Jockstrap
Wicked City
Label: Warp
Genre: Electronica / Ambient / Experimental
Availability
- MLP + MP3 COUPON €15.49 Out of Stock
Jockstrap defy convention on ‘Wicked City’; an epic of an EP, flung into the world to respond to their debut ‘Love is the key to the City’. Speaking about the EP, Ellery said: “Wicked City is a response to Love is the key to the City: the two present a dichotomy in both understanding and feeling. The songs on Wicked City are presented in chronological order, with ‘Robert’ written in the summer of 2018 and ‘City Hell’ in summer 2019. The EP was finished in January 2020.
Ellery continues, “The heavy autobiographical narrative of Wicked City is married to an expressive and limitless sound world; influenced by everything we [Georgia and Taylor] have ever musically absorbed and moulded with a ‘fuck it’ attitude. Particular musical features of this record include classical composition, through-composed songwriting and the heavy influence of dubstep. There are multiple narratives to Wicked City: sanity to madness; realism to surrealism and innocence to experience. But when it comes down to it, it’s a breakup / breakdown record that presents how I dealt with losing what I had when I wrote ‘love is the key’.”
News of their new music has received a warm reception; a Pitchfork Rising artist spot adds to interviews and track of the week accolades from the likes of Dazed, London In Stereo, DIY, Line of Best Fit, The Guardian, Quietus, Loud & Quiet, The Face. Not to mention radio support from Annie Mac (Radio 1), Matt Wilkinson (Beats1), John Kennedy (Radio X), Lauren Laverne, Shaun Keaveny, Steve Lamacq, Mary Anne Hobbs (BBC 6Music) and 6 Music B-list playlisting for “Acid”.
Ellery has starred in Cornish film BAIT (which went on to win a BIFA award and won Outstanding Debut at the BAFTAs) and - alongside Cornish-Welsh artist Gwenno - performed the film’s score live on 17 Jan at the BFI. Skye, on the other hand, has developed his own much-lauded solo project and remixed the sublime new album from Injury Reserve (who Jockstrap toured with in the U.K. last year) in its entirety. Ellery has also collaborated with Underworld on their ongoing experimental project, DRIFT. Both Ellery and Skye wrote and performed on Dean Blunt's 2018 Soul On Fire mixtape (also featuring A$AP Rocky & Mica Levi) Jockstrap were also asked to collaborate and perform in Damon Albarn’s Africa Express’ sold-out one-off show in Walthamstow last year.
QUOTES:
"My favourite avant-garde situationists" - Mary Anne Hobbs
"One of my favourite bands" - Matt Wilkinson (Beats1)
“I don’t know what kind of music Jockstrap are making right now, but I like it.” - The Fader
“Their work as Jockstrap thrives on such unexpected collisions: between high and low, irony and earnestness.” - Pitchfork
“Jockstrap are giving classical romance a surreal twist” - The Face
“Acid warps the innocence of a music-hall waltz, breaking its dreamy flow with glitchy washes that tumble down like pixelated blossom and lingering moments of decay” - The Guardian
“Melodiously sweet and sophisticated yet tempered by bursts of naivety and caustically fucked up-ness.” - The Quietus