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)

Over the past few years, One-Handed Music has continually pushed the boundaries of definition for hip-hop music. Releases from Paul White, Fulgeance & Bullion have continually redefined the UKs own distinctive beat sound, giving heads a new direction to run with. It’s no wonder then, that a straight rap release from One-Handed is something to sit up and pay attention to.

‘The Hidden Treasures EP‘ by Tranqill is officially out 15th of March digitally and in limited numbers on wax. Big tip on this one, and not just because it includes one of the best remixes Paul White’s ever done. In the words of label boss Alex Chase, “It might be madness to release a UK hiphop record by a relative unknown these days but I have a lot of faith in this guy and this record”.

You can check the official site for the release for pre-order and a free DJ IQ download. Release info from the label is below as well as a stream of the entire EP, which they’ve been kind enough to supply for us to sample.

via One-Handed Music

‘Tranqill is a reclusive South London producer and MC who tells brutal tales of street life with rare wit and panache. It’s like the first time you heard the Wu-Tang: raw, spontaneous, urgent paranoia that’s instantly compelling.

One last thing: there is no ‘u’ in Tranqill‘.

By Scott Rapson for Back and Forth:

Soundspecies were formed by brothers Henry and Olly Keen and they released their first ‘Soundspecies EP’ way back in 2000. Geographical differences interfered in the development of the project until 2003 when they both found themselves immersed in London’s musical vibrancy and the opportunity to combine their musical ideas into their fantastic debut album.

Since then, Soundspecies have continued to work towards finishing and releasing material, improving their skills and sounds, drawing on the talents of their other brothers Nat and Barney as well as others…

Henry and Olly kindly took time out to discuss their album, loves and influences..

B&F: Hello gents, firstly I would like to say when I first heard your album what struck me more than anything was how mature the sound was, has it been a long time in the making to get to that point or was it a natural progression?

Henry: Well thanks very much for saying that, first of all! It makes me feel like we have been getting somewhere over the years. We started fiddling with music production around ten years ago and if I listen to some of the stuff from back then, I do know that we’ve improved so much. I guess you develop technically, instrumentally and also hear lots more inspiring music along the way, which helps your sound develop. Obviously, finding CDR helped- giving us a place to monitor our developments, make mistakes and get inspired to improve.

Olly: Yeah, as Henry says in pulling the album together, I guess we used all our production knowledge from those years of making tracks to make each of these tracks sound as if we’d just made it, as crisp and well balanced and deep as we could.

B&F: So who were your musical influences growing up are and who led you in that direction?

O: So many! For me, in the world of electronic music, Henry was guiding me from early on – I remember I would lie in bed hearing him mixing in his bedroom upstairs, Techno, Jungle, Hip Hop and all that stuff. I picked up bits gradually but it was secondhand at that stage.

I got into playing bass in bands and was listening to; The Beatles, Hendrix, The Chilli’s, Jamiroquai, rock and funk, then Jazz and Jazz Funk came along – Herbie Hancock, Miles Davis, Weather Report… my concept of making music and how its arranged is quite firmly rooted in this kind of music from playing in bands. But now that only really covers a small (if important) bit of my musical journey of discovery.

H: Personally, I can remember being excited and inspired by anything that sounded futuristic and space-like (eg J M Jarre) as I approached my teens. Before that, we would listen to whatever our parents were playing-lots of Beatles, Folk, World Music, anything really. They had a pretty eclectic music collection.

Remember chipping my front tooth, trying to do the caterpillar to old skool hip-hop sometime in the late 80’s I was really excited by rave/ house music of the late 80’s/early 90’s but a bit young to go to raves. Got into the Detroit/Chicago techno/house sound when I started DJing around the age of fifteen.

I’ll name a few major influences from my youth otherwise this unordered ramble could go on… Jean Michael Jarre, Herbie Hancock (& the Headhunters) ATCQ, De La Soul, the Pharcyde, Jeff Mills, Larry Heard, UR, Kevin Saunderson (& Inner City), the Beatles, King Tubby, Bob Marley, Roni Size & the Full Cycle crew. I know that Olly and myself have influences that differ, but we do have a lot of shared ones too.

