James Blake (album)
Encyclopedia
James Blake is the debut studio album
by London
-based dubstep
producer
James Blake
. It was released in both the United Kingdom
and the United States
on his own label, ATLAS, supported by A&M Records
, on 4 February 2011. The release was supported with the release of its first single, "Limit to Your Love
", on 28 November 2010.
The album's details, including artwork and track listing, were announced on 20 December 2010. The album was leaked the next day. The album was nominated for the 2011 Mercury Prize
.
A deluxe edition was released on October 10, 2011 with different artwork and bundled with a second disc, Blake's new EP
Enough Thunder
, which was also released as a stand alone EP.
in 2010: The Bells Sketch, CMYK and Klavierwerke. All three EPs have differing musical styles. Mike Powell of online music magazine Pitchfork
noted it was "amazing" that so much material could be released in such a short period of time. However, despite the amount of music released by Blake in 2010, most of the material on his debut album is completely new.
In interviews about the album, Blake cited fellow Londoners the xx
as an influence, telling Clash
s Robin Murray their success with debut xx
"made it a lot easier for me". He added that the band's acclaim meant listeners "are gonna be a lot less shocked by [this album]".
Blake, speaking to Jo Youle and Mark Savage of the BBC
, said that a lot of the vocals on the album were by him, despite relying more heavily on samples in previous work. "There are times when it might seem there's a sample being used, but I've just sampled myself. That's what makes this record special compared to everything [else] I've done."
Before the album's release, Blake was named in both BBC
's "Sound of 2011" shortlist, and came second to Jessie J
in the running for the BRIT Awards
' Critics' Choice Award.
, which assigns a normalized
rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average
score of 81, based on 38 reviews, which indicates "universal acclaim". The Observer
s Kitty Empire said James Blake is "already one of the most critically anticipated albums of 2011". The album has also been described as "a sort of dubstep Nebraska
or Sea Change, a record filled with self-revelation, introspection, and naked humanity." Appearing as their cover star as the new act to watch in 2011, Clash (magazine)
hailed Blake as "The crown prince of the quiet revolution".
Pitchfork Media
noted that "while the songs are the magnetic center here, Blake's musicianship and sonics are equally striking."
* The Enough Thunder
EP was also released separately.
+ You Know Your Youth and I Mind contain elements of A Case of You
by James Blake.
.
Studio album
A studio album is an album made up of tracks recorded in the controlled environment of a recording studio. A studio album contains newly written and recorded or previously unreleased or remixed material, distinguishing itself from a compilation or reissue album of previously recorded material, or...
by London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
-based dubstep
Dubstep
Dubstep is a genre of electronic dance music that originated in south London, England. Its overall sound has been described as "tightly coiled productions with overwhelming bass lines and reverberant drum patterns, clipped samples, and occasional vocals"....
producer
Record producer
A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
James Blake
James Blake (musician)
James Blake is a British electronic music producer and singer-songwriter from London, UK. On 6 January 2011, Blake was announced as runner-up in BBC's Sound of 2011 poll...
. It was released in both the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
and the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
on his own label, ATLAS, supported by A&M Records
A&M Records
A&M Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group that operates under the mantle of its Interscope-Geffen-A&M division.-Beginnings:...
, on 4 February 2011. The release was supported with the release of its first single, "Limit to Your Love
Limit to Your Love
"Limit to Your Love" is a single by British musician James Blake, released on his self-titled debut album. It is a cover version of a song by Canadian musician Feist, originally appearing on her 2007 album The Reminder, and written by Leslie Feist and Gonzales...
", on 28 November 2010.
The album's details, including artwork and track listing, were announced on 20 December 2010. The album was leaked the next day. The album was nominated for the 2011 Mercury Prize
Mercury Prize
The Mercury Prize, formerly called the Mercury Music Prize and currently known as the Barclaycard Mercury Prize for sponsorship reasons, is an annual music prize awarded for the best album from the United Kingdom and Ireland. It was established by the British Phonographic Industry and British...
.
A deluxe edition was released on October 10, 2011 with different artwork and bundled with a second disc, Blake's new EP
Extended play
An EP is a musical recording which contains more music than a single, but is too short to qualify as a full album or LP. The term EP originally referred only to specific types of vinyl records other than 78 rpm standard play records and LP records, but it is now applied to mid-length Compact...
