Leeds-based 6-piece band Paper Tiger is without a doubt one of the most eclectic acts on Wah Wah 45s’ roster. This creative collective’s audible aesthetics feature a wide-range of sounds: from futuristic hip hop beats to funky and danceable electronic breaks, infused with grime and post-dubstep vibes, and topped up with witty wordplay.
Blast Off is Paper Tiger’s second album, following their 2013 debut Laptop Suntan, and it represents a big step-up for the project, the result of refining and defining their process and sound, making it funkier, more live-sounding and experimental than their previous work.
Underground Wunderkind
The band’s distinctive playing is nicely supported by a heavy string of guests, such as Grammy-winning vocalist and producer Shafiq Husayn (Sa-Ra, White Boiz), teenage underground wunderkind Chester Watson, and Stones Throw signee Pyramid Vritra (Odd Future), making Blast Off a genre-defying showcase of flows, rhythms and improvising skills.
The album was mastered by LA’s beat scene lynchpin Daddy Kev, the co-founder of iconic club night Low End Theory and Grammy nominee for his work with Flying Lotus.
Reactions
“…it is rare for a band to make tracks with swing and groove with enough canvas to let rappers glide. It reminds me if Thievery Corporation came out fresh today, fusing several genres in fresh ways, without the baggage that trip-hop comes with.” Jeff Weiss, Passion of the Weiss
“F***ing ace stuff.” Detroit Swindle, detroitswindle.com
“Dopeness! Looking forward to the live show next month” DJ Gilla, First Word Records
“How good is this? An album like this one is rare these days. Loving it.” Renegades Of Jazz, Agogo Records // Mojo Club, Germany
“Organic, energetic, non-conformist and filled with unexpected sonics, Blast Off is an album you’ll find something new in with each subsequent listen, and a proper long player to lose yourself in.” Jamie Groovement, Bonafide Magazine
“You can let your imagination run wild when its endless subtleties of sound evoke so many ideas.” Emma Nay, Now Then Magazine
“We’ve loved the single Weight in Space, we loved their remix of Gideon Conn’s ‘Crystallised’; so what are the chances of lovin’ their new album?
Well the album’s been given the finishing touch by the daddy of Dublab/Low End Theory, Daddy Kev so the chances were high to start with and that’s just about sealed it.
If you’re thing is next-gen dustepy, beaksy, jazzy, electronicay, hip-hoppy, off beat psyh, 8-bitty; and then funk it up – Paper Tiger are the boys and they’ve done a brilliant job. Back to the days when Stones Throw/Ninja Tune/Big Dada/Alpha Pup/Mochilla where at the cutting edge; and now Wah Wah 45s have taken over!
Top 3 tracks other than Weight In Space [still the best]: Superhero & Electric Sheep & Origami Sessions [like the Daedelus vs. GoGo Penguin-ness of these],
And then another 3: Same Mistakes, Ooh [any chance of an instrumental? -Ooh!] and Opposite of a Cat (I think we might have to get a clean version of this to play out, and how come it fades out like that? where’s the extended version with a full rhodes extemporation?]
Ok, so that’s over half the album and I’m sure the others will grow on me. Indeed, this 6 piece from Leeds are ready to Blast Off with this 12 track second album which is not at all difficult… just typical Wah Wah 45s excellence.
