Urban Vault caught up with London-based emcee Ultra_Eko to ask him some questions about his latest release PHOENIX RISING, and more…

Aiming to release his finest body of work yet, Ultra_eko delivers ‘Phoenix Rising’ as the musical embodiment of his dominant dark themes and captivating narratives. The crisp production directs the full attention to his precise rapping and standout wordplays, with simplistic and menacing beats providing the appropriate vibe and perfect backdrop for Ultra_eko to fully unveil his standout prose and masterful flow.

What’s your name?

Ultra_eko

Where are you from?

I was born and raised in London. I have lived all over the city, at least that which is south of the river. I did cross the water on one occasion, though I found my thoughts twisting themselves into ideas I was unaccustomed to. I’m not sure if they belonged to me; certainly, they were bouncing around inside my head, but perhaps they had been somehow transmitted through subtle frequencies into my mind via a northern technology I was unfamiliar with. I made my excuses and left with haste. I no longer recognise land north of the river to be part of our great capital, it is a heathen land.

How old are you?

I received a YouTube comment several days ago from a very humorous and droll fellow, who said, ‘A fifty-year-old rapping! Give it up, mate.” I did chuckle with mirth, who wouldn’t? And yet just a few hours later the joke was topped when another viewer commented, ‘No, he’s sixty!” Taking the mean, or is it the medium, of these two estimates, we might guess I am 55, the wisdom of crowds has proved a very trustworthy and accurate judge of measure in this respect. Yet a nagging voice within calls out and suggests the number to be 41, it may be my age, or perhaps 41 is a number of some other mystical and prophetic significance of which I will no doubt become aware only when it is all too late.

How long have you been making music?

In my current incarnation, and for an undisturbed period, I have been making music since early 2019. This accident occurred after I bought a Korg synthesiser for my young son, who was at the time struggling for inspiration in his painstaking and weekly lessons of learning the piano; his impatience infuriated me, and despite assurances that within several decades he would be able to play the music from Tetris with minimal error, he always seemed restless, as if the keys were themselves playing him, a thought that did occur, though my stethoscope held to chest brought forth no harmonies other than the usual digestive bass lines. There could then be no other conclusion than that he would rather be watching that monstrous television against whom I fight an ongoing guerrilla campaign within the household. I discovered that Korg synthesisers had many flashing colours and alien craft sound effects, plus you could do a ‘California Love’ voice and sound really cool; I knew the simple colour patterns would distract my son’s simple mind, however, I had not expected myself to be caught by their hypnotic flashing sequences. So began a terrible passion, which consumes me night and day, is never satiated and drives me onwards, without regard for my own health and happiness, to keep making music as best I can, as if pleasing some unseen audience in the heavens.

How many tracks/albums have you released to date?

I have been releasing music as though my life depended on it, which I suspect it may; should I stop for rest or respite, I fear some terrible catastrophe shall befall the earth, perhaps a meteorite of many miles wide draws ever closer out in deep space. It spells out doom and destruction, a fate unavoidable by the laws of cause and effect and this linear movement of time. Yet, perhaps driven by irrational superstition I believe if I can keep releasing music at this furious pace, I am in some yet unexplained way able to keep this destruction at bay, and so ensure the survival of the human race, until one day I shall no doubt collapse with exhaustion and the skies shall blacken and fill with cloud and fire.
I have in this period released one EP and three full-length albums, the last two in November and February just gone, and I have a 19-track album finished and anxiously waiting for release. Yet I seem to be just picking up the pace and am considering splitting my personality into two or three distinct individuals who can each follow their own unique musical paths without disturbing the others or fuelling the conspiracy of saturation.

Can you tell us about your new single ‘Phoenix Rising’, the background, and the inspirations behind it?

There is one line of enquiry in which I have been told the world in which Ultra_eko’s creator resides has been experiencing some severe glitches; the election of a yellow-haired narcissist was an early sign that something was going awry, and that many millions of the earthlings had lost grip of sense and reason, and are caught in some kind of metaphysical advertisement break between main features; I suggested perhaps it was that class Nescafe advert in which the attractive neighbour knocks to borrow coffee; the sense of excitement and anticipation aroused by such as scenario, I would imagine, would fuel one’s existence for an infinite period. Regardless of where the conscious minds of the North Americans had vacated to, it has since become overwhelmingly clear that a glitch has occurred, a virus or at least an alien body has entered our dimension. What we do not yet know if its intentions towards us are good or bad. One thing is clear though, its purpose is disruption, to shake us from a slumber, to awaken us to something. But does it carry out these actions with purpose of destruction, or perhaps to warn of us of some danger, of a capture and jailor of whom we are not aware, and who keeps us within invisible prisons of which we know nothing. Is the glitch a call to action, or the first tremors of our ultimate destruction?

