One-Handed and Now-Again are combining forces on the next Paul White release – a project that sees him collaborating in ways with a ‘Swedish psychadelic folk rock guru’ by the name of S.T. Mikael. In short, the best kind of concept album.

Thes One and Oh No are two beatsmiths who’ve taken on similar projects before, and turned out two of my top hip-hop albums ever. Naturally I wondered if there was some form of correlation, that the constraints that came with sampling only one catalog might have forced them to focus on the music at hand, rather than to spend the time searching for new sounds, or making one snare work with another, etc.

Thes One’s debut solo outing, Lifestyle Marketing was a concept album of instrumentals made from composer Herb Pilhofer’s Music That Works series, which originally was used as library material and pressed to wax in small numbers. Taking the television adverts, radio jingles and industrial film stock music that Pilhofer created in the ’70s, Thes flipped it to create one of the illest hip-hop instrumental LPs ever.

Similarly, Exodus Into Unheard Rhymes by Stones Throw producer Oh No was made of beats derived solely from samples of Galt McDermot, probably best known as the composer for Hair. Oh No had the Stones Throw family emcees guesting on the original release of the album, before giving up the instrumental record for the beatheads.

Enter Paul White, and his new album Paul White & The Purple Brain, dropping the first week of June. Paul’s eccentric sets and sampling habits have continually blown us away, and his debut full-length, The Strange Dreams Of Paul White, was a swift reminder to artists that all the plug-ins and sounds in the world are no match for some creativity and an MPC. With Shadow currently indulging himself in his hometown hyphy, the South Londoner has become the poster-boy for the next generation of producers, using the likes of forgotten prog and psych rock records as the basis for his music.

To be honest I’m not up on S.T. Mikael, but if the press release below is anything to go by it sounds like a perfect pairing. What’s more is that One-Handed / Now Again have actually gone to the trouble of licensing all the tracks, as opposed to the all to common practice of throwing it out there and hoping they don’t get sued. Respect due.

‘A collaboration of sorts, the entire record is based around and inspired by the work of little-known Swedish psychedelic folk rock guru, S.T. Mikael. Heavy on Eastern influences and otherworldly concerns, Mikael’s music ranges from searing electric guitar-led dirges to dreamlike ballads to ghostly atmospheric experiments – sometimes all within the same song. The strange and wonderful home recordings of this cult hero have been
issued in tiny quantities since the 1990s on the Subliminal Sounds label.

Having been granted access to S.T. Mikael’s back catalog, Paul White found a unique source of inspiration and challenged himself to create an album using the Swedish multi-instrumentalist’s work as the sole basis for his output. The result is Paul White & The Purple Brain – a remarkably diverse record that defies easy categorisation‘.

The launch party is happening in collaboration with Phonica Records, and is going down at Plastic People (again, don’t forget to sign the petition!) on Thursday the 27th of May. As well as Paul White, Bullion and Alex Chase will be spinning on the night with Tranqill going live on the mic. Danny Breaks has also been booked to play as the special guest, rounding off a killer line-up.

UPDATE: Download: Paul White feat. Guilty Simpson “Ancient Treasure.” (right click, save as, thanks to Now-Again)