With 'Borrowed Ladders,' Vela Vada introduces 'world-electro' music from New Orleans
Brian Danos' new Ropeadope Records project features contributions from Nicholas Payton, Brad Walker, 79rs Gang
JUL 20, 2022 - 6:00 AM
In the early 1990s, Brian Danos played saxophone and clarinet in the Brother Martin High School marching band. He then gravitated toward guitar.
“I was the guy with guitar pedals, trying to make different sounds,” he recalled recently. “I was always interested in finding new sounds and new voices.”
That quest led him to synthesizers and, years later, “Borrowed Ladders,” his debut album of “world-electro” music under the project name Vela Vada.
On “Borrowed Ladders,” Danos and co-producer Eric Heigle mesh synthesized, down-tempo electronic music with contributions from such flesh-and-blood musicians as trumpeter and keyboardist Nicholas Payton, saxophonist Brad Walker and the Mardi Gras Indian duo the 79rs Gang.
“It’s a hard one to define, which I love,” Danos said. “It’s the kind of stuff I listen to — all over the place, lots of different directions.”
Multi-faceted independent label Ropeadope Records releases “Borrowed Ladders” on Friday. Danos was impressed that the company was as enthusiastic as he was about using NFTs, Web3 and other cutting-edge technologies to promote the album.
On July 20 and again on Aug. 4, Danos will take part in a virtual reality listening party in the Ropeadope Lounge, the label’s virtual reality “room.”
Heigle and New Orleans-born trumpeter and fellow Ropeadope artist Christian Scott, who goes by Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah professionally, are slated to join him. Via Zoom, Danos will appear live on a screen in the VR “room.”
“People can walk up and ask questions as their avatar,” he said, clearly excited about the possibilities such technology portends.
That the rollout for “Borrowed Ladders” is tech-heavy — more than two-dozen versions of the album cover are available for purchase as NFTs — is on brand for Danos. His day job involves a company that provides technology for 401(k) and other retirement plans.
Despite his successful tech career, he still harbored dreams of bringing his musical ideas to life. “Vela vada” is Italian for “set sail.” It’s based on a Mark Twain quote about how the things humans most regret are the chances they didn’t take and the dreams they didn’t follow.
Naming his musical project Vela Vada, Danos said, “is to remind myself to do that.”
Bringing people, technology together
The “Borrowed Ladders” title was inspired by the sci-fi movie “Gattaca,” in which natural-born humans buy DNA material from genetically modified humans to pursue their dreams. Danos essentially “borrowed ladders” from various New Orleans musicians for his new album, which he first started working on in 2017.
“I really enjoy bringing people together in genres and styles they wouldn’t normally gravitate to, like showing jazz guys the possibilities and textures you can create with electronics.”
What turned out to be the project’s most critical connection resulted when a friend introduced Danos to Heigle. In addition to being the drummer in forward-thinking Cajun band the Lost Bayou Ramblers, Heigle is a prolific producer and engineer who has worked on recordings by Arcade Fire, the Soul Rebels, Dr. John, Eric Lindell, Luke Winslow-King, Walter “Wolfman” Washington and many others.
“He’s got a great ear and great ideas,” Danos said. “He helped mold and refine songs into a better version of what my idea was.”
As well-connected within the local music community as anybody, Heigle helped get Payton and Walker involved with the Vela Vada recording sessions. Rather than providing pre-written parts, Danos encouraged them to let their own perspectives and personalities come through.
“It was more of a collaborative effort. I was excited to take the songs down different paths that I didn’t think of.”
At the time, Heigle was producing the 79rs Gang’s “Expect the Unexpected,” which Sinking City Records released in 2020. “Expect the Unexpected” also married old and new music traditions, but from the opposite direction as Vela Vada.
The 79rs are torchbearers of an age-old music tradition who wanted to incorporate contemporary influences. Danos, by contrast, was a tech-savvy musician looking for the warmth and soul of more traditional music.
“Samples and technology can sound really good, but hearing somebody playing in a room can do something they can’t. Samples can make the hair on your arms stand up, but a human really playing music can make you cry. Taking a human performance and processing it still maintains those amazing qualities.”
The 79rs Gang helped finish the Vela Vada song “War Cry.” “It was magic,” Danos said. “It came together in a half-hour.”
The collaboration became a two-way street. The 79rs Gang included a “more organic” version of “War Cry” on “Expect the Unexpected”; Danos also contributed beats and electronic parts to that album.
While crafting “Borrowed Ladders,” he cut up improvised passages, then pasted them together to form the beds of songs. Melodies were added on top.
Going in, he had a vision for the album, “but it turned out better, and different, than that. A lot of it is improvisation. I’m big on improvisation with electronics, or friends.”