Becoming Phill finished ‘Electrum’ in a month and a half two years ago.
The plan was to put just 100 vinyls out into the world and hope that the audiophiles who like their electro retro, funky and laced with a little R&B would happen upon the 11-track album and give it a listen, a thumbs up and place in their collection.
Though this specific vinyl vision didn’t come to pass, ‘Electrum’, Becoming Phill’s first official album, has been out on all the digital music platforms that matter since December 2016.
Described as ‘synthesizer funk’ by the man himself, ‘Electrum’ presents a marked departure from the dance floor-filling, banging hip-hop beats Becoming Phill has churned out as a sought-after DJ, composer and producer for the likes of Gazza, RUN NAMS, TeQuila, Zeus, Qonja, Malkovich, Lize Ehlers and a slew of upcoming American artists.
Smooth, nostalgic, instrumental and largely lyrical about love, ‘Electrum’ is Becoming Phill as we have never heard him before in terms of genre but wholly familiar with regard to the calibre of production.
Melding 70s funk with late 80s and 90s synth in an homage album inspired by Cameo, The Gap Band, Prince, Eddie Hayes, Luther Vandross and Brenda Fassie among others, ‘Electrum’ features Shishani euphonious on ‘Tomorrow Love’, ‘Drownin’ and the title track, guitar play by Christian Polloni, Dantago bringing vocals and the trumpet in ‘No Light’ and Phill himself singing on ‘Love is Not Hard to Get’.
Currently making waves in Melbourne and Berlin while racking up features on various international electro blogs, ‘Electrum’ is easing into Namibia but is less of an about turn than local audiences may realise.
“My producer ego is hip-hop but I was tired of it at the time and knowing that hip-hop drew from so many different genres, I wanted to tap into that and do something different creatively,” Becoming Phill says.
“Tupac and Biggie all sampled from the 70s. Cameo is one of my favourites from the 80s. Everybody sampled these guys. There was a month a while back when I was feeling really nostalgic listening to The Gap Band, Prince, Eddie Hayes, Luther Vandross, Evelyn ‘Champagne’ King and I got really inspired by that.”
Channeling inspiration into recreation, on ‘Electrum’, Becoming Phill makes use of retro patches and electronic instruments such as the Roland 808, Roland 909, Korg M1, DX7 and the impOSCar for maximum authenticity.
Asked why turn back to funk instead of expanding on what’s hot right now, Becoming Phill says: “Funk and soul spurred so much of what is happening today. They’re such rich genres and there’s still so much that can be explored. Childish Gambino’s latest album sounds like something that could have been released in 1974. I think 1978 to 1991 has a sound everyone can kind of agree on. A lot of the songs coming out of that era are timeless and that’s what I wanted”.
Inspired by his influences but pretty sure he’s managed to produce something all his own and certainly well worth the burgeoning hype, Phill says: “I don’t believe in originality. You’re always standing on someone else’s shoulders. Originality is how you fuse things together”.
Fused, ready and available online, ‘Electrum’ is just the beginning of several Becoming Phill releases coming soon including the official release of all his beat tapes, a house album and a bit of an SA invasion in collaboration with South African distribution company The Studio Next Door.
That’s the future but for now, Becoming Phill is just happy ‘Electrum’ is being heard and featured so Asana – his project managing software of choice – can stop bugging him about it.
Buy Electrum for U$9,99 (about N$130) on iTunes, Tidal, Spotify and Amazon and listen to it free on SoundCloud.
Follow Becoming Phill on Facebook, and Twitter and visit becomingphill.com for more.
Hear The Inspiration
1. ‘Attack Me With Your Love’ – Cameo
2. ‘Don’t Be Lonely’ – Cameo
3. ‘I’ll Be Good’ – Rene & Angel
4. ‘Back N Forth’ – Cameo
5. ‘Yearning For Your Love’ – Gap Band
6. ‘Glow of Love’ – Change
7. ‘I Want It Now’ – Cameo
9. ‘Frantic Moment’ – Eddie Hazel
10. ‘Could We’ – Geraldine Hunt
11. ‘Love’s Train’ – Con Funk Shun
