STEEL ZAKUSKI by Don Leisure

Don Leisure,

The man of many practices; beatmaker, instrumentalist, one half of The DarkHouse family (FIRST WORD), and proud new father … Don Leisure is a familiar name in the world of beat driven, post hip hop, electronic based music that we now take for granted and is a championing force along with the likes of Samiyam, Eric Lau, Dibia$e and Flako of bringing it into the limelight.

Don is also a well-known procurer of weird and wonderful records from the far stretches of the globe and is no stranger to taking the listener on these journeys with him.

Evidence of this can be found on the highly notable Turkish psych influenced ‘halal cool J’ as well as ‘Shaboo’, a vibrant and textured beat tape inspired largely by Don’s Bollywood actor uncle, Nasser ‘Shaboo’ Bharwani.
Both released via the mighty First Word Records.

Don made his Group BraCil debut this year with the lush sunkissed ‘Just Remember’ featured on the Label’s latest vinyl compilation ‘happiness we’re all in this together’.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJvrE0Y6ihM

Bringing us to ‘ Steel Zakuski’.
Upon the travels he came into contact with a series of records from the U.S.S.R, predominately recorded in the late 70's and early 80's.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-JobVhnCj5s&t=1s

With a sprawling range of Rock, Pop, Rare Groove, and Disco Don Leisure has managed to weave a delicate collage of musical moments from the deep crate of source material that shows off the weird and wonderful music of Soviet Union during this time period.

Rather than dissect each part to microscopic precision and gloss over till the essence of the sample material was lost, Don has chosen to keep it raw but also morphs some of the original songs into something totally otherworldly, often sinister, and very often funky.

From working with the likes of Kamaal Williams (‘New Heights’), DJ Spinna, Children Of Zeus (‘All The Way’), and being a fan favourite of NTS radio heavyweight Kutmah to being a regular on BBC 6music’s Tom Ravenscroft and Huey Morgan’s shows, Don’s influence stretches far and wide, much like his record collection.

Cardiff producer Don Leisure has evolved considerably in the decade or so he’s been releasing wax. Indeed, he wasn’t Don Leisure when he was making drum’n’bass in the late-00s – he did that as Jamal, his real name – but adopted the pseudonym when he hooked up with Che Ahmed to make tracks as Darkhouse Family.