Blinky Bill London Birthdays October 14
BLINKY BILL
DEBUT ALBUM: ‘EVERYONE’S JUST WINGING IT AND OTHER FLY TALES – OUT OCTOBER 19, 2018
BIRTHDAYS, LONDON – OCTOBER 14, 2018
Stream ‘Everyone’s Just Winging It…’: https://bit.ly/2KWQbyv
Kenyan alent Blinky Bill will release his self-produced debut album ‘Everyone’s Just Winging It And Other Fly Tales’ on October 19, 2018. Featuring collaborations with the likes of Sampa The Great and Petite Noir, the album will be released through new French imprint The Garden, to whom Blinky Bill is the first signing. The album release – which follows last year’s ‘We Cut Keys Whilst You Wait’ EP release – will arrive just ahead of a headline show at London’s Birthdays on October 14, 2018.
Nairobi native Bill Ochieng Sellanga – that mic name the result of a childhood cartoon nickname that wouldn’t budge – originally made a name for himself in electro-funk outfit Just A Band. Formed in-between studies at the University Of Kenyatta (which Bill originally entered with a sports major), the self-effacingly named band’s debut album ‘Scratch To Reveal’ arrived atop a strong electro house sound, spiked with funk, hip hop and the owned-up spirit of touchstones including Gorillaz, Daft Punk and Basement Jaxx. 2009’s follow-up album ’82’ took off via viral single releases ‘Huff + Puff’ and ‘Ha-He’, the latter of which arrived with a blaxploitation-referencing music video which became Kenya’s first viral internet meme.
Bill’s decision to pursue a solo career in music (against the wishes of his parents) was later solidified by a formative collaboration with AIDS charity Red Hot Organisation, for which Just A Band hooked-up with both Chance The Rapper and Childish Gambino for contributions to the charity’s star-studded ‘Red Hot + Fela’ album (which also featured the likes of ?uestlove, Tune-Yards, Spoek Mathambo and Tony Allen). Writing & recording as Blinky Bill was soon interspersed with stints in partnership with both TED – who selected him as a 2014 Fellow – and Red Bull Music Academy, who also count the likes of Aloe Blacc, Hudson Mohawke and Flying Lotus amongst their alumni.
‘Everyone’s Just Winging It….’ thrums not just with Blinky’s enriching partnerships of late, but with the sights & sounds of a childhood spent growing up surrounded by the cultural push/push of Kenyan’s post-colonial capital city. Whilst teenage years were spent with a nose firmly stuck in books, Bill remained equally tuned into the disparate soundtracks of both his Mum’s religious chants & the vintage Congolese records of his Dad’s collection, as the output of cult African label Ogopa Deejays (alongside revelatory Western touchstones including Chic and 2Pac) and the clubbing ambiance of Nairobi’s cult ‘Matatu’ minibuses (described by CNN as ‘art galleries on wheel’), which criss cross the city to a throbbing soundtrack of Kenya’s up-and-coming artists.
Whilst its wry title might speak to an on-the-fly approach, ‘Everyone’s Just Winging It…’ in fact draws together a collection of 12 precision-produced tracks, as diversified & resistant to categorisation as the bubbling Nairobi music scene which feeds into it. ‘Atenshan’ demands just that with tightly looped rhythms and brass breaks, whilst ‘Don’t Worry’’s title rubs up against its claustrophobic, trap-influenced atmosphere. Elsewhere Bill’s laid-back flow is itself a cornerstone, weaving through emphatic early single release ‘I’m Feeling It’ (which also features Muthoni Drummer Queen) and the off-beat groove & pitched-up female vocals of ‘Bills To Pay’ with equal ease.
The album’s clutch of instrumental tracks speak to Bill’s (who also heads up his own production company) ability in the producer’s chair, from the colourful, chiptune funk which powers ‘I’ll Take More Care Next Time’ to the sweeping bass of assured, sun-speckled album opener ‘Lwanda Magarere’, whose title namechecks a warrior celebrated in Kenyan folklore. The palpable co-operative ethos of ‘Everyone’s Just Winging It….’ is furthered with thoughtfully selected collaborations throughout, particularly on ‘Let That Go’, where Bill’s languid, sparing production pushes Sampa The Great’s whip-smart rhyme and curative chorus to the fore. Elsewhere, Blinky brings Petite Noir onboard for the quietly urgent counsel of late album highlight ‘Oh Wah’.
Blinky Bill may well – like everyone – be just winging it. Though on the basis of a self-produced debut this bold & boisterous, you suspect it’s a little more than just chance that has brought him to this point, and looks set to carry him even further yet beyond Nairobi’s city limits.
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14 October LONDON Birthdays https://www.skiddle.com/whats-on/London/Birthdays/Blinky-Bill–Dope-Saint-Jude/13315663/www.blinkybillmusic.com
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