In ‘SnifferFavs’ over the next while we will write about 10 albums that have influenced us greatly in the last few years ( Biased Review Alert 🙂 ).
It is truly astonishing the power music can possess sometimes. I sat in my room late one bleak, rainy, evening in my parents house – it was around 2010 or so. That night my ears experienced something they never had before…..This was the night I first experienced Paul’s production talents in all their glory.
It was the first drone of the bass in Jasmine that initially perked my ears up as I scrolled through a music blog (Probably Bialock’s Indie Rock Playlist) at the time. This was new! This was unique! That glitch-y, edgy and completely original take on beat making was something I hadn’t heard before (Or since- with the exception of Ben Khan afterwards). That was it, I was completely fascinated and craved more. Who and where did this music come from?
Jasmine was steadily on repeat for a couple of weeks with little or no indication of the source of the content at all. Then BTSTU arrived carrying the torch and re-igniting my fascination once more. The mystery grew and grew, I saw pictures online of Jai Paul’s passport – a saw a picture of Rayners Lane station in London posted on his media accounts – but for the next few months we were given absolutely nothing in the way of interviews or even proof of his existence. He was an entity, the first of it’s kind in this social media fuelled society – he did not want to be known. Fair enough, but where the hell were the releases? Months and Years passed…….
Suddenly, the day came. An album surfaced for download and immediately I downloaded it and popped in my earphones. It was bliss, my obsession had led me to a leaked link which contained his ‘debut album‘. I finally held some new Jai Paul tunes! This was nothing but a leak sadly and suddenly vanished within a few hours with very few remnants still remaining. This album, although deleted, managed to rank in The Guardian’s top 20 albums of the century. ‘All night’ is one such surviving snippet from the rescinded album – I must have listened over 100 times.
Few artists have inspired me as much as this guy, for me his music is timeless. The few snippets of music were stand alone in quality at the time and I still hold them in high regard. The unique sound structure he mastered coupled with his mysterious anonymous act – gave him an other-worldly power. I challenge you to name me one other artist who can grip an entire world of bloggers and music lovers in just a couple of rash demo songs?
Nowadays, his brother A.K has been taking it upon himself to carry on in the family tradition and adapts a similar vocal range and trippy hip-hop background sounds. If Jai is extinct, at least we have A.K Paul!! Check out his superb cameo appearance on NAO‘s debut EP – ‘So Good‘ is the tune (and it is just that!). Thank you for the music guys!