Name: Audacity Of Free Thought
Brand: Delasi

Bonus disc

Bonus disc: No

Catalogue number

BWOOD0331LP

Colour

Black

Colour details

Discogs ID

Format multiplier

Download code

Download code: No

Rough Trade Exclusive

Rough Trade Exclusive: No

Extended format

Extended format: No

Format detail

Format Music GB

Limited edition

Release date

2024-02-16

Signed copies

Signed copies: No

Supplier GB

Tax rate GB

Standard:20

UPC / Barcode

5060180326364

Total Cap

Black LP

Artist

Delasi

Genre GB

Hip Hop

Label GB

Brownswood Recordings

Brownswood Recordings is a British label that was started in 2006 by Gilles Peterson. It originated from the Brownswood Records imprint, which was a side-label of Talkin' Loud (part of Mercury). The label draws inspiration from the Brownswood Basement sessions that Gilles did on his BBC Radio 1 'Worldwide' show. These sessions showcased modern jazz-influenced dancefloor music and continue to inspire newer musicians and producers today. Brownswood Recordings serves as an outlet for artists who are unique or overlooked by other labels, providing them with a space to release their work.

The label also features projects such as Gilles Peterson's Havana Cultura Band and Sonzeira, which are influenced by Cuban and Brazilian music respectively.

With its commitment to showcasing diverse talent and nurturing creativity, Brownswood Recordings has become an influential force in the music industry since its establishment.

Newest Listed Items

 Delasi, the Koforidua-based producer, singer and rapper has released his new single ‘Amplifier’ featuring Nii Noi Nortey. Prophetic, spiritual and frenetic, ‘Amplifier’ is Delasi’s testimony in musical form. A manifestation of Delasi emerging triumphant after many years in limbo as he searched for a long-awaited breakthrough in the music industry.

Produced by Delasi himself alongside Morgan Greenstreet, ‘Amplifier’ is underpinned by the texture of coastal rhythms indigenous to Accra and tightly ornamented with bustling drum breaks, electronic synth lines and jazz sensibilities.

Veteran Ghanaian multi-instrumentalist and sound designer Nii Noi Nortey appears on the track to deliver an explosive and rhythmically intense saxophone performance throughout as it tastefully builds to an emphatic crescendo.

Self-described as a prayer, the track’s maximalist and percussive instrumentation is cleverly juxtaposed with minimal lyrics where Delasi’s faint vocal repeats a series of repeated phrases like evoking the mood and semblance of a meditative chant and religious experience. Harkening to the work of afrofuturistic jazz musicians like Sun Ra and Pharaoh Sanders.

Speaking on the track’s meaning, Delasi said: “‘Amplifier’ is my prayer and like with other songs of mine it can scare me because I write things and then it’ll manifest in exact detail. The song is basically outlining how hard I’ve worked and how I need an amplifier to have my desires fulfilled. It's like a mantra and that’s why it's not so lyrical”.

‘Amplifier’ marks Delasi’s first release as a lead artist since his 2015 self-released project ‘#thoughtjourney’ which garnered support and praise from Rolling Stone, BBC6 Music, Worldwide FM, KCRW, Afropop Worldwide, Deutschlandfunk Kultur, NRK and legendary French DJ/Producer Laurent Garnier. Additionally parlaying into touring and festival gigs across Nairobi, Berlin, Morocco, Denmark and Sweden.

Delasi is an artist that has been quietly prolific for over a decade. Honing his musicianship exploring sonic possibilities with Ableton and Teenage Engineering. Eventually entrenching himself in the Ghanaian rap scene via collaborations with Hammer of The Last Two, Reggie Rockstone and Yaw P with whom he would release a joint project ‘Imperfections: The Break Up Vol 1’ in 2013.

He was musically raised on a diet heavily influenced by his father who exposed him to the sounds of Marvin Gaye, Bob Marley and The Wailers, Bobby McFerrin, Jim Reeves and Billy Ocean alongside the soundtracks for movies like Doctor Zhivago, The Sound of Music and La Bamba. Delasi’s own tastes would be heavily informed by linchpins of US Hip-Hop like Wu-Tang Clan, Nas, Onyx and M.O.P in addition to alternative R&amp;B artists Frank Ocean and James Blake.

After many years of operating as a proudly independent and self-contained artist, Delasi has now partnered with Gilles Peterson’s Brownswood Recordings. One of the world’s leading indie labels, famed for their instrumental role in breaking the likes of KOKOROKO, Yussef Dayes, Swindle, Joe-Armon Jones, Shabaka And The Ancestors, Zara McFarlane and Ghostpoet.

With Delasi now being granted resources to give his music the grand and worthy footing, he is now on the cusp of the artistic breakthrough that was long out of reach. Speaking further on how the deal with Brownswood inspired the new single, Delasi said:

“The music I’ve created this go round is so strong that I can’t handle it all by myself. Though I had a lot of fun doing it all by myself with ‘#thoughtjourney’, this time around I needed it to be with a home who could properly amplify it.”

Audacity Of Free Thought 

Music GB

Discover Audacity Of Free Thought by Delasi. Prophetic, spiritual and frenetic, this single is a manifestation of Delasi's triumph in the music industry. Available on Brownswood Recordings.