Friday 19 April 2024, 7.30pm
Beans has released two LPs and one EP on AntiPop Consortium's former label Warp Records since launching his solo career in 2003: Tomorrow Right Now, Now Soon Someday EP and Shock City Maverick. The third solo album Only was released on Thirsty Ear Recordings in 2005, followed by the fourth album Thorns on Adored And Exploited in 2007. In 2011, Beans released the fifth solo album, End It All. on Anticon.
In 2017, after a five-year hiatus and the completion of numerous simultaneous projects on his new imprint, Tygr Rawwk Rcrds, Beans returned to the public eye with not one, but three new albums, as well as his first novel. Die Tonight, 174 pages of weird fiction, tells the story of Eric Ford, a teenage loner who gets possessed by a record, goes on a killing spree, and finds himself.
The first album of the music trilogy, Wolves of the World, features production from Canadian producer Toboggan. The second album, Love Me Tonight, features various producers such as Sam Fogarino from Interpol, Gobby, Laurel Halo, Container, Ben Chisholm (Chelsea Wolfe), Tobacco, and Pete Swanson. Love Me Tonight delves into love and all of its manifestations, both rewarding and costly.
Lastly, HAAST, the third album, deals with social issues surrounding the increased unaccountability of violence towards Black America painted in a palette of expansive experimentation. The name, HAAST, derives from an extinct species of eagle that once lived on the South Island of New Zealand around 1400AD. This third album finds Beans working alongside Miami Schematic, music producer Ay Fast/Icky Reels, industrial noise duo Snake ZVK, and string composer-arranger, Christopher Auberbach-Brown. All three albums feature guest dynamic MCs, Elucid from Armand Hammer.
Since the trilogy in 2017, Beans has remained prolific with 7 more full length releases on his own imprint, Tygr Rawwk Rcrds that include Nights Without Smiles, Nibiru Tut, Someday This Will All Be Ash, Ace Balthazar, Team Break UP, and Venga in 2020 as well as the Bermuda Serpent Saliva Man/Viragor single in 2021.
BEANS is currently working on his next full length release entitled Harrower as well as a collaborative album with producer Vladislav Delay called ZWAARD.
Contemporary music landscape be damned.
Since recording the Chopped and Screwed Mixtape with Micachu and the Shapes and the London Sinfonietta, Brother May has worked with a varied cast of sonic pioneers, including Joe Goddard of Hot Chip, Matthew Herbert, Ben Vince, Kwes, Moor Mother, Tirzah and Kate Tempest while supporting visionary artists such as Ryuichi Sakomoto, Arca, Charles Hayward and Mount Kimbie at sold-out London dates: his endeavours haven’t gone unnoticed either, with publications like FACT Magazine and The Fader paying close attention, as well as radio support from NTS and BBC Radio 6. Brother May has also worked with prestigious London venues the Barbican and Camden Roundhouse. Brother May is a founder of the CURL Collective and performs with his – CURL - label mates Mica Levi and Coby Sey at international festivals such as CTM Festival, Earth – BBC Radio 3 – Late Junction and Rewire Festival. After proving his talents as a sought-after collaborator. He released his debut LP, Aura Type Orange – an album produced by Mica Levi with support from AWAL, Dazed and Mix. Brother May is mesmerizing, electrifying and thrillingly distinctive and he can clearly exhibit his talent as a lyricist, producer and creative talent.
