Biography
The Chicago duo Supreme Cuts stretched cloud rap toward a hybrid sound fusing Clams Casino with Cocteau Twins, positioning their work as a calm counterpart to the city's dominant footwork scene. Producers Mike Perry and Austin Keultjes first connected in 2007 as admirers of material spanning Timbaland to My Bloody Valentine. Their earliest house productions leaned closer to footwork's pounding energy, yet the pair vented more aggressive impulses through the avant-punk outfit Gruel, which self-released the album Hell Gibson in 2010. Supreme Cuts surfaced the next year with the Trouble EP on Small Plates and two volumes of their independent Edits series, which contained unofficial reworkings of tracks by artists ranging from Shelia E. to Araabmuzik. In 2012 the duo collaborated with Brooklyn producer and MC Haleek Maul on the album Chrome Lips, issued by Mishka, while their own fully instrumental release Whispers in the Dark appeared the same year on Dovecote. Dovecote also handled the 2014 follow-up Divine Ecstasy, which featured vocal contributions from Mahaut Mondino, Channy of Poliça, and a returning Haleek Maul.