HAYWARDxDALEK is the brand new collaborative album from This Heat drummer and creative force Charles Hayward and rapper/producer Will Brooks (aka MC dalek). Combining daring improvisation with hip-hop-informed sampling, the album is a thrilling trip into an uncharted new world of sound and possibility. The bulk of the music was recorded live in Salford in September 2023 as part of the 20th Samarbeta residency. Brooks took the live recording back to his Deadverse Studio headquarters in Union City, New Jersey, and added new layers of sound and lyrics. The result is a striking body of work that traverses the lines between hip-hop, noise-rock, ambient soundscapes, and free improvisation.

While the September session in Salford was where the duo built the bones of this record, its heart was forged in the friendship that Brooks and Hayward have cultivated since the late 2000s. After connecting through a mutual friend, Hayward turned up at Deadverse and was immediately struck by Brooks and his crew’s freeform approach to hip-hop.

“I remember me and (dalek group members) DJ Rek and Oktopus waiting for him to show up. When he showed up at the studio, Rek was back-spinning "This Heat" records and Charles was bugging out,” says Brooks.

“I learned so much in those four days at Deadverse Studio.“ Hayward recalls. “It just felt like a really ecstatic experience to me.”

This cross-cultural, intergenerational relationship only adds to the richness of HAYWARDxdalek. “Increments” opens the album with an ominous half-bar drone that is quickly disrupted (or augmented?) by Hayward’s jagged, half-time kick/snare pattern and 16th note hi-hat. Songs like “Between The Word and The Drum” and “Asymmetric” pair ghostly synths and samples with Brook’s furious lyrics, decrying the violent and impossibly cruel state of the world today. For all of its complexities and playful experimentation, HAYWARDxdalek is a substantial and heavy record. At its heart, the record is a model for how collaboration can facilitate understanding and connection.

FFO:

This Heat, Clipping, Sonic Youth, Laddio Bolocko, Lightning Bolt, Wire, Boredoms