J Dilla’s classic final album Donuts is our listening party choice this month
We are honouring the legacy of one of the best producers in modern hip-hop, J Dilla aka Jay Dee with a listening party on Wednesday April 30th at the Big Romance as part of our Listen Closely series.
This month’s album:
J Dilla – Donuts (2006)
Released two days before his death at 32 from an incurable disease, Donuts is hip-hop producer J Dilla’s defining influential solo work, a culmination of a lifetime of music obssession that saw him produce beats for A Tribe Called Quest, Busta Rhymes, MF DOOM, Erykah Badu and Common, and become known for his detailed chopped up soul-sampling and signature polyrhythmic technique known as Dilla Time. The legend says Donuts was recorded in his hospital bed before he died, with a turntable and a sampler. It is one of the most creative examples of a sample-based music album – an esoteric hip-hop classic.
Come and listen to the album with Niall Byrne and Andrea Cleary and hear some context and thoughts on the album on Wednesday March 26th with doors at 7:00pm, played on vinyl at full volume in The Big Romance’s wonderfully plush and warm Toby Hatchett soundsystem.
The hosts of the Nialler9 Podcast (Niall Byrne and Andrea Cleary) in conjunction with The Big Romance present the Listen Closely series of listening parties, a night featuring a focus album from an artist we love on the last Wednesday of the month.
Listen Closely is a chance to appreciate a modern classic album on the Big Romance’s warm Toby Hatchett soundsystem with a chat about the record on the night, whether you know it and love it, or if it’s brand new to you. We play the album and provide some background context and chat about it too.
Tickets are limited to 40 for this intimate event.
Doors: 7.00pm.
Album playback and chat from 8pm
The Listen Closely events to be announced monthly.
Previous albums at Listen Closely parties:
Lauryn Hill – The Miseducation Of (1998)
The Avalanches – Since I Left You (2001)
Bon Iver – For Emma, Forever ago (2007)
The Strokes – Is This It (2001)
Big Thief – Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe In You (2022)
Boards Of Canada – Music Has The Right To Children (1998)
Father John Misty – I Love You, Honeybear (2015)
Beastie Boys – Ill Communication (1994)
Fiona Apple – Tidal (1996)
Portishead – Dummy (1994)
Laurie Anderson – Big Science (1982)
Madvillain – Madvillainy (2004)
Four Tet – Rounds (2003)
Sufjan Stevens – Illinois (2005)
