Just what do you do after you’ve spent the past year releasing some of the most oddly infectious and off-kilter pop songs ever heard, winning acclaim with your eponymous debut album, selling out shows and bewitching audiences across the UK, and generally becoming one of the most offbeat and cherished pop stars of recent times? Why, if you are Darwin Deez, you go off and create a full length rap mix-tape created entirely from samples from the 1971 surrealist children’s classic “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory” of course, roping in friends like Dev Hynes, KOOL AD from Das Racist and Chiddy Bang and, naturally, you then decide to give the whole thing away online.
A thrilling left-turn to be sure, but here is the man himself to explain it all in his own words:
“It's a high concept mix-tape, tailor-made for multi-generational impact, created exclusively from Willy Wonka samples with the songs all derived from/based on the original 1971 score. It's like the Grey album but with Chocolate. Inspired by Das Rascist's "you oughta know" lazily singing along with the choruses. chunky as hell beats. The film is a great allegory. I never knew it was allegorical until a stoner pointed that out to me though. I just always loved the songs. Really special melodies (cheer up charlie) and chords (pure imagination). Thought they'd make good hip hop choruses. Why limit yourself to Willy Wonka samples? Limitations inspire me.
Limitations give me the freedom to feel ok about whatever comes out because I can always blame the limitations. But the secret is to get the faucet running in the first place. Otherwise I am just too serious and too scared to write anything. But this particular limitation also has the power to make people curious, like the Grey album, which is all it takes in this day and age to make a popular record; and potential popularity is always thrilling, never daunting. It's the writing itself, the impossibly high quality standards I carry around in my brain that make me scared to write. Not the idea of other people listening in. I WANT people to listen in. The rap style is like a brain dump (which is the technical definition of surrealism. "Why a mix-tape?" - albums are to mix-tapes as the news is to gossip. They will change the way you hear the songs in the movie forever!”
How to get the mix-tape? Well, it is now available online, and all he wants in return is your LOVE. Full details are here: [link]
In addition 5 lucky winners will also find inside their Zip a Golden Ticket; the Golden Ticket is redeemable for the grand prize: which is a lifetime supply of Darwin Deez music and tickets to local DD headline shows!
