Mix no. 121 features an American duo that is equally at home in the rehearsal rooms of Julliard as in the main room of Fabric. Emotive and unapologetically organic, their fluid approach unites more than a lifetime of influences. Greg Paulus and Nick DeBruyn met as 8 year olds growing up in St. Paul, Minnesota, bonding over an early mutual love of hip-hop and jazz legends such as A Tribe Called Quest, J Dilla, Miles Davis, John Coltrane and Herbie Hancock. This deep-rooted connection allows them to understand each other in a rare and profound way. This exciting brew of musical influences has spawned a sound that is right at home in their trusted Crew Love and Wolf + Lamb family: funky and drenched in groove & sexiness.
Their musical history started out as Paulus performed trumpet at local jazz clubs in his teenage years and went on to study jazz/classical at the Manhattan School of Music. Together they later traveled to Cuba’s Havana to study Afro-Cuban rhythm, music and culture. But the seeds of their evolution were really sewn in 2006 when they attended a Wolf + Lamb party in NYC that blew their minds. Thrown at the Marcy Hotel, a space featured in The Guardian newspaper, it propelled DeBruyn to join Paulus in Brooklyn and begin experimenting with electronic music. They naturally formed a very close musical and personal relationship with Zev and Gadi of Wolf + Lamb and their first output, a deep and cerebral string of EPs, was released on the W+L label in 2008 alongside artists such as Soul Clap and Nicolas Jaar.
No Regular Play became integral to the Wolf + Lamb family when they took up residence in the Marcy building, a melting pot for creative minds. This move allowed a more fluid approach to their productions and new collaborations were formed. Subsequent material from the duo has shown up on a slew of respected labels including No. 19 Music and Supplement Facts. Never to be tied to one breed or style, in 2012 they released the track “Rain (All Day)” on Cut Mistake Mu.sic, which was reconstructed and performed as a 25-minute piece by Paulus and his father for improvisation/ electronics with the Minnesota Orchestra.
No Regular Play’s latest release, “Too Dramatic”, has just come out on Wold + Lamb, an effortlessly cool mixture of laidback vibes and heart-throbbing vocal work. On the touring side, the boys have got a lot ahead of them. Like gigs in September at 360 Dubai, Tanzbar in Moscow, Piknic Elektronic in Barca. In October they’ll be flying over to South America for shows in D-Edge, Sao Paolo (Brazil) and Club Fauna in Santiago, Chile.
Tracklist Mix:
Falty DL – Some Jazz Shit – Ninja Tune
N’conduit & Jack Fuller – Ooooo – Cut Mistake Music
Dave Aju – Clean St – Circus Company
Body Language – Good Things – Self-Released
Motor City Drum Ensemble – Raw Cuts (Recloose Remix) – MCDE Recordings
Maxxi Soundsystem & Thrilogy – 300 Vows (No Regular Play Remix) – OM Records
Ralph & Larry Houl – Need You So (Leaves & Iron Curtis pres. SMPL Remix) – Frank Music
Pional – It’s All Over (John Talabot’s Stormbreak Refix) – Hivern Disc
Midnight Magic – Trouble T – Soul Clap Records
No Regular Play – Swim On – Wolf + Lamb Records
Soul Clap feat. Robert Owens – Misty (Tanner Ross Remix feat. Greg Paulus) – Soul Clap Records
