"FLIP" - New EP release notes

New EP release 'FLIP' from NAHreally & The Expert

So FLIP is the new EP by

NAHreally

& myself and has been out a few weeks and is available everywhere now. It is a follow on companion piece to our album from earlier this year “BLIP”. The project contains 7 tracks, consisting of 4 new songs and 3 remixes from songs off the album BLIP.

Some thoughts on FLIP

As we were working on BLIP there were quite a number of tracks that never ended up on the final album. Some of these we felt were not as strong as others but there were 2 tracks in particular that were on initial drafts of the final BLIP tracklist. These two songs were constantly in discussions to make the final album but when it came down to the last few weeks we decided other songs just fit better in the sequencing, even though we really liked the songs. These songs were “Accumulation” and “Have Faith”.

“Accumulation” is a super laid back track which tackles the challenges of being constantly confronted with…stuff. This song went through a lot of iterations and mixes. Musically this is a basically a one bar bass loop with me playing chords on top with a Rhodes. The chords on this is some of my favourite music I’ve ever composed. The mid section then goes into a more electronic breakdown, with a drum machine style beat and some synth bass before returning to the original section with some added strings I wrote and arranged. The mid section also had a version without NAH’s vocals and we actually had a female singer Lady Ze come in and track something for that section. We liked it and had versions with that in it but ultimately decided that it worked better with vocals from NAHreally. Peep the demo version below:

It’s a really low key and smooth track and suits NAH’s vocal’s perfectly I think.

“Have Faith” was written towards the middle of the album BLIP. We liked how short it was and that it incorporated a vocal sample but agin lost its place due to sequencing. I love this song so much I was going to incorporate it on to another album I am working on but this EP felt like it’s natural home.

“Sports!” is a brand new track that we made for sheer fun. It’s an amusing take on the important role sports play in our lives…and you know what, I too love sports. I made this beat just messing around and honestly never thought it would be released so was super surprised NAH choose it.

The last new song on FLIP is called “Neapolitan” and its my jam. A quick in and out quirky banger that you just wanna listen to again. This track was made specifically for the EP. I added in the vocal hook using an underground hip hop 90’s track by AK Skillz called “Check Tha Flava”. I always loved this song and as we had never sampled vocals/used scratches before on any of our previous songs I thought that would be kinda cool.

REMIXES:

“Breaking Down in Real Time” (remix) - The original version featuring Open Mike Eagle was centred around a psychedelic jazzy bass and guitar beat which incorporated a vocal sung chorus. For this remix I wanted to make the track shorter and smoother. I think this version is super laid back and brings a different spin to the track.

“Push Pressure Points” (remix) - Again wanted to bring a different feel to the original so feel this version is a bit more playful with the harpischord over a banging break and some 808 subs.

“Brainstorm with Showers” (remix) - As you may be able to tell I was trying to make a lot of this EP more laid back and chilled production wise. The sample used on this track has been flipped before….but I had to use it for this as when I was listening to the sample I realised it was in the exact same tempo and key as the original Brainstorm version so it just felt like a perfect marriage and that I messed with it for a reason.

Go peep out the EP now!

Also vinyl copies if the NAHreally & The Expert album ‘BLIP’ are still available in some online shops. See links below:

Europe: Direct link is here hhv.de

US: Direct link is here: Get on Down

UK: Direct link is here Juno.co.uk

Talk soon,

Ex.