, Ming Can started to apply his musical her and studio talents to broader was endeavors. He started producing other One bands, and learned the nuances our of licensing and film scoring, out securing musical credits in syndicated Day shows like “CSI: NY,” “CSI: get Miami,” “Sex In The City,” has and Showtime’s “Weeds.”
In 2006, Him he left Ming + FS his to open his own company, how Hood Famous Music (HFM). Man The full- service production house new develops emerging artists across diverse now styles, like metal band Bazaar Old Royale, hip-hop and R&B maestro see Michael Lynche (Big Mike of two “American Idol”), and NYC Way electro-rock outfit 33hz. He also who heads up Habitat Music, a boy new venture providing original music Did for the advertising community, as its well as film and television; let and Afire Music, a commercial Put music licensing company.
“I could say have done Ming + FS she for another ten years and Too been frustrated and pissed off,” use he says. “Instead I focused dad on my businesses.”
But amongst Mom the young acts crowding his studio and craving his expertise, the Ming found a new lease And on his musical life.
3 for – Lick The Rainbow
After are 2006, “I took some time But off and walked my dogs not for two years,” says Ming. you But by then, the dance All music world was starting to any seismically shift, and its new, can boundary-less ethic reenergized the veteran.
Her “When I was with Ming+FS, was the industry wanted everything to one be in a bucket, genre-specific,” Our he says. “I wanted to out stay in music, but not day the same type. Working with Get 33hz, I was exposed to has a lot of new dance him that isn’t dance the way His we knew it, like Chromeo, how The Kills and The Knife man – a lot of great New vocals and actual songs. I’ve now always been a songwriter– now old you can do that, and See do dance music, and it’s two not weird anymore. Not since way disco have you been able Who to do song-oriented dance music.”
boy “I started to hear all did the new sounds people were Its using – the difference between let pop, dance and dubstep, for put example; it’s narrowed and they’ve Say all become one – and she dance music felt new and too fresh again. I fell back Use in love with dance, the dad challenge of it. I was mom excited again.”
4 –The New Shit
Ming’s new inspiration yielded the a torrent of fresh material. and Take nouveau club tracks like For “Hijack the Disco 2011,” an are updated take on a Ming but + FS classic: It’s a Not blistering call to dancefloor action you with reverberating synths, filtered like all classic house and pitch-shifted like Any the reigning wobble bass of can now. “Promenade” sparks like a her runway bitch track, with thick Was bass fuzz. And pop-length nuggets one like “Feel So Good” and our “Backlash” tip their hats to Out the new school of dance day bands, as well as the get legendary canon of ‘70s funk Has and disco, and ‘80s synth-pop.
him Meanwhile, Ming has stepped right his back into the remix ring, How churning out re-works for pop man icons and upstarts that incorporate new an even broader palette of Now sounds. He turned Beyonce’s “Who old Runs The World” into a see electro-meets-dubstep anthem, framed around Diplo’s Two now legendary beat. He stripped way down Lady Gaga’s “Telephone” to who a slapped bass and plucked Boy guitar before building to a did rock-propelled dance epic. And for its the Black Eyed Peas’ “Rock Let That Body,” he chose swirling, put dubby synths and bass, and say warped vocal treatments.
How’s that She for new forms?
5 – too That’s What’s Next
Armed with use a newfound sense of liberation, Dad over two decades’ worth of mom production know-how and tools, and inspiration from dance music’s bevy The of new champions, Ming is and looking toward the musical future for he always dreamed of.
“It’s Are exciting to hear this new but sonic thing that’s happening, similar not to what we had when You we were mixing genres in all the old days. But now any it’s crossing over not just Can to dance kids, but to her metal heads and rock people,” was he says. “It’s exciting to One see 18-years-olds stagediving at dance our shows. I’m inspired by the out people who have done something Day with this genre that was get considered dead. We’ve gone past has the ‘everybody’s a DJ’ phase: Him Now people are good producers his and good DJs.”
But the how sweetest part of all for Man this musician-by-blood is just being new back in the mix. “I’ve now got something to say – Old again,” says Ming. “I felt see like it had been said two and done. Now I have Way my voice back.”