Enough Thunder
Enough Thunder
-Personnel:Credits taken from Discogs.* James Blake - vocals, instrumentation, producer, songwriter* Rob McAndrews - acoustic guitar on "Once We All Agree"* Justin Vernon - vocals, producer and songwriter on "Fall Creek Boys Choir"...
, which was also released as a stand alone EP.
Background
James Blake builds on the material released by Blake as three EPsExtended play
An EP is a musical recording which contains more music than a single, but is too short to qualify as a full album or LP. The term EP originally referred only to specific types of vinyl records other than 78 rpm standard play records and LP records, but it is now applied to mid-length Compact...
in 2010: The Bells Sketch, CMYK and Klavierwerke. All three EPs have differing musical styles. Mike Powell of online music magazine Pitchfork
Pitchfork Media
Pitchfork Media, usually known simply as Pitchfork or P4k, is a Chicago-based daily Internet publication established in 1995 that is devoted to music criticism and commentary, music news, and artist interviews. Its focus is on underground and independent music, especially indie rock...
noted it was "amazing" that so much material could be released in such a short period of time. However, despite the amount of music released by Blake in 2010, most of the material on his debut album is completely new.
In interviews about the album, Blake cited fellow Londoners the xx
The xx
The xx are an English indie pop band, formed in London in 2005. The band's members met while studying at Elliott School, the same school that produced Hot Chip, Burial and Four Tet. They became a trio when their second guitarist and keyboardist, Baria Qureshi, departed in late 2009. In September...
as an influence, telling Clash
Clash (magazine)
Clash is a popular music and fashion magazine based in the United Kingdom. Its magazine title is published 12 times a year. It has a circulation of around 40,000....
s Robin Murray their success with debut xx
Xx (album)
xx is the debut studio album by English indie pop group The xx, released on 17 August 2009 by Young Turks. The self-produced album was recorded at XL Studios in West London between December 2008 and April 2009. The album was awarded the 2010 Mercury Prize...
"made it a lot easier for me". He added that the band's acclaim meant listeners "are gonna be a lot less shocked by [this album]".
Blake, speaking to Jo Youle and Mark Savage of the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
, said that a lot of the vocals on the album were by him, despite relying more heavily on samples in previous work. "There are times when it might seem there's a sample being used, but I've just sampled myself. That's what makes this record special compared to everything [else] I've done."
Before the album's release, Blake was named in both BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
's "Sound of 2011" shortlist, and came second to Jessie J
Jessie J
Jessica Ellen Cornish , better known by her stage name Jessie J, is an English recording artist currently signed to Island Records. She began her career as a songwriter for artists including Chris Brown and Miley Cyrus. Her debut single, "Do It Like a Dude", was released in November 2010 and peaked...
in the running for the BRIT Awards
Brit Awards
The Brit Awards are the British Phonographic Industry's annual pop music awards. The name was originally a shortened form of "British", "Britain" or "Britannia", but subsequently became a backronym for British Record Industry Trust...
' Critics' Choice Award.
Critical reception
James Blake generally received acclaim from critics. At MetacriticMetacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
, which assigns a normalized
Standard score
In statistics, a standard score indicates how many standard deviations an observation or datum is above or below the mean. It is a dimensionless quantity derived by subtracting the population mean from an individual raw score and then dividing the difference by the population standard deviation...
rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average
Weighted mean
The weighted mean is similar to an arithmetic mean , where instead of each of the data points contributing equally to the final average, some data points contribute more than others...
score of 81, based on 38 reviews, which indicates "universal acclaim". The Observer
The Observer
The Observer is a British newspaper, published on Sundays. In the same place on the political spectrum as its daily sister paper The Guardian, which acquired it in 1993, it takes a liberal or social democratic line on most issues. It is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper.-Origins:The first issue,...
s Kitty Empire said James Blake is "already one of the most critically anticipated albums of 2011". The album has also been described as "a sort of dubstep Nebraska
Nebraska (album)
-Themes:The album begins with "Nebraska", a first-person narrative based on the true story of 19-year-old spree killer Charles Starkweather and his 14-year-old girlfriend, Caril Ann Fugate, and ends with "Reason to Believe", a complex narrative that renders its title phrase into contemptuous sarcasm...
or Sea Change, a record filled with self-revelation, introspection, and naked humanity." Appearing as their cover star as the new act to watch in 2011, Clash (magazine)
Clash (magazine)
Clash is a popular music and fashion magazine based in the United Kingdom. Its magazine title is published 12 times a year. It has a circulation of around 40,000....
hailed Blake as "The crown prince of the quiet revolution".
