Mixmag
"Listening to Hint makes you proud to be British"
Music Week
"Lemon Jelly without the irony"
DJ Mag
"Colourful, whimsical, and occasionally eerie fairytale tunes"
Album Description
Hint is a man who walks to beat of his own drum. Literally though, he doesn’t walk very far, because he makes his music in a Portakabin you see, which is quite small, so he just kind of paces up and down a lot. Musically though, he is far from confined to such a small space, as he makes the sounds of what he sees when he looks out the window. These are the sounds of the rural English countryside, dragged inside the Portakabin, and subjected to hip hop, funk, electronica, folk, post rock and soul. These are simple pleasures. These are the sounds of ruralbeat. These are the sounds of Hint’s debut album.
After a couple of releases on Deep Water Recordings Hint moved to Bristol based Hombre Records early 2002, who, via their collaboration with Ninja Tune, have released four Hint EPs over the last year. These releases have seen our boy Hint compared to a startling array of artists from Lemon Jelly and Penguin Café Orchestra, to The Beach Boys meets The Beta Band.
Constructed over the space of a year ‘Portakabin Fever’ was made on the barest of studio set ups, with Hint’s trusty MPC joined by his own musical talents on guitar, bass, and keyboards. Melody, heart, soul, humour and a little bit of magic are the currency in Hint’s world, where eleven tracks of pastoral atmospheres and beguiling electronica are the order of the day.
Don’t be fooled by the still waters of gentle melody though. The man clearly has an ear for a tune, but look a little closer and you’ll see that Hint has many intricacies and deeper tides of broken beats and fascinating rhythm.
About the Artist
Hint is one man, alone, in his portakabin in the deepest Sussex countryside, looking out the window, and looking deep inside, to make some very beautiful music.
Otherwise known as Jonathan James, Hint’s musical tastes have gone through various transformations over his brief 23 years on the planet. From full on drum and bass to hip hop, soul to funk, and electronica to post rock, it all went in one ear and out the other as our boy finished his degree at Leicester University, and went straight, as all graduates worth their salt do, into working in a record shop.
Coming to our attention via what is, in the Leicester underground, still known as ‘the best mixtape ever’, Hint began to rock Leicester’s minuscule nitespots, whilst secretly harbouring desires to own an MPC. Through a mixture of blood, sweat, and teas, the sampler was saved for and purchased, and was swiftly joined by Hint’s hitherto hidden musical talents on the keyboard, guitar, and bass.
After Hint and cynical hack Joe90 spent many a DJ car journey to Leeds listening to his first efforts, whereupon 90, after being practically reduced to tears by the ramshackle joy of ruralbeat, told him he’d be famous one day, Hint was introduced to the newly formed Leicester label Deep Water Recordings.
‘Count Your Blessings’, the standout track on Deep Water’s inaugral various artists EP, appeared, to be swiftly followed by ‘The Beau Selector EP’, which garnered eclectic single of month in Ministry, and a Peel Session. Imagine that.
At this point the finely tuned ears of Bristol’s Hombre Recording’s pricked up, as Hint literally gave up the day job, moved back to Sussex, and set up his studio in the portakabin to make some lovely noise.
Unable to resist the beguiling draw of Hint’s new found ‘rural beat’, Hombre offered him a new home, and its there that he now musically resides. With debut 10" ‘The Look Up’, and follow up single ‘Count Your Blessings’ now out his debut album is completed in it’s full laidback glory, due for release early 2003
1. Actory
2. The Look Up
3. Words To That Effect
4. Why The Top Ten Sucks In 2002
5. You Little Trooper
6. Re:percussions
7. Quite Spectacular
8. Plucker
9. Shout Of Blue
10. Count Your Blessings
11. Air To Sky
