UK garage veteran Zed Bias will release a new album, Boss, on November 18.
Released through Loefah’s Swamp81 label, it marks Bias’s fourth album in total but his first for Swamp. It also marks Swamp81’s second album release, following Kryptic Minds’ One of Us.
Speaking to FACT, Bias explains that “me and Loe[fah] first chatted about me making music for Swamp81 in 2009 on tour in Australia. It was then he first played me ‘Foot Crab’ by Addison Groove, and I loved that. I’ve been sending bits to Loe since then really and its been quite a selective process but in 2013 we got there.”
“Somehow Loefah has made it that Will Bankhead [Mo Wax, Trilogy Tapes] makes all the covers for my records on Swamp81, which is a massive honour”, Bias continues. “He’s an OG. When I saw the photo he took for the cover, I was blown away. Ashes57 also helped put together all the design for the Artwork. She also takes fantastic pictures.
The album features guest appearances from young MC / producer Chunky and fellow veteran Roy Davis Jr. “I’ve been working with Chunky for years”, explains Bias. “For me he is one of the main elements of Swamp81. He’s the voice of the label, but also a sick producer, so it felt good to get him involved in this. Roy Davis Jr came to stay for a week to work on some music earlier this year and we made a bunch of tracks. I really wanted a track with Roy on the album and this one was kind of unique because of how we recorded it in various locations up in Manchester and down at Red Bull Studios in London. We also recorded the percussion in London with Daniel Vacchio on conga and hand percussion.”
In other Zed Bias news, he’s working on a new record label, Biasonic. It launches next month, with Bias promising material from “myself, Roy Davis Jr, Beat Corporation, Given, Tom Shorterz, Almost, Murlo, Samrai, Fox, Terror Danjah, Foreign Concept, Lady Chann and MC Trigga.” Bias has also produced the new single for MC Scrufizzer, ‘Kick It’, and has started a project with Trigga called Madd Again – the first single will be titled ‘Poppit’, and features Roll Deep rapper Flowdan.
Stream Zed Bias’s past FACT mixes here and here, and check out ‘Boss Skank’ fron the album below.
Boss Tracklist:
01. Eingang
02. Ye
03. Boss Skank
04. We Are There featuring Roy Davis Jr
05. Tug
06. Copper
07. We’re There featuring Chunky
08. Flamm featuring Chunky
09. Tug (Alt Mix) (Digital Only)
10. Ooh (Digital Only)
