''Augmented 7th'' is the debut album of the

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

-based musician and DJ, Ash Walker. It was released in 2015 through the

independent record label An independent record label (or indie label) is a record label that operates without the funding or distribution of major record labels; they are a type of small and medium-sized enterprise, small- to medium-sized enterprise, or SME. The labels ...

Deep Heads. The album features a diverse range of genres, such as dub,

reggae Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica during the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its Jamaican diaspora, diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, "Do the Reggay", was the first ...

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

trip-hop Trip hop is a musical genre that has been described as a psychedelic music, psychedelic fusion of hip hop music, hip hop and electronica with slow tempos and an atmospheric sound. The style emerged as a more experimental music, experimental var ...

, and

electronica Electronica is both a broad group of electronic-based music styles intended for listening rather than strictly for dancing and a music scene that came to prominence in the early 1990s in the United Kingdom. In the United States, the term is mos ...

Background

''Augmented 7th'' featured Segilola on vocals, Nikolaj Torp Larsen from

The Specials The Specials, also known as the Special AKA, were an English 2 tone and ska revival band formed in 1977 in Coventry. After some early changes, the first stable lineup of the group consisted of Terry Hall and Neville Staple on vocals, J ...

melodica The melodica is a handheld free-reed instrument similar to a pump organ or harmonica. It features a musical keyboard on top, and is played by blowing air through a mouthpiece that fits into a hole in the side of the instrument. The keyboard usu ...

, and Deep Heads' founder Zeb Samuels. It includes a diverse range of genres, such as dub, reggae, jazz, trip-hop, and

downtempo Downtempo (or downbeat) is a broad label for electronic music that features an atmospheric sound and slower beats than would typically be found in dance music. Closely related to ambient music but with greater emphasis on rhythm, the style may ...

electronica. The album featured 4 tracks from Walker's ''Agnostic'' EP, which was critically acclaimed by the radio DJ

Gilles Peterson Gilles Jérôme Moehrle MBE (; born 28 September 1964), better known as Gilles Peterson (), is a broadcaster, DJ, record label and festival owner. He is renowned for his genre-defying approach to music with jazz at its core. From this base he ...

. The name of the album refers to the

augmented seventh chord The augmented seventh chord, or seventh augmented fifth chord, or seventh sharp five chord is a seventh chord composed of a root, major third, augmented fifth, and minor seventh (1, 3, 5, 7).Garner, Robert (2007). ''Mel Bay Presents Essential M ...

, a popular chord in jazz.

Reception

''Augmented 7th'' received favorable reviews. Paul Scott-Bates of ''

Louder Than War ''Louder Than War'' is a music and culture website and magazine focusing on mainly alternative arts news, reviews, and features. The site is an editorially independent publication that was started by the English musician and journalist John R ...

'' wrote, "

alker Alker is an earth-based stabilized building material produced by the addition of gypsum, lime, and water to earth with the appropriate granulometric structure and with a cohesive property. Unbaked and produced on-site either as adobe blocks or by ...

seems from the evidence here to be able to adapt to almost any musical genre", and "His past works with the likes of

Lee "Scratch" Perry Lee "Scratch" Perry (born Rainford Hugh Perry; 20 March 1936 – 29 August 2021) was a Jamaican record producer, songwriter and singer noted for his innovative studio techniques and production style. Perry was a pioneer in the 1970s development ...

David Rodigan David Michael "Ram Jam" Rodigan MBE OD (born 24 June 1951) is a British radio DJ who also performs as a disc jockey. Known for his selections of reggae and dancehall music, he has played on stations including Radio London, Capital 95.8, K ...

and The Specials have obviously been big influences and his ability to craft often quite brilliant music has to be applauded." He criticized the "slightly annoying replication of a crackling vinyl record". Lexis from ''Music is My Sanctuary'' wrote, "My first thought was how long it had been since I had been remotely excited about a downtempo record", and "What sets ''Augmented 7th'' apart from most records in the genre is musicianship and various mixtures of musical influences."

Track listing

# "Cote De Boeuf" # "Bamboo Circus" (feat Segilola) # "Round the Twist" (feat Nikolaj Torp Larsen) # "They Do Not Know Yet" # "Six Eight" # "Noodle" # "Long Arms" # "Come On Board" # "All That You Are" (Zeb Samuels & Rowl feat Segilola; Ash Walker remix) # "Root Vegetables" # "Blue Veins" (feat Zeb Samuels) # "The Slopes" # "Lost Cranium" (Ash Walker & Zeb Samuels)

References

{{reflist

External links

*
Augmented 7th
' at Deep Heads'

Bandcamp Bandcamp is an American online music distribution platform founded in 2008 by Oddpost co-founder Ethan Diamond and programmers Shawn Grunberger, Joe Holt and Neal Tucker, with an office and record store in Oakland, California. Acquired by Epic ...

page *
Augmented 7th
' at

Discogs Discogs ( ; short for " discographies") is a database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. Database contents are user-generated, and described in ''T ...

Ash Walker albums 2015 debut albums