j dilla

Electronic, Hip-Hop 30/11/2011

New Release: Pavel Dovgal/Ta-Ku – Finest Ego| Faces Series Vol.1

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We’re a little bit late on this release, but it’s just too good a discovery not to share with you guys. Two of the most seasoned beatmaker collectives came together this summer to put out the first volume of a fresh new producer series entitled ‘Faces’. Every edition showcases two different producers from the hubs of PROJECT: Mooncircle (Mike Gao, Long Arm, fLako) and Finest Ego (Om Unit, Floating Points, Dorian Concept), with unique cover artwork for each artist designed by the aspring LNY, ‘known for his surrealistic portraits, blending humans and animals’. This first volume brings together Russian-born Pavel Dovgal and Ta-Ku, who has Philippine roots and grew up in Australia. The cultures they’ve grown up in are worlds apart, and through this they bring their own unique blend of music; Pavel Dovgal’s Kiss Purple sparking future-garage pads alight with some up-tempo snaps and claps, whilst Ta-Ku’s Confessions features John Robinson aka Lil’ Sci (Scienz Of Life) flowing smoothly over some J Dilla/Madlib inspired production. You can listen to the full 8 tracks here.

Electronic, London, New Artists 13/05/2011

Jai Paul – BTSTU

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Jai Paul has to be one of the most enigmatic artists in new music. Since the incomparable BTSTU blew up on the blogosphere last year, Jai has signed to XL Recordings and was long-listed in the BBC Sound of 2011. Yet no more than this is known about him: he’s 22, from north-west London and he’s displayed three disapprovals of his music on his Myspace. How wrong those critics are. Like nothing you’ve ever heard, there really is no easy way to pigeonhole BTSTU; The Guardian’s Paul Lester perhaps does the best job, describing it as J Dilla remixing Hot Chip. Made through a combination of manipulated samples, beats and harmonies, BTSTU shouldn’t work, but it just does. We would recommend you monitor Jai closely for more information or music in the future, but there really is no second-guessing him.