King Krule
photo: jaina teeluck · cc by 2.0 ↗Archy Marshall grew up shuttling between Peckham and East Dulwich in south London, a self-described difficult kid who found an outlet in music, first recording as a young teenager under the name Zoo Kid before settling on King Krule in 2011. His voice — a startling, world-weary growl that seems too large for his frame — anchors a sound that pulls jazz chords, dub bass, punk noise and hip-hop's loose sense of time into the same woozy, late-night frame. His 2013 debut 'Six Feet Beneath the Moon' made him an unlikely teenage cult figure; 2017's 'The Ooz' pushed the formula into stranger, more sprawling territory and earned a Mercury Prize nomination. He continues to release music under both the King Krule name and his own.
Marshall has named Chet Baker among his key touchstones, and it surfaces whenever King Krule songs slow all the way down into lounge-jazz territory: a mournful, half-spoken croon drifting over sparse piano and a lazily wandering saxophone, more interested in atmosphere than resolution.
listen forSet 'My Funny Valentine' next to 'Czech One' — both let a wounded, unhurried vocal float over spare jazz chords and a wandering horn line, built for a near-empty room at closing time.
Marshall has listed J Dilla among the artists who shaped him, and reviewers have picked up on it directly — one described 'Ammi Ammi' as sounding 'like J Dilla on vacation in Brixton,' with its stretched, slightly-behind-the-beat drum programming. The influence shows up as a loose, off-kilter swing underneath otherwise mournful songs, a kick and snare that never quite lock into a rigid grid.
listen forCompare 'Time: The Donut of the Heart' with 'Ammi Ammi' — both ride a warm, slightly wobbly drum loop that drags and snaps back rather than marching straight through the bar.
Marshall has named Fela Kuti among his formative listening, and while The Ooz doesn't chase Afrobeat's tempo, it shares its instinct for foregrounding the rhythm section and letting horns punch through as a percussive color rather than a melodic lead — a driving bass and drum interplay with saxophone bursting in at the edges rather than out front.
listen forLine up 'Zombie' with 'Dum Surfer' — both build from a tight, forward-mixed bass-and-drum groove that carries the track, with a horn arriving late to punctuate rather than lead.