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With DJ Shadow focused on making hyphy records and RJD2 abandoning hip-hop altogether, it's been a tough last couple of years for fans of hip-hop instru-mentalism. That is, until Parisian turntablist Wax Tailor dropped his sophomore album, "Hope and Sorrow," in April, a record cinematic in its scope and imagery and yet unabashedly grounded in sample-based hip-hop production techniques, mixing darting breakbeats with wispy flutes, funereal brass and haunted-house strings.
With Shadow, RJD2 and Bristol trip-hop as jumping-off points, "Hope and Sor-row" is a sonic evolution from Tailor's less vocally oriented debut, "Tales of Forgotten Melodies." Reuniting with past collaborators like the silky-voiced songstresses Sharon Jones and Charlotte Savary, the album also finds Tailor pai-ring up with spoken-word star and Roots collaborator Ursula Rucker, not to men-tion underground MCs such as the Others and Voice.
Despite being often mislabeled as electronica, Tailor views himself as a hip-hop director of sorts, choosing album guests as if from a casting call. "I think I have a special vision of hip-hop," Tailor said. "My music is completely inspi-red by all genres, but I can't even think about music without returning to the hip-hop foundations of the artists I grew up listening to: Kool G Rap, Rakim and Public Enemy."
As for his stage show, Tailor has elaborate plans for his first headlining appearance in Los Angeles, enlisting Savary for vocals, Marina Quaisse on cello and Marine Thibault on flute, to accompany his turntablism. Additionally, video clips will help accentuate the thrust of Tailor's cinematic soundscape. "It's about the idea of using the videos and the songs to tell a story," Tailor says.
- los angeles times
With DJ Shadow focused on making hyphy records and RJD2 abandoning hip-hop altogether, it's been a tough last couple of years for fans of hip-hop instru-mentalism. That is, until Parisian turntablist Wax Tailor dropped his sophomore album, "Hope and Sorrow," in April, a record cinematic in its scope and imagery and yet unabashedly grounded in sample-based hip-hop production techniques, mixing darting breakbeats with wispy flutes, funereal brass and haunted-house strings.
With Shadow, RJD2 and Bristol trip-hop as jumping-off points, "Hope and Sor-row" is a sonic evolution from Tailor's less vocally oriented debut, "Tales of Forgotten Melodies." Reuniting with past collaborators like the silky-voiced songstresses Sharon Jones and Charlotte Savary, the album also finds Tailor pai-ring up with spoken-word star and Roots collaborator Ursula Rucker, not to men-tion underground MCs such as the Others and Voice.
Despite being often mislabeled as electronica, Tailor views himself as a hip-hop director of sorts, choosing album guests as if from a casting call. "I think I have a special vision of hip-hop," Tailor said. "My music is completely inspi-red by all genres, but I can't even think about music without returning to the hip-hop foundations of the artists I grew up listening to: Kool G Rap, Rakim and Public Enemy."
As for his stage show, Tailor has elaborate plans for his first headlining appearance in Los Angeles, enlisting Savary for vocals, Marina Quaisse on cello and Marine Thibault on flute, to accompany his turntablism. Additionally, video clips will help accentuate the thrust of Tailor's cinematic soundscape. "It's about the idea of using the videos and the songs to tell a story," Tailor says.
- los angeles times
Discography
Still working on that hot first release.
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Bio
Wax Tailor made a remarkable impact worldwide with his debut “Tales of the Forgotten Melodies.”
A sweeping, cinematic hip-hop album that had critics citing similarities to DJ Shadow, RJD2 and Portishead, “Tales” propelled this Frenchman to stardom in his home country and his debut was heralded as Radio Nova's album of the year.
Stateside, “Tales” spent 28 straight weeks in the iTunes Top Electronic Albums and remains there to date. The album topped the CMJ Hip Hop and RPM charts (16 and 13 weeks in the top 20, respectively) and tastemaker radio station, KEXP in Seattle, deemed it one of the best albums of 2006.
The breakout single “Our Dance” was heralded as one of the best singles of the year in Playboy Magazine as well as iTunes.
An artist's second album is often seen as the moment of truth. With “Hope & Sorrow,” set for release in May, 2007, Wax Tailor confirms his musical identity. Often categorized as trip-hop or downtempo hip-hop, Wax Tailor breaks musical barriers using a sonic palette to demonstrate his life chronicles tainted in soul, jazz, and funk.
The tone of “Hope & Sorrow” is set from the introduction, where sounds unwind in a long one take and finally give way to Nate Harrisson's essay from “Can I Get An Amen.” Through the course of 12 tracks and 3 interludes, he tells us a new story,
unraveling like a movie scenario with vocal guests as his actors who deliver their lines to the tune of a great director.
Like his debut, “Hope & Sorrow” showcases an array of talented guest musicians. Also featured on “Tales,” Charlotte Savary’s voice finds a gentle balance of sweetness and self-confidence on “The Man With No Soul” “To Dry Up” and “Alien In My Belly”
This songstress reminds one of Bristolian cabaret pop where melancholy and melody intertwine.
Sharon Jones, the leading figure of the neo soul movement, lets her voice soar to heights far beyond that of modern R&B on “The Way We Lived.”
Ursula Rucker is the priestess of Spoken Words. A familiar of The Roots, she offers her most exciting track to date, “We Be” a poem that epitomizes the struggles of independence. LA based rapper, Voice, one of the true discoveries of this album, expresses a femininity in Rap on “The Games You Play” that is
an all too rare occurrence.
Marina Quaisse embraced the Wax Tailor project from the start and here again, she co-writes a number of songs and sprinkles softness throughout with her melancholic cello playing.
The Others and A State Of Mind, no strangers to the underground hip-hop scene, drop their clever verses on the funky tracks “House of Wax” and “Positively Inclined”.
“On my first album I had a lot of instrumental tracks,” explains JC, “I wanted to have more vocal guests on ‘Hope & Sorrow’, which changed the way I approached songwriting, giving the songs a more pop orientation.”
JC's stage name, Wax Tailor, originated in 2004 with the release of his EP “Lost The Way.” He subsequently released his first full-length album, “Tales Of The Forgotten Melodies”, completely on his own.
The album garnered critical acclaim and love from French music fans and became one of the best selling electronic releases of the year.
His next move was to take his show live, with a four-piece band, and find a way to translate the cinematic feel of his music through the use of video.
Building on the solid foundation in France, Wax Tailor licensed “Tales” to Decon in 2006 for North American distribution and continued
Touring across the globe, opening up for the likes of Aceyalone & RJD2.
In addition to the release of his sophomore effort, “Hope & Sorrow,” 2007 will see Wax Tailor bring this prolific live show to the United States and all over Europe
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