Wu-Lu favors Fender guitars for their bolt-on necks, and runs them through a thick layer of fuzz before theyāre channeled through various amps, including a Roland JC-120.
On Loggerhead, Miles Romans-Hopcraft chops and dices his own improv jam sessionsāsampling his personal archives to create a new synthesis of hip-hop, jazz, grunge rock and more, all wrapped in a punk ethos.
South London artist Miles Romans-Hopcraft works under the moniker Wu-Lu. His pseudonym is a play on the Amharic word for water, wuha, but modified to avoid confusion with the Busta Rhymes track, āWoo-Hah!! Got You All in Check.ā Itās a fitting handle, too, in that, like water, itās indicative of Wu-Luās form-fitting, genre-fluid adaptability.
Romans-Hopcraft lives at the intersection of hip-hop, free improv, and grungeāimagine a Frankensteinian mashup of DJ Shadow and Slipknot, but looserāand crafts songs built from the lo-fi samples he rips from his extensive personal archive of tapes, mostly of open-ended jam sessions, that he then uploads to an Akai MPC sampler and drum machine.
South Londonāthe triangle of Brixton, New Cross, and Lewisham, which sits south of the touristy city center along the River Thamesālooms large in Romans-Hopcraftās world. Owing, in part, its musical pedigree to the Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance located a stoneās throw from the New Cross Gate tube station, the neighborhood is the epicenter of the cityās vibrant and bustling new music scene. Itās also Romans-Hopcraftās home turf.
Wu-Lu - South (Official Video) ft. Lex Amor
āIt just happened that everyone happened to be in Lewisham somehow,ā he says, marveling at the near miracle of growing up in the right place at the right time. āI went to the studio, and I saw Nubya Garcia [critically acclaimed saxophonist and bandleader], Joe Armon-Jones [keyboardist for Ezra Collective, Nubya Garcia], and Oscar Jerome [solo artist] up there, and I was like, āWhat are you lot doing up here? My grandma lives here, and my auntie lives around the corner. Thatās why Iām here.ā Lewisham is a far part of South London to be in, but people are here because itās cheap to live. Before my generation came through, there was a whole instrumental scene in South London with bands like United Vibrations, Polar Bear, and Acoustic Ladyland. A lot of people outside of South London started taking notice of what was going on and a lot of it gets coined as the āSouth London Jazz Scene,ā but the way I see it, itās just instrumental music: people using their talent to be able to improvise in a feeling that they have.ā
Romans-Hopcraftās rich musical background is more than a matter of just living in the right neighborhood. His father is trumpeter Robin Hopcraft (most recently a member of Soothsayers, but with an extensive history playing Afrobeat, reggae, and jazz), and heās also got an identical twin brother, Ben, whoās an accomplished artist as well (formerly Childhood, and now Insecure Men, Warmduscher, and something in the works under Sean Lennonās direction). Plus, heās closely associated with a coterie of artists like songwriter and guitarist Lianne La Havas, saxophonist Garcia, Black Midi drummer Morgan Simpson, and many others.
āA lot of people outside of South London started taking notice of what was going on and a lot of it gets coined as the āSouth London Jazz Scene,ā but the way I see it, itās just instrumental music: people using their talent to be able to improvise in a feeling that they have.ā
LOGGERHEAD, Romans-Hopcraftās full-length debut, is an amalgamation of his experiences and aesthetic. āSouth,ā the albumās lead single, is a slow crescendo that layers an acoustic guitar, raw hip-hop groove, and dub-style vocals before finally exploding at the chorus with a bloodcurdling scream (and featuring an outro rap from Lex Amor). āTimes,ā featuring Simpson, could, at pointsāboth texturally and, maybe, because the Big Muff features so prominentābe at home on a Dinosaur Jr. record, if not for the tight, groove-centric drumming. And the eerie and melodic āBroken Homesā is a nuanced showcase for Wu-Luās songcraft, although, again, buried under layers of feedback and noise.