Pitchfork Media
Pitchfork Media
Pitchfork Media, usually known simply as Pitchfork or P4k, is a Chicago-based daily Internet publication established in 1995 that is devoted to music criticism and commentary, music news, and artist interviews. Its focus is on underground and independent music, especially indie rock...
noted that "while the songs are the magnetic center here, Blake's musicianship and sonics are equally striking."
Track listing
All songs written and produced by James Blake except where noted.* The Enough Thunder
Enough Thunder
-Personnel:Credits taken from Discogs.* James Blake - vocals, instrumentation, producer, songwriter* Rob McAndrews - acoustic guitar on "Once We All Agree"* Justin Vernon - vocals, producer and songwriter on "Fall Creek Boys Choir"...
EP was also released separately.
+ You Know Your Youth and I Mind contain elements of A Case of You
A Case of You
"A Case of You" is a song by Joni Mitchell, from her 1971 album Blue. It is one of her most well-known songs.-Writing and recording:Mitchell recorded A Case of You in 1971, during her early folk period. The song was first released on the 1971 album Blue with Mitchell playing Appalachian dulcimer,...
by James Blake.
Personnel
Credits taken from DiscogsDiscogs
Discogs, short for discographies, is a website and database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. The Discogs servers, currently hosted under the domain name discogs.com, are owned by Zink Media, Inc., and are...
.
- James Blake - vocals, instrumentation, producer, songwriter
- Rob McAndrews - acoustic guitar on "Lindisfarne II" and "Once We All Agree", songwriter on "Lindisfarne II"
- Justin Vernon - vocals, producer and songwriter on "Fall Creek Boys ChoirFall Creek Boys Choir- External links :* *...
" - Miti Adhikari - producer on "A Case of YouA Case of You"A Case of You" is a song by Joni Mitchell, from her 1971 album Blue. It is one of her most well-known songs.-Writing and recording:Mitchell recorded A Case of You in 1971, during her early folk period. The song was first released on the 1971 album Blue with Mitchell playing Appalachian dulcimer,...
" - George Thomas - engineer on "A Case of You"
Chart performance
| Chart (2011) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Austrian Albums Chart Austria Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the... |
15 |
| Australian Albums Chart Australia Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area... |
32 |
| Belgian Albums Chart Ultratop Ultratop is an organization which generates and publishes the official record charts in Belgium, and it is also the name of most of those charts... (Flanders) |
1 |
| Belgian Albums Chart Ultratop Ultratop is an organization which generates and publishes the official record charts in Belgium, and it is also the name of most of those charts... (Wallonia) |
24 |
| New Zealand Albums Chart | 38 |
| Danish Albums Chart Denmark Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark... |
2 |
| Dutch Albums Chart NVPI The NVPI is the Dutch tradeassociation of the entertainment industry... |
6 |
| Irish Albums Chart Irish Albums Chart The Irish Albums Chart is the Irish music industry standard albums popularity chart issued weekly by the Irish Recorded Music Association and compiled on its behalf by Chart-Track. Chart rankings are based on sales, which are compiled through over-the-counter retail data captured electronically... |
11 |
| Italian Albums Chart | 81 |
| Swedish Albums Chart Sverigetopplistan Sverigetopplistan, earlier known as Topplistan and Hitlistan and other names, is since October 2007 the Swedish national record chart, based on sales data from Swedish Recording Industry Association .... |
33 |
| Swiss Albums Chart Swiss Music Charts The Swiss Music Charts are Switzerland's main music sales charts. The charts are a record of the highest-selling singles and albums in various genres in Switzerland.The Swiss Charts include:* Singles Top 75... |
9 |
| UK Albums Chart UK Albums Chart The UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled every week by The Official Charts Company and broadcast on a Sunday on BBC Radio 1 , and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website .To qualify for the UK albums chart... |
9 |
| U.S. Billboard 200 Billboard 200 The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists... |
123 |
| U.S. Dance/Electronic | 4 |
| U.S. Heatseekers Top Heatseekers Top Heatseekers refers to either of two separate "Breaking and Entering" music charts issued weekly by Billboard Magazine: the Heatseekers Albums chart or the Heatseekers Songs chart. They were introduced by Billboard in 1993 with the purpose of highlighting the sales by new and developing musical... |
1 |
Release history
| Region | Date | Format | Label |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ireland | 4 February 2011 | Digital Download | Polydor |
| United Kingdom |