Beyond Ugly is the last panel in the band's Ugly triptych and that it was completed at all came as a shock to all concerned, least of all the group.  After the conclusion of the campaign for their sophomore album, Return To The Ugly Side, members Gee Ealey and Scott Hendy drifted apart with no definitive plans to take up arms together.  It was a chance meeting in Bristol that drew the two back into one another's orbit and to the realization that there was some unfinished monkey business.  The duo re-engaged slowly, simply working up a track at a time, more for the cathartic act of creating good music rather than the artificial construct of "delivering an album."  Lo and behold,  the creative process built an inertia of its own and Beyond Ugly began to take shape.

And what a fine shape it is... Beyond Ugly recaptures the sonic stew of debut album, The Ugly Side Of Love, a potent of brew of post-summer of love and some good ol' Bristol-fashion psychedelic comedown.  However, there's a healthy dose of renewed restlessness and anger emanating from Ealey that permeates the album thanks to some spirited vocal performances, from the anthemic and vengeful soliloquy of "Sweet Flower" to the civilly disobedient "I Deserve To No."

Of course, Malachai isn't a one-man West End show.  As Rakim had Eric B... as Jerry Lewis had Dean Martin... Hendy, the duo's musical director, has truly outdone his past efforts and provides a sturdy musical platform from which Rev. Ealey delivers his sermons, whether the occasion calls for an exotic sturm-und-clang ("I Deserve To No") or a genteel soft-shoe waltz ("Here It Comes").

Malachai have always enjoyed // suffered the curse of being a "musician's band."  Geoff Barrow of Portishead originally released The Ugly Side Of Love on his Invada imprint before the brigands at Domino swooped in and there was no bigger proselytizer of Malachai's prowess  than Sergio Pizzorno of Kasabian and both take their support a step further with guest appearances on "Dragons Ball" and "The Love" respectively.  Additionally, "Segs" Jennings, bassist from punk legends The Ruts joins the fray on "Sweet Flower."  

So do The Stranglers, but that's another matter.

The album concludes with a montage of hallucinations from across the band's discography before what can be best described as the ominous twilight tranquility of "End."  Is this really where the Malachai story ends?  As shown by the creative triumph of Beyond Ugly, sometimes it's best not to plan at all and just let it happen.  We'll do our best to let you know when it does.

THE END


Peter started out as a kid obsessed with beats and scratching in the 90s. He honed his turntablist skills, and set about learning his craft in the underground clubs of Bristol and Cardiff, battling other DJs at various spots around both cities. He supported a long list of his personal heroes including Roots Manuva, Blak Twang, Mark B and Blade, as well as hip hop royalty; The Beatnuts, Grandmaster Flash, and Public Enemy.

Inspired by the music of DJ Shadow, RJD2 and local legends Massive Attack and Portishead, he soon turned his hand to production. His debut album To Eternity, released under the alias Parker, was described by DJ Magazine as having thrown “stylistic doors wide open with deliciously pleasing results.”

Ever restless, and with a roving eye when it came to music, Peter moved on and experimented with bass music and remixing. Many of his dubstep remixes went viral in the mid 2000s and in particular his remix of Björk’s Venus as a Boy ended up being chosen by Massive Attack for their Blue Lines anniversary Radio 1 Mix.

As a DJ he gained a reputation as a versatile cross-genre selector, thanks in part to his mixtapes gaining heavy rotation on Ninja Tune’s Solid Steel radio. Peter was voted Bristol’s best DJ in 2010, and ended up performing on stages at Glastonbury, Shambhala (Canada), Big Chill, and Bestival, as well as various clubs around the world.

Determined to evolve as an artist, Peter created Neuropol; a coming together of orchestral sounds and richly textured atmospherics with rhythms that fused elements of hip hop, drum and bass, and footwork. He signed music to Drum & Bass label Shogun Audio, and Om Unit’s Cosmic Bridge imprint. Neuropol was labelled as “standing firm as a bastion of future-thinking UK music” by Radio 1’s Friction.

His restlessness reared its head once more, and Peter soon realised his passions lay with the emotive sounds that fell between the beats. And so, he turned his focus towards creating orchestral compositions that were inspired by his own emotions, life experience, and the natural world.

The thread that has tied this all together is the word ‘Widescreen’. It has been used to describe much of his work regardless of the genre, or the alias it was written under. To Peter it means “emotive, filmic, visual music.”

The Beekeepers are two Bristol producers working with a collective of singers and musicians to deliver an album of lush orchestration, dark dub, tight beats and killer songs. It is true to the tradition of music from their hometown and occasionally referencing those influences but always looking to move the game forward and never succumbing to the need to be po-faced or deathly serious. Yes there are heavy tracks on the album but there are also tunes that you can drop at a club or a house party because after all that’s where both of the Beekeepers are coming from.
Scott “Boca 45” Hendy is a man with his finger in several musical pies. As well as his DJ production work as Boca 45, he is the writer producer behind indie band Diego The Dissidents (recently featured in the Banksy Film “Exit Through the Gift Shop”) as well as being the man behind the mixing desk for Malachai (signed to Domino Records and feted by Zane Lowe as his “hottest record in the world” on his radio show)
Parker completes the core of The Beekeepers. An extremely talented and always in demand DJ who learnt his trade via the battle route - he has been steadily picking up fans since the release of his debut Parker album “To Eternity”. He has since had a series of block rocking releases on labels like Jalapeno, GoodGroove and Bombstrikes and his dubstep re-fix of James Brown hit the # 1 spot on Hype Machine. His biggest smash though has been the infinitely popular 'Where's My Monkey?' track which made him a YouTube hit.
Often booked on the same bills the two were firm fans of each other’s DJ styles and skills and over a few pints of cider (the west country way) decided that perhaps the time was right to work together.

For DJ Bookings contact:

abel@fingerlickin.co.uk

Jalapeno Funk Vol. 14 OUT NOW:
VA.lnk.to/JalapenoFunkVol14


Jalapeno Records is at the epicentre of the UK’s funkiest dance labels. 
We Got The Funk.

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