Carl Hudson - Pixel Planet (2016)

Originally hailing from the hinterland of Boston, Lincolnshire, and arriving in London in 2008, Carl began making a name for himself as a go-to keyboard player, spending several years playing for UK rapper Professor Green - appearing on Jools Holland, Glastonbury’s Pyramid Stage, and touring the world. However his calling was always going to be soul, funk and jazz.

Carl soon struck up a partnership with producer SoulPersona and along with Nick van Gelder, Andy Tolman, Terry Lewis and label-mate Katie Leone, they formed the nucleus of the Digisoul Band, laying down the rhythm section for rare groove artists such as Leon Ware, Jean Carne, the Valentine Brothers and the Jones Girls when they made rare UK appearances. These gigs began to stoke a soul fire, and the band evolved into a musical unit that still burns strong today.

During this time, Carl began writing several concept spacejazz albums under the moniker ‘The Red Reverend’, each of which featured a narrator, and a futuristic space theme. These albums were to be the genesis of his first official release in 2013 - ‘Zoology for Martians’, which told the story of evolution of life on earth through the medium of cosmic funk, using a vocoder, judicious use of a sampler and a myriad of homemade electronics and vintage keyboards - and of course the musical skills of his allies in the Digisoul Band.

Now, having made himself an indispensable member of the UK soul/funk scene, playing live performances of ‘Zoology’ to much acclaim, as well as setting up a regular Groove Night at London’s 606 Jazz club, Carl has recently finished work on his second album - Pixel Planet, which tells the story of an alien spacecraft, exploring our solar system, 30,000 years into the future - looking for the last bastion of human activity long after we have departed. This dystopian tale is told using a huge array of cosmic electronics, many of which were soldered together by Carl himself, including his own DIY synthesiser - the ReCyclotron 64 - constructed out of Commodore 64 chips and built in an MDF box, and providing some of the monster bass lines on this album. As well as calling in the Digisoul gang, some new friends appear on this album, including powerhouse drummers Pete Ray Biggin, and ‘Jungle’ Jimmy Norden.