B&F: You seem to be very close as brothers..touching on that you obviously get compared to Oasis quite a lot (arf)..seriously though, what’s it like making music as a family?

H: Ha, Ha.. Well fortunately we get along really well for a start, so I guess we’re totally different to Oasis in that respect…

O: We actually prefer The Jackson 5, naturally!

H: Seriously though, it’s really nice that we can create together. There are several different projects going on between all of the brothers. Olly, Nat & Barney have been gigging together for years and have got an amazing understanding of each other’s playing and talents. I’m not really an instrumentalist so trying to develop the Soundspecies Live project has not always been easy and enjoyable. It’s usually the technical side that can cause a bit of tension. Mainly cos the rest of the band are ready and I’m still fiddling with Zip Drives for my MPC!

O: Yeah, don’t we know! What I will say is I’m very lucky to have that connection with my brothers and most of the time its a good thing but, if I was to put another angle on it, I think sometimes that there is a conflict between us trying to come together on a band concept or direction and the pull of us wanting to assert our differences as people to each other and the world! That’s why our albums, as long as they’re brotherly collaborations, are always going to be quite varied in sound and style across the album.

B&F: Talking of the album, what track haven’t you tired of?

O: My favourite might be Purple Halo, feat. Ninkisun…..

H: That’s a tough one for me. I go through phases of really liking one or two of the tunes more than others. I really like Mask, it was one of the ones we finished last and added the brass parts right before the end of the session to finish the album. We had a really great time in that session too, and I guess the memories of that day stay with the music we recorded. Also love the vocal Hip Hop trax. I’ve been making beats with MCs in mind for so long, without actually recording any. It was nice to work with Foreign Beggars & Black Spade. I’m really happy with how the lyrics complemented and completed the songs.

B&F: You named some of the guys you’ve worked with in the past, who would you like to collaborate with in the future?

H: See my answer to my influences!! No seriously…There’s some serious vocal talent in London, for a start. Would love to do a track with TY. Loving Eska (her set with Matthew Herbert at Big Chill ’08 blew me away) and Fatima! Would love to collaborate with Kaidi Tatham, although I’m not sure what with- he can do everything!

O: I’ll keep it simple, just a really great rapper/singer that no-one has heard of.

B&F: So with some of those names in mind, what contemporary music inspires you?

O: There’s so many mad fusions of music, people are just doing anything they want now, its exciting and impossible to keep up with. Just this weekend I was at The End Of The Road Festival – saw a lot of inspiring performances – picking one from the mix I’d say a guy called Peter Broderick, who really took the whole solo Loop pedal performance thing somewhere new.

From London I really like Micachu, I think she’s really original, and generally stuff Matthew Herbert is involved in. I think Tony Allen is still taking Afrobeat into new territory and making it contemporary, He’s a giant of music obviously and a big inspiration…I love everything Tortoise have done, including their latest album…

H: I have to be honest and say I’m pretty out of touch personally with contemporary music, other than the artists I’ve met through the underground scene in London and CDR heads..Loving Paul White, Bullion, Floating Points, Mr Beatnick, Ahu, Oriol, Breakplus, Bergs, Om Unit, and Kay Suzuki to name a few folks I’m lucky to have got to know.

B&F: So what’s constantly on your iPod/Record Deck/CD Player then?

H: There’s always gotta be some quality Dub, Afrobeat and Jazz but I’ve never really got into the iPod thing. My youngest bro Barney did me a cracking Brazilian compilation from tunes he discovered in Brazil. That’s definitely a mainstay!

O: Yeah..he’s been hogging our kitchen CD decks system recently, as Henry says playing loads of great albums of Brazilian music from his collection, so that’s ok. Jorge Ben has been a regular.

B&F: You spoke earlier of CDR, for a band to evolve from a clubnight isn’t common, how did that happen and please explain to the (non) CDR people what that night’s all about..