The whole album is like that. Intense, overwhelming, and constructed from scratch through an arduous process of scrolling through files and tapes, finding bitsābe those inspired jams or someone dropping a cymbalāand then, slowly, honing those into complete, evocative, emotional masterworks.
āIt might not even be part of a song,ā Romans-Hopcraft elaborates about his crate-digging approach to samples. āIt might be a drum break, or it might be something that was recorded on the wrong mic. It might be that I was playing guitar, ran into the control room, fiddled around, and when I listened to it later, discovered that when I put down my guitar, I was touching the guitar micāand that would then become a whole inspiration for a completely different song. I can probably still go back into all those jams and pick out different stuff and make different music from that.ā
Wu-Luās debut album isintense, overwhelming, and constructed from scratch through an arduous process of scrolling through files and tapes, finding bitsābe those inspired jams or someone dropping a cymbalāand then, slowly, honing those into complete, evocative, emotional masterworks.
For example, the aforementioned āTimesā started out as a birthday jam session with Simpson. āWe were playing some beatsāI was playing along with himāand someone in another room was filming us on their phone and sent me the video,ā he says. āI heard this little āweee-weeeā sound and I was like, āThat would be a sick idea.ā Morgan was playing something similar to what that was. I listened to that video intently. I programmed a drum beat on my MPC that I thought would work, built up a whole track, and eventually decided to re-record it [with Morgan]. On that tune I played all the guitars, the bass, all the synthesizers, and everything apart from the drums. But I programmed that beat beforehand. I told Morgan, āThis is what I want you to play, but obviously add your feel to it.āā
Sampling your personal archives has other benefits as well. āLike avoiding royalties,ā Romans-Hopcraft says, maybe slightly tongue-in-cheek ā¦ but only slightly. āI once asked about using a sample for something on a mixtape and they quoted some crazy, crazy price. I was like, āNo more of this,ā and I started sampling myself. Plus, I like being able to look through stuff. The track āBlameā came from being in the studio, doing long late-night jam sessions, and then having a few hours of jams I needed to look through to see what I could pick out. I sampled things, pulled stuff out of it, and then started remixing and overdubbing.ā
Wu-Luās Gear List
Wu-Lu often builds his compositions around an initial sample from his own jam sessions, but the feeling from that original jam session is key to the songās final formāeven live.
Effects
- Electro-Harmonix Big Muff Pi
- JOYO JF-01 Vintage Overdrive
- Electro-Harmonix Stereo Memory Man with Hazarai
- Electro-Harmonix The Worm (wah/phaser/vibrato/tremolo)
- Boss RV-6 Reverb
Strings & Picks
- Rotosound Strings (.011ā.048)
- Dunlop Tortex Green Picks .88 mm
But that freeform, loose, experimental approach ends once the song is completed. When it comes to reinterpreting those tracks live, Romans-Hopcraft plays whatās on the record. āI stick pretty loyal to the recording,ā he says. āThe live band setup is drums, bass, two guitars, and vocalsāeveryoneās on vocalsāand also another drummer, but his kit isnāt a traditional drum kit. Itās like an MPC with loads of samples taken from the songs. For example, if weāre playing āBlame,ā thatāll be a drum break from the original track that I sliced into pieces where he can play the samples like a drum kit. Itās the original sounds, but he can play it.ā
Romans-Hopcraftās production techniques may be sample-centric and high tech, but he creates his music with inexpensive instruments and tools. āAll my stuff is basically from car boot sales,ā he says. A car boot sale is an English yard sale (ācar bootā is British slang for ātrunkā), and heās amassed a bevy of inexpensive amps, old-school synths, and multitrack tape machines.
āAll my stuff is basically from car boot sales.ā
He favors Fender-style guitars, and their bolt-on necks and distinctive jangle is central to Wu-Luās sound. He runs them through a thick layer of fuzz, and, at times, will divvy that up between multiple amps. āI got a headphone splitter and plugged my output into that and then split my signal into like three different amps,ā he says. āBut the main thing I use is the Big Muff and this mini green pedalāa JOYO Tube Screamer-like pedalāthat I got on Amazon for Ā£15, which is like a high-gain pedal.ā
But, more than anything, Romans-Hopcraftās music is about the vibe. A composition may be a studio creation built up from an initial sample, but, even many iterations later, the mood from that original jam session is key.
