Paul White - Paul White And The Purple Brain

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4...according to our Ant on Thu 15 Jul, 2010.

Holy shit 25 tracks on this... I'm gonna be here all bloody night. A fair number of skits and interludes combine with some really cool tracks that sort of fuse hip-hop, especially beats with elements of 60's psychedelia and modern sampledelia. A couple of tracks on here in particular are very strong. He's done a mighty fine job here as this really could have been a messy collection of tracks considering all the ingredients but it comes off with integrity and thankfully steers clear of what could have been cheesy re-hash of mid 90's Ninja Tune gear. There's a huge amount happening here with immense attention to detail and some serious crate digging to source samples. I'm reminded of elements of Madlib, Prefuse 73 etc. For those that like their hip-hop trippin' on mushrooms.

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An inventive showcase of what’s possible when armed with just a sampler, a few studio toys and a fertile imagination, ‘Paul White And The Purple Brain’ is the intriguing second album from the prodigious and much-feted South London producer Paul White. A collaboration of sorts across space and time, the entire record is based around and inspired by the work of little-known Swedish psych-rock guru ST 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 ST Mikael’s back catalogue, 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, ‘Paul White And The Purple Brain’, is a remarkably diverse album that defies easy categorization. ‘Marshen Signals’ brings to mind the brooding atmospherics and jeep-rattling bass of mid-90s D.I.T.C. productions, whilst ‘Alone Again’ nods to the pioneers of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop. Sitar-led tracks such as ‘Pride’ share common ground with the likes of ‘60s English psych band July and ‘My Guitar Whales’ – the first single to be taken from the album – could be a classic rap banger remixed for a Hungarian fairground. Praised as someone who “embodies all that is good about a new generation of producers”, Paul White has won over fans of left-leaning sounds and interesting hip hop-ism, including Diplo, Mary Anne Hobbs, Benji B and Gilles Peterson … but you already knew that. First 1000 copies come with exclusive bonus five-track 12-inch of ‘Ancient Treasure’ ft Guilty Simpson on vocals, plus additional Paul White remix and three instrumental versions.

4...according to kamikaze.

I totally ignored this one when the album came out, largely because the triple-vinyl cost about £25 or something ridiculous like that. So I bought the download of it instead, cos that was considerably cheaper, and, like I often do when I have music on the computer, totally forgot that it was there. Which is a shame because it would've been a nice record to have spent my summer with. The point is, though, I've remembered that I have it now, and I'm enjoying it tremendously. Usual Paul White affair across the album, which, those White-connoisseurs amongst you will be all too aware, equals 25 tracks of proper hip-hoppin' sample-cuttin' quality. Yes.

So, what do you think? Best reviewer each month gets £10 off their next order!