British comedian James Aster remembers the moment he fell in love with music when he was six years old. At a party organized by the congregation of the “hippie-ish” church his parents were in in the central England town of Kettering, he listened to a compilation album of songs such as “” by Men at Work. .under” and “Insertion“” by J. Giles Band.
“I couldn’t believe any of the songs were this good. I was blown away,” Castor said in a recent video interview. The music became “instantly engrossing”.
By the time he was a teenager, Acastor had played in several bands. He dropped out of school at age 17 without taking his final exams and didn’t attend college so he could focus on building his musical career.
But the 22-year-old didn’t have a record deal and instead turned his attention to comedy when his experimental jazz group broke up. He’s been dabbling in stand-up as a side project since he was 18, and it’s been a nice relief from the pressure of trying to make it in music.
“I’m glad I didn’t mind,” he said. “On the other hand, whenever I was on stage with the band, I really cared about how well they were doing.”
Castor, now 38, is one of Britain’s most popular comedians and has finally released something of a debut album.party gator purgatoryis a 10-track experimental record featuring Acaster’s drumming and made in collaboration with the collective of 40 artists he founded.
In the comedy world, Castor has also had mainstream success with critics. He is a regular on British comedy panels and has recently had a successful podcast called ”.off menuis a show about dream meals co-hosted with comedian Ed Gamble.
Acastor has created a unique voice in the talented British comedy world. His voice is a mixture of eccentricity and vulnerability, surrealism and biting commentary, in which he criticizes a problem, as seen in the stand-up special Cold Lasagna Hate Myself 1999. explored. Difficult times in his personal life have come both for his outspokenness and his signature frenetic style of performance.
It’s this balance that has brought people together, British comedian and friend Matthew Crosby praised Caster’s “genuineness” in a recent phone interview.
Arcaster is such a big figure in British comedy that others have started to imitate him. “People with really distinct and unique styles, whether consciously or subconsciously, are obsessed with the circuit. Eddie Izzard and Harry Hill immediately come to mind,” said Crosby. “And I see a lot of people playing James now.”
With comedy, which once felt less pressure in creative work, turned into a full-fledged career, Acaster stepped away from both listening to and making music. He then said he had a mental health crisis in 2017 following a breakup with his girlfriend and agent and began collecting albums released the previous year, eventually buying 500 releases in 2016 alone. rice field.
“When things got a little tough, that was the last time that brought me a lot of comfort, so I kept at it,” he said. “I just rediscovered myself and renegotiated my relationship with music as a fan.”
He called his personal project “Perfect sound for anythingIn his 2019 book, 2016, he claims that 2016 was the best year for music, and explains why.
In 2020, he started making music again, resulting in an experimental, hip-hop-infused, drum-heavy record, Party Gator Purgatory, featuring a life-sized alligator Acaster won in a contest. It is a work depicting the death, purgatory, and resurrection of the toy. Fair when he was 7 years old.
The album’s high concept epitomizes Acaster’s creative process and the way he turns one idea into his own way. “I’m just running with the hunch that this might be fun,” he said. This approach is evident throughout Acaster’s books, podcasts, and stand-up shows. The idea of this album is the anguish of a stuffed animal. In a special on Netflix’s stand-up series Repertoire, Caster said he started with the idea of himself being an undercover agent, but “and ends up with a breakup-themed show,” he said. .
“He’s incredibly niche and unafraid,” Crosby said. “He doesn’t start the day by sitting and thinking, ‘What am I going to do to make a lot of money?'” he said, “What am I really interested in? of? 』
This tendency toward niche ideas is evident in dense, genre-agnostic albums. “Party Gator” is mainly inspired by “”.What now?is a 2016 album from experimental musician John Bapp whose drums feel intentionally out of sync.
“He’s just a freak, he likes weird music, and I think we both like a lot of weird stuff,” NNA M DÏ, the Chicago-based musician who raps on the album, said in a video interview. said in
Making this album was a labor of love, a painstaking project that spanned over two years. On the album, Acastor played drums, acted as producer, and curated a roster of 40-plus collaborators, including singer-songwriter Xenia Rubinos and rapper Open Mike Eagle. He listened to the drum tracks he created, thought about who he wanted to join, and reached out. Acastor interviewed some of the musicians he wanted to work with for his book, Perfect Sound, and cold-mailed about half of them. “I was really very lucky that people said yes,” he said.
The collaboration, which took place mostly during the UK’s pandemic lockdown, was via email and Zoom, allowing Acaster to facilitate an experimental environment. “Most of the time he told me to do whatever I wanted,” said NNA MDÏ. “He just took what I did and manipulated it. surprised and made it cool.”
For an album that may not appeal to mainstream audiences, the casters are sober about how the album will be received. “I really hope that this piece will find an audience and that people who like it will discover it and be hooked,” he said.
In many ways, the production of this album is a testament to Acaster’s success.
“I love everything, just as much as my stand-up shows and everything I’ve ever done,” he said.
