Author Archives: Mike Fairless

Okay so I’m gonna start off by saying that Boards of Canada aren’t by any means an underground producer(s), but I feel like they don’t get the level of recognition they deserve so here they are.

Credit where credit’s due, I have listened to their music for a long time but recently re-found my love for trip hop and these guys are still inescapable in the genre. Their style is hard to categorise but they offer a more boom bap/hip hop take on the classic IDM/breakcore sound.

Despite being called ‘Boards of Canada’, the band is based in Scotland and both members are Scottish themselves. You just don’t see that much music coming out of Scotland apart from the occasional Biffy Clyro, Calvin Harris and Lewis Capaldi and say what you want about the aforementioned musicians but they sure broke into the American market, however a band from Scotland breaking into the underground American market? Scenes. I mean it’s probably been done before by some indie band that your weird vegan cousin has heard of, but I can strongly say that it hasn’t been done by a band that doesn’t even have a vocalist.

I find it interesting that their name derives from the National Film Board of Canada which is known for making especially bad movies in the 90’s, and somehow a band managed to incorporate the same vibe into their music and essentially based their whole name and discography on that feel and managed to become one of the nicest listening experiences you’ll hear. I guess nostalgia sells but they were doing it before it was cool and “vintage”. It shows that encapsulating a vintage feel to music goes further than slapping a vinyl crackle track on your beats (guilty).

The influence of Boards of Canada can’t be ignored either I mean take the whole lofi hip hop scene, I also hear influence from famous celebrated producers such as Flying Lotus. Despite the fact I said they’re inescapable from the trip hop genre, I still struggle to actually box them into a specific genre I mean I could easily say that they fit into IDM (Intelligent Dance Music), Ambient, Trip Hop and Downtempo but I’d say mostly IDM. They’re a musical entity that you can’t categorise and in a world where a lot of artists feel the need to fit into a certain genre (guilty again), they serve as a type of artist(s) that can’t and won’t be boxed in, which is a very good place to feel comfortable in. Having said that, being pioneers of that specific 90’s IDM sound I’d say that’s the strongest place to categorise them.

Their 1998 album ‘Music Has a Right to Children’ has to be undeniably their most influential record, which is a real melting pot of sounds and genres with strong IDM emphasis, however their most popular track from that album is a tasty little trip hop track called ‘Roygbiv’, which ironically enough the title fits in with that whole “just press any random letters on the keyboard and Bob’s your uncle” trend that is very reminiscent of the IDM scene.

My Personal Favourite: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=soAH__YofsM

Peace,

Mike

Nae Sano is a cloudy trap producer from Sweden, known for his collaborations with Tag Shai Nae Sano’s beats are airy, melodic and heavy hitting, they put you into a zone and never fail to impress. Nae Sano also occasionally sings, but we’ll get to that later.

I shouted out Nae Sano on Instagram last year I’m pretty sure and got a reply so he’s in my good books! On a real note, I absolutely love his style. Not many beat producers can really capture you in their world the way Nae Sano can and that’s saying a lot. The way that this man manages to flip a sample and copy samples note for note so smoothly without the listener noticing the switch up is inspiring. He is the god of trap beats, yet he is so underground because mainstream trap isn’t ready for heavenly beats. It’s all about catchy melodies and stuff that’s TikTok-able these days and an actual big-sounding beat is not appreciated, which is sad really. As a producer myself, I have tried to recreate his style and I simply can’t… I said it before and I’ll say it again, that’s how you know they’re a good producer.

Nae Sano also sings on his beats quite a lot, not gonna lie I actually sometimes can’t differentiate between him and Tag because they really compliment each other’s sounds but I find Nae’s vocals more grand and brash, and Tag’s vocals more calm and lowkey. Here’s the thing, usually I find producers who sing a bit hit and miss, but Nae is 100% one of the ones who can. So I’d like to hear more singing from Nae Sano in the future if you’re reading this mate!

