Producer, Guitarist, Genre Bending Musician Cloudchord Shares New LP ‘Bloom Bap’

Cloudchord (Derek VanScoten), the producer, guitarist, and genre bender specialist that is augmenting musical possibility into reality shares his new full-length LP Bloom Bap via Nettwerk. With Bloom Bap, Derek VanScoten’s Cloudchord project has put forth its greatest and most impossibly lush collection of tunes to date. This is the guitarist and producer’s first full-length album with Nettwerk after releasing the previous EPs, Sundrop and Tulips. Bloom Bap finds him crystallizing his aesthetic with rolling grooves and dense thickets of melody, establishing Cloudchord as an exciting voice in the soundful electronic landscape. Featuring collaborations with Emancipator, Big Gigantic, Braxton Cook, ProbCause, Adam Deitch of Lettuce, and more, Bloom Bap projects tranquility but never quite sits still, always excitedly shifting its own structure as these 15 songs wind down fascinating paths—and you, the listener, are always along for the ride.

WATCH + LISTEN TO “DISCO FIZZ (feat. Birocratic)” HERE

Bloom Bap is the latest achievement from the Austin-hailing Derek’s accomplished career thus far, which began in earnest when he studied music recording in college after graduating early from high school to pursue music at large. While exploring the myriad textures that self-recording could afford a musician, VanScoten was further inspired by pivotal live experiences. He immersed himself in jazz and classical guitar studies, all the while digging through the fertile left-of-center instrumental hip-hop coming out of the Low-End Theory scene in Los Angeles.

Bloom Bap reflects VanScoten’s current infatuation with neo-soul music, as evidenced by the swirling curlicues of melody on the ProbCause and Braxton Cook collaboration “Cryin Heart” and the sparkling groove of “Soul Major” with Adam Deitch of Lettuce. At large, Bloom Bap showcases his ability to pull from various styles of guitar-playing across the history of music and twist them into new, interesting shapes—the perfect encapsulation of his Future Guitar aesthetic. “It’s about me taking guitar styles from the past and bringing them into the future with these modern beats,” shares Derek. 

“I see no reason ever to stop because music is absolutely my favorite thing to do in the world. Music is my spirituality and my quest for truth. It’s always right there if you’re willing to listen for it” shares VanScoten

“DREAMER (feat. Dominic Lalli of Big Gigantic)” – LISTEN + WATCH

“JUNIOR HIGH DANCE (feat. Emancipator)” – LISTEN + WATCH

“CRYIN HEART (feat. BRAXTON COOK + ProbCause)” – LISTEN + WATCH
“KEEP ON MOVIN (feat. Big Gigantic)” – LISTEN + WATCH

ABOUT CLOUDCHORD:

Derek grew up coveting guitar gods like Jimi Hendrix. The game changed when his Dad took him to see George Benson, and his Mom paid for jazz guitar lessons. His college years saw him learning about high-level recording studios; a summer spent as an audio engineer intern at the Aspen Music Institute ignited his reverence for acoustic music. His inspirations grew to include jazz pianist and life mentor Art Lande, and hip hop acts like Jurassic 5 and The Roots. After several years as a Brooklyn-based touring act called D.V.S*, Derek moved to Austin and rebranded. The creative focus was on the chill sides of dance music (from chillhop to deep house) while featuring live guitar and lap steel. In his first year as Cloudchord, he scored 6 consecutive #1 tracks on Hype Machine. Shortly after, a call came to score the documentary In Football We Trust. The work premiered at Sundance and won an Emmy. Other scoring clients have grown to include Disney, Gatorade, Facebook & L’Oreal.