Data X Change is the debut release from Syd Nukuluk, a producer, songwriter and artist based in London. Written and recorded over the space of a year in a variety of locations and states of mind, it is the first release from an artist who has been refining his sound for the best part of a decade. The EP explores what it is to be a songwriter in a digital, image based age - guitar is abstracted as a medium throughout the release, sometimes providing the dominant melody, sometimes just fragments and textures. Different genres are explored, the music lurching from trip-hop to ambient, folk to lo-fi, all tied together with a distinct sonic melancholia, drawing on the works of Tricky, early Gorillaz, Yves Tumor and the writings of the late Mark Fisher. Field recordings and synthetic glitches feature prominently, setting the landscape for a dialogue between analogue and digital, and exploring where sentiment can exist in between these two states. Nostalgia is created for digital spaces that never existed, lamentations for unrealised futures articulated in specific genres across the EP. The eclectic lurching from genre to genre alludes to a time of cultural over-stimulation, of multiple identities. Syd Nukuluk grew up at the end of rock music, to a family of anxious punks and troubled psychonauts. After being handed a guitar at a young age, he found himself dazed in a music culture that rejected the very personality of the instrument, lost at a crossroads of guitar songwriting, ambient music and trip-hop. Solace was found in experimental production; several years of working as a producer and engineer gave Syd a direction he could confidently move in, drawing from an eclectic, broad pool of influences. This is the first release involving mysterious French-British rapper Monika, an artist whose sense of blackness and masculinity were created online. Ever since, he has written fictional texts - which he hopes to promulgate via the internet - to affirm, explore and transcend his identity. A chance encounter with Syd Nukuluk in 2018 led to some studio sessions, and they haven’t looked back from there. The duo are already hard at work on their next release. Data X Change also features some of the best up and coming players in South London; Wazoo B-P [Monzanto Sound] contributes drums and piano to Glassbox with Patrick Fitzgerald [Deathcrash] on bass, Anthony Boatright [Black Bordello] plays bass on Plasticene and Mateo Carlos [Me, Charles and The Slurs] plays bass on Partial Observer. The distinctive voice of Sienna Bordello [Black Bordello] is sampled across the record. Syd stumbled across Slowfoot Records after attending a Monkey Puzzle Trio gig in 2017; after listening to more of the catalogue he was left with no choice but to approach label boss Frank Byng [This Is Not This Heat, Snorkel], and since then they have worked together, on label affairs and in Snorkel Studios, the label’s base where much of Data X Change was recorded and mixed. With mixing advice from Byng, it seemed a logical conclusion to release the EP on Slowfoot, the eclectic label previously known for releases from Soccer96, Hello Skinny and Snorkel. The EP will be released on limited edition cassette and all digital platforms on 24/1/2019. PRESS: “…debut five-track Data X Change EP, a lo-fi quintet of synapse-firing electronica pushing indie, R&B and hip-hop to a shadowy left…” [Monolith Cocktail] |
CREDITS
All tracks composed, produced and performed by Syd Nukuluk except...
'Glassbox' composed by Syd Nukuluk/Monika/Wazoo and 'Plasticene' composed by Syd Nukuluk/Monika. Syd Nukuluk - Vocals, Guitar, Synthesiser, Production Monika - Vocals [1,3] Wazoo - Drums and Keys [1] Mateo Carlos - Bass [2] Anthony Boatboy - Bass [3] Patrick Fitzgerald - Bass [1] Sienna Bordello - Vocal Samples [3] SYD NUKULUK - PLASTICENE |