I have mad love for Swedish rappers/producers, the scene over there is crazy and full of underground gems which I think deserves a whole post all to itself. I want to not make posts about Yung Lean & Bladee as I feel that they have already surpassed the level at which they deserve a post, and one of the main goals of at least the ‘Underground Overlords‘ menu is to give credit to lesser-known rappers. But such rappers will be included on posts for the ‘Topics‘ page, which I am yet to add a blog to but I’m getting round to it shh…

Anyway, back to Nae Sano. Nae is a huge influence of mine, especially when I made trap under a different name (which I will not be disclosing). I would personally love to see Nae Sano producing for a top rapper in the States but that would take away from the bromance between him and Tag, which would be a sad day indeed.

All in all, you guys need to check him out! In terms of trap beat producers, for me Nae Sano takes pole position closely followed by Ronny J.

My Personal Favourite: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nVA8r41_oDw

Peace,

Mike

The UK deserves some love for its underground hip hop scene with drill, bashment and grime being the more dominant genres in urban UK music. I feel dirty using the word “urban” as a categorisation term but grime fans get weird when you put grime and UK hip hop in the same bracket (even though it technically is but whatever).

Anyway yah, Cult of The Damned… Cult of The Damned is a hip hop collective that spans from all across the UK and are all great rappers in their own right but occasionally collaborate on a cypher-styled track together and usually release a killer music video to go along with it. I was first put on to them by their track ‘Civilised’ infiltrating my YouTube recommendations and I thought it was the best thing I ever heard. The somber (whatever instrument that is) on the instrumental mixed with the lowkey, nonchalant delivery, the gritty visuals and lyrics that keep you tuned in for the whole duration of the song are what make this tune an absolute banger from start to finish. Not to mention the hook line sang by Be The Gun (a.k.a. Barebase) that sounds as smooth as a jazz crooner’s bum.

COTD are a force to be reckoned with in the UK hip hop scene, a personal favourite member of mine is Lee Scott. I love Lee Scott’s delivery, it’s like every word he says punches you square in the face but you’re a masochist. Maybe it’s just something about Liverpudlian rappers but Lee Scott is the most Liverpudlian Liverpudlian rapper I have ever heard, and I have put a lot of hours into listening to O’Shea and The Calcium Kid respectively. Another notable member for me is Black Josh, love his solo stuff! He makes chill hip hop with gritty beats and doesn’t fit into the UK hip hop norm, at least to me anyway. Definitely recommend checking out Black Josh, his music can be found here.

As a northerner myself, I am always drawn to northern rap as a whole anyway cos again… I feel like it deserves more credit (this is turning into my favourite phrase on this blog I swear). I don’t believe Cult of The Damned have a member from Sheffield, correct me in the comments if I’m wrong but to be fair I don’t think I have ever seen a rapper from Sheffield actually going that far apart from a bassline MC called K-Dot, again correct me if I’m wrong but I feel like I’d know if there was one.

Final words, big shoutout to Milkaveli for his drip. Keep killin’ that wardrobe game man!

My Personal Favourite: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=79t5e-CTAaU

Peace,

Mike

R.I.P. to Daft Punk, a producer duo consisting of Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo & Thomas Bangalter that I can comfortably cite as a personal influence of mine.

Daft Punk have been going since the 90’s and the iconic masked French duo have made generation defining songs. Not only have they made songs, but also movies as well as producing soundtracks for movies such as the Tron series, which suits them down to a T.

It is easy to get lost in their neon, arcade-style world. They were so versatile, being able to make pop music as well as making synth wave and retro electro. Their movie ‘Interstella 555: The 5tory of the 5ecret 5tar 5ystem’ is definitely worth a watch which can be found here. I can’t say that I have found a full movie of music videos that smoothly follows a story, and if I have they haven’t caught my attention the same way Interstella did.

Daft Punk were influential in the French House movement, paving the way for many artists including the likes of David Guetta, Kavinsky and DJ Snake. French House as a sub-genre of house has also had major influence on the music industry in general, influencing the sounds of The Weeknd, Eric Prydz, Ben Khan and many more!

