Label link and info – linktr.ee/defpresse

London-based label, Def Pressé are very pleased to announce their partnership with legendary Library Music label KPM. Def Pressé and friends, including names like Damu the Fudgemunk, Stro Elliot (The Roots), J-Live, Blockhead, Deca, Chris Dave and many more TBA have been given exclusive access to the KPM Library. These projects will take shape as two types of record. Def Pressé Editions/KPM Crate Diggers are works built around samples from KPM releases amongst other Library Music catalogues. Def Pressé Editions/KPM Originals are brand new pieces of music, free from samples. Both of these series’ include some very special guest vocalists and musicians as well as the Producers/Arrangers themselves. All of this music will be released by Def Pressé and placed into the vaults at KPM Library Music.

Stro presents his new album, La Villa. A true glance back across the KPM catalogue and an opportunity to enjoy the vast experience Stro has creating foundational music for bands like The Roots. This is the fourth release in the KPM Crate Diggers series on Def Pressé, where artists are invited into a deep dive to choose samples from KPM’s iconic music and sound design library, sampled by Madlib, Prince Paul, MF DOOM, J Dilla, Gorillaz, and legions more. These new recordings themselves will then be entered into library music use for media – the circle of hip-hop life.

Stro Elliot’s fourth album La Villa is a dizzying and sumptuous trip through the lush grooves of hip-hop as well as the storied collection of the KPM Library, which is home to over 70 years of music and sound designs made for television, film, and radio. The fourth release in London-based label Def Pressé’s KPM Crate Diggers series, La Villa finds The Roots member, multi-instrumentalist, and producer Elliot applying an elegant touch to his sample selections—opening up his own production approach in new and dazzling ways while introducing a greater audience to the KPM Library’s limitless possibilities.

La Villa is the latest jewel in the crown of Elliot’s multifaceted career, from being a part of Colorado rap collective the Procussions to his contributions as a full-time member of hip-hop legends the Roots, which has also led to him being a mainstay on The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon. After the COVID-19 pandemic ground his busy schedule to a halt, however, Elliot found himself some free time to get back to his own (no pun intended) production roots. “We usually don’t stop—there’s constantly things to do,” he explains. “But during the pandemic, everyone in the band started branching out during the downtime, and for me it was a refocus. My passion is production and remixes, and during 2020 a lot was opened up creatively for me.”

While Elliot was hard at work on a separate remix project—specifically, his collection of James Brown re-imaginings Black & Loud from last year—he was contacted by the folks at Def Pressé about taking part in the KPM Crate Diggers series. “I’m very familiar with those green album covers, so being asked to do this reignited a desire to re-establish myself within a group of artists that like to create out of pre-existing material,” he explains about his enthusiasm to contribute to the project. “I came up with people who dub for vinyl, and it was always like finding little pieces of gold whenever we found those covers. They could be anything, and that’s what the KPM library meant to us. You could get something that sounded like rock, jazz, or Latin music—it was a lottery of material, you never knew what you were gonna get. 9 times out of 10, it was always something useful, and it was always worth listening to as well.”