It’s been a strange month on [edit] radio, for the first time in a while I’ve had numerous requests to record podcasts for the site. This has left me with many new tracks that I’d like to share with you but no podcast to share it on. So with all of my new found time and a move to university to study music journalism looming, I’ve decided to make an effort to share more of my thoughts through the blogsite.
First under the microscope is pop artist Jai Paul’s track ‘BTSTU’ The song was released to a fair bit of fanfare to the bloggosphere over a year ago and the subsequent buzz was enough to earn him a nomination on the BBC’s Sound of 2011. It’s easy to hear why the industry was so excited about this young lad from Rayners Lane in London as this three and half minute pop song shows more daring invention than most pop artists entire careers.
The production is lush and complex, layered with industrial synth’s, saxophone and various other sonic embellishments that recall a DJ playing around with all the effects tricks at his disposal. However it’s the interplay of vocal recordings that really’s sets the track apart from it’s contemporaries. His falsetto voice is ghostly and delivered so tenderly that’d it’d be easy to miss brooding menace at the core of the lyrics if the opening lines weren’t “Don’t fuck with me, don’t fuck with me” The track picks up pace as his tone lowers and layers making this more of an exceptional one man duet. It’s a starling debut track and one that’ll be hard for him match. We’ll find out if this Londoner is up to the task soon enough.