Successor (album)
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''Successor'' (stylized as ''$uccessor'') is the debut studio album by American experimental artist Fred Warmsley, under the alias Dedekind Cut. It was released on 11 November 2016, by NON Worldwide and
Hospital Productions Hospital Productions is an American record label founded in 1998 by Dominick Fernow Ian Dominick Fernow is an American experimental musician, poet and multimedia artist. He is best known for extreme music released under the stage name Prurient, ...
. The album features guest vocals from
Active Child Patrick James Grossi (born May 28, 1983), better known by his stage name Active Child, is an American singer, songwriter, and record producer. His debut album, ''You Are All I See'', was released in 2011 and produced by Ariel Rechtshaid, and gar ...
, as well as co-production from producer Al Carlson, influential for his work on
Oneohtrix Point Never Daniel Lopatin (born July 25, 1982), best known as Oneohtrix Point Never or OPN, is an American Experimental music, experimental electronic music producer, composer, singer, and songwriter. His music has utilized wikt:trope, tropes from various ...
's ''
Replica A replica is an exact (usually 1:1 in scale) copy or remake of an object, made out of the same raw materials, whether a molecule, a work of art, or a commercial product. The term is also used for copies that closely resemble the original, without ...
'' and
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's '' Marry Me''.


Background and recording

In 2013, Warmsley, then known as Lee Bannon and for his production work with
Pro Era Pro Era (short for Progressive Era) is an American hip-hop Musical collective, collective from Brooklyn, New York (state), New York. The group is a collective of Rapping, rappers and record producers that includes East Coast hip hop, East Coast ...
, began to explore a more experimental sound as a solo artist. In June 2013, he self-released ''NW/WB'', which showcased strong
jungle jungle is land covered with dense forest and tangled vegetation, usually in tropical climates. Application of the term has varied greatly during the past century. Etymology The word ''jungle'' originates from the Sanskrit word ''jaṅgala'' ...
and
drum and bass Drum and bass (commonly abbreviated as DnB, D&B, or D'n'B) is a genre of electronic dance music characterised by fast Break (music)#Breakbeat (element of music), breakbeats (typically 165–185 Tempo, beats per minute) with heavy Bass (music) ...
influences and garnered a significant amount of attention. The project drew the interest of record labels including
Warp Records Warp Records is a British independent record label that specialises in Electronic music, electronic, indie rock and experimental music. It was founded in Sheffield in 1989 by Steve Beckett, Robert Mitchell and Robert Gordon. It has released recor ...
,
Sacred Bones Records Sacred Bones Records is an American independent record label founded in 2007 and based in Brooklyn, New York. The label has released recordings from artists including Zola Jesus, David Lynch, John Carpenter, Spellling, Blanck Mass, Crystal S ...
and
Ninja Tune Ninja Tune is an independent record label based in London, with a satellite office in Los Angeles. It was founded in 1990 by musicians Matt Black and Jonathan More, known collectively as Coldcut. The label was established as an outlet for Col ...
, which signed Warmsley in October 2013. His debut studio album, entitled ''Alternate/Endings'', was released on January 9, 2014, to critical acclaim. ''
Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...
'' placed ''Alternate/Endings'' at number 15 of its "20 Best EDM, Electronic and Dance Albums of 2014". On May 26, 2015, Warmsley announced via a hand-written note shared on his
Instagram Instagram is an American photo sharing, photo and Short-form content, short-form video sharing social networking service owned by Meta Platforms. It allows users to upload media that can be edited with Social media camera filter, filters, be ...
page that he would be changing his moniker from Lee Bannon to "¬ b" (meaning "not Bannon"). He wrote that ''Pattern of Excel'' would be his final release as Lee Bannon, adding that he felt the name had "reached its limits" and that "the future can no longer exist in the same realm with music I created when I was 17, fickle and still developing." Early recording for ''$uccessor,'' then titled ''ANA'', began in December 2014 at Warmsley's personal studio in
Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...
, New York City, but was put on hold while Warmsley released the album ''Patterns of Excel''. With the inception of the name Dedekind Cut, recording on ''$uccessor'' resumed in the summer of 2015 in
Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...
, Ireland. On September 9, 2015, Warmsley released an EP entitled ''tHot eNhançeR'', his first release as Dedekind Cut, during the making of which Warmsley befriended NON Worldwide founder Chino Amobi, leading to the label's involvement in the release of ''$uccessor''. During the fall of 2015, Warmsley began working with Al Carlson on completing the album. They both used
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looping rigs and the Roland Integra-7 synth. In February 2016, various tracks in their demo forms were used to create the EP ''American Zen'', Warmsley's first release with
Hospital Productions Hospital Productions is an American record label founded in 1998 by Dominick Fernow Ian Dominick Fernow is an American experimental musician, poet and multimedia artist. He is best known for extreme music released under the stage name Prurient, ...
, with unreleased tracks made exclusively available on his
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 as free bonus tracks. On September 1, 2016, it was announced that the album would be released on November 11, 2016. On November 9, 2016, the album's second half and unused bonus tracks were made available for streaming and downloading on Wikipedia and
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respectively.


