i went out on friday to catch little city cohort zeina open for mark henning at stereo, so naturally saturday was a write off. as i was loafting around in bed, drinking vodka and perusing twitter (as one does after a long night at stereo), i kept glimpsing the words “jai paul.” i decided i had better investigate, because anything (or anyone) mentioned by my current DJ crushes, jacques greene and bear//face, is worth a little googling. and so, kids, that is how i came upon jai paul, and spent a good couple hours winding through his new self-titled LP, which, unbeknownst to me, was his highly anticipated, muchhhh awaited debut album.
so who exactly is jai paul? well, his soundcloud doesn’t give much away. once i started digging, it kind of seemed like jai paul was just some weird kid from rayner’s lane in the UK who writes (probably weird) songs, produces, and makes bizarre photoshopped album art of himself in his room. but then, i played the first track. magic. jai paul is definitely just some weird kid who produces and photoshops his album art from his room as i suspected, but it only reinforces the fact that nerds make easily the best producers. i mean that in a completely non judgemental way. no, seriously!
his most recent production was posted over a year ago but is good enough that i knew i had to share it here. as it turns out, jai paul’s 16 track album actually features the much-beloved numbers found on his soundcloud, including the above jasmine (track #9), and his biggest hit, btstu (track #16). there’s also another goodie, a cover of jennifer paige’s crush, at number 7.
jai paul started gaining his cult following back in 2010 when he dropped btstu. the single went on to get sampled by the likes of drake and beyonce, and so jai paul began earning more and more attention. with a sound that hovers between electro soul, hip hop, indie electronica, and post-something goodness…jai paul is capturing hearts with featherlight vocal samplings, and unequivocally heavy bass. all good things.
you can stream his full album on bandcamp! happy monday!
