Blog entry #1: New music Fridays (Part 1)
For the past few months, I’ve been working on putting a run of singles together for release to coincide with the publishing of my website. I’ve always preferred releasing full albums as opposed to singles, but sometimes it’s good to just focus on single tracks. That way, I can work with different artists on tracks that all have a different feel. It stops boredom from setting in. I’ll be releasing a track a week, every Friday, from the 29th of October onwards. Huge thanks to DW Smith for the great artwork on all singles.
** Click the album art to take you to the track Smartlink.
Stank (feat. Fire Team Alpha)
Release date: 29th October 2021
Fire Team Alpha was created by Shark, who I had the pleasure of working with on our “A Big Fish in a Bigger Pond” LP from 2019. FTA has members from all over Canada, the US, and the UK. Pun Ra and Empuls are also part of the crew (if you know the music I do, you’ll know them both from Applied Science and Wasp-18, respectively, and both as the other members of Mise en Garde).
Anyway, on to the track. I sampled a pretty obscure track from the Soviet Union for the main part of the beat and just handed it over to FTA to get wild on. I’m very happy with how it turned out. A special shout out to FTA member G-Spot on the cuts, that Vincent Price/Thriller sample completely sets the tone of the track.
Also, there’s a fun, spooky animation video to accompany the track, so head to my YouTube channel to check that out too.
In the Morning (feat. Just Conrad)
Release date: 5th November
This track is a couple of years old, but mine and Conrad’s respective schedules stopped us from releasing it earlier. But it’s a case of accepting the silver lining, as I had a chance to fine-tune the beat and Conrad also reworked the hook. Plus, producers and artists need to realise that, no matter if you’ve heard your own material a lot before release, it’s always new to a new listener.
I’m so happy to finally release this track. Conrad is one of the most talented artists in Wales, and the UK, for that matter. As well as being a brilliant lyricist, he also boasts a great vocal range and is a wizard at production. Insanely talented, and a nice guy to boot.
Mi Amor (feat. Edison Av, Empuls, Philly Regs, Mike Dennis & DJ Jabbathakut)
Release date: 12th November 2021
One of my favourite tracks I’ve been involved with over the last couple of years. Once I’d made the beat, I had a nagging feeling that it was missing something. I’m a huge fan of DJ Premier, and his use of strings in his beats is amazing. I knew I wanted some strings on the hook to give it some added soul. Luckily for me, I know one of the best violinists in the UK, Mike Dennis. I contacted him and hummed to him what kind of sound I wanted, through my phone, via a WhatsApp message (high-level professionalism, haha). Mike got his violin stems back to me a day or two later and absolutely nailed it while adding some of his own flair.
Emcee-wise, as soon as the beat was done, I instantly knew I wanted Edison Av and Empuls on the track. I think their vocal tones and styles mesh so well. Plus, they are both top-tier emcees who are highly skilled wordsmiths, without sounding formulaic. The clarity in their sound/lyrics always appealed to me. For the hook, I was contemplating some cuts or getting the emcees to write something, but I decided on adding Philly Regs. I knew he would double down on the soulful vibe I was looking for, plus, myself and Shark were hooking up with him for our 2nd album, so it made sense to get him on this too. All that was left was to get my man Jabbathakut to close the track off with his signature scratch style.
When Edison Av asked me what the track concept was, I told him I wanted to make a track dedicated to the absolute joy of making music. The process. The part where you don’t care about Spotify numbers and YouTube views. Just that buzz. “The reason we got into it in the first place”. Words to that effect anyway. I think every person on this track encapsulated that feeling perfectly.
Wasp-18b: Older System (feat. Jabbathakut)
Release date: 19th November 2021
Myself and Empuls have an absolute tonne of material to bring you in the near future. 3 full albums and around 4-5 collab EPs are at varying levels of completion, which means we’ll have plenty of stuff being released in 2022. This is just a taste of what’s to come. Some sci-fi-sounding, drum-heavy nastiness.
This is a good barometer of where the Wasp-18b sound is heading.
