Late Night Tales

The artist-curated mix series, Late Night Tales, is pleased to announce its next compilation, this time curated by multi-instrumentalist, vocalist and producer Jordan Rakei, out April 9th. For Rakei’s Late Night Tales, the first mix of the acclaimed series’ 20th year, the 28-year-old modern soul icon effortlessly stamps his own jazz and hip-hop driven sound all over this gorgeous array of handpicked tracks. A beautifully layered blend that is mirrored in the music he’s made, it comes as no surprise that such a supremely gifted songwriter should deliver a mix that is all about the song. 

“I wanted to try and showcase as many people as I knew on this mix,” says Rakei. “My idea of Late Night Tales was to distil a series of relaxing moments; the whole conceptual sonic of relaxation. So, I was trying to think of all the collaborators and friends that I knew, who’d recorded stuff with this horizontal vibe. Plus, I was also trying to help my friends’ stuff get into the world. I know the story of Khruangbin blowing up after appearing on the series (in fact, I think that’s how I discovered them). So, the main idea was to create a certain atmosphere, but also to help some of my favourite collaborators and buddies to give their songs a little push out into the world. Hope you like it.”

In conjunction with the announcement, Rakei shares  his cover of Jeff Buckley’s “Lover, You Should’ve Come Over,” exclusive to the compilation.

Born in New Zealand, but raised in Australia, Rakei moved to the UK in 2015; he released his debut album, Cloak, with Oz label Soul Has No Tempo. His two subsequent LPs, Wallflower and Origin, came out on Ninja Tune, the former landing the #2 spot in Gilles Peterson’s Album Of The Year worldwide poll, while Origin was nominated for Best Album at the AIM Awards.

As Rakei says, there’s so much more to the song selection on his Late Night Tales’ than a random collection of artists. Many selections have a personal connection. After a soothing opener from Fink, good friend and big influence Alfa Mist (part of the Are We Live collective) delivers “Mulago.” 

Next up is Charlotte Day Wilson with “Mountains,” followed by “Count A Heart” from Moreton, an exclusive collaboration with Jordan, who grew up on the same street in Brisbane, Australia. Elsewhere we hear Scottish producer and multi-instrumentalist C Duncan’s haunting “He Came from the Sun,” Barcelona collective Oso Leone deliver a dreamy “Virtual U” and Bill Lauren’s “Singularity,” which evokes a striking sense of time and place. 

Snowpoet’s ethereal “Evitenity” is a “long mediative narrative over a beautiful soundscape,” which at times seems chaotic, nicely juxtaposed with undeniable beauty, and Maro’s kooky songwriting shines on “Always And Forever.” Long-time buddy Armon-Jones contributes “Idiom,” and Jordan’s exclusive cover version is a two-for-one, Radiohead’s “Codex” merging with “Lover, You Should’ve Come Over” by Jeff Buckley, followed by another exclusive, original composition by Jordan, “Imagination.” The latter works as a piece with the spoken (Spanish) word voiced by movie director Alejandro González Iñárritu (Babel, Birdman, and The Revenant,) who is a big fan of Rakei’s. 

This year, Late Night Tales celebrates its 20th anniversary. The series was established back in 2001 with Fila Brazilia taking to the controls and mixing up the first of what would continue to be the first choice of music connoisseurs worldwide. Since then, the series has seen releases from the likes of The Flaming Lips, Floating Points, David Holmes, Bonobo, Jon Hopkins, Röyksopp and many more.