Bruk Rogers - Feel Alright ft: JSWISS & Onj / Murder Sound ft: Dread MC (Double Single)
London-based Irish producer Bruk Rogers, also known as Cian McCann (Zero T/Zero Tolerance/Searchlight) delivers a split single, with the bop “Feel Alright feat. JSWISS & Onj” paired with the club stonker “Murder Sound feat. Dread MC”. The track is taken from the upcoming album ‘Loopholes’, set to release on Friday 26th April, and follows the release of “Deusa feat. Roberta Silva & Onj / Get Low” and “Lalela feat. ASAP Shembe / Asalato Riddim”.
“Feel Alright” fuses jazz-funk, latin breaks and New York hip-hop together”, Cian states. Pianist Onj (AKA Andre Louis) added thelatin style keys to the classic chord hook, which sits alongside the four-to-the-floor section. New York native and versatile emcee JSWISS brings the “NYC Flavour” with his effortless flow, uniting the hip-hop bounce with the bruk groove. “It all amounted to a final song that gave me A Tribe Called Quest vibes, but if they made broken beats.” Cian added.
Switching it up is the gritty “Murder Sound”, serving the heavyweight beats and bass, matched by Dread MC’s feisty war-cry. By stripping back the production, Cian makes space for the hard-hitting drums that march along with the take-no-prisoners call to rave, “Murder The Riddim”. The vocals, originally recorded in the late 2000s for a dubstep track, were repurposed, as Cian explains, “I used some of those parts and then he added fresh verses. The end result is a sound system hurter that should shake your foundations”.
The singles are taken from ‘Loopholes’, the 11-track album that serves as a testament to the depth and range of Cian’s musical influences, all seamlessly integrated within the framework of Broken Beat. ‘Loopholes’ emerges as a vibrant melting pot, blending jazz, soul and funk with dub and reggae flavours, notes of bossa nova, samba, and hip hop, and a UK Bass Music touch. The space-age title, in tandem with Bruk Rogers' moniker, inspired by the cosmic adventurer, sets the stage for the exploration of Broken Beat’s evolution. The release pays tribute to its roots and musical heritage, while delving into the Bruk Renaissance and a new-age soundscape.
Rewinding 20+ years, Cian (as Zero Tolerance) had his first jungle tracks signed to 4hero’s Reinforced Records and was exposed to the heart of the burgeoning broken beat scene just by hanging out at their Dollis Hill studio. He was also highly influenced by going toCoOp at Plastic People and frequenting Jazz:Refreshed at MauMau Bar.
Back to the present: Cian was booked to play a DJ set at the ‘virtual’ We Out Here Festival in 2021 and decided to play a bruk set. He had so much fun that he decided to start making some bruk beats straight afterwards. Debut releases on Afronaut & Mark Force’s CoOperation label have been very well received, with wide-ranging support from BBC 6Music, Gilles Peterson, Jazz FM, Spotify Japan and many more. He has also done some remix work for Kid Fonque’s Stay True, CoOperation and Tru Thoughts. Cian hosts a monthly radio show on SWU FM, now under the Rinse FM network. Since the first split single “Deusa feat. Roberta Silva & Onj / Get Low”, taken from ‘Loopholes’, he has released a remix of Dinah Derby’s “Baseline Music” and launched a party for the reworking at The Department Store Brixton.
Cian is also a member of the jazz-soul duo Searchlight alongside fellow Irish producer Dominic Purcell (Beta 2). Their self-titled debut album, featuring the likes of Children of Zeus collaborator [ K S R ], recently dropped on legendary Goldie’s Fallen Tree 1hundred label and has seen heavy support from tastemakers Mary Anne Hobbs, Gilles Peterson and Benji B, as well as being named Huey Morgan’s (BBC 6Music) Record of the Week.