PS great artwork.”, Gerry Hectic, Futuristica Music, Jazz Chronicles and Secret Garden Party Radio’s Mixcloud Competition Winner 2015
“Love it!” Calamity Jade, “Funk Shui” on Radio Popolare & Controradio / Willwork4funk, Italy
“Futuristic, funky and neat wordplay – fan of ‘I’m a Helicopter’” Amrisha Prashar, Radar Radio
“Love it. My Leeds boys coming through with a strong second album. Been worth the wait. Sick beats,a s always. Quirky sense of humour as always (Rap Game Ted Danson). Will be playing on my “Soul Rebels” radio show next week and my DJ Lubi gigs next few weeks.Good work Domski and PT.” Lubi Jovanovic (DJ Lubi) Soul Rebels/RE:SOUL (Leeds) + KMAH Radio
“Love it, defo spinning this on the show!” Martin Read
“Can’t wait to drop this!”, Nigel Ridgeway, Ground Lift Media / Altered Tapes
“What a kaleidoscope of varying sounds. Nice…” Andrej, ByteFM, Germany
“Despite a slew of recent releases, Paper Tiger have still managed to find the time to also produce an entire album. This sophomore LP was mastered by LA beat hero Daddy Kev and sees the prolific six piece from Leeds finely tune their disparate talents with help from such guests as Shafiq Husayn (Sa- Ra, White Boiz), Chester Watson and Pyramid Vritra (Odd Future). With a tighter, live sound, the album boasts 12 tracks, highlights include the fluttering beats and instrumentation of “I’m A Helicopter”, the brassy neo soul/rap hybrid “Weight In Space” and the distinctly British sci-fi flow of “Rush”. An outstanding effort.” Juno
“Loving what I’m hearing and “Same Mistakes (Flawless Victory)” is a BIG tune” Simon Harrison, Basic Soul Radio Show
“Paper Tiger Stepped up and knocked it out the park! SUPER DOPE!!” Pimpernel Jones, Herma Puma
“Very excited about this new album from Paper Tiger and it hasn’t disappointed, ‘Weight in Space’ alongside ‘Ooh’ are my picks from the bunch. Above all another album to watch out for this Summer!!” Alan O’ Malley, Shoreditch Radio
“Been looking forward to this album for ages, and it doesn’t disappoint. Hip-hop, but not as you know it. Love Superhero!” Nick Rayman, Barricade Radio
“It’s a real blast!!” Jean-Luc Godard, CKDU 88.1, Canada
“Heavy sounds, looking forward to playing these.” Nicole Finnerty, Kane FM & Flex FM
“Wow, top quality production and diversity is the key to this. Love the afro sounds of ‘I’m a Helicopter’ and ‘Weight in Space’ is dope. Will definitely be finding space for these tracks in upcoming shows, mixes and gigs, cheers.” Dj Mr Lob, Maiden Voyage Radio show on tngcradio.com and Mixcloud, Australia
“I’ll give it a fifth star when I get my head round it. What a mix up! Definitely a feature for the next show. Thanks” Dan Wesker, Detektor FM, Germany
“It’s really fun this album. Will play this a lot.” Alex Barck ( Jazzanova ), WDR, Radio Eins, DJ, Germany
“Paper Tiger are superheroes.” Dobo Marzov The “45 RPM” Radio Show (Radio Varna, part of the Bulgarian National Radio), Bulgaria
“Aah, been looking forward to hearing this!! Excellent work. It’ll be getting plenty of airplay.” Mickey Duke, 1 Brighton FM
“Production is as crooked and nasty as expected by PT, each and every time!” Jeremy Sole, KCRW / theLIFT / Le Frique Sonique, United States
“Inventive, broken rap + eclectic / electronic soul. Weight In Space is a stand out for me. Good work” Alan Gubby, Buried Treasure Records, United Kingdom
“Wikkid! X” Sophie Callis, Soho Radio London, United Kingdom
“I love the flow of the album, standout tracks Asimo’s Run, Origami Sessions is funky as f..*” Andy Sharp, Stomp Radio, United Kingdom
“Nice soulful future beats. Playlisted for my next Radioshow!” Olivier Cavaller, www.delabonnemusique.fr, www.rinse.fr, France
“Great stuff, will review it in my column” Tobi Kirsch, faze, hiphopvinyl, MINT, 030, Germany
“Very interesting and diverse album. Definitely will get some radio play from me.” Jason Palma, Higher Ground Radio, Footprints, Play De Record, Canada
