Tom Caruana - Strange Planet (Album) + 10 Questions

Thousands of years ago, a vast armada of spacecraft journeyed across an ocean of stars in search of planets capable of supporting life: to this aim, planet Earth was discovered and colonised. Only now do we begin to translate the recordings of this fantastic historical event…

Strange Planet (OST), the new album from UK producer Tom Caruana (Wu-Tang vs The Beatles/Jimi Hendrix, Son Of Sam) is the result of some of these audio finds.

Amassing an all star cast of solitary space cowboys, Mr Lif, Jehst, billy woods, King Kashmere, Denmark Vessey, Lee Scott, Paten Locke, Confucius MC, Willie Evans Jr, Kosyne, Magestik Legend, Joker Starr, Prince Po, VVV (Juga-Naut, Cappo & Vandal Savage), Boog Brown, Scorzayzee, Dillon, and HPBLK & Skuff address this planetary good vibe zone.

Intergalactic observations have picked up readings of intense energy waves coming from Earth music, and the musicians capable of producing it are being abducted at an alarming rate. This is a glass onion of an album and there’s plenty of dots to join together. The album is in part a reflection of the times and our everyday lives on this strange planet we live on (everything was recorded pre-pandemic). No one was given a brief to work to either, the tracks (with the exception of Chains and Bounty Hunter On The Rise) just forming themselves. King Kashmere’s track really kicked off ideas for the concept of this collection, so it made sense to open the album with his track Stranded.

Strange Planet takes you on a far out experience, by looking at what’s already right under your nose.

Tom sat down with Wordplay Magazine to answer our infamous 10 Questions:

1. So tell me, how did it all begin? What sparked your love for music?

My love of music goes way back, my dad was a musician and a DJ so I got a lot of my love for music passed on from him. He had a Tascam 4-Track cassette machine that I learnt how to use it when I was 12ish. I learnt keyboard, guitar, bass & drums and started to make my own albums at around age 14. I made around 8 albums between the ages of 14-16. When I was 16 I got my first sampler and started sampling old records.

2. Who are some artists that influence you and that you want to work with in the future?

I'm influenced by a wide variety of artists, Hip-Hop wise it would be MF DOOM, Edan, Lord Finesse, King Kashmere/Strange-U, Lee Scott, Wu-Tang/early RZA production and Jehst. Outside of hip-hop I LOVE funk, especially from New Orleans, I love Lee Dorsey, The Meters, Allen Toussaint, and also James Brown, Menahan Street Band and Khruangbin. I'd love to work with Pharoahe Monch as well as members of Wu-Tang.

3. What are some of the problems you have faced making and releasing the music during the corona virus pandemic?

I guess one of the biggest things has been having people round to record less often. I started building my studio in the garden early in 2020 with the idea that people would come and stay and work on music projects, but it hasn't been as busy as I was expecting. To begin with sales of physical copies increased so I was spending more time doing orders. I don't do much in the way of live shows or DJ’ing so I wasn't too badly affected overall.

4. How would you describe your sound?

I tend to change my sound depending on the project, but generally when I'm sampling I like hunting for quirky sounds and unusual instruments. I love melodies and that's often why I loop samples more than I heavily chop because my ears are drawn to the melodies and I want to keep them intact. Recently I've been making most of my new music playing instruments and trying to make it sound old, reminiscent of dusty fingers material, like breaks, funk, library music and soundtracks.

5. What's your proudest moment to date so far as an artist?

Probably the outcome of my Wu-Tang vs The Beatles album which I put out in 2010. It led to a lot of great things including connecting with Wu-Music Group, finding out the RZA and Method Man had been listening to it. I ended up getting features in the New York Times and Guardian, it also put me in touch with film director Edgar Wright. I ended up following it up with Wu-Tang x Jimi Hendrix album 'Black Gold'. I still get regular messages from people telling me how much that album means to them.

6. Do you have any advice for our readers who may be trying to play the mad game of music?

Be patient, but also be prolific. You have to become obsessed with it. For me making music is like doing a really big jigsaw puzzle, I want to know how the tracks are going to fit into the bigger picture, you're driven to finish it so you can see the full picture but the process isn't always fun, so I tend to work on multiple projects at the same time so I get the buzz of working on new material along with developing and finishing old ones off. Going back to the old projects after working on something brand new lets you hear it with fresh ears and it's often easier to know what needs doing to get it closer to being finished.

7. Are there any artists on your radar right now that we should check out?

I'm sure there are tons that should be on my radar, but I tend to mostly listen to old music.

8. What albums are on heavy rotation on your Spotify playlist currently?

I really the album 'Coming Home' by Leon Bridges, I went through a phase of listening to loads of 50s music like Fats Domino, Little Richard and Ruth Brown. I like old vocal groups like The Mills Brothers and the Andrew Sisters. I do really like the Menahan Street band, especially their first album 'Make The Road by Walking'.

9. What do you like to do when you're not making music?

Generally it's spending time with the family. I love being outside when the weather is nice, going on walks or just sitting out in the garden. When the weather is shit (most of the time at the moment) watching TV/films and cooking.

10. Name Three things you can't live without when in the studio?

1) I have quite a few instruments and effects that I love, but really I couldn't live without my studio monitors, since I upgraded my new monitors are a lifesaver in terms of mixing and being able to have fun and turn them up nice and loud and still trust them.

2) Extinct Audio BM9 ribbon microphone. Sounds so good on everything, but I've been mostly using as a single mic on drum kit.

3) Very boring, but the computer is vital to everything really, I like to try and keep all my projects nicely organised. I like going from the chaos of creating loads of ideas, filtering them down into some kind of order and the computer definitely helps me keep on top of everything.