Liam Bailey: Artist You Should Know

Over Thanksgiving weekend, KCRW DJ Anthony Valadez sent out an email to all the KCRW DJs hipping them to an artist he discovered:

“Liam Bailey out of the UK fuses throwback soul, blues and dub. I stumbled across this 7′ and fell in love with his sound. I hope it moves you as much as it has moved me.”

With those simple words, and a zip file of music, we all fell for Liam Bailey!

Check out “On My Mind”:

Bailey has released two EPs and his debut album will be released independently in America in 2012. Once you hear a few tracks, it makes perfect sense that the album was produced by Salaam Remi, who is known for his work with Amy Winehouse.

KCRW DJ Jason Kramer has been talking about getting Liam to LA before the end of the year (fingers crossed!) and had an email exchange about some of the music HE is into right now. He loves KCRW favorite Michael Kiwanuka, an artist named Breakage (aka James Boyle) who moves between drum and bass and dubstep and has been digging back into his Gregory Isaac records. He also calls John Martyn a “genius”.

Check out the video for “When Will They Learn”. More to come!

RR