H: I’ll get this one..yeah, I guess it’s not that common. The direct benefit of CDR would probably be to our production/ engineering skills, really. Over time, it seemed an obvious step to try and take it to the stage, considering how many great musicians we are lucky enough to have in our family and collective friends. Certainly it’s a great option to have a live show, it’s just not very easy to have a live band that is similar to your studio sound and still gives the audience the experience of real musicians playing.

For those who don’t know…CDR, to be simple is an open-mic night for producers. It was the Brainchild of Tony Nwachukwu & Gavin Alexander and has been running now for around six years. It’s become a family, almost a mini-scene in itself with a committed bunch of regular attendees who all come to hear new and exciting music on an amazing rig (Plastic People). It’s a place to talk music (techy or not) and hear stuff you probably have never heard before. It also inspires me to get a track finished every month and know I can hear it publicly, judge the crowd reaction, check the mix etc. If you’ve never been, you must!!

B&F: Are you in the process of working on the (awkward) second LP and if so, any idea of it’s direction?

O: We haven’t officially started a new album, to be honest..but, we’re definitely going to do one. There are enough tracks existent already but I want to make sure it has a homogeneous album sound, like all the best albums. I don’t think its going to be awkward because we haven’t given people much of an idea what to expect from us!

H: Personally I’m always trying to do as much music as possible. Its been hard in recent years to actually get much creative time with Olly and other band members other than in pressured situations, like the run up to a show. Things called jobs seem to get in the way quite a lot as well as geographical locations. I just want whatever we release next to be tracks we feel are the best we can possibly do, and stuff we are proud of. I’d hope its still a mixture of different styles but has a common thread.

B&F: Finally Gentlemen, would someone please provide us with their top 5 records of the moment?

H: I’ll do the honours..

School of Imagination : Tale of a Waking Man

Paul White : The Strange Dreams of Paul White

Bullion : Young Heartache

King Tubby & Friends : Dub Gone Crazy

Carlos Nino & Friends : High With A Little Help From

B&F: Olly, Henry..thanks.

Here’s something special, Back and Forth have an exclusive and unreleased free download:

Soundspecies : Psychedelic Xylophone [Live for just five more days!]

to hear some of Soundspecies live session from Maida Vale Studios visit Back and Forth.

Buy the Album here: Soundspecies : Soundspecies

For issue 6, we asked Paul White, illustrator and composer for British TV, to show us a sample of his visual enlightenments.  We were so intrigued, however, we wanted to know more; not just about his overactive imagination but also his debut album ‘The Strange Dreams of Paul White’, which came out in June.

So let’s start easy, what’s the craziest dream that you can remember having?

Paul White: I had a crazy dream about a month ago. (thinks about it) That’s the thing about dreams innit they’re so hard to describe you know. It was more like a feeling than a load of events, but I was just this energy ball. I wasn’t like a person, I’ve never had a dream like that before. I could move in and out of everything, I could walk through anything, I was this weird kinda blue ball of weird light… I’ve never had anything so out of body in a dream before, it was bizarre. And then I remember, this is gonna sound like some hippie out of body experience, I found my body and I was on my knees, kneeling down onto the earth and it felt like this crazy energy was going from above me, through me and into the earth. I’ve never had a dream like that before, it was so crazy! It was all energies. I’ve had dreams of things happening but nothing like that before. And I woke up feeling very… when I woke up I could feel the energies, it was nice, weird but nice.

So for this illustration you’ve done, what was the inspiration? Was there even any inspiration?

PW: I used to draw when I was younger. I got well into acid for two years of my life, and in those two years I used to draw so much, and so this is kind of along the same lines of just drawing anything spontaneous, any old kind of weird feel, mood. There are certain references to dreams, there’s drum machines and there’s water too which is a reference to surfing, which is something I love to do. I always have a recurring dream, I’ve been having it since I was a little kid, about surfing. It’s because I love it and I don’t ever get to do it as I live in London. So I have these weird dreams where everything will be perfect, I’ll be just about to go for a surf, everything will be beautiful, and I’ll get my board, run down to the water and there won’t be any water all of a sudden, or it’ll suddenly be dark or I’ll suddenly have my clothes on. Literally not once in years have I ever surfed in those dreams. I have it all the time.

