LP Walkthrough: Inkswel & The Snaglepuss - Chasing Infinity

Afew months on from dropping the single Let it Grow feat. Talib Kweli, Baba Israel & Erin Buku (that we found out all about here), veteran Adelaide producer Inkswel today unveils his latest full-length LP as Inkswel & The Snaglepuss, the star studded concept album that is Chasing Infinity. 

Never one to be pigeonholed genre-wise, Inkswel draws on his decade plus of production experience on Chasing Infinity, taking us on a stylistic journey through hip hop, g-funk, broken beat, house and more, while lyrically vocalists including Talib Kweli, Amp Fiddler, Steve Spacek and Kylie Auldist describe “a cosmic quest for a new galactic home, searching for a better place and stopping on every dancefloor on the way.”

Out today, Inkswel took some time to tell us the story behind each track and what it was like to work with all these ridiculously talented musicians on Chasing Infinity - have a listen and get to know below!

01. Let It Grow featuring Talib Kweli, Erin Buku & Baba Israel

This song is really the opus of the whole record... I never imagined as a 15 year old pimply hip hop teen I would one day collaborate with Talib Kweli, one of my all time favorite emcees..I grew up listening to Rawkus records, lyricist lounge and Blackstar so it's humbling after many years working hard at my craft to collaborated with Talib...I originally made the beat around a slowed down disco sample and Erin played some chords on top, we then got Stephen Lane our bass player to add some funk, after this we removed the original sample and took it in a new uptempo direction- the demo was sent to Talib with the hook that Erin sang and he based his verse around hers...a real magic moment in our careers. The icing on the cake was the spoken word outro from our friend Baba Israel.

02. Everything featuring Dudley Perkins

I have been a huge fan of Dudley Perkins aka Declaime for years after his older works with Lootpack and Stonesthrow, his amazing rap delivery only grew bigger for me when he released his singing albums with Madlib - a true raw poet. I had originally sent him a different beat, but I felt that it needed to shine more and fit in with the Snaglepuss sound so I flipped a different beat under his raps and got Erin to add some backup vocals, a simple approach but a really fresh track. 

03. Mystical Magic feat. Lee Scratch Perry & Elf Tranzporter

This one is a groundbreaking moment for me. On a wim towards the end of finishing the album I emailed LSP manager (who is also his wife). I didn't expect a reply but was pleasantly surprised to receive vocals back straight away over a loose beat loop idea I sent, the original version was very stripped back.. Lee came with his signature raw poetic spoken word ramblings which glided effortlessly over my original concept. I sat with the track for a few weeks and then sadly woke up one morning to the news of his passing. A really sad day for modern music, he was a true pioneer. It took me a while to tackle this track as working on something posthumously was something new to me and I really wanted to capture the essence of our collaboration and both of our styles. Not many know i'm a big reggae and digital dub head, and it's a style I've only ventured into a little production wise- so I needed to take a thought out approach to the final work.

I got my musical partner Erin to add a little chord work over the original idea and then Stephen added some bass and we then had the skeleton idea, I took this further with lots of bleeps and synths to take it in a real digi-dub direction, this made the track idea pop more. To finish it all we invited long time friend and local reggae-hip hop legend Elf Tranzporter to be the glue the song needed, i'm deeply proud of this auspicious collaboration. 

04. Butterflies feat. Steve Spacek

Spacek is my Radiohead. Honestly it's so special to call Steve a friend after years of obsessing over his works. His early album Shapeshift is one of my top 5 all time favourite albums. Me and Steve have worked together a few times and rocked many sets together live as part of our extended Steppers/Lioness crew in Sydney so this was a no brainer, and Steve always brings something beautiful and mesmerising to his vocal approach.

05. New Day feat. Kylie Auldist & N'fa Jones

This track was originally a disco/boogie idea me and Erin messed around with when stuck in melbourne's 2021 lockdown, the idea was more of a demo to then give to another vocalist, but Erin came correct with the sultry chords so I spent some time funking it up and making the whole piece sound a little more raw by using my signature selection of vintage gear, arturia plugins and mpc ear paired with a massive bass line from Stephen Lane.  Around the same time I had been chatting to my long time friend Kylie Auldist about finally doing some music together, we have known each other over 15 years so it was well overdue- as everyone was in lockdown at the time Kylie came back with her idea super fast and then we melted the idea into a beautiful concept. To finish things off I brought in my long time homie N'fa Jones to add the guest raps, a real roller disco feel on this one. 

06. Chasing Infinity feat. Oliver Night

The title track to the record. Oliver Night is seriously one of the best upcoming talents in the UK right now, the biggest track from my past album 'Astral Love'  featured his vocals, he has a powerful voice that is one part Dwele, two parts Peven Everett and a sprinkle of that vintage UK soul 2 soul lean. He's a remarkable talent on the vocals and beats - this one was a no-brainer, he just took the idea and did something effortlessly special. 

07. How I Feel featuring Amp Fiddler

Amp Fiddler taught Dilla how to use the MPC. He is Detroit music royalty. A true modern soul pioneer. I've been following his work for years, I was lucky enough to remix a track from his MOTOR BOOTY album a few years ago, but I always planned to do a proper track with him down the line. I'm so greatful to have him on this album. He added his signature vocal stylings to my production and I was blessed to also have him add live organs. A fun and innocent love joint.

08. Cosmic Love Affair feat. Erik Rico & Kaidi Tatham

Going back to my Boogie and B-boy vibes.. I was working on some more drum machine focussed works and sent some ideas to my brother Kaidi, I then added some more sparkle and sent the idea to Erik..he added the amazing Pfunk era vocals and funk guitar... this one slams!

09. Intergalactic B-Boy Anthem feat. Kaidi Tatham

The only instrumental selection on the record, this one is simply for my broken beat heads...outer space vibes.

Inkswel & The Snaglepuss' new album Chasing Infinity is out now via Cosmocities Records.

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