Jonathan Bates is the sexiest Venezuelan that I know. Granted, he’s the only Venezuelan that I know but that’s nitpicking and I’m not about to diminish his level of cool particularly on the musical front.
Now based in Los Angeles, in 2011 under the moniker of Big Black Delta, Bates (formerly of Mellowdrone) ventured off into the world of electronically designed music. Armed with a laptop, technology, synesthesia and his vivid sonic imagination, he mashed up everything there was to love about 80s synth, dance and pop and then French kissed it with a sci-fi celestial bend for additional sexy. An early result of this magic carpet ride that we got to enjoy was “Huggin & Kissin” which was nothing short of a fantastical thunder dance of rhythm.
As one with [extremely] limited appreciation for things electronic/a, EDM and the like (ok, Thomas Dolby was cool), Big Black Delta managed to hit all of the right notes with me with the massive sound and textures on his kind-of-debut-album-but-not-quite BBDLP1. I say “not quite” because the 10-song BBDLP1 went and got an upgrade. Tuesday, April 30th sees the release of Big Black Delta; the new 13-track ‘debut’ featuring a good portion of BBDLP1 lovingly re-mastered and tweaked with a few new additions making it a warm and full-bodied, futuristic warp of beats and propulsion.
One of those additions debuted in March: “Side of the Road” with its synth-laced buzz and vocoder contortions. If you haven’t already, check out the video which finds Jonathan inside the machine getting his Gene Kelly on in a very digitized world. Most apropos.
And yes, “IFUCKINGLOVEYOU” actually is the title of a song. Jonathan’s just not shy about letting us know how he feels and I can totally get behind that.
If you’re in LA tonight, Big Black Delta (the project) celebrates the release of Big Black Delta (the album) at It’s a School Night at Bardot. But the bigger point is that a full and proper album is here for your pleasure. Dig in to Big Black Delta in all of the usual social places: Official Web, Facebook and Twitter.
And the dude likes the kitties. See?
