Emanative
Emanative is the project of drummer, percussionist and producer Nick Woodmansey, who brings together and co-creates with a select tribe of acclaimed musicians and vocalists, the nucleus of which for this album are namely Jessica Lauren & Ben Hadwen along with ‘Level’ Neville Malcolm. The vocals come courtesy of Deborah Jordan, Liz Elensky and Heidi Vogel.
A major break came from BBC Radio One D.J. Gilles Peterson who after hearing the track 'Turn Your Lights On' which features Flying Lotus collaborator Ahu on vocals, announced "I love that tune, I love that tune!!". He then subsequently released it on his own label Brownswood Recordings, on the eminent Brownswood Bubblers 3 compilation. Both single releases Petite Planète and When On Earth have also seen his support on Radio One and other shows.
Another Brownswood connection was made when Nick remixed the timeless and classic José James track - Velvet, which although as yet unreleased, has seen airplay worldwide from the likes of Michael Ruetten, Dom Servini and Gilles himself. This track as well as Wind, Sand And Stars from the album, also feature Heidi Vogel fresh from her worldwide tour with the Cinematic Orchestra.
"After working with, or as a member of various other bands and projects for some years, i reached a point where i was listening to and checking out more jazz. But having been brought up on rock and then choosing for myself the more soul, funk and hip-hop path as a musician, it was time for a decision: was i going to study jazz, in order to pursue the session player type of route, or was i going to actually become a producer myself? (An idea that was quite surreal to me at the time). I was however also slightly bored with the ultra polished and perfect sound of much electronic and programmed music and have always been more into the general soul and feel over the technique. It wasn't until i closely inspected the music, the type of musicians and producers who really moved me personally, that i was able to make the decision to invest my time and energy in the Emanative project and my concept for it. As the producer and bandleader I knew that I could select the type of people i wanted to create with. They had to be highly competent players, but more importantly they had to be communicative and simple in their style and approach and be able to cross over from club culture to slightly abstract, through to soul and jazz."
I had already begun experimenting and messing around with the first Emanative productions and was simply sampling my live drums and various jazz records and live sessions, but it wasn't until later on when I started working with Ben, Jessica and Neville that the concept locked in sonically. The first two tracks created together were kind of modal jazz, and were both downtempo. One of which was Petite Planète which gained some interest from friend Simon S, label boss of the then recently formed Futuristica Music. It was this enthusiasm and support from Simon and also Deborah Jordan at this moment which was definately a much needed kickstart to the project. Petite Planète was signed up to the label, along with a vocal version which was still in progress at that time. It was at this point that both Ben and Jessica urged Nick to put forward some of the more hip-hop and dance floor aimed material that was being worked on, an idea that met much enthusiasm from everyone involved and led to Emanative recording an album for Futuristica Music.
"Space" is inspired by the spiritual soul & jazz of the 70's as well as more recent dance culture with a definite head nod to the hip-hop attitude and approach in creating music. The album owes as much to Sun Ra, Alice Coltrane and Pharoah Sanders as it does to the current underground hip-hop scene and has similarites with the ecclectic kind of mix that is becoming more acceptable in this compilation album era, where a seven minute modal jazz track could blend nicely with some abstract hip-hop and then drop into the classic soul orchestration of a Charles Stepney piece or a more uptempo club track. It wasn't so clear at this early stage that such an ecclectic mish mash would work. But it was the use of the various horns and flutes including the signature bass clarinet and gyaling, the array of vintage analogue synthesizers, grounded by upright bass and Nick's mix of live and programmed beats, that when all thrown into the pot started to identify the unique Emanative sound. And thus we witness the birth of "space"...
The concept of "Space" obviously implys a passion for science fiction, as well as a subtle eastern influence but it also pays tribute to French aviator and writer Antoine de Saint-Exupéry and therefore isn't only refering to 'outer space' but also to regaining your own viewpoint and decisions for your life, whatever it's length, breadth and depth.
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