BREAKIN BREAD continue to push their brand of "DIRTY, BEATBREAKIN’ FUNK AND HIP HOP" with a groundbreaking album from Natural Self aka Keno 1. AFTER FOUR YEARS of nightclub devastating and critically acclaimed singles on Tru Thoughts and Breakin Bread, Natural Self has pushed his distinctive sound into deeper territory with this long-awaited first album.

A hip-hop and funk DJ of ten years experience, Natural Self broke into production in 2001 with the furious sample-based batacuda workout The Soul Step. He followed with a string of singles and remixes developing that record’s blueprint of raw, densely layered percussion, powerful horn lines, and heavy funk drums. Along the way he’s picked up DJ support from the likes of Mr Scruff, John Peel, Giles Peterson, Jon Stapleton, Quantic, and Ninja Tune’s Strictly Kev.

On Let Peace be the Ruler he’s stayed true to his production ethic while using the freedom offered by an album to chart new ground. There’s more than your fair share of dancefloor destroyers on this record, but it is also, at times, slow-burning, challenging, cerebral, and melancholy. The album has also profited from collaborations with a number of live musicians, notably saxophonist John Styles of the Quantic Soul Orchestra, and soul vocalist Alice Russell.

The Natural Self sound is rooted in hip-hop, funk, jazz, Brazilian and African music, but can’t be seen a crude cut-and-paste amalgamation of those styles. He says: "I don’t want people to be able to listen to a track and think ‘that’s two parts hip-hop and one part jazz’." If there is a constant that runs through his music, apart from soul power, it’s his inventive use of percussion. As he puts it: "In a lot of the tracks the emphasis is on the arrangement of drums and percussion. I’m trying to find out how expressive percussion can be."

Album Highlights

Solomon
The opening track on the album, this heavy hip-hop cut sounds as fresh and distinctive as the day it was first released. Held together by a fierce, head-snapping breakbeat, the track is powered by an insistent, processional horn part and percussion that feels as if it’s trying to leap out of the speakers.

I Don’t Need This Trouble
Alice Russell turns in a typical powerhouse performance on this raw funk track, further cementing her reputation as the most soulful woman in British music. ‘Trouble’ is the only full vocal cut on the album, and Natural Self’s first foray into song writing.

To The Sun
There’s not a breakbeat in sight on this free jazz-influenced drum workout, which builds to a climax that calls to mind the delirious sun worship ceremony suggested by the title. On the remix Natural Self and long-time collaborator Nostalgia 77 rework the track into an Afrobeat-influenced dancefloor stormer.

The Love Theme
Slow and expansive, the soulful, ascendant vocal harmonies on this track provide a fitting close to the album. We could try and tell you what the track is like, but we can’t describe every track or you would have a heavy tome rather than a press release! We’ll let you take in the rest yourself…

All in all we hope you agree that Natural Self has produced a well rounded album that showcases his style and maps out his growth as a producer with real talent. With that unique sound of his, he gives us a record that can rock a dancefloor as well as help you chill with a smoke. In fact, every track has a different mood. Give yourself some time, get the stereo sound proper, make yourself comfortable, have another listen and wonder what kind of direction Natural Self will take next... ENJOY!