A mid-year round up of my “goings on”
What’s up everyone? It’s been a long while since I posted a blog entry. I just can’t get with this “content, content, content” thing haha. Anyway, I’ve been super busy just getting this website updated, so, I hope you like the new, fresh layout. I’ve been working on a ton of music and will be looking to release at least 4-5 albums by year’s end. What’s in store? Well, I’m glad you inadvertently asked.
UPCOMING RELEASES:
So far this year, I’ve only released a couple of Wasp-18b singles (Lines in the Cement and Momsoul) but I’m gearing up for a few more single releases in the next month or two. First up should be a couple of singles from myself, Empuls and Prowess the Testament. These are two singles to give everyone a taster for an EP/album we are also working on.
Not long after that, sandwiched in between a few other random singles (two collab singles with Empuls & Edison Av and a single with Washington native Bloodshot), I’ll be releasing an EP with Empuls & Shark, the follow-up to “Delusions are Grandeur“. That features an amazing collaboration with Greg Blackman. Some soul-uplifting business.
I’ll be releasing the follow-up to mine and Shark’s “A Big Fish in a Bigger Pond” album from 2019. I think this album shows a turn in my production style. I really think that was the point my production style elevated for the better, and I carried that through with all my future releases.
Another album that has been in the works for a LONG time, is the Knights of Hell album. It’s a collaboration between members of Knights of Boom (myself, Pun Ra, BeSpoken & DocBlacdaWho) and The Hellionz (Dickdastardly, DW Smith & Rollo). That should finally be released near the year’s end.
Aaaaaaaan, another Applied Science album. I love how this sounds. Even though we adore Blues music and that will never be too far away from our sound, we feel we will spring a few surprises on this third album. That is slated for release around late November, early December.
There’s a couple more albums/singles, but they are in their infancy at the minute, so a release in 2024 may not be on the cards.
Hopefully, I’ll be releasing another two Wasp-18b albums before the years out too. Myself and Empuls have an absolute ton of music together, so it’s just a case of releasing it when we have the time to fully promote it. One album in particular, is detailed in the next segment.
CONCEPT ALBUMS:
I’m a huge fan of Prog Rock. My favourite thing about that genre is the abundance of great concept albums. Obvious picks aside (“The Wall” by Pink Floyd), albums like Yes “Tales from Topographic Oceans”, Jethro Tull “Thick As A Brick”, The Mars Volta “The Bedlam in Goliath, even the albums from Coheed and Cambria were great from a concept perspective.
So, in that respect, my favourite album I have ever produced is another Wasp-18b album. It’s a crazy concept album that came to fruition from me being really ill a few years back. I was taking strong tablets and was pretty much zoned out for a week. All I done was watch old 70’s/80’s Sci-Fi movies. That turned into me making beats at crazy hours of the morning. Beats that were completely influenced from all the movies I’d watched.
I sent a 3am email to Empuls, detailing my idea for a concept album. I didn’t know wether the idea was genius, or just incoherant babble, as I was completely stoned from the medication LOL. The weird thing is, a few tracks we had already done just seemed to fit with the story arc, so we crafted the album around the idea, fleshed it out, and in my maybe not so humble opinion, produced something special.
The album title is secret for the time being but we will have at least 5 animation videos (all done by Greg Blackman) ready for when the release date nears. Also, the album will be released on vinyl!. There will be merch packs on sale too. This album is our Magnum Opus so far in my opinion, so stay tuned for it.
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As well as that concept album, I’m working on a Fire Team Alpha collab concept album too. This is also in it’s infancy but I should be sending out beats for that in the coming weeks. I don’t want to give too much away at this point, but the album will feature at least 10 emcees, all playing certain characters within a storyline about drug smuggling, FBI agents and the effects drug trafficking has on a whole city. If I manage to carry this through and get close to what’s in my head, it’ll be a career highlight for me.
YOUTUBE CHANNEL:
It’s hard to keep my energy levels high from creating and promoting music alone, even without factoring in growing my YouTube channel, but I’ve started booking in more artists for my “Decking Sessions” videos. So, if you haven’t checked them out yet, please go ahead and remedy that. If you like what you see, do me a solid and subscribe to the channel HERE.
GIGS:
Myself and the rest of The Hold Up have been busy growing our business. Workshops/Community Events/Gigs etc. It has all taken up a lot of our time these last 12 months, but we are starting to see the fruits of our labour. We have lined up Jeru the Damaja for a show at The Globe, Cardiff in July. It’s the 30th anniversary tour for the classic “The Sun Rises in the East” album, and we’ve secured his only Welsh date.
It’s part of an all-day event we are putting on. In the day, we have the FloorGangz 2v2 footwork battle event, where participants compete to win the title and be flown out to Korea in November for the world finals. How great is that!. Grab your tickets and keep an eye out for any future shows from the Events page on this website.
LAST WORDS:
That’s all I have got for the time being. If you haven’t already signed up to my news/blog list, you can do so by popping your email address into the form below. I NEVER spam with irrelevant links/ads etc.
Anyway, that’s all and I hope 2024 has been good so far and wish you all the best for the rest.
Peace!