Dark and experimental sounds are far more common than they were a few years ago. Whether that’s thanks to larger acts attempting to bend genre norms or not, it’s hard to deny a lot more people are interested in music that defies expectations, and genuinely challenges. Blue Daisy isn’t just aware of that, he simply doesn’t care; he’s making the music he wants to, regardless of any preconceived notions.
His Psychotic Love EP showcased his versatility, working with both others and his own inventive mind. With it drifting from nightmarish to dreamy, there was a particular sound he honed on the release. Capable of numerous hues and tones, “Cries of the Beast” was one of the EP’s darkest, and most twisted moments.
Shot in what he said is “the grey city I call home, London,” the darkened video contort and visualizes the track’s sound. The mutating clip never fully showcases Blue Daisy without him being somewhat obscured. Watch the video premiere above, and read a short interview with Blue Daisy below.
For those unfamiliar with your work, could you perhaps introduce yourself and your sound?
Wa gwan, what’s good new world, I go under the guise Blue Daisy, born Kwesi Darko, the middle of 5 siblings and I’ve been active in the music realm since 2009. For those of you who are only now hearing my ish, I can only describe it as a journey through the dark domains of my mind, body and soul. I’ve just released the Psychotic Love EP, which this track Cries Of The Beast is from, but I recommend you dig back to my earlier releases and experience the journey from my 1st release “Space ex” which dropped way back in 2009. In a nutshell I’m London’s best kept secret and have been for a few years now, but now, now it’s time to let the cat out the bag and get a bite out of this bizz.
What have you been up to since the release of the Psychotic Love EP?
Been gigging, but mostly been in the studio working and intaking a fair bit of narcotics and marijuana. Just completed the next EP so expect the drop on that coming very very soon, also been tryna slowly getting into video directing and also cooking up new material for the album.
A lot of hip-hop coming from the UK sounds a lot more conservative and throwback than what you’re doing, so what sounds influence your music most?
Firstly I have never put a name to what I do let alone “UK hip-hop” or “hip-hop” in general, I see music as music, fuck all the genre labelling and boxing artists in with each other, it’s lazy and ignorant if you ask me. I listen to a whole loada shit across the spectrum, from black sabbath to The Body, from Vashti Bunyan to SZA, from Fever Ray to FKA Twigs, from Aphex Twin to Ben Frost, from Augustus Pablo to Massive Attack, from Beenie man to Dizzee Rascal (Boy in da corner), the list could go on. My sound is influenced by so much around me and so many sounds I hear in my general day to day life, but mostly deriving from a darker foundation.
Do you think experimental and abrasive sounds are more widely accepted and in hip-hop now than before? Are people more open minded?
Yes and no. Like I said previously, I don’t see what I do as hip-hop and I know a lot of the “hip-hop” heads from back in the day wouldn’t class my shit as hip-hop either, a great example of this is I supported Public Enemy recently and went on stage just before they went on, now imagine the public enemy crowd demographic etc, there where heads who were there and open minded but trust that a good amount just didn’t understand what the fuck was going on, I mean it’s just the way it is, we all grew up in different generations, my generation have got to experience, and make use, of such a powerful tool called the WorldWideWeb and this has giving us access to sooo much stuff that hearing something that is not your conventional rap, dance, club song etc is not like a crazy “WTF” moment, it’s more a “shit what did I just experience” moment, well that’s how I see it anyway. I mean just look at what Clams has done in the scene, he made A$AP. A$AP was nothing before clams, but it ain’t really hip-hop as the older generation know it, but the new world, new era, new generation all understand it as one thing and that’s something they like or relate to.
What’re you upcoming goals and plans in regards to your music?
Just to keep pushing boundaries, trying new things, experiencing new sounds, techniques and also getting more and more into being a producer for others again, I like sitting in the back and developing stuff from scratch with artists, so yea right now is a good time for me as a producer creatively and I plan to do a lot more of that aswell as getting into video directing, at some point managing and more, just basically take over this shit, not fully obviously, but do it in a way that my name will resonate through places and small gaps in this game.
