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As we launch the beautiful video for “All The Shallow Deep” Blank Blue drop an EP that includes brand new mixes and music, including folked-out versions of “Sonic What!?” and “Up”, a Flying Lotus remix of “Blank Blue” (in both vocal and instrumental formats) and an exclusive unreleased tune.

The video for “All The Shallow Deep” is influenced by psychedelic classics like Easy Rider and Nicholas Roeg's The Man Who Fell to Earth and was put together by noted video producer Dean Fernando. It was shot on locations in Long Beach and Palm Springs and is enhanced by visual art by Kime Buzzelli.

The Dive EP is available in strictly limited vinyl and as a digital download. The album versions of “Sonic What?!” and “Up” have been stripped down and had new life injected into them by way of breezy acoustic guitars, vibes and strings. Elvin Estella and Niki Randa (collectively known as Blank Blue) were so happy with these re-workings that they see this sound as theirs for future recordings. Flying Lotus, on the other end of the sonic spectrum, takes the album version of “Blank Blue” and drags it through cosmic grit and dirt, before spitting out an extra-terrestrial banger. “Finer Grains” is an instrumental exclusive made just for this EP. “All The Shallow Deep” will be available only on the digital-version of this EP.

The Blank Blue album is a concept record built around the fictional and futuristic account of a massive earthquake that separates the West coast off from the rest of the United States.

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Highlands is an album of bittersweet cosmic campfire electronics and melancholic dreams. Song-writer, producer, and multi-instrumentalist, Damon Aaron, pens love songs and personal anecdotes that float over spacey hip hop beats and polished bass-lines. He cuts and pastes-in swirling strings and acoustic guitars that decorate his minimal sound-scapes and cast light on traditional folk and songwriting roots.

Aaron is an eclectic musician who equally embodies California craftsman, Renaissance man, and soul boy. His late-night collection of stories directs nods to Massive Attack, Flying Lotus, Nick Drake and Sam Cooke. However, Aaron’s musical path towards Highlands began a long ago, at home, with a unique mix of family influences. He learned his finger-picking style from a banjo-wielding Scots-Irish grandfather. He grew-up singing folk and bluegrass with his Mom. And his step-Dad, an-early 1980’s KROQ DJ, showed him how to program synthesizers. Such an eclectic mix of musical habits is evident in the opening tracks “Matinee” and “Fire” where dubby finger snaps and keyboard washes are building blocks for songs eventually heightened by walls of violins and breathy-flutes. Later, on “Fall”, the acoustics take center stage but glitchy-clicks sneak in to add just a sniff of electronic atmospherics, while on “Better” Aaron’s vocals emerge from a heavy sheen of synthesizer to ride a shuffling beat.

“It's idiosyncratic, sometimes dense, and takes some slightly unexpected turns. It's a record that probably takes a couple listens to take in,” explains Aaron. “Like Tom Waits said, "it's an emotional weather report" with bluesy love songs, laments, and conversations.”

Helping Aaron edit together the right balance of organics and electronics are Los Angeles-based peers Miguel Atwood-Ferguson (arranger and session player to the likes of Dr. Dre, Rihanna, Gnarls Barkley, Blank Blue, Lifeforce Trio), percussionist Andres Renteria, and horn players Matt Demerritt and Michael McDaniel who have played alongside Macy Gray and Nate Morgan respectively.

Throughout the 1990’s, Aaron led soul and hip-hop bands in Los Angeles singing and MC-ing, and played guitar for others like the Breakestra, The Rebirth and seminal hip-hop artist Divine Styler. He's been nominated for a Gilles Peterson's Worldwide winners and LA Weekly music awards. He's also been featured on several influential compilations including: Rewind!3 (Ubiquity), Dublab Presents: Freeways (Emperor Norton), Impeach The Precedent (Kajmere) and Broadcasting (Sonar Kolectiv). Outside of solo work he has worked with groups like Build An Ark, Najite and the Olokun Prophecy, and has collaborated with critically acclaimed electronic artists like Telefon Tel Aviv and Barbara Morgenstern. Watch for shows this Fall to celebrate the release of the album. Just as Highlands is a hybrid of styles Aaron expects the live performances to balance live musicianship with electronics and visual elements.

