Lilacs & Champagne

Lilacs & Champagne is a side project formed by Alex Hall and <a href="spotify:artist:4cPIDLukXi1xxmnwRQm7Ai">Emil Amos</a>, founding members of Portland, Oregon experimental instrumentalists <a href="spotify:artist:3VdjlG06JkVAnZ19TR7ZHZ">Grails</a>. Taking a sample-based approach, the duo craft haunting, left-field beatscapes inspired by '70s film soundtracks, dub, trip-hop, and private-press psychedelia. They debuted with a self-titled album in 2012, and released one record per year until 2015's Midnight Features, Vol. 2: Made Flesh. After a long break, the project returned in 2024 with Fantasy World.

Working primarily with an Akai MPC sampler, Hall and <a href="spotify:artist:4cPIDLukXi1xxmnwRQm7Ai">Amos</a> forged their sound with a base of eclectic samples from off-kilter sources such as thrift store records and radio static. The pair cited the production styles of hip-hop legends <a href="spotify:artist:0IVcLMMbm05VIjnzPkGCyp">J Dilla</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:5LhTec3c7dcqBvpLRWbMcf">Madlib</a> as their main inspirations for the project. True to their instrumental work with <a href="spotify:artist:3VdjlG06JkVAnZ19TR7ZHZ">Grails</a>, these sample-heavy collages were filled out with live instrumentation and the processing of combined sounds. Lilacs & Champagne worked diligently on these studio recordings, which culminated in their self-titled debut album on indie imprint <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Mexican+Summer%22">Mexican Summer</a> in early 2012. Danish & Blue, which aptly enough drew from Scandinavian porn films and late-'60s cult films, arrived a year later. The EP Midnight Features, Vol. 1: Shower Scene appeared in 2014. Working quickly, Lilacs & Champagne returned in early 2015 with their third album, Midnight Features, Vol. 2: Made Flesh, a more refined collection of their increasingly distinctive pastiche of hip-hop influences and psychedelic found sounds.

Nearly a decade passed before Lilacs & Champagne resurfaced. Fantasy World arrived in 2024, taking the project's sound beyond instrumental hip-hop and into the realm of tape collage and culture jamming, similar to <a href="spotify:artist:6m6fw8IM7yDdkdgjBTTisW">Negativland</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:2eNJIWt0LUATAgrC6fALrH">Severed Heads</a>. ~ Fred Thomas, Rovi