Master of ambient electronic soundscapes, James Blake (born 26 September 1988) from London, England has been creating and producing musical masterpieces since 2009.
With passion for music nurtured from an early age, it led Blake to Goldsmith’s University where graduated in Popular Music. Emerging as a promising and exciting dubstep producer in 2006, Blake began as a producer injecting his samples reflecting his love of R&B into his dubstep remixes. In 2009 he released the double A side single “Air & Lack Thereof” recorded in his bedroom which received glowing reviews from Radio 1 DJ Gilles Peterson who picked up the track as a firm favourite. For the next year Blake began lending his vocals to his forthcoming releases the “Klavierwerke” and “CMYK” EP’s. The title track from “CMYK” was named as Radio 1 DJ Nick Grimshaw’s ‘Record of the Week’.
With influences ranging from the likes of: D’Angelo, Joni Mitchell, Bon Iver and Stevie Wonder, Blake’s inherent vocal talent rose to the occasion with the BBC nominating him as Sound of 2011 alongside The Vaccines, Jamie Woon and Clare Maguire. Releasing his debut self-titled album in February 2011 saw him peak at number nine in the UK album charts and featured the singles “Limit to Your Love” and “The Wilhelm Scream”.
Later that year, Blake produced the “Enough Thunder” EP which included a collaboration with Bon Iver on the track “Fall Creek Boys Choir” and a cover of Joni Mitchell’s “A Case of You”. Blake spent much of 2012 touring his material playing a mixture of intimate and medium sized shows nationwide.
In 2013, Blake released his second full length album “Overgrown” featuring collaborations with Brian Eno and RZO which peaked at number eight in the UK album charts and was praised amongst his peers. The album produced the Ivor Novello award winning single “Retrogade” and earned him a string of nominations at the Grammy’s, BRIT’s as he took home the 2013 Mercury Prize for “Overgrown”.
Rapper Kanye West once stated in a radio interview that Blake was one of his favourite artists, hinting at a possible future collaboration. With lavish sounds which take listeners through a rollercoaster of emotions and styles, Blake continues to amaze constantly pushing boundaries and genre confines.
Courtney Barnett
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