Jimmy Edgar will release Cheetah Bend, a new solo album on Innovative Leisure.
Recorded over the past few years across Atlanta, Detroit, Los Angeles, and beyond, Cheetah Bend draws as much on Edgar’s vibrant 15-year discography as a producer as it does his ubiquity in rap circles. It comes eight years after Majenta, his last album, and “improbably synthesizes what might seem like disparate styles,” we’re told, “unspooling fresh perspectives and glistening sound design that flaunts genre rules.”
“The value I bring is hybridization,” Edgar explains of his approach. “I think about different universes of sound coming together to create an entirely new domain of knowing.”
Building upon a slew of Edgar’s prior collaborative endeavours, Cheetah Bend finds him working in tandem with a variety of artists, including Danny Brown, SOPHIE, and Hudson Mohawke.
“SOPHIE and I spent time together trading files, sounds, and techniques, developing a new kind of version of modal synthesis,” Edgar says of having used resonators and delays to emulate sonic environs akin to pipes, tunnels, and vibrating sheets.
According to the label, Danny Brown does “irreparable microphone damage” to “Get Up,” a tough love motivational set to springy synth flourishes and bass rattling. Toronto singer Rochelle Jordan, a recent J-E-T-S collaborator, imbues the lithe R&B suite “Crank,” while Atlanta trapper B La B spits streetwise singsong over a snappy beat.
Since emerging as a prodigious teen via early pseudonymous offerings for respected electronic labels like Merck, Edgar broke out under his own name in 2004 on Warp Records. His recent move from Berlin to the sunnier climes of Los Angeles has proven a “turning point,” we’re told, altering his perspective again and exposing him to a wider musical universe.
Tracklisting
01. BE WITH YOU (feat. Millie Go Lightly)
02. BENT (feat. Hudson Mohawke)
03. CHEETAH (feat. Semma)
04. CRANK (feat. Rochelle Jordan)
05. CROWN
06. CURVES
07. TURN (feat. B La B)
08. GET UP (feat. Danny Brown)
09. HAVE A GREAT NOW!
10. METAL (feat. SOPHIE)
11. NOTICE (feat. 24hrs)
12. PAUSE (feat. Matt Ox)
13. READY2DIE (feat. Messer)
14. ZIGZAG
Cheetah Bend LP is scheduled for February 26 release on vinyl and digitally Meanwhile, you can stream a number of the tracks via the player below, and pre-order the album here.
