Theophilus London: Hipster Rapper Extraordinaire
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It's Theophilus London baby, aka Thelonius Kapps. If you don't already know, Theophilus is a hipster rapper--if you want to put him in a box like that--and his influences include Michael Jackson, Prince, KraftWerk, the Smiths, the Ramones, Coldplay, Quincy Jones, New Look, Lauryn Hill, Ace of Base, Post-Punk Era, Plaid, Boat Shoes, Disney World Paris, Camera Necklaces, Black Vintage Clothing, Red Stripe Beer and Chips Ahoy, Morrisey & the Flowers in his BackPocket. The music posted in this entry is all available on Theophilus' Myspace page, but you would have to download and deal with .zip archives if you want to go that route. Besides, why not let us pick out the hottest selections from the digital releases for you?
On the label Normrex Records, the mysterious label which only has a Myspace page and a website that points to it. Also, we only know of a few releases from the label--and even though we have met the label's owner, Travis Stewart--no word on when exactly in 2009 we will see some of the juicy releases we're anticipating; for instance, the long-anticipated Machinedrum record, "Want to 1 2?" that has been discussed by fans since 2006.
At any rate, back to the discussion at hand. Theophilus is friends with Jimmy Edgar, Machinedrum, ie.merge and the whole Normrex crew. As a result, lots of the instrumentals on Kapps' tracks were produced or mixed by our favorite Normrex artists. There are a few exceptions, but as a result of the Normrex relationships, Theophilus raps over a number of unique tracks (see below mixed with the photos. So, now it's time for our standard photo and audio montage. Of course, some of these photos are press and others are taken by Jimmy Edgar, who is also a professional photographer as you might have noticed in our post about him.
"The Vault:"
[audio:01_The_Vault-Myspace.com_londonwave.mp3]
"Blindfolded (Preview):"
[audio:02-BLINDFOLDED.mp3]
"Invisible Man:"
[audio:11-INVISIBLE MAN.mp3]
"Forever Begins (feat. Common):"
[audio:16_FOREVER_BEGINS.mp3]
"Die 4 You (Feat. Prince):"
[audio:04-DIE_4_YOU.mp3]
Photo: Daniel Warrington.
"Starscream (Feat. Theophilus London):"
[audio:02-StarScream_08-Myspace_londonwave.mp3]
"Leader of The New School (Produced by EdIT):"
[audio:10-LEADER_OF_THE_NEW_SCHOOL.mp3]
"Call Tyrone:"
[audio:14 CALL TYRONE.mp3]
Machinedrum (left), Kapps (right):
