James Blake (Album)

James Blake is the debut studio album of the Dubstepproduzenten James Blake from London. It was published both in Europe and in the U.S. on his own label, ATLAS, but was supported by A & M Records. It was published on 7 February 2011.

The album details such as cover and track list were revealed on December 20, 2010. The album leakte the next day on the internet.

Genesis

James Blake builds on the material that Blake published in the form of three EPs from 2010: The Bells Sketch, CMYK and piano works. All of these EPs have different styles of music. Remarked Mike Powell from Internet music magazine Pitchfork, it was " fascinating " ( "amazing" ) that so much material could be published in such a short time. However, despite the amount of music by Blake from the year 2010 the majority of the material on his debut album is completely new.

In interviews about the album Blake cited the London band The xx as a big influence and said to Robin Murray from Clash Magazine that the success of their debut xx ( 2009) " made ​​it much easier for me " has. He added that the positive response mean to the xx album that listeners " will be much less shocked [ my album ]. "

Blake said in a BBC interview that a lot of singing on the album from him even though he's got more focused in previous work on samples. " There are places where it sounds as if the song is a sample, but in truth I am as sample itself, making the plate in comparison to all other tracks by me so special. "

Before the release of the album Blake was " Sound of 2011 " list of the BBC already in and was at the Brit Awards Critics' Prize at the second place by Jessie J.

Reception

James Blake received mostly praise from the press.

Wrote Kitty Empire from The Observer, James Blake is " already one of the most promising albums 2011". The album was described as a mixture of " dubstep Nebraska or Sea Change ", " a mix full of self- revelation, introspection and naked humanity. " Clash Magazine described Blake as a " crown prince of a quiet revolution."

On time online wrote Claas Hendrik Relotius:

"The real phenomenon of this album remains in any case, Blake's courage to leave gaps: Again and again, put spooky breaks on beat and vocals. Almost want to get up and see if the audio system is broken - before a zerhäckselte vocoder voice synthesizer and then but promote the song yet. James Blake celebrates restraint and silence, while his listeners jiepern after the next music sensation. This artistic sovereignty must have for now. "

The album was also nominated for the Mercury Music Prize.

Title list

All tracks from James Blake, except " Limit To Your Love" ( Feist / Gonzales ), "The Wilhelm Scream" ( James Litherland and James Blake ), and " Lindisfarne II" ( James Blake and Rob McAndrews ).