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James Hardway works most often with cool textures cutting his own path on a genre-defying jazz funk excursion that echoes the punk-soul of James Blood Ulmer, evokes the spirit of Fela Kuti's epic jams and is infused with a Cali bounce.

Hardway has worked with an impressive cast of British producers, from Genesis P-Orridge to Adrian Sherwood and Jah Wobble to Andrew Weatherall. During the early '80s, Hardway lived in Germany and acted in films before getting into the Berlin music scene. He recorded an album in 1983 (as David Harrow), and was the main force behind European electro-pop star Anne Clark . Hardway also appeared with Jah Wobble on the continent, but relocated to London by 1986, where he was swept up by the acid-house phenomenon.

Hardway divided his time during the late '80s and early '90s between dub units (Adrian Sherwood's On-U Sound System, Lee Perry) and the burgeoning electronic community, working as a producer with Psychic TV and many others. This one time drum'n'bass fusionary, now following a more eclectic path, previously went by the name David Harrow, is and reportedly related to Al Capone.

The name change and new directions started in the 1990s, after a night of jungle music in darkest South London. David Harrow was back at the studio at 4 in the morning, dropping Charlie Parker over double timed hip-hop beats, discovering a brand new sound - thus James Hardway was born. He revealed his James Hardway guise with the impressive Deeper, Wider, Smoother, Shit in 1996. The album was all the more noteworthy considering he played all live instruments (except for flute) and covered programming as well. " Hardway also displayed a talent for writing songs, with a credit for Billie Ray Martin's 1996 million selling hit "Your Loving Arms."

After the release of his second, 1997's Welcome to the Neon Lounge, Hardway earned an American contract through Shadow. The label collected tracks from his two albums to date for the 1998 compilation Easy Is a Four Letter Word. A remix collection, Reshuffle and Spin Again, followed and Hardway returned with his third proper album, A Positive Sweat. For the recording of 2000's Moors + Christians, he assembled a virtual studio band by gathering recordings together from a journey to Cuba and Jamaica. In 2001 he released Straight From The Fridge which, after the tragic death of his close friend and reggae singer Bim Sherman, was the last he’d release in the UK before moving to America.

“I have always been influenced by the atmosphere of Los Angeles , says Hardway. “James Ellroy, my favorite writer , was a great inspiration for early albums . But I began imagining a whole later period of LA music from the early 70s and with LA Instrumental. It’s like a journey to the downtown LA of the 70s using a classic musical pallet of real drums, silken strings , pulsing wurlitzers and Theremins.”

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Clutch of the Tiger sounds like a collection of film-noir tracks run through the Clutchy Hopkins and Shawn Lee magical music machine. It’s dusty and mysterious junkyard jazz that’s powered by sly beats and other-worldly funk. Famous comic book creator Jim Mahood (who has worked on Spiderman/Marvel, Clerks, Grrl Scouts, Stupid Comics, etc etc) liked the tunes so much he provided the killer artwork for the package! FYI - Inside the album is a hidden code that gives customers a deal on limited edition prints of the Mahfood artwork, available exclusively from the Ubiquity website.

But how did this record come to be? Does Shawn Lee know the identity of the mysterious Mr Hopkins? Read on brothers and sisters ...

A few years back our man Shawn Lee flew from London to Phoenix, AZ, to visit his Mom for Christmas. While out there, the opportunity arose for a last minute recording session in Los Angeles. Renting a car he decided to make the drive by way of the Mojave Desert. Passing though the Desert he was low on gas, and so pulled over to fill up. He could not resist dropping into the thrift store next door. "I love second hand and vintage stuff, I had to go in see if I could find some cool clothes, or a little funky instrument," he explains.

After a quick scour of the merchandise Lee headed back out towards the door only to be met by a bushy-haired man carrying a tiger mask. They exchanged greetings, shared stories about vintage instruments, and then Lee asked about the mask. "He said it was a gift, from a group of gypsies who make costumes for performing art centers in the Los Angeles area.” The man said he'd made the gypsies some instruments and that they gave him the mask in return. Lee immediately fell in love with the mask. This became obvious to the man who gave it to Lee with two requests. Lee was to keep the mask forever, and to wear it every full moon. He agreed and headed out West to Los Angeles.

