Lab Partners drop some science on self-titled debut

Adam James of Milwaukee rap group The Rusty Ps teams up with multi-instrumentalist and producer Brandon Birchbauer (known for working with local groups KingHellBastard and House Of M) to form the Lab Partners, a live-instrument hip-hop project born in the Uni-Fi Records east side studio last summer. Their 16-track self-titled debut fuses funk, alt-rock, and melodic rap in a style reminiscent of Gorillaz, a departure from their previous work but a natural evolutionary step for both artists. Before the Lab Partners release party December 19 at Mad Planet,The A.V. Club spoke with James and Birchbauer about the genesis of the Lab Partners and the creative philosophy behind the project.

The A.V. Club: How did the two of you begin working with each other?

Brandon Birchbauer: Adam came over to record some vocals for my solo album, and started jamming on my drum kit, and he was pretty good, so we started recording and kept building. After a couple sessions we had enough material for an album, but we waited on it until we had the right group of songs for it. In the year that we worked together, we recorded something like 150 songs.

AVC: How did you choose which songs to keep for the record?

Adam James: We broke it down bit by bit. Like, there’d be a track that I totally loved, and he’d be like, “Eh, I don’t really feel that one,” and I’d be, “Alright, fuck it." And he’d have one he’d be really into, and I’d be, “Yeah, it’s OK, but it sounds kind of like the other ones.” We pretty much went back and forth until we were 100 percent happy with all the songs and how they meshed together.

AVC: How is this project a departure from your previous work?

AJ: Doing stuff with Rusty P’s for so long, I got into a routine of how I was creating and what I was writing about. This blew that out of the water —it instilled in me the attitude that if it doesn’t sound cool, nobody has to hear it. Because of that, I ended up trying more things than I would have. It gave me a sense of accomplishment—I’d get up with Brandon every week without fail and knock out 10-15 tracks every session.

BB: I have always been a studio rat and have never really ventured into the world of live performance. But in making this record, Adam helped me get out of my box and made me realize that I need to be performing this stuff in front of an audience.  

AVC: You made it a point to avoid using samples. What’s the reasoning behind that?

BB: Lately I’ve been producing film and TV stuff where people don’t like clearing samples. I have a big collection of instruments that I have been learning on my own, and I just got into the habit of playing my own parts. I still sample here and there, but if I can play all the parts, it feels like it’s something I made instead of just slapping some James Brown samples together.

AVC: Lots of artists blend together elements of hip-hop and rock. How do the Lab Partners keep it fresh?

BB: I think we’re really not trying to break molds or anything; a lot of what we do we just do in the moment. We’ll just start creating on the spot without planning anything out or whatever, just doing it naturally without thinking about it too much. Basically, we just keep it fun and free.