US / THEM: spoony bard (L.A. Beat Scene meets electronic, jazz & avant-garde hip-hop) shares single from Old Friends album out in April

"I'm trying to blur the line between rap's grandiosity and De La Soul's parody of it." -- David Nord, Talkhouse

"A psychedelic blend of fuzzy guitars, Flying Lotus-like space-age hip-hop beats, far-out synth-funk and voice samples. But once spoony begins singing, it all comes together in a dreamy, hazy manner that feels almost like shoegaze with sampled beats." -- Treble

"A dizzying, sometimes disorienting sound that will garner comparisons to Dälek, Flying Lotus, Aphex Twin and others. Ceaseless in its sonic exploration, restless in its vision and tireless in its sense of invention." -- PopMatters

NYC producer and musician spoony bard (lowercase, please) shares a new single today from his forthcoming sophomore album Old Friends via Treble. Hear and share "Megalixir" HERE. (Direct Bandcamp.)

The Talkhouse recently premiered the album track "Ego Trippin' Part 99," which is inspired by De La Soul's classic "Ego Trippin' Pt. 2" but infused with spoony bard's unique collision of influences. Hear the track and the musician's revealing explanation of its origins via Talkhouse HERE. (Direct Bandcamp and Spotify.)

spoony bard's 2017 debut album dweeb is available to hear & share via Bandcamp & Soundcloud.

Like the video game garbled insult of its namesake, spoony bard is the result of a cultural collision as well as an honest and self-deprecating exploration of life. The hybrid of L.A. beat scene, electronic, jazz and avant-garde takes a fresh approach to musical soul-bearing with compelling sonic textures and introspective lyrics. spoony bard combines hints of Flying Lotus, Dalek, DJ Premier, Herbie Hancock, Aphex Twin and more.

spoony bard is the alter-ego of musician David Nord. Originally a jazz composer/guitarist, Nord's equal interest in hip-hop and electronic sounds brought about an evolution in his work, leading him to merge these styles and explore the possibilities of an alternate musical vocabulary. Old Friends follows Nord’s 2017 debut Dweeb, which was featured by Bandcamp Weekly and received considerable press praise. For this album, Nord took a turn backward.

“It’s titled Old Friends because on a lot of these songs I had old friends in mind,” Nord says. “Old friends also means my old musical friends - guitar playing, some melodies I wrote a long time ago. This album has a lot more live instrumentation on it. There’s still plenty of synths, but I did a lot more playing and less sampling.”

The album opens with a cascade of notes from electric piano, guitar and what sounds like a droning sitar on “Ego Trippin’ Part 99.” It sounds almost like a lost Mahavishnu Orchestra track until sampled voices, syncopated percussion and Nord’s rhymes take over the proceedings. His style of rapping is so conversational and intimate, it almost sounds like it’s a man’s unguarded thoughts being telegraphed to the listener. “Levitate Me Later” is a glitch-funk blast, while “Areia” takes a smoothed-out approach with gliding sung vocals and Giorgio Moroder freakout synth soloing. “Extralewd 1” echoes Aphex Twin’s best sliced’n’diced grooves. Throughout, it’s a delightfully unhinged and explorative album that’s impossibly laid back and frenzied at the same time.

Old Friends will be available for download on April 5th via Bandcamp, iTunes, Spotify, Apple Music, etc.