Our third artist announcement is here! Five more artists are joining us at Opus: Mugen, Chocolate Cake, MODE, Carface, and EMILE.

Mugen

Our first artist is Mugen, a Leeds based indie alt three piece formed just over a year ago. Their art is more than just music; they have paired the auditory experience with visuals, creating Mugen, the hedhehog with a questionable habit of drinking and smoking excessively, who travels across the human world as a personification of the music of the Mugen songwriter, Harry Kinchington, who the character is also loosely based on.

The man behind Mugen, Harry Kinchington, was originally a hip hop producer and member of Leicester’s esteemed BLG collective, before turning to indie rock. With their background, Mugen’s live shows feature sampling, looping, modern technology usually reserved for artists in the dance and electronic genres, and various other influences from the world of hip hop.

Along with Harry, Mugen is made up of Leeds based drummer George Hall and guitarist Daniel Heery, both of whom are rising starts in the Leeds scene.

Mugen is rolling out a unique street art campaign along with an animated series providing a backdrop for their music, which features intricately woven guitar riffs, heavy bass lines, and soulfully sincere lyrics. We look forward to listening to their third single from their debut EP, ‘Come And Go,’ which is set for launch at the 360 Club in Leeds on November 10th, where fellow Leeds up-and-comers Loux’s will also release a new track. Mugen will follow this with a live session at BBC Introducing West Yorkshire on November 11th. Produced by Jamie and Lee of Greenmount Studios (Pulled Apart By Horses, Post War Glamour Girls, The Cribs) and mastered by Pete Maher (U2, Lana Del Rey, Jack White, The Rolling Stones), the track is a truly unique work of art.

This will definitely be an exciting year for the three piece, who were finalists at the Leeds and Reading Festival’s “Ones To Watch,” and have received support from Record of The Day and BBC Introducing. They have been picked up by blogs in Australia and have been flown to Amsterdam to write at a camp as part of the Amsterdam Dance Event. With a new EP in the works, this will most certainly not the last we hear of Mugen.

Check out Mugen’s Soundcloud and YouTube

Chocolate Cake

Andre Edwards, going by the stage name Chocolate Cake, was introduced to hip hop not through rap, but through dance. Born and raised in San Diego, California, he began taking bboy lessons at age 12, where he learned how to dance to funk music. Thus, some of his earliest influences were the likes of James Brown, Breakestra, or funk 45 records.

The first rap artists Andre got accustomed to were Eric B. and Rakim, Big Daddy Kane, and other rappers that heavily sampled “breaks”. His parents played him music from Joss Stone or The Stylistics. It was only in college that Andre took a liking to current rap artists such as Ab-Soul, Kendrick Lamar, Curren$y, and Kid Cudi, and at the same time he started listening to albums from the 80s and 90s. At the time, Andre still had not recorded any record or verse.

During his second year of college, Andre started hanging out with another group of friends who would later join him in making music. They were older than he was, and so he viewed them as teachers and mentors. Together, they would write graffiti in a blackbook while talking about anything, from hip hop to anime, to tech, or just to their day-to-day life. Andre got closer with two particular members, one of whom goes by the stage name DJ Mane One, and the other Stormko.

It was DJ Mane One who taught Andre how to DJ himself, and Stormko who taught him about hip hop culture and its philosophy. It was with their influence that he finally recorded his own rap verse, which he found fun and enjoyed making. Over the course of his college career, Andre recorded a few more verses for different records and continued having fun doing hip hop with his friends.

After graduating from college, Andre moved to Japan and currently lives in Tokyo. Experiences he had in Japan inspired him to make his first mixtape, Jailbreaks, which he cites as turning out better than he expected. He heavily sampled James Brown and Rakim, some of his earliest influences, and featured a guest verse by Jamal. The mixtape was mixed and mastered by his friend, DJ Mane One, who also added his own cut, and the cover was made by Stormko.

Andre has made the mixtape a story of his experiences, featuring themes such as making mistakes, salvation, and the will to change, which everyone can relate to. Andre is passionate about hip hop as a culture, and views rap as a channel to express himself in a way that he cannot with other channels. He will continue to make rap for as long as he has more to express, and we look forward to hearing it.

Check out his EP Jailbreaks here.

MODE and Carface

Danny Odom, the man behind MODE, was born in California in 1985 and over the course of fifteen years has become very experienced in creating music. He is a composer for films, producer for a variety of albums (among others Carface’s latest album), filmmaker and creator of music videos.

MODE scores and composes everything himself, and does a great amount of live shows. He has two new albums coming out soon. Some of his music may be familiar from adverts for the likes of BMW, Corvette, or other large companies.

One of the groups working closely with MODE is Carface, for who MODE has produced the latest album. Carface is an electropop duo originating from Denver, comprised of Julia and Katie. Their dark and edgy music has amassed a sizeable following, and their fans follow them on all the live shows they do. Carface is embarking on a tour starting in the summer of 2018.

Outside of music, the Carface duo’s interest in cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology make them an excellent addition to Opus.

We are very excited to listen to their music on the Opus platform soon. In the meantime, check out MODE on his website, Twitter, Soundcloud, Facebook and Instagram, and Carface on their website, Instagram, Twitter, Soundcloud, Facebook, YouTube and Vimeo.

EMILE

London-based composer and producer EMILE (Alex de Gennaro) blends contemporary electronic audio synthesis with acoustic elements, capturing powerfully emotive movements of sound.

Weaving through genres, threads of pulsing EDM, polyrhythmic metal and experimental sound craft can be identified throughout his music.

Alex developed his career as a progressive/ math rock drummer and band composer in Brighton before further pursuing “bedroom producer” pieces with a keen inspiration from his past projects.

EMILE is currently working on combining a live instrumentation set to complement his upcoming EP (of which tracks are enthusiastically being released as they materialize).

His keen interest in the future of music and the power of a decentralized platform for artists make him perfect for joining Opus.

Visit EMILE on his website and Facebook.

More announcements coming soon!