Back in London, at the onset of the first full moon, Lee donned the mask and felt a lump pushing into the side of his head. He pulled back a cloth on the inside of the mask and found a cassette marked "C. H." on Side A, and "Full Moon Breaks, Vol. 1" on the other.

Excitedly Lee put the cassette into a tape deck and pressed play. "I put the mask back on and, I’m not really a dancer or anything, but my feet were all over the place, this seriously moved me...the music was dope.” Fast forward year or so and Lee hears about Ubiquity releasing music from a mysterious, but talented, artist out of the Mojave Desert called Clutchy Hopkins. Putting “C.H.” and “Clutchy Hopkins” together he pulled out the cassette and knocked out a few ideas inspired by what he heard. The ideas were delivered to the Misled Children, the somewhat secretive agents of Mr. Hopkins that had befriended Ubiquity (coincidentally by way of a chance purchase at a thrift store.) Two weeks later a purple CD-r was mailed to Lee’s house back in London and it included the tracks he started, with new music added to them, and also some other ideas meant for Shawn to play with. There was also a message, in Native American, which Lee was able to transcribe. It was a request from Clutchy Hopkins to send more music. This exchange of ideas, by way of the mail and the Misled Children, went on for 3 months. Then everything went quiet. We could not find the Misled Children, no more packages arrived, and no more messages were received.

A month or so later Lee picked up the mask to honor his full moon request, and once again was surprised by a bump to his head. Inside the cloth lining was a CD. He swears he has no idea of how it got there. You're now holding in your hands the recording found on that CD. It’s the result of long distance collaboration between two talented musicians. They met only briefly, but instantly saw eye to eye by way of a mask and a full moon. Behold, the Clutch of The Tiger …

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The first single from the upcoming PPP album features new vocalist Karma Stewart on an infectious horn-driven Motown-flavored joint called "On a Cloud." The super-soulful gospel-tinged mix is an energetic starting point that represents the new and bigger sound of PPP. As a bonus, that track is remixed by San Francisco Bay Area producer Trackademicks, a member of the Honor Roll production crew who have been moving heads and dance floors with mixes and music for the likes of J*Davey, Phonte, and Josie Stingray that blur the lines between hip hop, soul, electro and techno. On the flip is “Angel,” featuring vocalist Coultrain, that also draws on PPPs Detroit roots, but this time it’s the cosmic-rock of Funkadelic that provides inspiration.

PPP recently announced a round of live dates during the summer of 2008 at which they will perform brand new music from their forthcoming album, Abundance. Expect new tracks, and new faces, and most of all, a celebration. To be released on Ubiquity Records in October 2008, the Abundance album will be preempted by singles through the summer. Their debut album, Triple P, brought worldwide notoriety to the Detroit-based production crew and their global collective of like-minded edgy-beat makers and soulful collaborators. Abundance marks the arrival of PPP as a band. They have developed a new sound that's even bigger, and an album that’s more dynamic and organic than their first.

"Abundance sums up everything; our growth since Triple P, the love and encouragement to make this record that we’ve gotten from our fans, it means a lot of things," explains band-leader and producer Waajeed. "It picks up where the first left- off. Triple P was a great start, but this sophomore album is on another level. It's more involved and focused … it's Electro Soul!"

Since the release of Triple P, Waajeed and production partner Saadiq moved from Detroit to Brooklyn. And while Brooklyn-life may have changed their sound, it's also made them appreciate their Motor City roots which
are audible throughout the album, the majority of which was mixed in Detroit by Grammy award winning engineer Todd Fairall.

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Ghost Rock is the new album from the Michigan-based collective NOMO. The album, produced by Warn Defever, sheds light on the way forward for a band that has been forging its own vital sound. This is not the Afrobeat of Fela, nor the revivalist funk of a forgotten decade. This record owes as much to Can, Eno, and MIA as it does Kuti, Francis Bebey, and Funkadelic.  On Ghost Rock, NOMO arrives in a new place. There’s no loss of steam as they incorporate new influences, instead NOMO breaks through with a matured and developed sound that is fully its own.

