Biography
More an art project than a conventional band, Hype Williams—titled after the celebrated hip-hop video director—surfaced near the close of the 2000s as one of underground music’s most elusive and puzzling acts, issuing a run of disorienting recordings and clips. At its public outset the endeavor served as an outlet for London-based Dean Blunt and Russian-born Inga Copeland, each of whom later pursued individual paths, yet the entity has also been portrayed as a continuing relay overseen by the figure Denna Frances Glass and sustained by shifting personnel. Its output has typically favored calculatedly lo-fi textures that feel hazy and druggy while drawing from rock, hip-hop, R&B, and experimental traditions alike; a given track might unfold as an extended hypnotic drone-rock piece, a distorted U.K. bass variant, or a sluggish reinterpretation of a Sade single. Public statements and live sightings remained rare, supplied details often proved contradictory or opaque, and observers have struggled to determine whether the project intends sincerity. Alongside James Ferraro and early Ducktails, the press frequently grouped Hype Williams under the “hypnagogic pop” heading, although its tone registered far less bright or wistful than that of its American peers and instead mirrored a bleaker atmosphere.
The project is said to have existed in some capacity since 2005, with Blunt and Copeland joining in 2007. Starting around 2009 it issued a series of short-run cassettes and CD-Rs together with digital files, mixtapes, and clips posted to the YouTube channel pollyjacobsen. De Stijl put out its first vinyl pressing, the 2009 Han Dynasty I EP, while Carnivals released the 2010 debut album Untitled, which quickly earned favor with FACT and The Wire. The EP Do Roids and Kill E’rything—containing the Drake edit “Ooovrrr” and a version of Sade’s “Sweetest Taboo” retitled “The Throning”—appeared on Second Layer Records, and De Stijl closed the year with the second album Find Out What Happens When People Stop Being Polite, and Start Gettin Reel, also featuring “The Throning.” Hippos in Tanks (home as well to Ferraro and Laurel Halo) issued the third album One Nation in 2011, after which the group entered the Hyperdub roster via the EP Kelly Price W8 Gain, Vol 2.
Blunt and Copeland issued further limited items under the Hype Williams name, including remixes for King Midas Sound and Mark Stewart plus a track on the Honest Jon’s Shangaan Shake companion, yet their second Hyperdub release, the 2012 album Black Is Beautiful, appeared under the joint credit Dean Blunt & Inga Copeland. The record earned strong notices and placed on numerous year-end lists, but it marked the final joint effort; the pair announced their split in 2013. Blunt issued the comparatively direct break-up album The Redeemer to widespread praise that same year, while Copeland released several EPs and the 2014 full-length Because I’m Worth It before taking the name Lolina in 2015. Without clarification of its authorship—only confirmation that Blunt and Copeland played no part—a new Hype Williams album titled 10/10 surfaced in 2016; Copeland later remarked that she had no knowledge of it and had not listened. Additional digital releases credited to Hype Williams appeared in early 2017, after which the project moved to Big Dada and delivered the album Rainbow Edition along with the standalone track “Kathy Goes 2 Haiti” later that year. In this phase its participants were identified as Slaughter and Silvermane.
The project is said to have existed in some capacity since 2005, with Blunt and Copeland joining in 2007. Starting around 2009 it issued a series of short-run cassettes and CD-Rs together with digital files, mixtapes, and clips posted to the YouTube channel pollyjacobsen. De Stijl put out its first vinyl pressing, the 2009 Han Dynasty I EP, while Carnivals released the 2010 debut album Untitled, which quickly earned favor with FACT and The Wire. The EP Do Roids and Kill E’rything—containing the Drake edit “Ooovrrr” and a version of Sade’s “Sweetest Taboo” retitled “The Throning”—appeared on Second Layer Records, and De Stijl closed the year with the second album Find Out What Happens When People Stop Being Polite, and Start Gettin Reel, also featuring “The Throning.” Hippos in Tanks (home as well to Ferraro and Laurel Halo) issued the third album One Nation in 2011, after which the group entered the Hyperdub roster via the EP Kelly Price W8 Gain, Vol 2.
Blunt and Copeland issued further limited items under the Hype Williams name, including remixes for King Midas Sound and Mark Stewart plus a track on the Honest Jon’s Shangaan Shake companion, yet their second Hyperdub release, the 2012 album Black Is Beautiful, appeared under the joint credit Dean Blunt & Inga Copeland. The record earned strong notices and placed on numerous year-end lists, but it marked the final joint effort; the pair announced their split in 2013. Blunt issued the comparatively direct break-up album The Redeemer to widespread praise that same year, while Copeland released several EPs and the 2014 full-length Because I’m Worth It before taking the name Lolina in 2015. Without clarification of its authorship—only confirmation that Blunt and Copeland played no part—a new Hype Williams album titled 10/10 surfaced in 2016; Copeland later remarked that she had no knowledge of it and had not listened. Additional digital releases credited to Hype Williams appeared in early 2017, after which the project moved to Big Dada and delivered the album Rainbow Edition along with the standalone track “Kathy Goes 2 Haiti” later that year. In this phase its participants were identified as Slaughter and Silvermane.
Albums
Singles
