MR M I TCH
TOUR I ST
Dark synth ‘n’ drum-smattered grime
Old school garage, 21st century style
Haunting, experimental beats ooze from the mind of Mr Mitch, a
London grime artist whose music has a claustrophobic, alienlike quality. His ‘Don’t Leave’ four-tracker, his debut for Mike
Paradinas’ Planet Mu label, evokes a sense of menace and terror
through repetitive drum loops and melancholic synthesisers. The
title track is like being sucked into a black hole, the repeated
line “Don’t leave me, girl” accompanied by wailing synths,
dragging you ever deeper, but strangely leaving you wanting
more. With his recently released first album, the often ominous
‘Parallel Memories’, Mr Mitch twists grime into a genre of his
own making that will thrill and disturb in equal measure.
Brightonian William Phillips, for he is Tourist, posted a picture of
a recent vinyl haul on his Facebook page – J Dilla’s ‘Donuts’, Joni
Mitchell’s ‘Blue’, Caribou’s ‘Our Love’ and Miles Davis’ ‘Kind Of
Blue’. Before you’ve heard a note you already like the fella, right?
Growing up with older sisters bang into their garage and then
picking his path escorted by the likes of LTJ Bukem, MJ Cole, Roni
Size and The Streets, it’s little surprise his own take is garagey
in flavour, albeit with an electropop tinge. Tourist is signed to
Disclosure’s Method Records (home to Sam Smith, whose chart
shagging ‘Stay With Me’ he co-wrote) and has been moving in the
right direction since his 2012 debut ‘Tourist’ EP. His latest offering,
‘Illuminate’ (featuring fellow hotshots Years & Years), hit the
shelves at the end of last year. And if the our musical divining rod
works proper, that’s a lethal 2015 combo if ever we saw one.
I BE Y I
Where electronica meets organica
WHO THEY?
Born in Cuba and upping sticks to France at the age of two,
19-year-old twin sisters Naomi and Lisa-Kaindé Diaz serve up
emotionally charged, sparse, percussion-led missives.
WHY IBEYI?
Their sound is a potent brew, with Naomi’s love of hip hop
and all things electronica meeting Lisa-Kiandé’s soul and jazz
influences head on. What’s more, Ibeyi further mix things up
by singing in English and Yoruba, a Nigerian language brought
to Cuba by their father’s descendants via chants that rang out
on slave ships in the 18th century – the very same chants that,
hundreds of years later, their Venezuelan mother would sing
when the girls were little.
TELL US MORE
Hang on, Cuba? Their father was none other than Anga Díaz,
the legendary Buena Vista Social Club percussionist who
sadly died in 2006. He lives on through his daughters’ music,
which makes good use of his weapon of choice, the cajón. The
girls’ eponymous debut album is released by XL Recordings in
February, by which time they’ll already be owning 2015. Oh,
“Ibeyi”? Yoruban for “twins”.