Daily Discovery is a feature that highlights a new or recently discovered artist who we’re excited about. See the rest of our Daily Discoveries here.
The worlds of electronic music and rap music have been moving closer together in recent years, whether that's Kanye West working with Arca and Hudson Mohawke or Danny Brown rapping over Evian Christ's punishing soundscapes on his latest album Atrocity Exhibition.
For Silk Road Assassins, a production trio of Chemist, Tom E. Vercetti, and Lovedr0id, mixing elements of club music with trap or drill comes naturally. They understand what it takes to make a rave go off, but also share an appreciation for US rap music, name-checking underground artists like Adamn Killa, Chxpo, and Five Finger Posse.
It was a surprise to see Silk Road Assassins' name appear as producers for Chicago rapper Mikey Dollaz on "Commas," but as soon as the twinkling, atmospheric intro gave way to the monstrous bass as Dollaz' verse started, everything made sense. Now, the "Commas" beat is being released as "3M Kunai" alongside the incredible "Deadcell," an undeniable contender for underground club anthem of 2016.
With Silk Road Assassins planning an album for 2017, "3M Kunai" and "Deadcell" are being released on vinyl by the always on point Coyote Records. Buy here and get to know the rising UK production trio with our interview below.
How did the three of you link up and when did you start making music together as Silk Road Assassins?
Tom E. Vercetti: Me and Chemist met in college back when we both lived in Coventry and then I met Lovedr0id at university in Bath. I think Chemist had a gig down this way once and we just decided to work on a beat together and it worked pretty well. Nobody has really heard the first track we made together though.
Lovedr0id: I got to know Tom E because we had a pretty similar music taste and common interests. He then showed Chemist some of my older tracks and we got talking over the internet. The first time Chemist actually came do to stay with Tom E, naturally we thought it would be cool to write some music and really didn’t have any huge intentions to form a producer group.
Did you always plan to officially release "Deadcell" or was it partly because of the amazing reaction it got from fans?
Tom E. Vercetti: Initially we were going to put it on an EP but it never really fit in with the rest of our tracks on the Planet Mu release. We definitely wanted to get it out though as a few people had asked about it.
Chemist: By the time we got round to writing an EP we'd already developed a lot, so it wasn't the right fit in the end. Nice that it's finally coming out though.
Lovedr0id: I think "Deadcell" has been due for a while and it was a nice way to wipe the slate so we had no releases backed-up ready for the next project.
How did the Mikey Dollaz track come about? How did you get connected with him and did you make the beat specifically with him in mind?
Tom E. Vercetti: I think Strict Face connected us with his manager after they had done a project together. The beat wasn't really made with him in mind in particular but we were trying to capture the energy of the Chicago sound in the track so it made a nice fit.
Chemist: We wrote the track to fit a rapper for sure—our vision for it was to blend our sound palette with a drill inspired instrumental.
Are there plans for more collabs with US rappers?
Lovedr0id: Yeah, I think it could definitely happen again. We’re not really actively searching for rappers or sending beats out at the moment though.
Chemist: We were aiming to work with more rappers a while ago but we've recently starting writing an album and we've decided to put everything into that. We're always writing rap beats though so it's definitely something we'd like to go back to at some point.
Who would be the dream US rapper to get on a beat?
Tom E. Vercetti: Future would probably be the dream as I think he's untouchable but I also really like Adamn Killa and Lil Uzi Vert at the minute, so it would be mad to get them on a track too.
Chemist: I'd probably like to get Chxpo from Chicago on something. He's definitely in my top three at the moment.
Lovedr0id: If we’re speaking strictly American, Five Finger Posse would be hard or someone with some mad auto tune like Lil Tracy.
Do you always try and work on Silk Road Assassins tracks in person or is it more a matter of sending parts between the three of you?
Tom E. Vercetti: The process flows a lot better when we work on music together in person and our best tracks seem to result from that way of working. Unfortunately we live in different cities now so we started working online a lot more but we still find time to get the in the studio together occasionally.
Lovedr0id: We’re all taking music a bit more seriously now so when we do get the chance to get together it seems a lot more focused. Before it was a lot less structured because I knew I could walk over to Tom E’s house in twenty minutes if anything needed to get wrapped up. I guess we’ve just adapted and trying to keep ourselves active by swapping projects online.
Chemist: The time apart gives us the opportunity individually to perfect our own craft and ideas, so when we do get together we have new material we can tie it all in nicely.
What can we expect for the rest of the year and going into 2017?
Tom E. Vercetti: We've started working on our album so we're keeping everything close to our chest at the minute. We're hoping to release it next year though.
Lovedr0id: We’ve also got a few collaborative projects we've been working on with our friends that you may be able to hear soon.
