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Rhythm & Culture Presents Thomas Blondet's Debut "FutureWorld"

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FutureWorld, the debut album from acclaimed Washington, DC DJ/producer, Thomas Blondet, will be released on March 4, 2014 on Rhythm & Culture Music.

FutureWorld is genre bending, multicultural, and forward thinking aural journey that defines the Rhythm & Culture sound. Furthermore, Blondet’s project highlights his production sensibilities and widespread vision garnered by the multitude of influences living in the nation’s capital. His impeccable ability to mesh melody with infectious rhythms makes this a dance release as well as an insurmountable task in itself.

Starting his career as a DJ in the 1990s dance music scene in Washington, DC, Blondet has infused just about every type of beat-oriented genre such as deep house, speed garage, drum’n’bass, hip-hop, reggae, and dub with Arab, Latin, Indian, Balkan, Kurdish and Caribbean influences. This musical aptitude has served him well both in the studio and the DJ booth as today he maintains a Sunday night residency at DC’s headquarters of everything organic, Eighteenth Street Lounge.

As a resident Eighteenth Street Lounge DJ, Blondet absorbs both modern and traditional sounds that filter through the venue; a staple of the capital’s nightlife. His command of the dance floor makes FutureWorld a finely distilled sonic concoction of moods and rhythms, which translate easily to the masses.

FutureWorld blends together Jamaican toasters with Indian musical traditions, fusing harmoniously within a landscape of swirling synthesizer lines over a terrain of modern dance rhythms ("Chan Ve"). Gentle Spanish vocals float alongside cinematic Middle-Eastern melodies ("Un Amor") evoking images of streaming water flowing from a fountain in an ornate Andalusian palace.

Blondet, playing the roles of artist, producer, and curator achieves this hybrid by carefully selecting a host of vocal collaborators including reggae legend Monsoon, Carol C (of Luca Sisera), Tina M, and French vocalist Leyla Chatti. Blondet’s creative collaborators also include Kiran Ghandhi (of M.I.A.) who played percussion on “Curry Flava" and Croatian musician Fillip Novosel, with whom he teams up on “Savo Vodo," resulting in powerful Baltic vocals and virtuosic musicianship. Combined with Blondet’s DJ-friendly beats, the result is a statement of how small the world has truly become.

Comprised of 13 compositions, FutureWorld carries the dialogue of a modern global community as it creates the future of a world together.

About Rhythm & Culture: Rhythm & Culture Music is a locally brewed, internationally known record label that reflects Washington, DC’s eclectic influences and organic music scene. This artist owned-and-run label was created by Farid Nouri, resident DJ and one of the founders of Eighteenth Street Lounge and Red (a dance club in DC from 1997 to 2005), and Thomas Blondet, a DC staple of world-class deejaying. The label strives to invigorate today’s music community with sultry infusions of soulful and exotic melodies. Combining this concept with acclaimed productions, the label is poised to create a genre of its own. Through his label Rhythm & Culture, Thomas Blondet has released the European Coaster EP and chilltempo Echo Chamber EP. He has since released several hand-crafted remixes of music by Balkan Beat Box, Nickodemus, Sola Rosa, Mr. Confuse and Fort Knox Five.

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