āIt might be that I was playing guitar, ran into the control room, fiddled around, and when I listened to it later, discovered that when I put down my guitar, I was touching the guitar micāand that would then become a whole inspiration for a completely different song,ā Wu-Lu says.
Photo by Machine Operated
āāBroken Homes,ā the last song on LOGGERHEAD, is a real special one,ā he says, reflecting on the songās mood and origins. āWe made that in lockdown, and it was just me, my boy Jae [Jaega Francis McKenna-Gordon] on the drums, and my boy Tag [Tagara Mhiza] on bass. We went to jam in this pub that was emptyābecause it was Covid lockdownāand it was half six in the morning and we were about to go to bed. But my friend Jae was like, āLetās just play one more timeāone more timeāletās have a vibe one more time.ā That was the beginnings of āBroken Homes.ā We recorded the whole thing to tape. It was a 20-minute thing that I edited down and reworked. My twin brother, Ben, helped me finish itāthere were moments in it where I thought, āThese are really good moments, but somethingās not hittingāāand my brother, being a songwriter, suggested adding little ideas in how to change the arrangement to make it feel full. I was like, āAlright,ā and it was finished.ā
That commitment to a songās emotional, somewhat mystical, origins, coupled with a hyper-focused work ethic, is definitive of how Romans-Hopcraft operates. And, like most of his story, he also attributes that to his South London neighborhood.ā
A lot of what I got from a lot of the people that Iāve met along the way is the thing I think they got out of college, which is learning how to practice,ā he says about the many local graduates of the Trinity Laban Conservatoire he knows. āItās learning how to be productive with your practicing, and thatās what Iāve applied to my own stuff, too. Iām like, āIām not the greatest guitar player or bass playerāI can hold my own for my own thingābut Iām going to learn how to make the MPC groove or take bits and create that into something.ā I took that and applied it to my own craft. And I had the support of all the other people around me as well.ā
Wu-Lu - live from The Room
Wu-Lu and his band perform live versions of āTenā and āBroken Homesā from LOGGERHEAD at the Room Studios in South London.
The British string manufacturer is launching a new range of high-end guitar strings.
Sevenoaks, Kent (January 3, 2019) -- Iconic British string manufacturer, Rotosound, is launching a new range of high-end guitar strings sets at the forthcoming NAMM 2019 show in Anaheim, California.
Best-known for its wide range of mid-price strings, the launch of the new Ultramag sets, made with Type 52 Alloy.
The sets will initially be available in .009, .010 and .011 gauges for electric guitar. Samples will be available to test at the forthcoming NAMM Show, with a launch scheduled for February 2019.
Rotosound materials expert, John Doughty, explained the science behind the strings, saying: āWith a composition of 52% Nickel and 48% iron, this highly magnetic string will certainly accentuate those middles and lows over their steel counterparts. Designed for use in the aerospace industry and high-end electronics, the low co-efficient of expansion will help maintain tuning in wide ranging environments. With its corrosion resistant properties and its unique blend of sound it is a truly a string for the discerning player seeking that extra tonal character.ā
Chairman, Jason How, explained the thinking behind the move: āThis is an area of the market that we have not really competed in before, but we have been working on creating the right kind of product for some time. Weāre very pleased with what we now have and I believe that guitarists and dealers are going to love these strings which are well worth that small extra investment that will take their tone and margins to a new level.ā
For more information on the new Ultramag range or to try them out, visit stand 4602 at NAMM Show 2019 at the Anaheim Convention Centre.
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Rotosound
Fifty Years of Filth: The Story of the Mighty Tone Bender Fuzz
Zeppelin and Yardbirds recordings made it legendary, but the famous stompboxās many iterations can be head-spinning. Hereās how to make sense of it allāand how to shop for one of the many clones.
