Polar Bear With Jyager

Information on POLAR BEAR with JYAGERand the latest bio for their collaborative release 'Common Ground'.

Just like superheroes, jazz musicians and rappers are fond of teaming up. Whether its Batman and Superman joining forces to defend the DC universe or Busta Rhymes dropping in for show-stealing cameo on someone elses record, the individual histories often intertwine to intoxicating effect. But what happens when the distances that separate the individuals are greater than those between Metropolis and Gotham?

On the face of it, theres an unbridgeable chasm separating the innovative jazz maven Sebastian Rochford and London-based, Portugal-born rapper Jyager; but as anyone familiar with either artists work will appreciate, these are artists for whom categorisations have little meaning.

In the six years hes been recording as leader of Polar Bear, Rochford has demonstrated an innate feel for creative collaboration, and records like (Mercury Prize-nominated) Held On The Tips Of Fingers show that he pays scant attention to attempts to place him in a musical pigeonhole. Polar Bears fourth album, Peepers, released in March 2010 to almost universal acclaim, has only consolidated his reputation as one of British musics most diverse and in demand percussionists. Anyone who heard the mixtape he compiled earlier this year wouldnt be surprised that hes a longtime fan of hip-hop and grime.

Jyager moved to London in 1993, days before his seventh birthday, and immersed himself in the garage scene, pursuing hip-hop lyricism as garage gave way to grime. With the endorsement of Brit-rap heavyweight Jehst (Jyagers Encrypted Scriptures debut was released on YNR, the label Jehst co-founded, in 2009) he set about establishing his formidable rep. Whether rapping in French and Portuguese or rhyming about fairytales over Al Green samples, hes every inch Rochfords equal as a genre-defying iconoclast.

Yet the pair still had to find some common ground: they arrived at it in this concise, 25-minute mini-album, where music almost entirely derived from samples of Peepers collides with Jyagers intuitive word-pictures. All but two of the Common Ground projects nine tracks are based on manipulations of a vinyl copy of the original album (the exceptions are the opening track, Recording In Secret, which is built out of an improvisation by Polar Bear member Leafcutter John, and Don't Think I Wont [sic], which is based on an unreleased version of Peepers opener Happy for You), and its perhaps fitting that this unusually constructed collaborative collage resulted from a meeting in cyberspace.

I found Jyagers CD in Rough Trade, Rochford explains. Id never heard of him before, but I had a good feeling about this CD. I was doing a remix, so I just Myspaced Jyager to ask if he would do a vocal, and it started from there. For Jyager, it was a mouth-watering opportunity: What I sit and listen to is completely different from what I do, he says. I loved working with Seb and the band - the music just put me in a whole different mindstate.

The pair worked on the Common Ground tracks collaboratively but separately, Rochford pinging mp3s-in-progress from his home studio in Tottenham to Jyager, who then produced his vocal parts in a studio in Camberwell, barely 10 miles away. Weve met each other four or five times, and weve spoken on the phone, Rochford says, but Id been touring quite a lot and was doing all this at night-time between gigs. So we did it all by email.

As is so often the case, the project was the result of accident and happenstance. I tried to remix some [Polar Bear] stuff, but there was too much spill on the mics, Rochford explains, so instead of the original master tapes, he began, in true hip hop style, by working with vinyl copies of the original album. But whether the method was old-school or new, Common Ground wouldnt have happened without the pair settling easily into alignment. Id never met any emcee that was so open to trying different stuff, Rochford admits. With Jyager it just seemed to flow. I gave him one idea, he got loads of ideas from it and when he sent his stuff back, then I got really inspired to do other things on it.

Rochfords new partner in rhyme found it a similarly energising experience. The sound of a specific song will guide you into a certain focus, Jyager suggests. If the song sounds happy you write a pop, club, commercial song; if it sounds a bit dark you do something else. Here, the music was so different it actually gives me more space to write. I thought this would be a good opportunity to get a bit political with everyone, and to step up the whole performance side of it, because if you as a vocalist are not actually deliverin a good message, then whats the point of makin music?

The results surprised even its creators. I didnt realise until after wed made the EP, Rochford admits, that quite a lot of the sounds are similar to what I hear outside my window. Where I live is on this very industrial road, with lots of factories and warehouses, and theres so much traffic going past all the time, and people loading stuff. As I was listening to the EP, then these noises went past, and it was like, Oh, wow, that sounds like the music Im making. I think where Im living has really influenced the sound.

Common Ground (with Jyager) by Polar Bear was released in October 2010 on Leaf Label.It is available on the following formats:: CD (BAY 78CD) Limited Edition 12" Vinyl (BAY 78V) Digital (BAY 78E).To Buy --> Click Here --> http://theleaflabel.net/buy/common-ground-0/

plus guest support from EXTRA CURRICULAR

EXTRA CURRICULAR are a Hip Hop/Soul group from Huddersfield, UK. Fronted by Jack Flash (MC), Ruby Wood (Vocals), and Thabo Mkwananzi (Vocals), the group also feature a live horn section, turntables and samplers, alongside electric guitar, bass, and drums. Formed from an exclusive after-hours jam club, Extra Curricular have been pushing their unique brand of soul-driven hip hop music on the UK live circuit since early 2009. The EC live show is something to be witnessed, they involve the whole crowd from start to finish taking the listener on a journey through hip hop grooves, soulful vocals, and huge anthemic choruses.

http://www.extracurricularband.com/

http://www.myspace.com/extracurricularband

http://www.extracurricularband.blogspot.com/