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Biography: James Blake is an English electronic music producer/singer/songwriter. Born in London, he was musically inclined from the beginning, since his dad was guitar player and singer. He began playing the guitar but quickly moved on to the piano in elementary/primary school. He attended Goldsmiths, University of London where he studied popular music and began working on music production. While at University he became recognized by sending his music to many small dubstep labels/DJs. As a final piece for his second-year composition assignment he submitted what became the critically acclaimed Klavierwerke EP. His next EP, CMYK, was released that same year (2010). The title track, "CMYK" was selected by BBC Radio 1 DJ Nick Grimshaw as his Record of the Week and also received airplay from other DJs. His first single "Limit To Your Love", a cover of a Feist song, debuted on the UK Singles Chart at number 47 and was selected by Zane Lowe as his "Hottest Record in The World". Prior to releasing his album he was placed 2nd in BBC's Sound of 2011, a well respected yearly list of artists to watch for the upcoming year. His self-titled debut album was released in February 2011. It was nominated for a Mercury prize and received critical acclaim, most notably getting hipster approval from Pitchfork who gave it a 9/10 and listed it as the 11th best album of 2011. In August 2011 Blake debuted a collaboration with Bonnaroo alum Bon Iver called "Fall Creek Boys Choir", which was included in his 2011 EP Enough Thunder. His second studio album, Overgrown, was released in April 2013. It débuted at number eight on the UK Albums Chart, number one of the US Dance/Electronic chart, and won the 2013 Mercury Prize, beating favorites to win Laura Mvula, David Bowie, and 2014 Roo artists Disclosure.
Sounds kinda Like: Flume, Jamie XX, SBTRKT, XXYYXX, Rhye, Tycho, Gold Panda. Only 2014 Roo artists I can think of that might have a bit of crossover in sound are Polica and Little Dragon.
Suggested Listening:
Personal Notes: So I didn't want to include this in the rest of the artist overview since I don't think it is very representative of James Blake as an artist, but the two things that drew me to him the most were his voice, and his hip hop collaborations. James Blake is an artist that is mostly praised for his production, and rightly so. This applies to a lot of artists, but the fist time I listened to him with some descent headphones it made his music that much better. I personally didn't listen to much electronic music before James Blake, especially this type of slower/chill electronic music. My first exposure to him was his absolutely haunting cover of Joni Mitchell's "A Case of You" which really highlights his amazing voice and his ability to really portray emotion through it. For anyone else like me that is not well-versed in electronic music, his EP Enough Thunder is a good place to start, since I feel it really shows the Soul in his music rather than the dubstep production of his early stuff.
The next aspect of his music that I really liked was how much crossover his music has with hip hop. I'm a huge rap fan, and I found out that a lot of rapper are huge James Blake fans! Roo 2014 Headliner Kanye West invited him to listen to Watch The Throne before it came out, has referred to him as "Kanye's favorite artist", and wants to work with him for his upcoming album. Jay-Z said on Twitter that James Blake is one of the few non hip hop artists he listens to. Drake invited him to co-headline his OVO Festival. He has collaborated with Wu-Tang's RZA and Chance The Rapper, remixed Drake and Kendrick Lamar, as well as sampled Big Boi from Outkast and being sampled by Big Krit. Hip Hop needs more James Blake:
I've never seen him live, but from videos it sounds like the live instrumentation really adds something to the show and makes it different. Really bummed I'm going to miss Lionel Richie and I'm going to be late to Lauryn Hill, but this is a must-see for me. Sorry for the delay everyone.
Saw him at First Avenue (Minneapolis, but everyone should know that) a few months back. I enjoyed the hell out if it; will it be dark enough in TN at 8pm to get the most out of some of his show? IDK.
One thing I remembered was for the last song he looped himself quite a few times to build up the song, and had to keep re-recording to eliminate crowd noise - at one point he scolded the crowd gently, saying 'I can do this all night - I like playing). So I could see that being an issue if he goes for something like that again. Digital Lion would be a nice memory of Bonnaroo, but Lionel is calling to say he loves me....
Saw him at First Avenue (Minneapolis, but everyone should know that) a few months back. I enjoyed the hell out if it; will it be dark enough in TN at 8pm to get the most out of some of his show? IDK.
One thing I remembered was for the last song he looped himself quite a few times to build up the song, and had to keep re-recording to eliminate crowd noise - at one point he scolded the crowd gently, saying 'I can do this all night - I like playing). So I could see that being an issue if he goes for something like that again. Digital Lion would be a nice memory of Bonnaroo, but Lionel is calling to say he loves me....
Yeah that's by far the biggest conflict for me. Anyone think it's possible to run from James Blake to Lionel to Lauryn Hill? That seems like pushing it. I'll probably just go see Lionel on his tour after Bonnaroo
What do you guys think of shuttling between James Blake and Lauryn Hill. Is this just a recipe for disaster?
Maybe look at their setlists and see if you like the first half of one and the second half of the other better? IDK but that conflict sucks along with Cut Copy.
i remember when I first heard his music. i was driving in a car, down in miami, listening to wvum (insane music station) and heard his cover of "a case of you." i had heard the original over my years, but i literally had to pull over and sit and listen. no song has ever done the to me before. i saw him play twice in nyc, i HIGHLY recommend his show.
Post by candyflippedaround on Jun 10, 2014 11:57:53 GMT -5
You won't regret going to this show. I saw him at the paradise in Boston a few years back and was absolutely floored. He's playing up here again tonight and I didn't find out until midnight last night and immediately bought a ticket and couldn't be more excited to see him again.
You won't regret going to this show. I saw him at the paradise in Boston a few years back and was absolutely floored. He's playing up here again tonight and I didn't find out until midnight last night and immediately bought a ticket and couldn't be more excited to see him again.
