Everything Is Recorded

Everything Is Recorded

Everything Is Recorded is a collaborative project led by Richard Russell, the British producer and head of XL Recordings. Born in Dollis Hill, United Kingdom, in 1971, Russell uses the project to bring together recordings made in his London studio with a changing group of contributors.

Project background

The recordings draw on sessions involving a wide range of musicians from R&B, hip-hop, indie and jazz backgrounds. Contributors mentioned in the project include XL-associated artists Sampha and Giggs, Scritti Politti’s Green Gartside, Obongjayar, Warren Ellis of Dirty Three, Kamasi Washington, Syd, Wiki, Ibeyi and Infinite. The resulting music is described through a mix of dark trip-hop, vulnerable soul and brooding rap.

Richard Russell

Russell becomes A&R manager for XL in the early 1990s, when the label is still focused on rave music and techno. As part of Kicks Like a Mule, he scores a UK Top Ten hit with the 1992 breakbeat hardcore track “The Bouncer”. He later takes full control of XL by the middle of the 1990s and helps widen the label’s range beyond dance music, with releases by Badly Drawn Boy, the White Stripes and Dizzee Rascal among the acts associated with its early-2000s expansion.

Other work

Russell also works behind the scenes as a producer and musician. His credits include Gil Scott-Heron’s final album, I’m New Here, several projects with Damon Albarn including DRC Music, Bobby Womack’s The Bravest Man in the Universe and Albarn’s Everyday Robots, as well as Ibeyi’s self-titled 2015 debut.

Releases

The project’s debut EP, Close But Not Quite, is released on XL in 2017 and includes the title track sung by Sampha. Later singles include “Mountains of Gold”, featuring Sampha, Ibeyi, Wiki and Kamasi Washington, “Show Love”, featuring Syd and Sampha, and “Bloodshot Red Eyes”, featuring Gartside and Infinite. A full-length album, Everything Is Recorded by Richard Russell, follows in 2018.