James Blake is nothing if not meticulous, but he isn't afraid to show his work, or at least the raw materials of it. In 2016, the connections that have always fueled creativity are becoming increasingly transparent, whether it's Drake flipping a Chief Keef lyric right after a DMX sample or Beyoncé bestowing Animal Collective with a song credit for her use of a slightly "My Girls"-echoing phrase (combined with the fact that sites like Genius exist in part to point those things out). Both the 6 God and Queen Bey, as it happens, have turned to Blake when their songs needed a certain UK electronic troubadour quality. And today, Blake premiered a slinky new collaboration with Bon Iver titled "I Need a Forest Fire,” from Blake's new album The Colour in Anything, due out tonight. But the above team-ups with A-listers are hardly Blake's only meetings of the minds.
When Blake was an upstart producer first making a name for himself among other acolytes of Burial's 2007 album Untrue and what we then (rather quaintly, considering the U.S. EDM-plosion then still to come) called post-dubstep, he telegraphed his ties to American R&B. The title track of 2010's CMYK EP, on some days still my favorite Blake tune, creatively samples both Kelis and Aaliyah; lest we missed the message, the B-side's "I'll Stay" samples Aaliyah again. As Blake began to emerge as not only a producer but also a singer/songwriter, he made the transition plain not just with samples but with covers—of Feist (on his debut album, 2011's James Blake) and Joni Mitchell (both in full on the 2011 Enough Thunder EP and as a sample of his own cover on James Blake), plus, more recently, Simon & Garfunkel (on BBC Radio 1). And then there are Blake's remixes, typically under his Harmonimix alias: of Destiny's Child and Beyoncé (before she ever worked with him), Outkast, Gorillaz, D'Angelo, and Kendrick Lamar. Blake's Radio 1 residencies have also allowed him the opportunity to share his influences and current favorites through mixed DJ sets.
Where Blake's ongoing metamorphosis into, potentially, a full-fledged transatlantic pop star can be traced still more intriguingly, though, is in the tracks on which he has been a collaborator. Blake and Bon Iver's Justin Vernon have met before, logically enough, on Enough Thunder's sorta too patly Bon-i-Blake sprawl "Fall Creek Boys Choir." Along DeGrassi alums and was-she-or-wasn't-she-scorned Jay Z spouses, Blake has also worked with the Wu-Tang Clan's RZA, on the somewhat befuddling "Take a Fall for Me," and Brian Eno, on the maybe-over-my-head "Digital Lion" (both off of his most recent album, 2013's Overgrown). And those aren't all.
Here, in no particular order, are Blake's five most beguiling collaborations prior to his reunion with Bon Iver on today's "I Need a Forest Fire."
James Blake and Trim — "RPG" (2016)
In March, Blake debuted this collaboration with UK rapper Trim during the former's Radio 1 residency. Whirring and twitchy where Blake's music is usually simmering and moody, "RPG" confirms that Blake’s production works as well with grime as with North American hip-hop (that lackluster RZA collab aside). Blake and Trim have joined forces before, for 2012's "Confidence Boost" and "Saying," but this track's fast-paced wryness—"Keep on hearing his name, but/Who is he, who is he, who is he?"—sets it apart. Supposedly due for release on Blake's 1-800-Dinosaur label, "RPG" may be arriving at the right time, with Apple's Beats 1 radio and its host Julie Adenuga (sister of UK MC Skepta) lately helping give grime a global boost.
James Blake and Airhead — "Pembroke" (2010)
A throwback from Blake's subwoofer-rattling early work, this A-side from a collaborative 10" single with the fellow UK producer Rob McAndrews stands out for the way its ghostly, fractured funk would sound equally at home on the latest from, say, yet another Londoner, Archy Marshall's A New Place 2 Drown, or Drake's VIEWS. As Airhead, McAndrews has collaborated with Blake extensively, from lending a crucial guitar part to the self-titled album's very Bon Iver-y lynchpin "Lindisfarne" to wielding "crazy Moog guitar" on the Eno team-up, "Digital Lion." But this one sticks with you. Doesn't hurt that Blake has since mashed it up with UGK and Outkast's 2007-and-forever-ever matrimonial dramedy "Int'l Players Anthem (I Choose You)."
James Blake — "LIfe Round Here (Remix)" [feat. Chance the Rapper] (2013)
Behold, the power of Chance the Rapper. Upon the arrival of Overgrown, "Life Round Here" sounded drab, unremarkable, sleepy. This remix, released about five months after the boundlessly charismatic Chicago MC's breakout mixtape Acid Rap, still has to make do with the same source material, but life round here seems a whole lot livelier. The key is Chance's word-drunk verse about a wild gig in Blake's hometown ("I think my English's getting real real bad," he quips). Chance has since shared an alternate version of the remix, and he has hinted at the possibility of more collaborations between the two. Next time, Blake may want to buy that "round of English ale" for Chance and his pals, or better yet, point them to a dealer who won't sell an "ounce of rubbish weed to me for like 200 pounds." Chance falsetto ad-lib voice: Ahh!
Drake — "0 to 100/The Catch Up" (2014)
The soon-to-be Saturday Night Live double-duty host and musical guest didn't start sneaking out non-album singles with his OVO Sound show on Apple, which last year brought us both “Hotline Bling” and the Meek Mill diss "Back to Back.” In summer 2014, Toronto's very own released this two-part standalone track, with an ethereal sample of an unmistakable voice that the song's metadata (and Rolling Stone) identified as Blake's. The whole thing worked so well it landed at No. 12 on Pitchfork's 2014 year-end tracks list, not to mention garnered a Grammy nod. The success of this pairing made immediate sense: Blake had previously remixed Drake's "Come Thru," and besides, who could forget the 2011 mash-up album James Drake? Anyone? Don't leave me as lonely as Drake at the top of the CN Tower here.
Beyoncé — "Forward" (2016)
There are worse ways to prime audiences for your new album than to appear at a pivotal moment on the critically acclaimed new album from one of pop's most famous and creatively vital figures. This reverie from Lemonade lasts barely more than a minute, but Blake's plaintive voice is front and center. It fits in between the raw piano ballad "Sandcastles”—wherein Bey's narrator accepts a scarred relationship and turns it into the musical equivalent of the Japanese art form kintsugi—and the album's Kendrick Lamar-showcasing protest anthem, "Freedom." In the Lemonade film, "Forward" accompanies images of the mothers of Eric Garner, Trayvon Martin, and Michael Brown, each holding photographers of their unjustly taken sons. "Best foot first just in case," Blake coos in his familiar falsetto, and before it's over, Beyoncé joins him in poignant harmony. [Listen to "Forward" on Tidal]