Cool Hunting
J. Howells Werthman (JHW), a brooklyn native and co-founding member of the Nuclear Family music collective, recently released his first solo album We Are Making Plans. Taking advantage of Nuclear Family's "extensive community of music makers and artists, guys we've been doing shows with for years," the carefully crafted album features a curated list of guests that proves hip hop lives on.
Although JHW admits he doesn't really like "producer albums"—when an individual creates all the beats and gets emcees to rap over them—he comments, "I wanted to make a project that featured everybody, to leave some evidence of all this talent. In the end, that became the theme of the record and led me to the title of the thing, We Are Making Plans."
A versatile and well-rounded musician, JHW blends a variety of sounds from jazz to old Afro-Brazilian beats, creating a distinct musical amalgam. Of the album's 17 tracks, he produced them all (with the exception of "Clamato," produced by Javelin). Most feature guest emcees and some of my favorite tracks have to be the beautifully composed and heavily jazz-influenced instrumental interludes.
The cover art for the record also goes for the highly-produced gold, but takes a DIY approach. To translate the communal nature of the project, a photograph featuring life size print-outs of the 18 collaborative emcees, posed in an abandoned lot on the Gowanus Canal in Brooklyn, NY, graces the cover. A background mural of the album's title on a decaying brick wall completes the the living collage. Created by Nuk Fam’s own Tone Tank (also of Scum Life), they did it all without Photoshop tricks.
For more from this producer, who's been making original music since high school, check out tracks for Iller Than Theirs' self-titled debut, as well as his executive production credits on Junk Sciene's “Feeding Einstein” and “Gran'dad's Nerve Tonic." He also plays with the Brooklyn based band Ro Agents sometimes.
We are Making Plans is available for free download from Radio Belly. Be sure to look out for more from the Nuclear Family soon. As always, they are making some plans.
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