Hippos in Tanks

Dean Blunt – ‘Walls of Jericho Pt.2’

28 November 2013
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It feels like there’s a continual subtext to Dean Blunt‘s releases. Especially when dropping such a short and sharp video as this one, featuring said performer in a Stetson staring out over a body of water, while his typically breathy talk-singing relays, “you’ve got a problem, when it comes to honesty”, with added guitar inserts. That’s over the original orchestral sample of ‘Walls of Jericho’ from this year’s The Redeemer album, released on Hyperdub in May.

But whoever it is that’s going to “come running back” to him, as his Brixton 28s exhibition at [ space ] in East London confirmed, Blunt’s not here to give us any answers. **

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Copeland – ‘Fit’

28 August 2013
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Strange things have been happening to Dean Blunt and Inga Copeland (surprise), even since before their typically weirdly-worded ‘split’ via their soundcloud a couple of weeks ago. That profile is credited to “cplnd” and had been hiterto used by both the Hype Williams off-shoots of the original London-sprung duo.

But now, following a surprise drop from a Russian hotel room by Blunt, we have a YouTube for Copeland, reduced to a mononym and muffling her idiosyncratic vocals under a mire of woozy synth lines and clacking beats. Hopefully there’s more to come but we won’t know until it happens.

See the Hippos in Tanks website if you want to try and figure it out. **

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Dean Blunt Euro tour

17 July 2013
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Dean Blunt puts out music far more frequently than he plays live, which is why his upcoming Autumn European tour features one date for September and October before dropping into an uncharacteristically full(ish) schedule for the following month in November.

After years of anonymity, jealously guarding his face from fans with Hype Williams, the London-based artist has been showing a lot more of it with the promo shots around The Redeemer, his debut out in May of this year, and the recent ‘Felony / Stalker’ 7-inch. That came accompanied by a video featuring Blunt and a dog standing around, near some cars, on a cliff-top that looked suspiciously like Australia, where he performed with Inga Copeland of Hype Williams earlier this year. He also played at CTM Festival in January and, by all accounts, it was worth it. See the tour dates and video below. **

 

TOUR DATES

SEPTEMBER

Wed 11 LONDON, 100 CLUB

OCTOBER

Fri 11 BARCELONA, CCCB

NOVEMBER

Thu 7 LISBON, TEATRO MARIA MATOS
Thu 21 BRUSSELS, AB
Fri 22 BERLIN, FESTSAAL KREUZBERG
Sat 23 COPENHAGEN, JAZZHOUSE
Mon 25 AMSTERDAM, BIMHUIS
Tue 26 PARIS, POINT EPHEMERE
Fri 29 BRISTOL, ARNOLFINI
Sat 30 LIVERPOOL, BLADE FACTORY

DECEMBER

Sun 1 GLASGOW, THE ARCHES

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Dean Blunt – ‘Road 2 Redemption’.

Dean Blunt - 'Road 2 Redemption'.
22 April 2013
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In the lead up to Dean Blunt‘s highly anticipated, and we daresay brilliantly promoted, second album, The Redeemer, out on Hippos in Tanks, May 1, the musician, artist and self-made myth, has dropped a new track, not to appear on the forthcoming track listing but enough to get the romantic vibe, his press has been alluding to.

With the upcoming album to include track titles like ‘Seven Seals of Affirmation’, ‘Walls of Jericho’ and ‘All Dogs Go To Heaven’ there’s no mistaking the spirito-mystical bent of Blunt’s recent direction, in line with a growing post-science current towards a sort of neo-transcendentalism that new media artists like Theodore Darst and groups like The Eternal Internet Brotherhood echo. As they say, “where Science fails, God prevails”. See The Redeemer track listing below. **

TRACK LISTING

1. I Run New York
2. The Pedigree
3. Demon
4. Flaxen
5. V
6. The Redeemer
7. Seven Seals Of Affirmation
8. Walls Of Jericho
9. Make It Official
10. Need 2 Let U Go
11. Dread
12. Y3
13. Papi
14. Mmix
15. All Dogs Go To Heaven
16. Imperial Gold
17. Predator
18. Brutal
19. Pa

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Dean Blunt – ‘X-tasy’.

Dean Blunt. X-tasy.
6 March 2013
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Dean Blunt just loves to push those buttons. If he isn’t destroying ear drums with a high frequency pitch change at the German debut of The Narcissist -a play-slash-live music performance presented at this year’s CTM Festival -then he’s releasing ‘X-tasy’ as an obtuse comment on racial profiling in modern media accompanied by a wikipedia link to the Spike Lee-coined ‘Magical Negro’ trope. Incidentally, it’s that very signal, turning from barely perceptible bass through to skull-crushing treble over four monotonous minutes, that Blunt played in Berlin already and it’s apparently a harbinger to his upcoming album The Redeemer, out on Hippos in Tanks and World Music Group, May 1.

The implications of such a ‘track’ are plentiful. Perhaps pointing most explicitly to the contemporary obsession with RnB culture, by mainstream pop and the underground alike, as some kind of exploitative mechanism. Especially, when accompanied by a video of a ripped African-American, D’Angelo miming his highly-explicit ‘Untitled (How Does It Feel)’ in super-slow motion.

Make of it what you will and listen through actual speakers.**

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Inga Copeland EP due March 4.

Inga Copeland.
27 February 2013
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After hearing Inga Copeland‘s brilliantly moody ‘BMW’ last year, suddenly the prospect of Hype Williams potentially disbanding became easier to bear. That, along with the great work on her cohort Dean Blunt‘s ‘The Narcissist’ and the unfairly short teaser of an upcoming EP produced by Holland’s Martyn (aka Martijn Deykers) and London’s DVA, means things aren’t just looking up but are potentially even better than before.

That’s why the aformentioned 12″ with Deykers and DVA, Don’t Look Back, That’s Not Where You’re Going is another welcome addition to the post-Hype Williams empire. Available for pre-order on Boomkat the record is out through Hippos in Tanks and Blunt/Copeland-run World Music Group, on March 4. It features Martyn and DVA sinking deeper from their combined dubstep and DnB past into a dub-infused haze, while Copeland carries on with the fractured universal hip hop of Hype Williams along a uniquely smoky vocal.**

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Physical Therapy – ‘Do It Alone’

Physical Therapy. Do It Alone.
22 February 2013

It’s been some time since New Jersey producer Physical Therapy (aka Daniel Fisher) released his deliciously elevated Safety Net EP on Hippos In Tanks in June last year. But that hasn’t stopped him from dropping an animated video for his track ‘Do It Alone’ to remind us.

Reflecting the synthetic-though-verdant feel of a track that mixes a penchant for mid-90s sounding breaks and towering vocal samples before being knotted and fed through a fluctuating audio channel, the slightly strange revisiting of early millennial graphics is the perfect accompaniment to a most eccentric oeuvre.**

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Dean Blunt’s ‘Narcissist II’ reviewed.

Dean Blunt. Princely Pastiche.
11 December 2012
reviews

Dean Blunt is one half ever-evolving art and music project Hype Williams. Working across media, the east-London native has been creating sounds and works informed by and in opposition to the post-modern sensibility since his debut with other half Inga Copeland in 2009. Since then, the duo have released a handful of EPs and albums, developing a substantial cult following around their own self-created and spectral non-image.

Dean Blunt. Image courtesy of Hippos in Tanks.
Dean Blunt. Image courtesy of Hippos in Tanks.

Continue reading Dean Blunt’s ‘Narcissist II’ reviewed.

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