“Paper Tiger gets more and more upfront and sophisticated with every release! A very diverse and fine album, keep it coming!” Tibor Mozsik (DJ Keyser / Crate Soul Brothers), Tilos Radio FM 90.3 Budapest / www.cratesoul.com, Hungary
“ (As expected) a well produced and diversified new album from PAPER TIGER! – Superb! -” Sven Thomschke / ‘Dr.Best’, Radio Z 95.8 Nuernberg/Germany, Germany
“Beautifully bonkers beats.” Tom Headfunk, Headfunk.info, Vectis Radio and Mondomix, United Kingdom
“Loads of time for this crew. thanks :)” Bevin Campbell, The Blend / PBS FM, Australia
“Strong and diverse release will support” Andrew Haig, The Shizzle : BAY FM 99.9, Australia
“These guys never fail to blow me away and this is no exception! Space age electronic funk for the new generation!” Leo, Jaheire, Ireland
“Fresh, original and interesting sounds. A cut above those within this genre.” Phil Levene, Eclectic Jazz/Starpoint Radio/Likwid/Soulm8 e-zine/Club DJ, United Kingdom
“I like this more than I expected to. There are some tight beats here” Sammy Goulbourne, UK Vibe, United Kingdom
“Weight in Space is a great cut. Nice quirky beats. Will be giving lots of play on radio Thanks” DJ Expression, Pureflava Radio, United Kingdom
“Heavy stuff – head nodder’s galore! Not really designed to pack a dancefloor but high quality listening fodder.” Oliver Korthals, Mojo Club / >Out of spectrum< weekly @ byte.fm, Germany
“Great album. Cutting edge beats with soul” Rado Tomek aka DJ Kinet, Nu Spirit Club, Bratislava; Radio FM, Slovakia
“This record is slamming’! So many diverse sounds making a cohesive whole.” David Bassin, FreeFall/SFCR/Space Invader Radio, United States
“Love the production. Vocals a distraction in some cases. Instrumental version would be perfection.” Chris Read, BBE, United Kingdom
“I am following Paper Tiger for some time now, and I’m impressed how constantly good they are. Really happy to play this on my show on ByteFM.” Christoph, ByteFM, freelance for German public radio
“Great creative record” Robert Lochmann, radio producer at Radio X, freelance DJ, Germany
“Feeling Same Mistakes + Electric Sheep + Rush + Opposite of a Cat + Origami Sessions. Thanks!” Jon Oliver, jonolivermusic.com + ilovevinyl.org, United States
“Some great offbeat rhythms that really caught my interest” Mr. Leenknecht, Chunks of Funk / Bruzz / Reform Radio, Belgium
“Cracking” Sam Allen, Stellar Inflight, Australia
“Dope!” Johan, Prun’, France
“Weight in Space is already in our rotation” Christian, GDS.FM, Switzerland
“Cool album!” Phil Horneman, DJ/organizer Wicked Jazz Sounds & show host on Red Light Radio/curator Funk-Jazz 22tracks Amsterdam, Netherlands
“Like an organic take on electronic beat music.” Ennio Styles, Stylin’ 3RRR-FM/Heard and Felt, Australia
“Blast Off is a very enjoyable listen that takes you on a majestic voyage of beautifully crafted sonics. Influences drawn from the past, present and future to tantalise every taste with something for the most fussiest of listeners!!
Can’t wait to see how they pull this off live!
Certainly a pleasure having them on the show and will continue supporting their great music!!
Peace” SKANDOUZ, Connoisseurs of Hip Hop, Reel Rebels Radio (UK)
Aly Gillani, Bandcamp Weekly
Andrew Haig, Bay FM (Australia)
Dom Servini, Amazing Radio (UK)
Agent J, Battlestar Mancunia, Reform Radio (UK)
Huw Joseph and Mikill Pane, Friday Social, Fubar Radio (UK)
Simon Harrison, Basic Soul (UK)
David Bassin, Freefall Radio (UK)
Kev Beadle, Mind Fluid Radio Show, Solar Radio (UK)
Nemone, BBC Radio 6 Music (UK)
SKANDOUZ, Reel Rebels Radio (UK)
Amrisha, Radar Radio (UK)
Frank Aceves, Expedition Radio Show, Dash Radio (USA)
Dan Digs, Dash Radio (USA)
The Cooks, Brooklyn Radio (USA/Canada)
GDS.FM, Switzerland
ByteFM, Germany
Jason Palma, Higher Ground Radio, Canada
Olivier Cavaller, www.delabonnemusique.fr, www.rinse.fr, France
Lubi Jovanovic, Soul Rebels/RE:SOUL (Leeds) + KMAH Radio
Juno Recommends Hip Hop/R&B
Dan Wesker, Detektor FM, Germany
Stefan Guther, Beat The Night / Funkhaus Europa, Germany
Andy Williams, The Goods Radio Show, United Kingdom
Reviews
There are no reviews yet.