Raji Rags' debut EP, 'Congratulations', is out now. Listen to the five-track record below.
The London DJ, producer, radio host, OTIH label head and A&R shared the "experiment" behind the EP's title in a new Instagram post yesterday, 30th April. "I thought it would be funny to trick social media algorithms by having people comment the word 'Congratulations'", he wrote. "It kinda worked too, sorry if any of my IG posts were deceiving."
He disclosed a recent health scare that gave the meaning behind the title more depth: "Whilst on tour in India in December, I got a viral infection which led to paralysis on one side of my face. The hand screen-printed artwork on the record is an image of my brain taken from an MRI scan I had in Mumbai. The doctors made me do it to make sure I didn’t have a brain tumour. I'm fine now but nothing quite like a health scare to put things in perspective."
The EP features Raven Bush and Peter Bennie of OTIH label mates Speakers Corner Quartet on three tracks, as well as a collaboration with Taiwanese producer, Sonia Calico on 'Bullet Train'. “Collaboration has been key on this record,” said Raji Rags. “It’s been essential to my process.”
Raji Rags' OTIH Records is releasing the physical version of 'Congratulations' as a limited-edition run of 300 screen-printed vinyl records, out now, designed by GiveUpArt and featuring that MRI brain scan.
Check out 'Congratulations' on Bandcamp, and listen to it below.