So you have been surfing then?

PW: Yeah I go every summer, it’s like a tease of sorts. It tortures my soul. So that’s why there are a few little waves at the bottom of the illustration.

What about the faces and people you’ve drawn? There is something about their faces…

PW: I don’t know, I like drawing masks you know?

That’s it. It reminds me of a mask…

PW: I don’t know why, again it’s coming from somewhere inside me you know? I just get visuals of someone’s face, the amount of stuff you can see in a face, I’m just trying to have fun and put it across I guess.

Have you ever had a dream about making a beat? Or about a song or a melody?

PW:  Last night I woke up and I had a beat in my dream, I couldn’t hear it all in my head but I could hear a reminiscence of what it was. And it really did my head in because I thought ‘if I could remember that it would be good.’ The only times when I hear music really clearly is just before I go to bed sometimes. I’m sure maybe there’s some science in that of some chemicals in your brain or something going off just before you go to sleep. I’m not sure, but I’ll hear perfect beats sometimes and it’s really frustrating because you’re knackered lying down and you can hear it. And I’m not the type of artist to hear a whole song, I’ll just hear little melodies and stuff. I’ve heard whole orchestras before but then I thought ‘I’m never going to be able to write that down!’ (laughs) But yeah I have music in my head just before I go to sleep or just as I fall asleep, in the first stages of sleep.

Working with samples do you then just hear like chunks of stuff, like samples in your head?

PW: I don’t know what it is, whether it’s the music I’ve listened to during the day or what but I’ll hear everything not just a loop, massive melodies, a whole orchestral piece, and it really does my head in.

So have you ever felt the urge to wake up and use what you hear?

PW: I’m normally too tired by then! (laughs) So I can never be bothered to act on it which makes it even more frustrating. It’s almost like I’m tricking myself.

So would you agree with the theory that maybe life is a dream and dreaming is reality? That’s it the other way round?

PW: Well I’ve got an open mind to everything, and I’m one of those people who believe the mind is more powerful than anything and so who can tell what’s real and what’s not. Our brain has a way of filtering through things. I completely believe in that, so if more people believe that too, realized that the mind is more powerful than anything, life would be a bit more like a dream and people would probably enjoy it more too. It would take the pressure off things and we could all relax a bit more, not take everything so seriously. So yeah I could easily believe that reality is all in my dreams and all of this is just… that’s why the Matrix is interesting,

Can you remember ever having a soundtrack to a dream or something like that?

PW: I think I have, I remember hearing music lots of times in my dreams but I can’t remember anything precisely. It’s really annoying trying to remember. The smoking’s got me again! (laughs) I never dream about smoking though, never ever. Which is quite weird.

Well the album is called ‘The Strange Dreams of Paul White’ so was that to do with actual dreams or something else?

PW: It’s actually my manager’s idea. He knows I like to work visually, and when I was younger I did art as well as music, and I’ve also done music for TV, and I see it as all the same really. He knew that and he knows I like ideas, moods, atmospheres, so that’s where the idea for the strange dreams title came from really.

It’s a perfect title really, the album is ephemeral and it’s got a dream like quality. We were talking about soundtracking dreams, I can see how tracks from your album would be a good soundtrack for a dream. Going back to the art thing, you said you did visual arts before is that right?

PW: Yeah drawing and also writing, anything creative to an extent. I’ve very much been into art for a long time, and I never knew whether or not I wanted to do art or music until I was 16, I liked them both just the same and then gradually one took over and I moved towards music.

So how is it moving from drum machines to drum kits?

