Gothic Theatre
Emancipator
Emancipator’s first album, “Soon It Will Be Cold Enough,” a collection of melodious, headnodic beats produced in clean detail, dropped in December of 2006. His only marketing effort was to post a note on MySpace asking fans to check out the album, adding, “If you are a record label, then please sign me.”
Within weeks, he’d been signed by Japanese superproducer Nujabes. “Soon It Will Be Cold Enough” sold more than 5,000 copies in Japan in the first six months. Puma sponsored an Emancipator tour in Japan, where Emancipator gave his first press interview ever – to the editor of Rolling Stone.
“‘Soon It Will Be Cold Enough’ beautifully mixes hip-hop beats with guitar feedback and a delicate piano melody,” says Rolling Stone. “You can feel his energy when he performs.”
Emancipator continues to reap accolades from digital music tastemakers. “Shook,” a mashup that perfectly mixes Mobb Deep’s mighty raps with a haunting track from the Icelandic band Sigur Ros, was the highest-rated song on Hype Machine’s “Best 50 Songs of 2007,” and reappeared on Hype Machine as the #2 most popular song in April 2009.
Watch for “Safe In The Steep Cliffs,” a playful yet aurally mesmerizing second album with layered choirs, horns, American folk instruments such as the banjo and mandolin, violin and some distinct Asian influences, due to be released in the next few months.
