Richard Russell –
Everything is Recorded (XL)
“It is possible to feel alone and not work alone,”
intones a voice at the beginning of this record. If Richard Russell feels
lonely, his debut album doesn’t show it.
Richard Russell is a label executive, not a musician:
his label, XL, launched the careers of Dizzee Rascal, Vampire Weekend, the
Xx—and, oh, yeah, Adele. As a producer, he helmed comeback records—what turned
out to be final records—for American legends Gil Scott-Heron and Bobby Womack,
as well as the first two albums by French-Cuban sister act Ibeyi. He was the
subject of an extensive New Yorker magazine profile eight months before the
release of his debut album as an artist.
Richard Russell’s debut album does not feature him
behind the mic: he has too many friends he’d rather showcase instead. That
includes Mercury Prize-winning R&B star Sampha, Nigerian-British MC
Obongjayar, Canadian singer-songwriter Rachel Zeffira, and even British icons
like Peter Gabriel and Scritti Politti’s Green Gartside (yes, he’s a legend in
Britain). Instrumental players include Gorillaz’ Damon Albarn, jazz saxophonist
Kamasi Washington and string arranger Owen Pallett. A featured artist throughout
is Infinite (not to be confused with Infinite from Toronto’s Ghetto Concept), a
24-year-old soul singer from New York—who happens to be Ghostface Killah’s gay
son.
That all looks good on paper, but most music fans
already knew Russell had a lot of famous friends—he could easily have called up
Adele if he wanted to cash in on his contact list. Can he make all these
disparate artists work together? The man is a born curator, and he has a clear
musical vision, so the answer is: yes, of course. Russell’s preferred musical
aesthetic is a late-night, 21st-century take on ’70s soul, with a
heavy dub reggae influence. That “soundsystem” approach allows him to feature
his guests in a stark setting, with plenty of tasty production touches
underneath—not unlike Massive Attack, an obvious influence.
Everything is Recorded could easily have been
a throwaway vanity project by a label exec who fancied himself an artist. The
end result is anything but. (Feb.
16)
Stream: “Mountains of Gold” feat. Sampha, Ibeyi, Wiki
and Kamasi Washington, “Show Love” feat. Syd and Sampha, “Be My Friend” feat.
Infinite
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