Blu Ritual - Since ‘94 / 8.6 LY

Formerly known as Nan Kolè, the early advocate and pioneering A&R of the Gqom sound, Francesco Cucchi is set to re-emerge from a brief musical hiatus with a 2-track offering under his new moniker, Blu Ritual. After months of studio experimentation and influenced by a desire to  expand his consciousness through his creative practice, the Blu Ritual project sees the London-based producer rebirthed and reinvigorated by the pure joy of creating music. Letting feelings and intuitions guide his production style, tracks like Since ‘94 / 8.6 LY retain the percussive focus of his previous output whilst also fold in a wider palette of sonic textures, a switched-up approach to composition and a keen interest in psychedelia and altered states.

A large catalyst for Blu Ritual’s change in musical direction was ditching the classic laptop + DAW setup and swapping it for a ‘live jam’ workflow centred around the powerful Teenage Engineering OP-1. Tracks like Since ‘94 / 8.6 LY exemplify this new process; freed from the avalanche of synth presets and sample banks we associate with laptop-based composition and, crucially, without the flexibility of the endless ‘ctrl-z’ undo - these tracks are like living, breathing creatures that Francesco has shaped and tamed using his hardware and his psyche. 

First up on the 2-track, Since ‘94 definitely seems to capture this semi-tamed, frenetic energy. On the track, Blu Ritual embraces mistakes and the distorted peaks captured during the session. Since ‘94 seems to naturally evolve over it’s 6 and a half minute duration, swelling and shrinking like lungs breathing in and out. Despite his spontaneous and experimental approach to producing, the resulting track is an undeniable banger, channelling the mid 90s, 4x4 energy Francesco recalls from his early days DJing in Italy (the track’s title refers to the year this veteran musician first touched decks!)

On the 2-track’s flipside, 8.6 LY takes things in a more down tempo and cerebral direction. On this creeper of a track, Blu Ritual channels his memories of an intense psychedelic moment where he was ‘literally thrown into the universe’, as he puts it. An array of dense textures and tones that never seems to sit still, 8.6 LY definitely gives off a sense of hurtling through the cosmos whilst under the influence.

A prelude of a larger body of work, Since ‘94 / 8.6 LY is a taster of the sort of trippy but nonetheless dancefloor-ready cuts you’ll be hearing from Blu Ritual this summer. Buckle up... It’s gonna get weird.

Words by Alex Elder