Suicideyear

James Prudhomme, better known as Suicideyear, has earned acclaim for his highly inventive production style, which resembles a more atmospheric, experimental variation on trap. Informed by shoegaze as well as pop, his music is reflective and melancholy, as his name suggests, but it ultimately seems hopeful and positive rather than excessively bleak or negative. Following early remixes and mixtapes, including 2013′s Japan, Prudhomme signed to the Software label and issued his Remembrance EP in 2014. Later appearing on LuckyMe Records, he released the album Color the Weather, his most ambitious work to date, in 2018. Baton Rouge, Louisiana-based producer James Prudhomme started gaining attention in the early 2010s via his unofficial remixes for rappers such as A$AP Rocky, Future, and Drake. Suicideyear’s self-titled debut mixtape, which featured a remix of Three 6 Mafia’s “Late Night Tip,” appeared in 2012. Prudhomme rose to prominence following the release of Japan, a 2013 mixtape of his melancholic instrumental hip-hop productions, and he produced beats for Yung Lean, Rome Fortune, Antwon, Main Attrakionz, and others. Following a 2013 split 12” single with Kaytranada, Suicideyear’s first full-length vinyl release was 2014′s Remembrance on Daniel Lopatin’s Software label. The following year, Software released Japan on vinyl for the first time, and compiled the two albums on the CD release Dream 727. In 2016, following a brief hiatus, Prudhomme collaborated on the Brothers mixtape with Outthepound, another Louisiana-based producer. The following year, Suicideyear issued the Hate Songs EP on LuckyMe Records. This was followed by the full-length Color the Weather in 2018. ~ Paul Simpson