‘ShortCuts’ is the incredibly self-assured debut album from Trip AKA Alex Child. The eloquently lyrical musical meanderings of one young man’s mind, ‘ShortCuts’ is a genre splicing tour through the trials and tribulations that affect all of our lives, chronicling Trip’s experiences and flights of fancy in the salubrious surrounds of Holloway Boulevard.
Rewind to the early part of this century - after gaining a set of A level results that prophetically spelt DUDE, Trip immersed himself in music, a silver tongued spitter, he began dropping lyrics in mates’ studios across the capital and on pirate radio before cutting his teeth on the live circuit with a succession of heavyweight players including Grooverider, Shy FX and most notably Scratch Perverts and Killa Kela, with whom he toured the world supporting the likes of Justin Timberlake, NERD, Busta Rhymes, Redman and Outkast.
Once back from his global jaunts Trip relocated from his childhood home of Hammersmith to the Holloway Road (affectionately referred to as Holloway Boulevard) to start piecing together what would become ‘ShortCuts’. Working alongside Does It Offend You Yeah’s James Rushent and esteemed producer Lance Thomas (Ladytron, Mark Rae, Simian) the album became a kaleidoscopic expedition through a litany of contradictions, the joy and pain, the excitement and boredom of a life lived in the city.
Already acclaimed by Xfm as one of their tips for the top in 2009, ‘ShortCuts’ opens with staccato riffs punctuating a tale of teenage romance on ‘Applecheeks’, before Trip hurtles headlong through a series of scenarios and sketches effortlessly performing lyrical volte-faces. From the autoerotic cartoon punk of ‘Laundromat’ to ‘Breathe’, a story of life dissolving in loss, soundtracked by big beats and epic guitars, ‘ShortCuts’ features the comedy and drama that’s played out in everyday lives from childhood memories of Jim’ll Fix It entwined with isolation, to the interminable wait for a “breakfast the size of Texas” or the sort of infatuation that is the preserve of first love.
Xfm playlisted lead single ‘River Phoenix’, which wasreleased on 12th April, charts our protagonist’s chagrin at failing to get to first base with his girlfriend following her untimely discovery that River Phoenix has died, ending all hope of their first kiss, whilst the album closer (and next single) ‘Who’s That’, released 27th July, all flailing guitars and attitude, is a consummate lesson in the diss featuring the most epic stream of vitriol aimed variously at pregnant women who smoke, soft porn, metrosexuals and people who clap when planes land.
The stories contained within ShortCuts have proved so powerful that they’ve spawned their own feature film, ‘DayTrip’. Eleven different directors made the movie over one 24-hour period, shot in album running order. Each director had 2 hours with Trip to shoot their video before he moved onto a different location and director to shoot the next song from the album, with the last shot of each video being the first shot of the next. Every video has a clock showing real-time as Trip moves through his 24-hour journey. 'DayTrip' will be released as a special edition DVD free with the album 'ShortCuts'.
‘Who’s That’ is released on Autonomy Recordings on July 27th 2009 with the album 'ShortCuts' released on August 2nd 2009.
www.myspace.com/tripskingdom
Rewind to the early part of this century - after gaining a set of A level results that prophetically spelt DUDE, Trip immersed himself in music, a silver tongued spitter, he began dropping lyrics in mates’ studios across the capital and on pirate radio before cutting his teeth on the live circuit with a succession of heavyweight players including Grooverider, Shy FX and most notably Scratch Perverts and Killa Kela, with whom he toured the world supporting the likes of Justin Timberlake, NERD, Busta Rhymes, Redman and Outkast.
Once back from his global jaunts Trip relocated from his childhood home of Hammersmith to the Holloway Road (affectionately referred to as Holloway Boulevard) to start piecing together what would become ‘ShortCuts’. Working alongside Does It Offend You Yeah’s James Rushent and esteemed producer Lance Thomas (Ladytron, Mark Rae, Simian) the album became a kaleidoscopic expedition through a litany of contradictions, the joy and pain, the excitement and boredom of a life lived in the city.
Already acclaimed by Xfm as one of their tips for the top in 2009, ‘ShortCuts’ opens with staccato riffs punctuating a tale of teenage romance on ‘Applecheeks’, before Trip hurtles headlong through a series of scenarios and sketches effortlessly performing lyrical volte-faces. From the autoerotic cartoon punk of ‘Laundromat’ to ‘Breathe’, a story of life dissolving in loss, soundtracked by big beats and epic guitars, ‘ShortCuts’ features the comedy and drama that’s played out in everyday lives from childhood memories of Jim’ll Fix It entwined with isolation, to the interminable wait for a “breakfast the size of Texas” or the sort of infatuation that is the preserve of first love.
Xfm playlisted lead single ‘River Phoenix’, which wasreleased on 12th April, charts our protagonist’s chagrin at failing to get to first base with his girlfriend following her untimely discovery that River Phoenix has died, ending all hope of their first kiss, whilst the album closer (and next single) ‘Who’s That’, released 27th July, all flailing guitars and attitude, is a consummate lesson in the diss featuring the most epic stream of vitriol aimed variously at pregnant women who smoke, soft porn, metrosexuals and people who clap when planes land.
The stories contained within ShortCuts have proved so powerful that they’ve spawned their own feature film, ‘DayTrip’. Eleven different directors made the movie over one 24-hour period, shot in album running order. Each director had 2 hours with Trip to shoot their video before he moved onto a different location and director to shoot the next song from the album, with the last shot of each video being the first shot of the next. Every video has a clock showing real-time as Trip moves through his 24-hour journey. 'DayTrip' will be released as a special edition DVD free with the album 'ShortCuts'.
‘Who’s That’ is released on Autonomy Recordings on July 27th 2009 with the album 'ShortCuts' released on August 2nd 2009.
www.myspace.com/tripskingdom
