Jaymie Silk - The Rise & Fall Of Jaymie Silk & Rave Culture (2022)

Protean producer Jaymie Silk returns to Shall Not Fade with an intensely club-driven LP. On ‘The Rise & Fall Of Jaymie Silk & Rave Culture’ a range of vocal samples tell a story over assertive rhythms that switch rapidly so that hard-hitting acid becomes breaks before melting into sleazy, low-end bass techno. Strap in!

It’s not easy to anticipate how any release from the Paris-based Jaymie Silk will sound. A self-proclaimed musical nomad and a real jack-of-all-trades, his artistic identity is defined by its undefinability. With this release - a follow-up from ‘The Legend of Jack Johnson’ EP released on Shall Not Fade last year - Jaymie references the kaleidoscope of sounds which inspired him to make music in the first place.

Sampling an iconic Malcolm X speech, the force of which is bolstered by giant synth swells and clattering percussion, ‘Freedom For Everybody’ places the album in the context of diaspora and resistance - themes that run ever-present through Jaymie’s music. With ‘The Heat’, he pays tribute to late ‘80s dance music, with a classic Lyn Collins drum break sample and diva-esque vocals. The hard-hitting acid-tinged techno of ‘Start Swinging’ sees the album at its most assertive before ‘Bad B’ takes things camper with deep bass pulses and pitched-shifted vocals which affirm ‘I’m a bad bitch, yeah you heard about me’. ‘Cats Love Drums’ offers another direction completely with polyrhythmic percussion and real ‘meow’s before the two closing tracks leave a taste of sentimentality, with a major-key vocal melody and a giddy 150BPM pulse (‘Waiting For The Day’) and an intimate slow burner (‘Take Time To Breathe’).