UK Funky icon Roska will release his debut album, Roska via Rinse Recordings.
Promo versions are hot off the press – we don’t have the cover image yet, nor do we have the release date. What we do have though, is a tracklist:
01. Burn in Flames
02. Energy feat. Nikki
03. Hey Cutie
04. I Need Love feat. Anesha
05. Love 2 Nite
06. Messages
07. Squark
08. Time Stamp
09. Tomorrow is Today
10. Wonderful Day
Roska fans will recognize a few of those tracks. ‘Wonderful Day’ and ‘Love 2 Nite’ came out as a 12” last summer with vocalist Jamie George, while ‘Hey Cutie’ has been doing the rounds for a while. There is however, plenty of new material here.
A former MC, Roska made a name for himself in the UK Funky explosion of 2008, and his ‘Climate Change’ and ‘Elevated Levels’ EPs are scene classics. Along with Geeneus, Cooly G and a couple of others, he’s one of the few from the Funky scene to make an impact abroad – magazines like XLR8R and The Fader have been all over the South Londoner for a while now.
There will be 12” singles preceding and following Roska’s release; what they entail is yet to be decided. Eager to know more, we shot Roska some questions.
Tell us a bit about the origins of the album. When did you begin work on it and how long did it take to get right?
“The tracks on the album have influences from Garage, Grime, Dubstep, House – all of these genres have influences from genres like Bashment, Ragga and sub-genres of House music so basically it’s all my influences on one LP. I have been working on all of these tracks since 2008, some tracks were completed a long time ago but never played and you have some tracks like ‘Wonderful Day’ & ‘Love 2 Nite’ which were made end of 2008 and handed out in 2009 to selected DJs on the circuit.”
What were you trying to do with the album?
“Push the barrier a little more. Over the last two years I have shown my versatility in production. Showing that I don’t need to sit on a template and stick to one drum pattern, and also that my sound appeals to more than one genre.”
Anything else we should know about it?
“Not every track has the ‘Roska, Roska, Roska’ sample on it!”
Photography by Steve Braiden
Pingback: Stream two tracks from Roska’s album | FACT magazine: music and art