Dusting off his Defcon alias after a lengthy hiatus, Connor Dougan (aka A.i. Messiah, Deathbed Convert) steps out on Rudimentary with ‘Change’, a 4-track EP of dub and footwork-inflected hip-hop.

The release came out of a period of enforced isolation that accompanied the turbulence of 2020-21:

“Like a lot of people at that time, I found myself reflecting on my habits, my lifestyle… I felt I had the opportunity to make some changes, to get straight about how I wanted to continue. I’ve always had a bit of a problem with perfectionism and a tendency to horde half-finished tracks. It feels like you’re storing up some kind of psychic debt or bad juju when you mothball work and refuse to share it like that… Anyway, I was digging through my archives one day and found a batch of beats from 2014-’15 that were clearly in need of rescuing. I’d been listening to a lot of Teklife-style footwork around that time - particularly Traxman. You can definitely hear some of that vibe in there - weird hooks made out of chopped vocals and stuff. I got a bit sick of that sound after I spent an ungodly amount of time making ‘Reach Out’ in 2015, but after some time off I was really feeling that vibe again. So, in the spirit of self-improvement, I resolved to resurrect the stuff, make a few changes and get it the fuck out there.”

The result is a short but sweet suite of chopped funk, obese subtones, sizzling homemade breaks, and prime life advice on how to implement change in order to become rich, famous, and successful.
So get off your ass, face the facts, and embrace ‘Change’ - stream it, download it, hustle it into bed. Take control of every aspect of 'Change' in your life and manifest your true destiny. Send money, NOW. And play loud!