South London producer, rapper, and artist GAIKA has recently found friends in Atlanta’s Awful Records. He’s played shows with darkwave duchess Abra, had sessions with the handsome KeithCharles Spacebar, and called on head of the family, Father, to direct his new music video for “Glad We Found It.” Inspired by that scene in O Brother, Where Art Thou? with George Clooney and the sirens, Father shot the glitched-out visuals in the heavenly Georgia woods and touched on themes of internal struggle and isolation. “GAIKA isn’t your conventional rap/urban artist,” Father said, “he actively challenges the status quo; I wanted to mirror that.”
The track is taken from last month’s SPAGHETTO EP, a collection of love songs written for those around him, both loved and lost. Drawing from each and every genre, we asked GAIKA to share the biggest inspirations behind his boundary-breaking record — from obscure Japanese producersto a Louis Farrakhan speech on Malcolm X (though it seems that everything ultimately revolves around Blade Runner).
1. Play For Today, A Hole In Babylon
“This is one of the things I directly referenced in SPAGHETTO. I knew the story as my parents were close with the people involved in the actual events surrounding the Spaghetti House Siege and I stumbled upon this Horace Ove-directed film about the whole thing. SPAGHETTO, as a total artwork in some sense, is all about context, so I liked the idea of remaking a dramatization of something that actually happened but looked at through some kind of hazy filter. It’s like seeing yourself through distorting mirrors.”
2. Bone Thugs N Harmony, “Crossroads”
“I’m mainly singing all over SPAGHETTO and it’s definitely because of this and Do or Die, ‘Smoke and Ride.'”
3. Rene & Angela, “I’ll Be Good”
“Gold jackets, Lamborghinis, and infinite cocaine — this looks how a lot of the SPAGHETTO production sounds to me.”
4. Phurpa, “Boiler Room Session”
“I came across this incredible band when they supported sun o))) in a church in London. For me all that shininess needs a counterpoint, so I’ll always have one foot in the deep.”
5. Hiroshi Yoshimura, Pier and Loft
“We were smashing the life out of this album whilst making SPAGHETTO and I think it’s one of the few things to directly influence the sound.”
6. Farrkhan talking about Malcolm X
“No matter what, you can’t separate the spaghetti from the sauce — SPAGHETTO is largely about the interplay of the personal and ideological, and the effect of the choices make. This story weighs heavy on my mind when I think about it.”
7. Blade Runner
“The most poignant scene in the film, with an incredible soundtrack. I feel all together SPAGHETTO belongs in this world, the real world. I’m only ever trying to soundtrack the movies in my mind and honestly they are usually versions of Blade Runner.”
8. Dean Blunt, “Felony Stalker 7”
“Because.”
9. Lil Troy, “Wanna Be A Baller”
“Just because.”
10. Sade, “Immigrant”
“The Sade album Lovers Rock influenced how I approached writing the record. The mixing of intensely personal and ideological and left field approach to Caribbean music is something I feel we share. Sade is perfect.”
SPAGHETTO EP is out now on Warp Records.
Credits
Text Frankie Dunn