The wait is finally over for the release of the latest downtempo EP Sea Sons by prolific musicians in their own right; Thomas Blondet & Steven Rubin. Speaking to the soul without saying a word, Sea Sons is an enigmatic experience that one should absorb whenever they deem fit. With the recent closureEighteenth Street Lounge, an underground electronic club where Blondet had a residency for two decades, the DJ saw it fitting to release an EP inspired by his time there.
Thomas Blondet describes what the EP release means to him, “Sea Sons, to me, is an ode to Eighteenth Street Lounge. While making this album I felt it was something that would be played at ESL. I imagine sitting near the fireplace and sipping on some fine wine on a Saturday evening.”
The other mind to marvel at the direction of this album, would-be musician and fellow collaborator Steven Rubin. Steven brings a tinge of instrumental incorporating rock riffs into the downtempo landscape with finesse. Sea Sons is a collaborative EP where backgrounds collide and form a magical listening experience for all.
Uncle kid released his debut single, ‘Supermarket Sweep’ on last November. Described as an “unsettling sound portrait” and “a song for our times” by Tom Robinson of BBC 6 Music.
It’s a trip hop, spoken word commentary on the anxiety of living through the covid pandemic, which delves into the friction between politics and nature. The song is built up around a gnarly bassline, glitchy electronic rhythms, and incorporates some radiator drumming (with pens for drumsticks).
Edinburgh based Uncle Kid, who produces all his own material, has teamed up with Scottish visual artist and inventor, Alan Brown, to create a suitably unsettling video. Filmed everyday during lockdown, the viewer’s gaze is held while he evolves from clean-shaven, to a heavily bearded, castaway version of himself. Brown’s glitchy, warhole-esque production adds to the general sense of unease.
Supermarket Sweep will be available on all major platforms, and is the first single from his upcoming EP, ‘Indistinct Chatter’ which features a combination of spoken word and singing throughout. Previously the guitarist in Scottish indie-folk band, The Last September, Uncle Kid merges folk guitar lines with dark synths and strings arrangements. Expect “dark, brooding, understated trip hop” – Fresh on the Net.
South London’s Oscar Jerome announces details for a forthcoming remix package spawned from his successful debut album ‘Breathe Deep’, out now through Caroline International. Featuring reworks from Joe Armon-Jones (Ezra Collective), Franc Moody, Shy One and The Colours That Rise, Oscar is trailing the November 20 release of ‘Breathe Deep Remixes’with the Nightmares On Wax version of fan favourite ‘Give Back What U StoleFrom Me’ – now streaming here.
The upcoming remix bundle – which also features the drumming of Black Midi’s Morgan Simpson – is the first new music from Jerome since the release in August this year of ‘Breathe Deep’, which saw him link up for collaborations with Lianne la Havas, Brother Portrait (Steam Down) and bandmates from Brownswood-signed Kokoroko, amongst others. Following previous packed-out headline tours around the US, UK & Europe (with London sell-outs at Heaven, Village Underground and EartH) and a support slot opening for Kamasi Washington, Oscar’s postponed UK headline tour in support of ‘Breathe Deep’ – which received airplay
across 6Music, 1Xtra, Radio X and Radio 1 – will be rescheduled to 2021 due to Covid-19 restrictions.
Though asserting himself as a jazz trailblazer in his own right, across ‘Breathe Deep’ Oscar celebrates the creative community around him, paying tribute to guitar greats like George Benson, Grant Green and Kenny Burrell and taking cues from the sounds of afrobeat, West African funk, broken-beat and 60s Latin American soul jazz. He carves out thoughtful songs that vary from personal odes to family, friends and past relationships (including ‘Coy Moon’ – remixed here by The Colours That Rise) to politically-charged cuts about climate change and environmental activism (‘Sun for Someone’ – given the remix treatment by Franc Moody and Shy One), the shameful treatment of refugees in Western Europe (‘Your Saint’ – remixed here by Joe Armon-Jones) and rallies against the corporations and governments that perpetually take from the poor (‘Give Back What U Stole From Me’).
Talking about his debut, Oscar says: “‘Breathe Deep’ is a pretty broad presentation of who I am musically and my journey to get to this point. On a personal level, it’s a reflection of the effort put in during that path of self-bettering, both emotionally and in life more broadly. It’s about preparing oneself for failure and growing from that. Taking a moment to step back and see where things are going and where one has been.” On top of that, Oscar explains, it also addresses “the resilience of people, which is reflected in the more political moments on the album.”
Born in Norwich but upping sticks to London to study at the Trinity Laban Conservatoire (Fela Kuti, Moses Boyd), Oscar is now a staple of the capital’s burgeoning nu-jazz scene. Previously working with everyone from Yussef Dayes to Shabaka Hutchings and Moses Boyd, Oscar also starred alongside Ezra Collective’s Femi Koleoso and Joy Crookes in the campaign for Stella McCartney’s ‘All Together Now’ collection, performing at its Milan Fashion Week launch. He was also on the bill for the ‘Stellafest 2020’ music festival broadcast on the official Stella McCartney Instagram, playing alongside the likes of Kelis and Brian Wilson.
‘Breathe Deep Remixes’
Give Back What U Stole From Me (Nightmares On Wax Remix)
Give Back What U Stole From Me (Nightmares On Wax Remix – Dub)
Trip-hop duo Kruder & Dorfmeister have shared their futuristic video music video for their new single ‘Johnson’. The single will feature on long-awaited album release 1995 set for release in October. The ‘Johnson’ music video will be any dystopian fan’s daydream.
The music video was directed by Oscar Pecher (BMW, Audi and Adidas) and Stefan Pecher who talk about the music video concept: “When we heard the track for the first time, pictures immediately came into our minds. The cinematic, atmospherically dense sound, supported by emotional vocal samples, reduced breakbeats and deep basslines gave us a lot of visual input. Someplace that has stood still in time, the dark corridors, the mysterious musical mood that fits the current time, combined with a young, sensitive leading actress whose sluggish movements increasingly develop towards dance as the track progresses. It matched perfectly, the sounds reflected everything we had thought about during the quarantine, just waiting to be packed into picturesque images.“
“Personally, it was important to us to create a music video that would uplift the music rather than compete with it. We were given absolute freedom by the musicians during the creation process and were allowed to dream, experiment and explore. The song is very expressive in itself and rewards anyone who takes the time to listen carefully – so it was important for us to capture our personal feelings and build on them both narratively and visually.”
The ‘Johnson’ music video provides dystopian landscapes that tie in with beautifully with Kruder & Dorfmeister’s captivating downtempo flair that leaves one to ponder on what to listen to next.
1995 Album Tracklist:
1. Johnson
2. Love Hope Change
3. Swallowed The Moon
4. Spring
5. Dope
6. King Size
7. Holmes
8. Don Gil Dub
9. Stop Screaming (only available on physical copy)