“World music, jazz, electronica, Afrobeat…I hope that we don't get marginalized by any of these terms. We are an American band, and in our hearts I think we're more of a rock band than anything else, but we do love so many different types of music,” says band leader Elliot Bergman. “We have a set of musicians, and we are trying to organize our sounds in a way that represents ourselves. We're not trying to make a record that sounds like it was recorded in the 70's and we're not trying to make anybody think that this was recorded in Nigeria. We're not trying to fool anybody, and especially not ourselves! This is our music. It is full of life, full of emotion. It’s funky, danceable, weird, heavy, exuberant, angry, joyous and raucous,” he adds.

The band’s perpetual grooves are deeper than ever. The horns are set ablaze and analog synths beam an electrified energy into the music. The homemade percussion arsenal is ramped up a notch, and the electric sawblade gamelan brings gong-like overtones into the tangled vine of synthetic and organic strands. The band taps into its full orchestral potential—the arrangements are filled with timbral variety, as the bubbling textures of the percussion meld with the soaring sounds of the horn section. Bergman describes how NOMO evolved to incorporate the wild looped sounds that can be heard throughout the album (nowhere more noticeably than on the screaming electric tone at the top of the introductory track “Brainwave”), “We toured non-stop for a while, and on down time, I would spend every night in my basement recording hours of loops and synth textures. I was fascinated with early Morton Subotnick records, the percussive parts, and when I ran out of records to buy, I just started making my own Subotnick-like loops. I didn't want the end product to sound like early synth music, but I loved the textures and gong-like tones of Silver Apples, Wild Bull, 4 Butterflies, etc,” he says. “Most of the loops were created with the instruments that I've been making, and have amazing variety, perhaps due to my inconsistency as an instrument manufacturer. Some sound amazingly bassy and others have a chime-like ethereal tone. Eno talks about generative music, and creating a system that produces music with little interference. I like that idea, and every night I would try to create as many loops as possible on these instruments without editing. Then I would go back a few weeks later and listen to these bubbling textures that can be heard in so many different ways. Trying to get the band to learn them always sparked heated arguments about where "the one” is!”

With the loops on Ghost Rock serving as the framework for the compositions the band were freed up to experiment with different ideas and a bigger, more orchestral, sound was born. Helping NOMO achieve this new direction were some heavy rhythmic contributors. Hamid Drake and Adam Rudolph lend their percussive mastery to several tracks with Drake’s fiery drumming propelling “All the Stars” to new heights. Josh Abrams fills out the low end on “Rings.”  What once was a rotating collective is now a tightly knit eight piece band.  This is no longer a loose assembly of great players, but a band that relies heavily upon each other, each member playing a distinct role, with a vibrant personality. Dan Bennett's fiery baritone saxophone anchors the horn section. Justin Walter and Ingrid Racine hold down the brass section with contrasting approaches to the trumpet--Walter's lyricism provides a cool counterpart to Racine's raw and brassy punch--dig her wah trumpet solo on "all the stars." This record finds the percussion section deeper than ever, with percussionist rotating chairs-Dan Piccolo and Erik Hall play the kit, and Jason Murdy and Quin Kirchner fill in on the Congas. Erik's main role is on guitar, and he and Jamie Register seem to have a deep kinship. Her elegant, but muscular basslines tie in with the guitar work seamlessly.

The album seems to move in many directions at once. It is more electronic, and more natural, it is more exuberant, but darker. More spiritual and hymn like, but also more visceral. The songs are sweet, but they are dirty and distorted.  It is as primitive as it is futuristic. While these seemingly divergent themes might sound like some post-modern musical meltdown, it’s clear that this is the sound of a band growing into its own collective voice. NOMO pulls from the past, but also points towards a hopeful future. Fans of the band will know that they like to start and end their live shows in the audience, and the opening and closing tracks on Ghost Rock echo this aspect of their performances. “I think that it's really important to participate--as an audience, as a band member, etc. and joining the audience for a song at the beginning or end of a show invites participation,” explains Bergman. “On a good night, it feels like everybody is working together. Having a few great dancers in the audience can really drive the band to new levels, and we love to sing together at the end of show. It ends up solidifying the bond between the player and the listener--and it starts to dissolve those typical divisions between active and passive. It helps to make people feel that music is an event; social, spiritual and communal rather than a commodity to be consumed.”

