There’s not much out about this guy.
No-one even knows if it’s a guy! That’s some of the beauty in the name Vanilla – not chocolate or strawberry, but vanilla. Anonymity is a self-marketing plus for many musicians, especially in these internet-induced days, but I guess the only downer for this stuff is that it hasn’t really got out there enough. All I know about this is it’s coming from Oxford, which is encouraging, but still doesn’t give anything away. This could’ve been from anywhere in the world.
Anyway, I’m posting this ’cause Vanilla recently graced us with this beatific new production, simply entitled Else, with an intensely nostalgic R’n’B sound to it. Unlike the soulful beats of their previous High Life release, this one sounds almost Com Truise-like, bordering on chillwave, if you can still call it that. It has a very different texture to it, almost fizzy – but the light, steady beat thankfully grounds it.
The usual Dilla comparisons are there, when analysing the aforementioned High Life album, but I’d sooner compare it to someone like J Rocc, given the soul samples, or more recent players like Knxwledge and Star Slinger. I guess the Dilla comparisons come from how optimistic (as well as clean-cut) this stuff sounds, which must only be a good thing. I hope either of these keep you going over the next couple of months – they’ll definitely do me nicely.
Listen to Else and High Life below.