The sharp-witted among you will already know about the movement known as Mellow Grime. Taking its cues from the original British genre, mellow grime is just as broad a term—embodying a range of different sounding artists—yet, given its namesake, there are frequently more downbeat moments, moving from the grittier sound toward a reshaped mood and tone.We've already featured one of Mellow Grime's artists on Noisey. Rayf was in our All The Good Shit, tracks of the month series. Today though we're bringing you someone else, the artist KwolleM, which is the word mellow spelled backwards, almost.The Mellow EP, which we're premiering below, is perhaps the most complete collection of Mellow Grime's sound so far. Featuring sampled vocals from grime luminaries like Dizzee Rascal, Tempa T, and Skepta, and mixing them with newer artists like Rayf, [L]ife, and AJ Tracey, the EP demonstrates how different grime can sound when coupled with more fluorescent beats. "The theme of the tape is the gradual demystifying of the grime sound", KwolleM says, "it starts off grittier in terms of content, then becomes more love orientated towards the end." Which, essentially, means this is a tape to play back to back, start to finish. Listen below.
You can download the Mellow EP with exclusive bonus tracks and vinyl version on Bandcamp here. The record features executive production from Vidal Holness and the artwork and photography is by Hendrix Nash.