The band has toured incessantly since the 2006 release New Tones. That album garnered much critical acclaim and ended up on top 10 lists from NPR, Gilles Peterson, and Global Rhythm. The band has performed over 150 live concerts since the album, touring North America, and Europe including stops at Bumbershoot, Pitchfork Festival, the Montreal Jazz Festival, SXSW, and WOMEX. Able to fit anywhere (literally and figuratively)—their sizable lineup hasn’t kept them from sharing a stage with everyone from Earth Wind and Fire, to Konono No.1, to Sharon Jones, to Dan Deacon.

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Blank Blue are still a very young group, but the songs they’ve completed so far possess a beatific, rococo lushness—as well as an understated funkiness.
- OC Weekly

Sounds like Os Mutantes with an 808 kick sample.
- LA Record

Delicately straddles the fence between 60s psychedelia and the Bristol sound of the 90s.
- Friction NYC

Elvin Estela, aka Nobody, met Niki Randa at Fingerprints, an indie record store in Long Beach, California, where they have worked together since 2001.  Estela was mulling over ideas for a sequel to Pacific Drift, his 2003 release on Ubiquity, and realized that the album he wanted to make needed only one vocalist.  He had often heard that "Niki can sing!" and eventually would give Randa a CD-R of beats and tracks that he was considering for his new album to see if she was interested in being the one.  In December 2006 the first of their collaborations was finished and given the working title "Sonic What?!"  Excited with the results, Estela immediately told Randa about the concept for an album which had come to him in a series of nightmares.  Shortly after the two ventured to a book store during their lunch break, grabbed a book blindly, opened randomly, and put Randa's finger to a page which read “Blank Blue.”  The god’s had christened their project (it’s both the album's namesake and the name given to the collaboration between Estela and Randa) and for the next twelve months, Estela and Randa would eat, sleep, drink and smoke Blank Blue.

Blank Blue is the surreal story of an Armageddon born out of a massive earthquake off the west coast of the United States and set sometime in the future.  The quake triggers a separation of the west from the rest of the country, creating a whirlpool of devastation in its wake.  Millions die.  Thousands survive.  Those that survive eventually sink and drown from the buckling lands, only to have scores of poison mushrooms waiting for them underneath the earth's masses, loosened from centuries old trees.  The poisoned water gives them their first gasp, and miraculously they are able to and breathe and live underwater.  The album tells the story from various points of views, from an all-knowing narrator, to a psychic fish that warns people via their dreams, to random characters who watch their loved ones drown or ask the others underwater how to find the ability to breathe.  The confusion and sadness is balanced by the fascination of having to start everything all over again; learning how to breathe and swim etc.

“I started to think about making an album that I would want to listen to, that reflected the music that I love to put on and space out to.  I loved albums where one vocalist takes you through a journey through different sounds and styles.  Niki was the first person I trusted with my idea of Blank Blue and her voice matched the music perfectly.  It also helped that we have worked together at a record store for 7 years so we were official record store geeks,” says Estela  ...  more

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"If I were an emcee, I would want Clutchy on my squad. Much like MF Doom he has the unique ability to make the inanimate articulate, as if his instruments could speak. Not only is Clutchy 'next up', but he's also on some next shit."
- Thick Magaine

"Is Hopkins a creation of this label's in-house roster of acts or a mysterious master of the groove arts? In the end, who cares? The 12 tracks here are slick, slow funkin' instrumentals (mostly) that will bring smiles to baristas faces everywhere that it gets spun."
- The Province (Canada)

"Slow-burning arrangements smolder with exotic instrumentation and ear-bendingly effective playing..."
- OC Weekly

