SKREAM - OUTSIDE THE BOX (TEMPA) - WORLDWIDE RELEASE DATE 12 AUGUST 2010
PLEASE NOTE: THE LIMITED 2CD IS AVAILABLE ON *PRESELL ONLY*, ONCE THEY'RE
GONE THEY ARE GONE.
Ollie 'Skream' Jones is on a major roll. The 25 year old Croydon DJ, producer and original dubstepper had the festival anthem of last year with his Let's Get Ravey remix of La Roux's 'In For The Kill'; he's just been featured on the cover of NME with his Magnetic Man co-stars Benga and Artwork (not to mention the covers of DJ and Mixmag) and as we speak, he is all over Radio 1 with the lead track from his second solo album, Outside The Box.
The tune in question, 'Listenin To The Records On My Wall', is the perfect introduction to why Skream's current level of success is just the beginning. It's a joyful, ragingly energetic celebration of the last quarter decade of British street music, inspired by the hardcore and jungle records used by his older brother Hijak who was part of Grooverider's Internatty Crew. It's also a brilliant pop record that makes perfect sense to everyone who grew up surrounded by the breaks and beats of the 1990s', and to those who didn't.
This, however, is not a revival record. A natural born modernist, Skream has selected 14 tracks that cover hip hop ('8-Bit Baby', with LA rapper Murs from Living Legends), bass-wobbling dubstep (the self-explanatory 'Wibbler'), dreamy electronica ('Perferated'), a dark and tribal track with La Roux, and a strong dose of euphoric jungle on 'The Epic Last Tune'; a track that is inadvisable to listen to whilst driving, unless you want another six points on your licence.
Outside The Box is the sound of an artist who is ready to take his considerable talents to a wider audience without compromising any of the raw, hedonistic, emotional, lose-yourself madness that has made him literally legendary to the hundreds of thousands of people worldwide. Take 'Where You Should Be' a song which features singer and songwriter Sam Frank.
"I don't think I'll ever be sick of that track. I've easily listened to it 500 times. It's not fundamentally for the dancefloor." There's the 8-bit computer game inspiration of 'CPU'; the Daft Punk styled vocals of 'How Real' feat Freckles; the tuff but soothing heart-beat of 'Fields Of Emotion' and the Jocelyn Brown-sampling 'I Love The Way', which sees the first lady of disco pitched right down ("she sounds well mannish") and which you might have heard at Skream's massive festival sets at Pukkelpop, Glastonbury or Roskilde, where he and Benga began their crowd-surfing habit.
Towards the end of the album, there are moments that point in a whole new direction, like 'Reflections', a tune written with talented drum 'n' bassheads dBridge and Instra:mental. "It's opened my eyes to a whole new way of working. I was playing the
bass, and they were programming drums and playing the pads and strings. I was used to sitting in front of a screen." And then there's 'Song For Lenny', a sad and very personal musical dedication to a lost friend.
Album aside, life's busy for Oliver Jones. He's back DJing after taking some time out at the start of the year, switching up his DJ sets to include 4/4, techno, garage and grime and, most weeks, hosting his Rinse FM show, now alongside Benga, where listeners get to hear new tunes and Skream and Benga's inimitable banter. There will be another Skreamizm EP later in the year, as well as the highly anticipated Magnetic Man album and live shows. It's going to a big summer, inside and outside the box.
Press Quotes for Skream's debut album, Skream!
"A literal tour de force, fusing minimal bleep Techno & Breakbeat Hardcore" (The Wire)
"Producer Skream's sound has filled a void. A youthful 20-year-old, Jones was witness to the birth of Dubstep in the unlikely location of his hometown." (The Independent)
"The next big change [in Dubstep] was the entrance of producer Skream, whose dark, electronic & minimal beats paved the way for Dubstep to emerge as it's own genre" (ATM)
"Skream is very much the man of the moment right now, his releases stretching many record bags in as well as outside of dubstep circles. Quality stuff as always." (iDJ)
4/5 Lead review in Observer Music Monthly: "The great thing about Skream! is how gleefully it renounces that remorseless anality that somehow crossed over from the dance underground's criticial gatekeepers to its actual musical practitioners'
8/10 review in DJ: "A tech edged selection of dark, skanking tunes from mid-step shakers to slow, eerie stalkers"
4/5 in UNCUT: "Skream is set to take the currently cultish dubstep scene overground with his debut album"
4/5 in iDJ: "Typically tense and reassuringly dark, the LP bristles and crackles through a world of neon-lit darkness"
Tracklistings:
Standard CD Version
01 Perferated
02 8 Bit Baby (feat. Murs)
03 CPU
04 Where You Should Be (feat. Sam Frank)
05 How Real (feat. Freckles)
06 Fields Of Emotion
07 I Love The Way
08 Listenin' To The Records On My Wall
09 Wibbler
10 Metamorphosis
11 Finally (feat. La Roux)
12 Reflections (feat. dBridge & Instra:mental)
13 A Song For Lenny
14 The Epic Last Song
*Deluxe CD Version
Limited Edition Deluxe flap-lid box containing the album as above with an additional, exclusive, bonus CD of brand new Skreamizm tracks.
4x12" Boxed LP
A1 8 Bit Baby (Instrumental)
B1 Where You Should Be (feat. Sam Frank)
C1 How Real (feat. Freckles)
D1 Fields Of Emotion
E1 I Love The Way
F1 Wibbler
G1 Reflections (feat. dBridge & instra:mental)
H1 The Epic Last Tune
