Quantic 'An Announcement To Answer' album

This summer Tru Thoughts (via Ubiquity Records in North America) are proud to present the fourth solo album by Quantic which marks Will Holland’s eighth full-length production. A year and a half in the making, An Announcement To Answer marks the next step in the evolution of Quantic’s sound – broadening his musical palette whilst still delivering the trademark funky grooves that have made him a sure-fire floor-filler for DJs worldwide.

Inspired and educated (as opposed to influenced) by the records he discovered whilst travelling and working in Puerto Rico, Nigeria, Benin, Ghana and Ethiopia, Quantic has fused the traditional sounds of these countries with hip hop, soul, funk and jazz to produce his own potent musical brew.

Much of the album was written and recorded on a laptop in various locations around the world – including Puerto Rico and the Candela studios in San Juan – during an extended period of international gigging and crate-digging.

Experimenting with new techniques and collaborating with the talented people he met during his travels has endowed Quantic’s music with a greater depth, intricacy and level of sophistication than ever before.

Guest artists on the album include Noelle Scaggs from The Rebirth, Ohmega Watts and Puerto Rican percussionist Tempo, who has previously worked with Roberto Roena of the legendary Fania All Stars.

ABOUT WILL HOLLAND

It's become pretty well known and by now, and indeed is often remarked upon, that Brighton, England-based Will Holland works damn hard. Works damn hard, has put a lot of records out, and is still damn young. Of course, when you really consider that for someone in their mid twenties to be, in 2006, releasing what is essentially their 8th album, and racking up nearing 30 remixes since his first release in 2002, then that is quite astonishing.

We all know though, that quantity does not equal quality, so what really astonishes is the fact that every single release is a winner. Every single release is worth your time and sees him trying something different, exploring sound, and translating his own huge thirst for new sound into his own work.

There isn't a musical genre out there thats related to the hearts of funk and soul that he hasn't turned his hand to, and yet at the same time he his one of the few producers around that always sounds like himself.

Whether it's under his original Quantic moniker or as the live rocking funk soul heaviness of The Quantic Soul Orchestra you can spot a Quantic production a mile off, even if it doesn't sound like anything you've heard him do before.

At 26 years old, Will Holland has established himself as one of the most talented, prolific & active artists in the DJ community today. Recording under various guises Will first found acclaim as Quantic, fusing jazz sensibility with dance floor orientated grooves and intelligent breaks. Exploring the worlds of jazz and deep funk his second project, the Quantic Soul Orchestra, is a live affair. A group of highly talented players, the Q.S.O. pays homage to the funk explosion of the early Seventies, and to the dusty 7” records that have always been an inspiration to Will. As well as Quantic and the Q.S.O Will is one half of The Limp Twins, a duo he formed with Russ Porter. Initially a deejay partnership, it wasn’t long before they started recording, with Russ taking on the vocal duties and Will adding the magic with his savvy production. He has enjoyed consistent success with his Quantic moniker. Releasing his first album “The 5th Exotic” in the summer of 2001, it was picked up on by some of the most respected names in underground music. Gilles Peterson, Richard Dorfmeister, Mr Scruff and LTJ Bukem all rated it very highly, not surprising when tunes like 'Common Knowledge' and the near classic 'Life in the Rain' had blazed across dance floors all over Europe. With elements of Jazz, Funk and Afro blended with tight breaks and Will’s distinctive production “The 5th Exotic” proved irresistible to many, and won him many plaudits.

He built on this acclaim with the release of “Apricot Morning” less than a year later, dispelling any talk of “the difficult second album”. His sound seemed to expand in every direction on “Apricot Morning” collaborating with the incredible Alice Russell, MC EQ and Bristol’s freshest hip hop crew Aspects. “Apricot Morning” is a perfect snapshot of everything that’s happening at the jazzier end of underground music in 2002, as proved by Gilles Peterson who ranked it amongst his albums of the year. His third Quantic album, "Mishaps Happening" was released in 2004 and marked the first of Will's albums to receive a proper North American release via California's Ubiquity Records, a relationship which has also seen Tru Thoughts' artists Nostalgia 77 & The Bamboos getting domestic releases through the two label's now two year old partnership.

The Quantic Soul Orchestra’s debut album ‘Stampede’ was unleashed in April 2003, a strictly sample free, all-live affair influenced by super heavy original funk, soul, jazz and afro-beat. The band consists of highly talented musicians and features the sublime vocals of Alice Russell and John Hughes. Accredited with sheer, raw energy of their live sets, do not miss a chance to see the band perform live.

It's a talent that has seen him work with some of the finest names around. Remixing Charlie Parker and Breakestra, collaborating with Sharon Jones and Mr. Scruff, sharing a live stage with De La Soul, to producing and writing with Spanky Wilson, Quantic's is a talent that is admired by producers, vocalists, and musicians of all the ages. And naturally, clubbers around the world have felt the Quantic pressure too.

From the festival stages of The Big Chill, Glastonbury, and Roskilde, super smooth clubs in Europe and Japan, hard core roadtrips around the USA and Australia, tiny Muscovite basement sessions and Puerto Rican Candela sweat boxes, where there's the music love Quantic will go. Literally, where there's a Will, there's a way.

2006 is set to be his busiest year yet. Following the 'One Offs, Remixes, and B Sides' collection has released on Tru Thoughts, and his limited edition collection of rumba, plena, and cumbia music 'Mofongo Para El Alma', July 25 sees him unleashing his brand new Quantic album 'An Announcement To Answer'.

Time for a rest perhaps? Never. Believe it or not there are still countries he hasn't DJed or dug for records in, still sounds he hasn't experienced, and still so many great records to make. Onwards and upwards my friends, onwards and upwards......

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Quantic - An Announcement To Answer