Since it appeared in the small hours this morning, the internet has been awash with talk of Jai Paul’s first full-length, over three years since his first track BTSTU surfaced. The rumour mill is still turning but collected from various sources, this is what we know so far. The release was uploaded out of the blue on this Bandcamp and discovered by this very diligent Bandcamp music miner. Jai’s label XL still hasn’t acknowledged it but their Head Scout has, so it’s unclear whether this was XL’s decision to release something in typically mysterious Jai Paul fashion, or whether they were as surprised as we were. One story is that Jai has a ferocious drug habit and Bandcamp was the quickest way to get the money needed for his next hit. With zero tweets on his account, it’s doubtful whether he’ll be available for comment on that speculation or today’s events in general.
By how things have panned out so far, our guess would be that this 40 minutes is a mixtape in anticipation of a proper album somewhere down the line (anytime in the next three years at this rate!). It seems strange that Jai would sign to a label renowned for its forward-thinking and personal approach to music (Bobby Womack and Gil-Scott Heron as recent examples), only to go behind their back. At least we hope so anyway.
Stream and buy the whole album from Bandcamp now and listen to our favourite track below, one of the few still unidentified.
