“British Hip-Hop Pioneers!” – Break to the Beat
“The Sindecut return better than ever with a tough, soulful, bottom-heavy delight of an album. A great mix of deep and catchy, which is exactly my style!” – Mr Scruff
Pioneering British Hip-Hop crew The Sindecut, featuring founding member DJ Fingers, and New York-based Geordie, singer-songwriter Ijeoma share their debut album ‘Late’, the cumulative outcome garnered from a 20-year creative collaboration and vision. ‘Late’ is being released as a super limited edition, hand-numbered, run of 500 vinyl, never to be repressed (in any format, variation or colour) ever again.
Talking about the upcoming album ‘Late’, Karl, aka DJ Fingers, says: “This album is a long time coming. I think the time has allowed us to mature in how we want to sound, and we are just attempting to build on our momentum creatively and are forever grateful to be collaborating with the musicians we work with.” Jess, aka Ijeoma, adds, “we paired the album with animations that interpret and bring to life the theme of each song on the record.”
London hip-hop collective The Sindecut are credited as one of the pioneers of the UK hip-hop scene, releasing the acclaimed ‘Changing The Scenery’ album in 1990 on Virgin Records (which was sampled by The Prodigy in “We Are The Ruffest” from the remix album of their classic ‘The Prodigy Experience’). The Sindecut were one of the first UK hip-hop groups to sign to a major label – fusing their sound with soul and reggae.
DJ Fingers is hailed as one of the first turntablists in the UK and featured in the iconic 1997 ‘Bad Meaning Good’ BBC documentary about UK hip-hop culture. A self-described Breakbeat DJ for MCs, he understands his role and link to the Sound System tradition. Influenced by the likes of Grandmaster Flash, Kool Herc, Grand Mixer DST, DJ Whizz Kid, and DJ Jazzy Jay – Fingers’ fundamental mantra is the running theme of “Knowledge of Self”, which he always strives to push conceptually through his many projects.
‘Late’ is interspersed with DJ Fingers’ trademark larger-than-life drums and Ijeoma’s magnetic vocals, lead-single “Different”, created on the day of Winnie Mandela's funeral, is about navigating and learning from life’s situations; while the jazz-infused single “Lucky”, laced with double bass and cinematic horns, was the first song the duo wrote for the album, and became the catalyst for the rest of the project. Album opener ‘Better Than Never’, is almost trip-hop in style, DJ Fingers atmospheric and cinematic hip-hop production meets Ijeoma’s yearning vocals, a formula selectively used throughout the sonic arch of the album, while reggae and dub seeps in on album focus track “Soldier”.
The album follows “Stand Tall”, an infectious slice of breakbeat street soul and The Sindecut and Ijeoma’s debut release on Tru Thoughts. “Stand Tall” was praised by the likes of Craig Charles, Don Letts (BBC 6Music) and Mr Scruff, and marked a new chapter for the duo on Tru Thoughts.
Tracklist:
1. Better Than Never
2. Soldier
3. Right Now
4. About You
5. Different
6. Change
7. Lucky
8. What You Love
9. All Mine
10. Freedom