Initially conceived as the British answer to the American-made Maestro Fuzz-Tone (built by a subsidiary of Gibson), the Tone Benderāand its somewhat confusing iterative evolutions over the yearsāwent on to carve out its own definitive place in history. Its rank in the sonic pantheon in the sky is assured by its use on seminal recordings by a plethora of legendary guitarists from the British scene in the mid-to-late 1960s. Jimmy Page, Jeff Beck, Mick Ronson, and Pete Townshend were among the many users who deployed the Tone Bender to devastating aural effect.
The popularity of the U.S.-made Maestro FZ-1āand its scarcity in the U.K.āwere leading impetuses for the design of the Tone Bender. Photo courtesy of Tim's Gear Depot
To be sure, the Tone Bender has a convoluted, murky history. But while it went through many changes during its time, each version had something to offer to eager guitarists who were ready to kneel at its altar of fuzzy brilliance. A host of differing companies and individuals all played a part in bringing its thunderous tones to fruition, so letās make our way through the haze of history and attempt to find some clarity on the story behind this titan of tone.
In the Beginningā¦
Electronics engineer Gary Stewart Hurst, a former Vox employee, designed the first iteration of the Tone Bender MkI in 1965. Heavily inspired by the Gibson-built Maestro FZ-1 Fuzz-Tone, which was hard to obtain in England at the time, Hurst produced a 3-transistor circuit after being asked by session musician Vic Flick for a pedal that would emulate the sound of the FZ-1 but with more sustain. (Flick, an in-demand session player of the era, is now most famous for playing the iconic James Bond riff.)
A critical Maestro design element that Hurst changed was the use of 9V power. Although this is now standard in virtually all guitar pedals, the few pedals that existed in 1965 were powered by 1.5V or 3V. This voltage boost, along with a few resistor-value tweaks, allowed the MkIāwhich features level and attack knobs, much like the Maestroās volume and attack controlsāto be louder and achieve greater sustain than the FZ-1.
A raspy yet articulate fuzz with laser beam focus, the MkI offered guitarists the ability to coax the gritty, distorted sounds that were coming into vogue without having to resort to Kinks guitarist Dave Daviesā method of taking a razor blade to his amp speakers for more breakup.
A classic early example of the MkI in action can be found on the 1965 Yardbirdsā single āHeart Full of Soul.ā The story of how this came about is rather interesting, too: Originally a tabla and a sitar player had been booked to play on the song, but they purportedly had trouble with the 4/4 time signature, prompting Jeff Beck to use a MkI in his attempt to give the riff a more Eastern sound.
Early versions of the MkI were built by Hurst (in wooden enclosures) and sold by Macariās Musical Exchange, a music store on Denmark Street in London. Hurst built approximately 100 MkI Tone Benders in the wooden enclosures before changing to a wedge-shaped, folded-steel enclosure with a gold-and-black finish.
Around the time of the introduction of these steel enclosures in mid-to-late 1965, the pedal began being marketed under the Sola Sound nameāa brand created by brothers Joe and Larry Macari in late 1964.
Tone Benders were then sold both through Macariās stores around the U.K. Starting with fuzzes and other effect pedals, the Macariās later expanded into a range of musical products including amplifiers, mixers, spring reverbs, and microphones under the Colorsound brand, which they also started.
A leading proponent of the MkI was David Bowie sideman Mick Ronson. Frequently pairing it with a wah set to different fixed positions, Ronson used the Bender to push his sound through the sonic stratosphere on songs like āMoonage Daydreamā off The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars.
The MkI.5 was sold under both the Sola Sound and Vox monikers. Here we have a 1967 specimen of the latter in a sandcast-aluminum enclosure. Photo courtesy of Jimmy Behan/SuperElectricEffects.com
The Tone Bender MkI.5
In early 1966, the Tone Bender went through the first of its many circuit changes. Reportedly looking for a cheaper, easier-to-produce design, Sola Sound equipped the Mk1.5 with two transistors (rather than three) and morphed the enclosures from the wedge style to a sleeker sandcast-aluminum design.
Tonally speaking, the MkI.5 has a different feel and response than its predecessor. Less saturated and with more low end, itās a more controllable, less gnarly fuzz than the MkI.