Daft Punk will live on forever and I don’t see their music ever fading into obscurity anytime soon, cementing their name on the music industry with chart topping hits such as Get Lucky, Starboy and One More Time. Hopefully we will see productions from Guy-Manuel and Thomas in the near future. In reckon they will mostly ghost produce for pop artists but we’ll see. I would love to see a synth wave comeback pioneered by these guys!

My Personal Favourite: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gAjR4_CbPpQ

Peace,

Mike

Now, I would go as far as to say that Tag Shai is one of my favourite hip hop artists of all time, period. I love his laidback delivery and dreamy beats generally produced by Nae Sano (article on him found here), but he has had beats produced by a few other producers over the years including Croisade, SorrySines & Agile.

So how did this rapper from Sydney, Australia become one of the most influential cloud rappers to ever come out of the wave?

Tag’s first notable break was a music video uploaded to YouTube by legendary underground promoter ‘Astari’ (more on him another time). The music video was for Tag’s track ‘Deluded’. Deluded is a brilliant song, trippy vocal delivery and dreamy synth swells make this tune an instant classic in the cloud rap scene. As for the video, first off… that drip was on point, that video made me want an Off White jumper more than ever! Secondly, it seems to be filmed in a foggy Japanese-looking park, looking like something straight out of an anime & thirdly, those dance moves are absolutely iconic!

I can’t emphasise how much this guy deserves way more recognition than he has. In an interview with Splur (which can be found here), Tag states that it is hard to break out of Australia as a rapper because there are only a select few radio stations that only really play local singer/songwriter music and pop, so mad respect to Tag for getting himself out there! His fans are generally a dedicated bunch, I think it’s easy to get caught up in his health goth style, his trippy, cloudy music and the fun he seems to have with his music. I think it’s very important to me that an artists sounds like they have fun with their music, it makes the experience more enjoyable for the listener.

Tag is someone to look out for and I have a question for him… Tag mate, when are we going to hear a collab with Bladee & Ecco2k?

My Personal Favourite: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ivCb4FFJ3BU

Peace,

Mike

Producers do not get the recognition they deserve and I get it, vocals are exciting, but I tend to find more listening pleasure in synths and instruments.

Now, without further ado (and to prevent me sounding like a pretentious music nerd), I present to you… Blank Banshee.

Blank Banshee makes music that falls under the trap sub-genre ‘Vaportrap’, combining vaporwave and trap instrumental styles for an electronic bliss of relaxation with an edge. Honestly, as a producer myself I have tried to make music as aurally articulate as Blank Banshee and have failed miserably every time… that’s how you know he’s a good producer cos I’m sick! Anyway, somehow he makes music that makes you feel both underwater and in the clouds at the same time.

Blank Banshee is one of those artists that makes me drop everything and listen immediately when he releases an album, which is rare for me. His last release ‘Gaia’ made for such a pleasant listen, he really sounds like he has matured into his sound now which is great! He has still never fully revealed his identity which adds to the mystery surrounding his image, a bold business move that very few artists can pull off… maybe he just wants to remain lowkey famous rather than ‘highkey’ famous, which honestly is the best way to be.

My Personal Favourite: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KeW7Rk6HFFw

Peace,

Mike

Mama Mavis, the auntie of music turned 81 last July. To my knowledge, she is the oldest artist still recording full length albums to this day. In an interview with NPR, she stated that “We need a change. And every chance I get I’m going to sing songs of change”. (full article can be found here). Mavis is here to stay, and whether you like it or not, a change is coming.

I recently acquired a vinyl copy of her record ‘We Get By’ and it makes for a very joyful listen full of uplifting soulful ballads with socially conscious lyrics written by Ben Harper, the album was also produced by Harper.

Her range is extremely impressive for her age and she certainly looks to have not aged one bit in the last 20 years. In 2017, Mavis appeared on the Gorillaz album ‘The Now Now’ alongside Vince Staples (no relation) and Pusha T offering a powerful vocal performance to prove that she still can make music that fits in perfectly with these modern times.

I feel that Mavis serves as perfect inspiration for any young singer from any race that you can enjoy an outstanding career for as long as you’d like, and I can’t wait to hear more material from her in the near future.

My Personal Favourite: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4Ks9w3PNxM

Peace,

Mike