"Forged of modern soul, downtempo, hip-hop, blues and electronica, this is one pimp-ass record of atmospheric beat music that throbs with mood, mystery and humor. Add in a clever, hilariously crafted persona that makes truth and fiction impossible to separate as a mascot and you’ve got a winner."
- Orlando Weekly

"Dope beats evoke the work of the RZA, or Madlib's 'Yesterday's New Quintet', and the raw drums crackle with immediacy. The moody album evokes dark, smokey rooms humming with vintage grooves inspired by old records from swap meet dollar bins. Initially underwhelming, Hopkins' style infects the brain."
- SF Weekly

"Simple but not simplistic, Walking Backwards is a fascinating peek under a rock—whether or not the rock exists."
- Dallas Observer

"There's a spare, spacious approach here that almost reminds us of the energy that we first felt in DJ Shadow's groundbreaking work of a decade before -- a similar love of gritty, organic source material -- and an ear for putting it together with lots of dark twists and turns that balance nicely between classic funk and current hip hop production sensibilities. The flavor of each tune changes nicely -- making the album way more than just a clichéd collection of beats..."
- Dustygroove

"Walking Backwards' dense, drifting instrumentals were built on dry snare thwacks, woodwinds and gloomy, dim-lounge organs...Hopkins is a creepy one. Whoever he is."
- Remix

"The tempos are suitably slow and the rhythms nicely woozy...It makes for pleasantly laid-back head-nodding fodder."
- Now Magazine (Canada)

"The disc is chock full of slick jazz/funk fusion hip-hop beats that plays out like a soundtrack to the life of the Clutchster himself...Walking Backwards is nice change of pace from the norm as far as instrumental discs goes, with many using more samples and synthesizers than actual live instrumentation, with Hopkins apparently manning nearly all of the instrumentation. As a result, Clutchy proves that he's hipper than your average bum off the street, and he can play a mean flute...and drums, and organ, and harp..."
- URB

"Instead of sleuthing for the man's true identity, we're better off simply enjoying his music - which is moodier than your ex-girlfriend and more deliciously layered than the cake she eats."
- Snowboard Canada

"The beats are so sticky-icky the record should come complete with rolling papers. 'Love Of A Woman' wins 'Best Song To Make Babies To' in 2008."
- Slug Magazine

"Walking Backwards succeeds in its ability to act as a musical vacation. It takes you on an international near-50-minute journey without the cost of air fare and having to deal with pesky airport security."
- Okayplayer


Dear Press Friend,

Don’t ask me who Clutchy Hopkins is; I don’t know. There’s a line of people waiting to learn his whereabouts.  If you find out, perhaps you will be kind enough to hand over the contact info for the mysterious trickster, folklore guru, and marvelous musician. Because of his anonymity, this won’t be your average press release. I don’t have any of the usual stuff: no insight into his background, no list of influences or interesting anecdotes about his musical upbringing. Instead, what follows is the abbreviated version of how this album came to be by way of thrift store finds, red herrings, a pizza parlor, and a list of characters long enough to cast a b-movie ... more


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"New Territories reduces the more energetic, dancefloor-oriented aspects of London broken beat, retains the deceptive abstractions of left-field hip-hop and R&B, and places equal emphasis on mood and songwriting...Tawiah, Sarina Leah, Rahel, Meshach Brown, Tosin, and Annabel are all lively yet not showy vocalists and, as with Lau, a healthy balance between love for the ’70s/’80s and ’90s/’00s is evident, their voices hinting at Donnie Hathaway and Deniece Williams as often as Aaliyah and Amel Larrieux."
- All Music Guide

"...it’s not US super producers Sa-Ra at the controls. Nor is Detroit bumpmaster Waajeed (of Platinum Pied Pipers fame) anywhere to be found. The man behind the superlative swing here is none other than Eric Lau – one of London’s best kept secrets."
- One Week To Live

"...probably what it would sound like if the late, great J Dilla decided to make an album of love songs...Gorgeous soul chords, gentle keys and an abundance of flutes fill out just about every track, along with a roster of singers that put a sweet cherry on top of these already beautiful productions..."
- BPM

