RJD2 Shares Video For “Through It All” (Feat. Jamie Lidell) From New LP ‘Visions Out Of Limelight’

RJD2 just announced a brand new album titled, Visions Out Of Limelight, set for a June 14th release date Via his label, RJ’s Electrical Connections. The photo shoot for the compelling cover art involved the producer being buried up to his neck in the dirt. Credited as a “dual homage to Funkadelic’s Maggot Brain and Redman’s Dare Iz A Darkside,” the tribute reflects the disparate influences and versatility that has long presented itself in his work.

One thing about the man born Ramble John Krohn is that you can never be completely sure what he’s going to do next. In 2001, RJD2 released his debut album, DeadRinger on EL-P‘s now-defunct Definitive Jux label. With its dusty beats and infectious soul samples, the notorious crate digger crafted a certified instrumental hip-hop classic further establishing Def Jux as one of the most important underground labels of the decade. He claims to have recorded his follow-up, Since We Last Spoke (2004) with his “MPC plugged into the cigarette lighter of a rented minivan,” while on a 2003 tour with Soul Position, his project with rapper, Blueprint. That album saw him moving into slightly more rock and vocal-oriented directions, while 2007‘s The Third Hand, involved him abandoning his history of sampling, almost entirely. Using live vocals and instrumentation for the majority of the effort, he even toured it with a live backing band. In the following years, Krohn contributed to a cookbook; scored Marc Ecko‘s video game, Getting Up; and won an ASCAP award for creating “A Beautiful Mine,” the breakbeat-heavy theme song to the critically acclaimed AMC program, Mad Men.

When his 4th LP, The Colossus came out in 2010 it was promoted as a “myriad” of all the different styles he had presented over the previous decade. The album coincided with the founding of RJ’s Electrical Connection through which he’s gone on to release 3 more solo albums and a pair of collaborative LPs with Philly-based rapper, STS. Throughout his career, RJD2 has produced for lyricists like MF DOOM and Aceyalone, but can just as easily pick up a guitar. He might serve up a hard-hitting boom bap beat, drop a classic Motown jam, or space out full Kosmiche style. The last time I saw him he was opening for Tortoise and scratching a 45 on a contraption harnessed to his chest.

Visions Out Of Limelight promises to be a primarily instrumental effort except for two tracks that incorporate vocals. One of these exceptions is the first single, “Through It All,” which features English singer Jamie Lidell. In regards to the new song, RJ explains, “I was listening to some classic Aaliyah and taking in how Timbaland used amorphous mouth sounds as a textural element. I put a bunch of ‘mouth water drop sounds’ into the MPC. From there, the song really built itself in the fashion you hear it – drums, chords, and vocals from the illustrious Jamie Lidell.” You can check out the music video directed by his son, Charlie Kaiser-Krohn below.

The majority of songs were recorded with the use of live instrumentation, while other were “chopped and re-assembled” with a sampler “like the olden days,” says Krohn. Due to his years as a producer proficient in studio manipulation, discerning which sections utilize each of these respective approaches would be a daunting task.

The following insights are taken from the official press release:

For Visions Out Of Limelight, RJD2 found inspiration in sources that can be taken for granted by less-discerning listeners. Thanks to time at home, RJD2 was completely immersed in the TV theme songs of the ‘70s, ‘80s, and ‘90s. “I realized how incredibly composed and skillfully complex many of them were,“ he says. The producer was also determined to build tracks around interesting bass lines, inspired by classic parts in Dr. Dre’s “Deep Cover,” KMD’s “Black Bastards,” and Diamond D’s “Sally Got a One Track Mind.” It became a “mini-mission” for the producer to make a modern album that puts the bass in the forefront.

Visions Out Of Limelight is available for preorder now.