Artist: Blair French
Title: The Art Of Us
Label: Rocksteady Disco
Cat #: RSD-LP001
Format: Double LP including full color original insert with lyrics + more, cassette, digital, streaming
Genre: Afro House, Beatdown, Cosmic, R&B, Afrobeat, Spiritual Jazz, Balearic
Release Date: September 1, 2020
Buy / Pre Order
The Art Of Us (TAOU) begins with the story of Blair French, a cosmic messenger raised in a house of 7 on the outskirts of a historic city. From dancing at mom’s disco parties at a young age, to releasing rap tapes in middle school, winning best soundtrack for the multi-award-winning film DETROPIA and hitting the Billboard charts with his Pure Sounds of Michigan compilation; ultimately French found a home in the world of all things Detroit, Pan-African, Balearic, and ambient. TAOU is his first instrumental LP under his own name, (despite a 25 year career), bringing together his closest musical compatriots.
Blair’s diverse production shines on this immersive 14 track release, transcending organic/electronic, uptempo/downtempo, and light/dark, tapping in heavyweight characters including Pathe Jassi, John Arnold, Craig Huckaby, Todd Modes, Kaylan Waterman, Peter Croce, Eddie Logix, Paul Randolph, 2040, Michael Jurczak and more.
Sonically, TAOU holds peak-hour Deep Cosmic Afro House freak outs („Faded By The Sun“, „Celebration Ritual“, „F O A“, „Chest Drum“), blunted beatdown cuts („Stay Detroit“, „Jeans“, „Drop Ceiling Shuffle“, „River Crossing“), and soulful R&B and Afrobeat compositions („Honey Rooftops“, „Genes“, „Space Time Curvature“).
Mastered by Atjazz, the vinyl is cut loud to lacquer by Carl at Trutone, and pressed with love at Archer on the east side of Detroit. It includes a double sided full color art insert with lyrics on the flip side.