"Future funk, nu-soul, beathead jazz -- none of these really captures Lau’s confident, cool essence...Sure, artists like Jay Dee, Waajeed and SA-RA are Lau’s creative cousins, but the 26-year-old beatmaker blazes his own trails via rich, song-based vocal numbers and sweet, spacious instrumentals...Lau has produced beats for Lupe Fiasco, Georgia Anne Mudlrow and Wildchild, but refreshingly it’s UK locals, Tawiah, Rahel and Sariah whose vocals light up the crisp, no-nonsense soul beats."
- XLR8R

"Unlike most cats who just shop around beat CDs, Lau is one of the fading breed of producers who stays true to the art of production...14 tracks of pure soul that is a Mona Lisa of tweaked piano keys and old school drum patterns...the production values and smooth vocals make the release seem like a big budget blockbuster...Under the radar, but undeniable skill, Lau is a force to be reckoned with."
- Vapors

"Better than goosed down feathers to keep a brotha warm...demanded my attention and will comfort my dancefloor, seat and ears."
- Bobbito Garcia

"New Territories represents the arrival of a talented artist and perceptive one-man production house."
- Straight No Chaser

"Real dope!"
- James Poyser (Soulquarians)

Eric Lau is a London-based producer who has been busy making musical waves for others. He may well be a producer you’ve heard, but not heard of, by way of his productions for the likes of Lupe Fiasco, Dudley Perkins, Georgia Anne Muldrow, Guilty Simpson, Wildchild, Tanya Morgan, Hil St Soul, and a family of up n’coming artists who are featured on New Territories, his debut solo album.

His slick and edgy productions have turned the ears of Gilles Peterson (Lau appeared on his Brownswood Bubblers release of October 2006) and Fat City Records who released Eric Lau presents Dudley & Friends in January 2007. Tastemakers and peers like Benji B (BBC Radio 1Xtra) called Lau’s soulful street sounds “Heavy!”, Phonte (of Little Brother) added that Lau is “One of the illest beatmakers”, Dudley Perkins (Stones Throw) said “His music did something to me,” and Dego (of 4Hero) asked “Who the f$%k is Eric Lau!?”

New Territories has a double meaning. It’s the area in Hong Kong that the Lau family are from and regularly visit. “People have a vision of Hong Kong being sky scrappers and high rises everywhere,” says Lau. “However, the area known as New Territories is full of mountain ranges, sea, villages and farm land. It’s very peaceful and pure there, and these are qualities I try to incorporate into my production.” Also, the title refers to the album and the global musical connections it made. “There are many young artists on the record and our roots are from around the world,” explains Lau. “Even though we are from different backgrounds we approached the album with the same mindset and all want to help each other get to where we want to be. This record is a new territory for us as a group of artists, and I hope that it is, in turn, a refreshing listen.”
...  more

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Eugene Blacknell
We Can't Take Life For Granted
Luv N' Haight (LH055)
Release Date:  September 11, 2007
Barcodes:  LHCD055:  780661005520  x   LHLP055:  780661005513  
One-Sheet:  PDF
Liner Notes / CD Booklet:  PDF x Word Doc.
 

Indestructible Spirit sees Johnny Blas make a return to performing on saxophone alongside his trademark percussion playing.  It’s not the only change for Blas, Indestructible Spirit also features a new band including: Jeff Hawley (bass, cuatro), Mike Bennet (drums), Ryan Prior (piano), Steve Johnson (trombone) and Leonard Luna (trombone).  The album is also graced by several special guests: Terry Delgado (coro), Isaac Guerrero (percussion), Paul Clark (tenor sax), and Raymond Sepeda (soprano sax).

“Indestructible Spirit signifies that no matter what struggles I go through in life, or what people think or say about me or my music, I cannot be broken,” says Blas.  “This album differs in style, it has more of a funky jazz beat with a twist of Latin.  Kind of a throw back to the 70's sound.”

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01. Oaklands Mambo
02. Puerto Rico Rico
03. Lubi
04. Barry Rogers
05. Afro Rican
06. Indestructible Spirit
07. Boogaloo Blas
08. A Song for Rose
09. Cha Cha Para Ti<