blu.collective | "Rising Above"

blu.collective is a soulful collaboration of artists from Toronto & Sydney with a raw funky sound that continues to evolve. ‘Rising Above’ is a soulful collaboration with raw, funky beats – imagine D’Angelo meeting J Dilla in a live jam, with vocals, rhodes keys & guitar layered over a tight bass & drum foundation. Where “Rising Above” is sparse, instrumental b-side ‘Beers at Samirs’ lets the four multi-instrumentalists stretch out in gradually evolving, thick textures, while still holding down the funk. Danilo Ray is the vocalist on ‘rising above”. He’s a Toronto-based musician who’s contributed vocals to releases by LHA, Natalie Slade & others. He has several creative projects in the pipeline. Guitarist Caratgold studied jazz in college, and started out playing guitar in funk and blues bands. later, he delved into hiphop and production, and has worked as an MC & DJ in Canberra and Sydney. His track “Dreaming Of Minnie” featured on the “High Hopes Volume One” compilation, and he’s contributed mixes to the renowned “This Is Not An Edit” series. Bass player JuzzOne is a beatmaker, musician & DJ in Sydney. As a DJ he’s supported many artists like Roy Ayers, Omar, DJ Krush, and Oddisee; and his funky bass features in Edseven’s track ‘Cascading Trickles’ on Inner Tribe’s recent “Lemonade City” compilation. On keyboards & beats, Sydney-based Simon Hunt is an award-winning musician, composer & filmmaker who’s worked across soundtracks, performance art & music ranging from classical/experimental to funk, with releases on Sub Rosa Records, JJJ compilations & Australian ARIA nominations for best independent release.