Denver producer and visual artist John T. Hastings aka RUMTUM returns to
Bastard Jazz for his second album on the label, “Arcadian Daze”. The
album is a contemplative drive down a nostalgic highway, reflecting on a
period of his late adolescence growing up in Ohio, spending time at
Arcadia Beach on Lake Erie and discovering the likes DJ Shadow, Madlib,
Fila Brazilla, early Four Tet, the original Ninja Tune roster and more.
Revisiting these coming of age memories, John purchased an older MPC
2000XL and set out to musically capture the excitement of putting his
first nascent loops together, inspired by this pivotal era of electronic
music that has since birthed movements like such as Lo-Fi/Chillhop,
Vaporwave, LA’s mid-2000s Beat Scene / Low End Theory, etc.
The end result of “Arcadian Daze” is indeed filled with that nostalgic
spirit paying homage to those aforementioned sounds, but also presents a
forward thinking musical palate that’s very much grounded in RUMTUM’s
sensibilities as a producer and time spent learning to program new &
vintage outboard gear. The album moves away from the warm, dreamy
sounds of last year’s “Isles in Indigo” LP, and touches more into a
mystical, pensive vibe with elements of darkness and light.
Tracklist: 1. No Drugs Needed 2. Echo Drift 3. Arcadian Daze 4. Utopia Dock Lab 1986 5. Bike Race to Nowhere 6. Under 1000 Clouds 7. Pier Light 8. Vapor Sun 9. DaBrye Squared 10. Life in Reverse 11. Sand Spirit
