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Soul/Folk/Electronica/Experimental
Award-winning
JAMIE LIDELL
(USA - UK)
“Following THE Compass”
Jamie Lidell "Compass"
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We were more than happy to include Jamie Lidell’s work in our music recommendations last month.
With the excuse of the release of his new album, “Compass”, we felt it was just fair to prepare the ears of those who had not yet had the chance to listen to this great chameleonic artist.
Hard this to believe since his “Jim” won in The 8th Annual Independent Music Awards for Best Pop/Rock Album and his works have been featured in TV series that have been a hit in many countries. He has also collaborated with other widely-known artists. Still, there are some corners of the Earth that do not know much about him, or at least not sufficiently.
Influenced by the works of genius Prince and legendary Otis Redding, amongst others, Lidell stands out on his own right. His unique fusion of electronica, funk, beat box, soul, blues and folk, smothered with his vocal prowess, makes of Lidell just that wild creative force to watch out for.
Infused with an electrifying beat, anybody who has been as lucky as to attend one of his concerts will agree that Lidell’s natural sense of rhythm gets hold of your body, puppet-style, forcing it to invariably shake with uncontrolled spasms, otherwise called impromptu dancing.
Lidell surprises with his ability to offer depth brilliantly interwined in experimental distortion, something that Eno mastered in his own mellow ways.
“Compass” is the hello-I-am-back with an I-know-of-no-limits attitude that will flip your brain around and stretch your senses until you ask for mercy, for it will play in your head long after you listened to it, whether you want it to or not.
Luckily, you will want it to.
14 times “multiplied” by 14 (14 tracks), you will thank the gods (or the spermatozoid that run fast enough) that Lidell was born to be brave enough as to strip down all pre-conceptions of what electronica or pop or funk or even soul should sound like.
Infusing it with a soulful inventiveness, his electronica soul pop funk (why oh why we have to attach a label or in fact, a string of them to his art?) will certainly act as the compass for those who are still lost in a sea of chain-manufactured delusions.
We are truly honored to interview the charmingly "wild" Jamie Lidell on this his outstanding latest album, in which we cannot pinpoint without endless heated discussion just one pièce de résistance.
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MDM_ Jamie, first of all, thank you very much for taking the time for this interview, we know summer is a busy period for music artists.
1. MDM_First questions first: How is the tour going?
1. JAMIE_ Good morning MDM! Thanks for asking! Yes, we, the band, are at yet another festival... parked outside a water treatment facility which smells pretty potent. The fonk (and the funk) I am beginning to understand and indeed we positively celebrate all things fonk in the current live rendition of my new album. With a new tour, new band and new direction charted on the big ole compass. I ended up switching out the whole personnel to wipe the slate clean. It's starting to cut pretty hard now. I've a wild mix going on. To answer your question… it's going real nice thanks.
2. MDM_ “Compass” is the title of you latest album and also the title of a brilliantly eclectic ballad included in it. To what extent do you think should risk-taking play the role of a compass in people’s life?
2. JAMIE_ It depends I suppose. Some folks like to play a strong and solid game of life chess. I say why not. You can achieve amazing things with discipline as Sun Ra always reminds us. Some people have a gypsy in them. That's all. For those people, life will not be complete without exploring unknown waters and swimming with the fishes before they all get fished. The risk of trusting someone with your heart… That's a mighty one but if you never try… I fear you may always end up in the suburbs of the soul.
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3. MDM_ “The Ring” mixes effortlessly beatbox with funk, soul and feet stomping swamp rock. Was this the result of a plan for this kind of experiment or did it developed organically from improvisation?
3. JAMIE_ I planned only a vocal to a lone handclap in an LA hotel with my girlfriend. I was trying to make sense of the words to a beat. The song took two other incarnations before finally settling into the album version. There's a country version with beck and fiesta singing away in the back. James Gadson's singing too. The beatbox version came about in Canada. Something about the moose. The deer. It's an animal thing. Once I heard that I knew the other versions would have to graze a wee while in the shade.
4. MDM_ “I Wanna Be Your Telephone” surely is the desire piece that purring completes the puzzle. Is it inspired, perhaps, in long distance relationships, where the use of phone sex is almost inevitable?
4. JAMIE_ Ahh it might well be. Telecoms being so ubiquitous and all. I ended up on the end of one for a mighty long time when I was getting together with my lover. I think I was almost getting jealous of her phone. It was always right there against her cheek. I was always so far away. It got to hear all her secrets and sit in her pocket. It's such an intimate item the phone. I was imagining becoming one. Most people wanna be an astronaut… hmmm |
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5. MDM_ In “You are Waking” a 90s inspired rock takes successfully on the stage but “It´s a Kiss” launches R’n’B into cyberspace. Is there any genre you would not dare to experiment with?
5. JAMIE_ Maybe industrial folk. Although there MIGHT be a way in there… At times I feel I make that on stage. How about hard boss? Actually that's in the post Jeff Mills swing that sometimes comes out in the beatbox show I throw out from time to time… hmmm… alpine devotional? Metal poetry? Icelandic horse themes? I mean there's too many shoes in the shop. I'll try a fair few on mind you...
6. MDM_ “Coma Chamaleon” and “Big Drift” are both equally impressive, and you finish this thrill packed album with the melting number “You see my Light”. A question that all artists hate and yet we do not get tired of asking: Would you be ready to choose one track, from the whole album, which holds a special place in your heart?
6. JAMIE_ I can’t BELIEVE you asked this…! Only joking.
It's a total fair question. I suppose the most personal on the record is "It's a kiss". The lyrics used to make me blush almost when I'd be sitting in the room with my girlfriend playing it for other people the first time. It's a song that'll always remind me of the struggle to be with the one I love… big stuff
7. MDM_You are touring UK, Europe, Canada and the USA for the next 5 months. Not many people see the side of all the hard work behind success. In days when you may feel physically and mentally exhausted, what is your respite and where do you take comfort from?
7. JAMIE_ Simple things. A good coffee (gotta be a really full, nutty, fruity delicious monster coffee mind you!), a smell… smell of cedar or something rich and calming… I'm more and more into smells the older I get. It's sort of weird but I'm embracing it. Being with my girl on the road is a joy. It makes the whole thing a pleasure. We get to eat breakfast and just watch the insanity and laugh. That's the sweetest thing.
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8. MDM_ Born in Cambridgeshire, England, you moved to Manhattan (New York, US) and are currently living there. Do you see yourself making of the US your permanent country of residence or do you feel that you may come back to living in the UK or move to any other country at some point? 8. JAMIE_ Only the crystal ball knows the finality of outcomes. It's a choose your own adventure kind of hang for now and I can but embrace the book with all it's “myriadifications” and the infinity crossroads that all need a strong rudder, a calm hand and require us to surrender to the heart compass as the only true guide through the fogs and illusions.
Or to answer your question…. dunno really!
MDM_ Thank you again Jamie for taking this interview. We are listening to “Compass” almost non stop and hope everybody gives it a listen for they will truly be as delighted with all its 14 killer tunes as this team is. Congratulations and may you have a formidable rest of the tour. |
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JAMIE LIDELL's WEBSITE:
www.jamielidell.com
All photography, artwork and video work by
Lindsey Rome
Email:
lcrome@gmail.com
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