PW: Very bizarre, it feels like the wrong way around. I’ve got beats in my head but I can’t get them out at all on a drum kit, so I’m like ‘what the hell is going on?!’ I’ll get a kick and a snare but nothing more sometimes. It’s really hypnotic though, which I guess is what music is you know? It’s like a dream, you’re sitting there and you’re going somewhere else. There are certain tracks that have really given me this feeling of being in a dream when I made them. One of the first 7”s I released, ‘A Silent Cry’, that track just made itself. It’s the strongest one where I really felt something had just happened and it just came out. It was just done and I didn’t even know what had happened, the process was blurry.

It’s an interesting idea…

PW: I don’t know what it is. You’ll have a sample and you’ll pick up the first record out of a thousand, drop the needle down on the first thing and it happens. For ‘A Silent Cry’ for example I had a beat going on, picked up a random record, put the needle down and it hit on this orchestral vocal and it just felt right, I was like ‘ok I didn’t look for that’ it was just all strange and it continued to happen with every element in the track and that was it. Within an hour I was playing it back and I was thinking ‘I don’t remember doing any of that!’ It was pretty weird. A nice feeling though, if only it was always like that! (laughs) 

www.paulwhitemusic.co.uk

Words: Laurent Fintoni

Full story on Melissabradshaw.net

“Last year I lost my ego. It was a bad time. Simultaneously people around me started playing more and more Paul White. Now, losing my ego had to do with other girls watching me and homosociality. Everyone knows about egos and the music business. I don’t even work in the music business. Basically, another girl tried to run off with my ego, largely to do with what happens to egos in the music world. In fact, it was actually precisely to do with a rave, and partly happened in a rave. When I objected, in not unheated language, she told me it was “just my ego!” At the time, she hit me right on my “am I watching myself too much?” spot and I – almost – gave in! I nearly handed my ego over to someone who didn’t know what the hell they were talking about.

It got me thinking a lot. In a world where everyone is bumping into and trying to stamp all over each other’s egos, wouldn’t we be better off without them? Can we live without our egos?

Anyway, Paul White. So here I was, trying to relocate my ego, and thinking about Paul White at the same time. It was about the time just before Blackdown coined the W-word. And then it struck me that this was ego-less hip hop. Obviously, there aren’t any MCs boasting. That is the most obvious display of egos there ever was. You could think of the whole history of MCing as a history of egos. Like, U-Roy is like the continuous observing ego; early NYC hip hop was pretty simple competing egos and then Rakim came along and made it feel more like an actual consciousness; NWA were a murderous ego; Wu-Tang the dissillusioned but visionary ego (Ghostface is the voice of your survival and supremacy instructor), etc. But it wasn’t just that. There was something in the music that made me forget the fact that I couldn’t find my ego.

So I did what I always like to do and asked Paul White about it.

MB: Some people like to philosophise about music and other people just get into it. Do you have a philosophy behind what you do?

PW: “Not really no, it’s just feeling, I really love doing it. I don’t have a certain kind of formula that I use, or tell myself I have to do this or make or a certain kind of sound I’m trying to make. It’s a really hippy approach, if it feels good just do it. I like doing stuff quickly, I definitely believe if there’s a feeling you just follow it.”

MB: Really, so you write your stuff quite quick?

PW: “Yeah. I can never finish off a song that I made another day. If you think too much you ruin the purity of it sometimes don’t you? It’s just kind of fun based I suppose.”

MB: I was thinking that your music is sort of hip hop but one of the things that distinguishes from big US commercial hip hop is ego, because especially people like Lil’ Wayne, it’s not just the lyrics are about ego but the music’s been designed to support that.

PW: “I know what you mean. That’s the whole hype image side of music isn’t it, the hype front rather than just pure rather than loving the music. No sorry maybe they do love it, but it’s definitely image-driven. That’s bullshit because it takes away from what the music’s about.”

MB: So you don’t have a big ego then?

PW: “Nnnn…No. No not at all. My stuff coming out actually sends me the opposite way, it’s like right I need to get a lot better!”

Props to Mr Benson for the graphics