tenderlonious: hard rain
Francisco Espregueira
The acclaimed flautist, saxophonist, producer and 22a label boss Tenderlonious (a.k.a. Ed Cawthorne), returns with a batch of new and old studio productions. His new electronic album, Hard Rain, features waves of futuristic funk and beat music, extracting the maximum flavour from just a few ingredients. This album marks a return to the studio for Tenderlonious and a sign of things to come from 22a.
Taking inspiration from J Dilla, Hard Rain also echoes elements of vintage Blaze, Larry Heard and Carl Craig. This is a warm and soulful piece, sounding spacious and clean. In 10-tracks, Tenderlonious travels from cosmic jazz and trip-hop to bass heavy p-funk and house-fuelled synth moments. Following The Shakedown LP, from last year, and the release of Ironside, with his Ruby Rushton partners, Tenderlonious has been affirming himself as one of the essential musicians of our time. Hard Rain will be available on vinyl soon.