Influences

In a 2016 interview with the
Red Bull Music Academy The Red Bull Music Academy (RBMA) is a world-traveling series of music workshops and festivals that was founded in 1998 by Red Bull GmbH. The main five-week event is held in a different city each year. The public portion of its program is a festiv ...
, Warmsley cited the '
downtown music Downtown music is a subdivision of American music, closely related to experimental music, which developed in downtown Manhattan in the 1960s. History The scene the term describes began in 1960, when Yoko Ono, one of the early Fluxus artists, o ...
' of
Philip Glass Philip Glass (born January 31, 1937) is an American composer and pianist. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential composers of the late 20th century. Glass's work has been associated with minimal music, minimalism, being built up fr ...
,
Steve Reich Stephen Michael Reich ( ; born October 3, 1936) is an American composer best known as a pioneer of minimal music in the mid to late 1960s. Reich's work is marked by its use of repetitive figures, slow harmonic rhythm, and canons. Reich descr ...
and
Laurie Anderson Laura Phillips "Laurie" Anderson (born June 5, 1947) is an American avant-garde artist, musician and filmmaker whose work encompasses performance art, pop music, and multimedia projects. Initially trained in violin and sculpting,Amirkhanian, Cha ...
, along with some of his contemporary collaborators including Juliana Huxtable and Chino Amobi as major influences on the cultural meaning of the album.
Michael Cretu Michael Cretu (, ; born 18 May 1957) is a Romanian-German musician, singer, songwriter, composer, and record producer. He gained worldwide fame as the founder and musician behind the musical project Enigma, which he formed in 1990. Cretu began ...
's "
Return to Innocence "Return to Innocence" is a song by German musical group Enigma, released in December 1993, by Virgin Records, as the lead single from the group's second album, ''The Cross of Changes'' (1993). It was co-written and produced by Michael Cretu, r ...
" and ''
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'', along with other
new age New Age is a range of Spirituality, spiritual or Religion, religious practices and beliefs that rapidly grew in Western world, Western society during the early 1970s. Its highly eclecticism, eclectic and unsystematic structure makes a precise d ...
releases were used as sonic markers by Warmsley and producer Al Carlson during the mixing process.
Yanni Yiannis Chryssomallis (; born November 14, 1954), known professionally as Yanni ( ), is a Greek composer, keyboardist, pianist, and music producer. Yanni continues to use the musical shorthand that he developed as a child, blending jazz, clas ...
's "One Man's Dream" and
Moby Richard Melville Hall (September 11, 1965), known professionally as Moby, is an American musician, songwriter, record producer, disc jockey, and animal rights activist. He has sold 20 million records worldwide. AllMusic considers him to be "amo ...
's "When It's Cold I'd Like to Die" from his 1995 album '' Everything Is Wrong'' were also cited. The English cross-genre experimental group Coil was also noted as being a heavy influence on the early 2015 recording sessions. French composer
Erik Satie Eric Alfred Leslie Satie (born 17 May 18661 July 1925), better known as Erik Satie, was a French composer and pianist. The son of a French father and a British mother, he studied at the Conservatoire de Paris, Paris Conservatoire but was an undi ...
's concept of "furniture music" inspired both the piano played at the end of the first single "46:50", and the release of limited-edition yoga/meditation mats that accompanied the announcement of the album.


Critical reception

''Successor'' has received generally positive reviews from music critics. Paul Simpson of
AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...
gave the album 4 out of 5 stars, saying that the album is "a chilly, bracing examination of fear and hope, and it's easily the producer's most ambitious work yet." Thea Ballard of ''
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'' also gave the album a good review, commenting that the album "is marked by the productive discomfort that accompanies such unabashed intensity. Whereas ''American Zen'' maintained a temperate pace, ''$uccessor'' isn’t afraid to crescendo or screech to a halt." Will Neibergall of ''
Tiny Mix Tapes ''Tiny Mix Tapes'' (also ''TMT'' or ''tinymixtapes'') is an online music and film webzine that focuses primarily on new music and related news. In addition to its reviews, it is noted for its subversive, political, and sometimes surreal news, ...
'' gave the album 4-and-a-half out of 5 stars, stating: "Not quite abstraction and note quite representation, ''$uccessor'' is marked by its persistent attendance of texture and relationship in sound, placing them high above rhythm and melody." Emory Michael of ''The Drainage'' gave the album a positive review, but showed skepticism over the album "hovering between several different genres", which he said is "good because it shows off Warmsley's taste and creative dexterity, and bad because, well, this album is bound to be perceived as a 'what the fuck is going on' '' Eric Andre Show'' set."


Accolades


Track listing


Personnel

* Chino Amobi – Additional production * Brunnen – Additional production * Eric "Rabit" Burton – Additional production * Al Carlson – Mixing, mastering,
keyboard Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Mus ...
, flute * Claud Speeed – Additional production * Debit – Vocals * Joshua "DJ Shadow" Davis – Additional production * Lochlan Doyle – Album art design *
Dominick Fernow Ian Dominick Fernow is an American experimental musician, poet and multimedia artist. He is best known for extreme music released under the stage name Prurient, as well as numerous other aliases including Vatican Shadow, Rainforest Spiritual Ens ...
– Drums * Patrick "Active Child" Grossi – Vocals * Alex Zhang Hungtai – Keyboard, vocals * Deana Lawson – Photography * Alec Saint Martin – Vocals * Angelo "Angel-ho" Valerio – Additional production * Fred Warmsley – producer * Josiah "Serpentwithfeet" Wise – Additional vocals * Mason Youngblood – Additional production


References

{{Authority control 2016 debut albums Fred Warmsley albums Albums produced by Fred Warmsley