Future Flavours #5 Rudi Zygadlo

August 11, 2015

So Future Flavours is back again after said writer (me) took a little break where I rejuvenated, re-invigorated and realized that I could not wait to get back and check out some fresh talent.

So here we go with Future Flavours #5 Rudi Zygadlo who certainly brings something quite different.

Before we get onto her the regular look at music news. That most legendary of musical figures, Prince made record labels quake ever so slightly by suggesting that the music business ultimately turns artists into ‘indentured servitude’. It’s not really some amazing revelation but it carries weight because an artist of his stature and experience voices that opinion-an opinion that many people share.

While I agree that this is certainly the case, on the horizon I think there is of course hope because with technology, social media and the ultimate savviness of the artists coming up, the ability to do it ‘alone’ and take home every penny made is more than possible. The need to be signed is now not the be all and end all and indeed you can ‘make it’ without some massive label or indeed small label but you of course need an extremely hard work ethic, determination and of course a moderate amount of luck.

Just look at Skepta who remains unsigned but is now on the brink of something very big where he will by all intent purposes pocket most if not all of his very hard earned cash all because he decided to say no to those who wanted to take his pie and make it their pie! Independence is the way forward so get onto it already and belief in your self!

Anyway that done let’s get on to an independent producer, songwriter from Scotland called Rudi Zygadlo and his rather different self managing to be the creative force behind a sound I like to coin as of bohemian pop/ electronica-if there is such a damn thing!

Info goes that he is ‘like no other’ and in many respects I would have to agree as his sound seems to resist any clear defined genre (aside from the one I have given him). Influences for our North of the border creative are as diverse as his sound (as one would expect) -notes state he is an amalgamation of ‘Dub-step rewired using influences as wide as Frank Zappa, Eastern European Classical music and contemporary US Indie’.

Way back in 2010 Rudi was already tipped for some big things and since that nod Rudi has steadily built a name to vindicate that prediction. In no way a criticism but I would say that Rudi is a marmite producer-you will either like his production or you won’t there will be no fence sitters. I for one like him because he is marmite (incidentally I hate that yeast tasting debacle called food) and because he is different-it means he is not conforming and who likes conformists anyway-buck the trend already!?

So in 2010 he brought a debut single that set the line in the sand with Resealable Friendship which evidently touched on the influences that marked out his earlier sound. The single starts with an almost serene intro before it is smashed apart like Arsenal against West Ham with a thunderous bass that rips up all sub-standard bass speakers-lots of whirring dubstep- sounds mean that it’s not easy listening but my junglist, drum n bass loving self absorbed it like a sponge. The single was of course the taster and he followed that with his debut lp Great Western Layman. It seemed in many respects a project marked by Rudi’s flight of fantasy with the producer clearly experimenting and indeed pulling off (in the main) a fusion of genres.

Since his initial blast onto the music scene, Rudi has been as diligent and as productive as ever churning out releases and remixes for each year (bar 2013) where he seems to have taken stock. Features in publications like Dazed followed and all releases pointed to the fact that Rudi is the highest order of producer. Remixes have of course followed and I pick out his remix of Lianna Le Havas’ Is Your Love Big Enough turning her brilliant original track into something almost unrecognizable-it’s more funky while being ever so slightly more brooding.

Like I said 2013 seems to have been the period where Rudi took a break and I expect reflected or at least decided on a different trajectory. In many respects in his newer incarnation, Rudi post 2013 seemed to have toned down on the heavier dub-step elements and came with a sound that seems more refined, more musical, more complete and I expect erring more to a more commercially viable type of sound.

Dissident Song was released in 2014 and perfectly epitomizes that slightly different Rudi, it’s starts off with a classic piano intro before bringing something that would make one Bon Iver very happy being a sound I like to call melancholic joy- I actually really like it and think it shows that Rudi is at his foundation a very versatile producer. Check out the great video by the way.

Further cuts in that more sedate mould are Lily definitely like this and Slow Carz released on Diplo’s Mad Decent imprint.

So up to date and his most recent bit of production is Scrapbook Sympathies a three track ep that does see Rudi balance wall of his influences creating something that is striking because it is sonically quite different from some of the music out there right now. There are definitely pop sensibilities on this project and Rudi in this guise is more up-beat. The title track brings synths and that feel good factor. In terms of this ep Black Bile has to be the one for me again very different and you are unlikely to hear anything similar to it. While it is different it is still very much a banger tight chorus, tight hook, great production.