In the midst of L.A.-area gigs, Quantic premieres a new track
This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.
Quantic was not genetically engineered to be adored by NPR audiences, though he perhaps could have been. That’s not a diss. While the public radio tag is sometimes considered a pejorative, with Quantic it helps hang a loose label on his far-flung vision, one that encompasses cumbia, samba, hip-hop, jazz, soul, dub reggae and electronic. He most likely has never recorded an album for waltzing, but it would probably be smooth and funky if he did (and worshipped by every radio DJ with a latte voice).
Indeed, for Quantic (born Will Holland), the list of endorsements from funk and soul aficionados is serious: BBC legend Gilles Peterson, KCRW’s Jeremy Sole, and Egon, the head honcho of reissue label Now Again. The British born producer/DJ has spent the last decade collecting crates of vinyl, synthesizing every strain of sound, and spitting out a relentlessly funky discography as interesting as his inspirations.
At the moment, Holland calls Colombia his home base, where he’s treated his new continent as an opportunity to wrangle a wide gamut of local talents and sonic textures. In celebration of his 10th anniversary as a professional musician, Tru Thoughts Records has cobbled together a two-disc ‘best of’ compilation. The anthology coincides with a national tour that found Quantic taking over the Lift on Saturday night and Fairfax’s Turntable Lab on Sunday. He hits Mesa in Costa Mesa on Tuesday.
In the L.A. shows’ wake, Pop & Hiss is premiering ‘Left & Right,’ a Quantic collaboration with Alice Russell that swings with a jazzy lilt and stormy love-struck vocals. It’s quintessential Quantic, an amalgam of old sounds and new ideas, dust meeting digital and yielding its own unique haze.
Download:
ALSO:
Pollyn Celebrate ‘How Small We Are’
Paul White debuts ‘A Weird Day’
Oddisee Premieres ‘I’m From PG’
-- Jeff Weiss