Ultra_eko’s creator has been caught up in fundamental changes in the structures of life instigated by the powers that be. He had lost income, means to provide, he felt lost and without direction, and that he had wasted his life away without anything to show. He felt that he had toiled for years towards a goal, only to find mirage and illusion, nothing to show for all his efforts. And so it is a call to change, and the greatest of changes are born from the ruins of destruction. We live in a universe of constant motion and instability, and so to remain constant and predictable is a sickness we should not allow ourselves to fall into. Instead, the track is a calling to burn down our old edifices and be born and reimagined anew from the ashes. The phoenix bird is of course a mythical animal, meaning it can only be found in the special pool of liquid time and space, hidden discretely between two blocks of flat somewhere between Elephant and Camberwell, and inside of which every imagined creature exists. Of course, everyone is free to find and enter such portals, I would only warn that it is a one-way journey, and this unified self you consider your person will go through divisions of magnitude so great that you shall be scattered through all reality from one end to another; to some that is a great honour; to others the worst imaginable punishment.

Who have you collaborated with so far in your career?

I am weary of collaborations, as it has come to my knowledge one party often conceals a hidden and murderous agenda to murder and plunder that which belongs to his supposed friend. Adolf Hitler signed collaborative agreements with many countries, papers full of signatures and promises; men gesturing with a thousand handshakes and the greatest and most honest smiles yet put on show in the modern world. Yet he later invaded each of his so-called partners in a quest for total dominance and power. That type of hierarchical structure seems written into laws of nature, and I am weary of digging holes to bury all those I have had to murder and dismantle over years. However, having said that, I have of late been guided by spiritual forces who direct me in service of some greater purpose, and who have put me into the path of a like-minded creator. We have been working on a project, though I am cautious to reveal too much, as the elements which compose it are highly unstable, and not yet fixed into final positions; it is a complex and new development in the cultural realm and we are embarking on what might later be seen as paradigm shift, a highly dangerous and delicate feat of skill and lyrical dexterity. Any disruptions at this point might cause major tears in fabrics of time and space, allowing countless thousands of those yellow-haired narcissistic monsters into our world, who at this very moment crawl around its outskirts, looking for weak points, so they might invade and homogenise the world with yellow hair and cruelty, misogyny, racism , ignorance, and worst of all, the deliberate choice to remain stupid and without compassion for others.

How have you ended up in the music industry?

I’m sorry to tell you this, but it is precisely because of that Kog synth, to which I remain enslaved and hypnotised by those flashing sequences of lights. To make matters worse I have yet to decipher the logic of the sequences and so be able to predict their order and break free of them. I hear whispered voices who tell me it is all random, that my life will be wasted in futility. Yet I do not believe in randomness; it to me is as much a figment and fantasy as the tooth fairy. As Einstein said, God does not play dice, and random is the unknown which has yet to be known.

What do you think of the music industry in 2021?

I try not to think too much if it involves forming opinions; I’ve discovered them stubborn and poisonous to creative thought, and with a nasty habit of spreading through the mind until their victim knows everything.

What have you got planned for the rest of 2021?

The best laid plans of mice and men; was it John Lennon who said if you want to make God laugh tell him your plans. I cannot say for certain, though I suspect he let slip and was later brutally murdered on a central park street corner by a killer on his own quest to occupy fame’s alter ego, infamy. I would like to keep both the option of being famous or infamous open, as I can play either part convincingly, so I will resist making a prediction.

What inspires you when you make your music?

The idea that language has not reached its full potential; the universe is vibration, as is language; in fact, everything is merely the interaction vibration; that at least is one model and is probably so crude as to be laughable. Yet I hope to use language as a shovel with which to dig my way down to the depths, hoping that one day I may perhaps make some important discovery which will revels the divine and heavenly powers of sound and music word and language, and takes us out of this dense material plane, lifting us to the imaginal, whereby we shall find the act of manifestation so much easier, as if in a dream.

What’s your favourite track at the moment?

I am a creature of the moment, and so it would have to be a freshly recorded surrealist tale involving a penguin fallen from grace, a confused old man, a seaside location, tears in time and space, kung fu fighting, and duels to the death for the honour of a nutty magnum for an unknown personage called Keith – all of which is true and accurate. Very Exciting.

What do you do when you’re not making music?

I’m a private detective, currently investigating where it all went wrong, it’s a huge case, and an evolving and ever-changing landscape of complexity; I’m losing hope that I shall ever solve it and find the culprit of it all.

Which do you prefer, Facebook or Twitter, or Instagram?

That would be the lesser of three evils. I used to like Twitter until I realised that I was alone, and no one was listening. At least on Instagram, I can see the faces of the people ignoring me. I like Instagram, though I have noticed a strange subspecies of young females evolving within the explorer page; I have a suspicion of inbreeding as they all look the same; fortunately, most do not expose the horror of live footage – I would wager reptilian involvement.

In a few words sum up your thoughts about Urban Vault and what we’re trying to do?

I really respect everything you are doing here, in that sense, I would consider us similar as creators who follow our passion with holy reverence. I find it incredible that you orchestrate this whole operation single-handedly, and that is an achievement that demands great respect and applause. You have my eternal respect and admiration. It really shows your passion and love of the music and the creation of a hub in which a whole culture is drawn together, and through whose lense meaning is lowly deciphered. You are a curator and historian dude, and I hope you feel appropriately proud of yourself, as well as getting the props you deserve from loved ones. The thing about love and passion though is that you would still do it all without any of that, but it’s nice to hear a voice of appreciation every now and then. You’re a legend bro.

Thank you for your time and may you carry on making dope, fresh music…

Pre-Save ‘Phoenix Rising’ HERE
(23rd April)

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