Grails for All: The Ultimate CS80 By RJD2

A pioneer who helped shape and usher in a fresh wave of electronic music in the new millennium, RJD2 (born Ramble Jon Krohn) needs little introduction.

For this Splice pack, he shares his original sounds using all analog instruments with a strong focus on the Yamaha CS-80, the pre-eminent polyphonic analog synthesizer. Dig into dark, spacey, synthwave sounds to transport your listeners to another dimension with your next score, hip hop, pop, or electronic production.

RJD2’s acclaimed 2002 debut album, Dead Ringer reflected his strong ties with the underground hip hop scene and his fondness for cinematic atmosphere, while forays into jazz set him apart from the pack. From there, he took one unexpected turn after another, folding ’70s pop and rock influences into 2004’s Since We Last Spoke, going sample-free on the alt-pop musings of 2007’s The Third Hand, and adding his own live drumming to 2010s The Colossus. Along the way, he also composed the intro to the hit show Mad Men among several other projects.

According to Heather Phares and Charles Spano of the Tivo team, along the way, he became an in-demand producer and remixer for a list of clients nearly as varied as his own music including Massive Attack, El-P, Elbow, and Polyphonic Spree. In the 2010s and beyond, he found inspiration by returning to the R&B and funk that were his early musical loves. The neo-soul leanings of 2013’s More Is Than Isn’t and the more vintage shadings of 2016’s Dame Fortune and 2020’s The Fun Ones made for a slightly more cohesive, but still eclectic, approach from an artist who’s still best defined on his own terms.

HIP HOP

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