Dean Blunt

Maverick musician and producer Dean Blunt has confounded listeners and critics with his category-resistant recordings under several aliases and project names. He first received recognition as a member of the mysterious avant-garde pop project Hype Williams before launching a prolific solo career in 2011. Through numerous albums, mixtapes, videos, and one-off tracks, his work has encompassed noisy drone, deadpan hip-hop, and abstract house, with some of his most well-known releases, particularly 2014's Black Metal, bearing '80s college rock and dream pop influences. His most overtly political project, U.K. rap trio Babyfather, released the acclaimed full-length BBF Hosted by DJ Escrow in 2016, and his jazzy R&B group Blue Iverson made their debut in 2017. After releasing albums with Joanne Robertson and Delroy Edwards, Blunt issued one of his most approachable records, 2021's Black Metal 2, the sequel to his previous full-length, which had slowly risen to cult-favorite status. A London (Hackney) native born Roy Nnawuchi, Blunt played bass in Graffiti Island prior to making bigger waves with Inga Copeland as Hype Williams. The duo were classified as chillwave and as hypnagogic pop, two terms Blunt rejected. From 2009 through 2012, Hype Williams released a handful of albums and several singles and EPs, where material ranged from lo-fi house to noisy collages with equally whimsical titles. Blunt started releasing solo material in 2011 and quickly built a discography that rivaled the size of his work with Copeland. Among his most notable full-lengths were The Narcissist II (Hippos in Tanks, 2012), The Redeemer (Hippos in Tanks, 2013), and Black Metal (Rough Trade, 2014). The first two of those three saw him dabble in slack singing and songwriting, while the last of the bunch was a full embrace of the form that was even, at times, guitar-based. In 2015, Blunt released an online mini-album titled Babyfather. He then expanded Babyfather into a full-blown project, presented as a trio including DJ Escrow (an alias of South London poet/musician James Massiah) and Gassman D. Following two self-released mixtapes, Hyperdub issued Babyfather's single "Meditation" (co-produced by Arca) and full-length BBF Hosted by DJ Escrow in 2016. Hype Williams also became active again, releasing several recordings throughout 2016 and 2017, although Blunt and Copeland (who had changed her moniker to Lolina) reportedly had nothing to do with them, as the band was referred to as a "relay project" and had recruited new members. Under his @jesuschrist3000ADHD moniker, Blunt released the guitar-driven ambient single "As Long as Ropes Unravel Fake Rolex Will Travel" in 2017, and Wahalla, an album with frequent collaborator Joanne Robertson, appeared around the same time. Blue Iverson, a Los Angeles-based R&B group produced by and featuring Blunt, released their debut album, Hotep, that year. Blunt contributed to A$AP Rocky's 2018 album Testing, and the rapper made appearances on some of Blunt's releases, such as Soul on Fire. Blunt additionally issued Desert Sessions with Delroy Edwards that year. Zushi, featuring guest appearances from Panda Bear and Sauce Walka, surfaced in 2019. The extensive digital compilation Roaches 2012-2019 appeared in 2020. Blunt returned to Rough Trade in 2021 with Black Metal 2, a concise sequel to his sprawling 2014 full-length. ~ Andy Kellman & Paul Simpson