Basic Volume

Basic Volume is the debut album from South Londoner Gaika Tavares, aka Gaika.

Following on from a series of highly acclaimed mixtapes that saw him grace the cover of The Wire, Basic Volume is the most striking and clear viewpoint into his compellingly unique paradox of paranoid dancehall...

Gaika’s darkly magnetic blend of gothic dancehall and industrial electronics has expanded into his most far-reaching work yet.

Basic Volume is a sprawling yet cohesive album that devours genres and spits them out, tangled around personal tales of love, loss and rebellion.

With Basic Volume, Gaika continues to simultaneously push the boundaries of electronic music and the legacy of the UK’s indelible soundsystem culture, inviting listeners into a sonic world of his creation.

Quite apart from Gaika’s bracing lyrics, the sound of his voice alone makes the Brixton MC the most arresting British rapper of his generation. Heavily accented with a Caribbean twang, it’s a combination of the Horace Andy’s and Congos’ vibrato-laden dub croon, Future’s psychically troubled rambles, Tricky’s calm snarl, Young Thug’s improvisatory melody and the fierce focus of drill’s new school. And yet it is entirely his own, with the declamatory tone of a soapbox preacher who won’t break eye contact with you.

Basic Volume features production from similarly forward-thinking contemporaries, Aart, DADRAS, Dre Skull, Dutch E Germ, and SOPHIE as well as previous collaborators including Jam City, Nick León and Frank Ocean’s Blonde and Endless collaborator Buddy Ross.