Today we’re premiering the song ‘commoner’ by spoony bard (lowercase spelling is the artist’s preference), which is the alter-ego of NYC musician David Nord. spoony bard brings a jazz musician’s sense of freedom to electronic and hip-hop beatmaking before lacing it with traditional MC skills. Think of the experimental glitch-hop of Prefuse 73 combined with the introspective flow of J-Live.
Nord comes from a background in jazz. “I think it allows me to be a bit more adventurous than most artists who make electronic or hip-hop-related music,” he said of his jazz experience in an email, “especially in my approach to harmony, melody, and rhythm.”
Nord has been writing rhymes since he was a child. Asked for his favorite MCs, he said, “Some of my favorites are Ghostface, Black Thought, DOOM, and Guru. So basically I like prolific, consistent, clever, technically skilled rappers with very distinctive voices/flows/energies.”
spoony bard is the result of Nord’s unique fusion of jazz, hip-hop, and electronic music. His new song ‘commoner’ (listen below) is “partially a play on Fela Kuti’s song ‘Gentleman,’” he says, “which was essentially an anti-assimilation anthem. Other than that, ‘commoner’ serves as both an affirmation of self and as a chance for me to flex my rap chops a bit and have a little fun on an otherwise pretty serious album.”
The name spoony bard derives from a quote (“You spoony bard!”) from the video game Final Fantasy IV. The quote is a nonsensical insult whose meaning was lost in translation.
spoony bard’s debut album dweeb is available May 12. Listen to ‘commoner’ here:
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