“screen cleaner” Drummer George Daniel's first solo record, 1975, opens with a busy riff, which is fitting since he was so busy with that band and other projects that he didn't have much time to make his own music. Then the instrumental EDM song kicks in with a knee-bending, staccato beat and staccato, guttural electronic synths.
The album will be released on Daniel's dh2 label, the electronic label of Dirty Hit, founded by The 1975. Earlier this month, Daniel – known separately from The 1975 as a producer for his work with that band, Charli XCX, Japanese House, and Caroline Polachek – hosted a dh2 launch party at Brixton's Phonox, featuring Kelly Lee Owens, Oscar Farrell, TimFromTheHouse, and, of course, Daniel himself, from the label.
Daniel has also been making music all summer, making special appearances at Glastonbury, New York, Ibiza and London variously with Charli XCX, Jamie XXX and possibly others with last names beginning with X.
The artist announced the release on his Instagram account with what looked like a catalog number (dh20002), a smiley face in ASCII for the letter “x” (are you sensing a theme here?), and @'s for TimFromTheHouse and Tove Lo. Charli XCX, who probably saw the “x” and imagined she could double that as the word brat, responded in the comments: “Sexy, hot, unique, legendary, talented, tall.”
By the way, Daniel and Charlie are engaged, so he could end up holding the XCX moniker if he so desires. See Charlie QED's “Talk Talk” (and XCX).
