Malachai

Malachai operate as an elusive and unpredictable pair from Bristol, crafting disorienting tracks that splice fragments in unpredictable patterns and draw clear influence from the psychedelic, progressive, heavy blues, and garage-soul sounds that defined British rock at the close of the 1960s and start of the 1970s, while also incorporating elements of trip-hop, hip-hop, dub, Krautrock, and additional styles. Their irreverent approach to crossing genre lines matches the deliberately obscure image they present to the public. The project began in 2006 when burly-voiced vocalist Gee teamed with shadowy sample-master Scott—no surnames supplied—who initially recorded under the spelling Malakai before an Australian rapper asserted rights to that name, forcing the later adjustment to Malachai. They named Brian Wilson and the Beatles alongside Madlib, Edan, and Massive Attack as key inspirations. Encouraged by Portishead’s Geoff Barrow, a longtime Bristol associate, the duo issued their first material the next year, deliberately obscuring distinctions between performed and sampled sounds on the debut single “Fading World,” which appeared via Barrow’s Invada label, and on “The Battle,” subsequently retitled “Shitkickers” and featured as the opening cut of a 2007 Island Records EP. When negotiations with Island collapsed, Malachai placed their debut full-length, 2009’s Ugly Side of Love, on Invada; Domino Records licensed it for American distribution the year after. The follow-up Return to the Ugly Side surfaced in 2011, and the third album, Beyond Ugly, arrived in 2014.