Signed up to the Paul Institute yesterday. Got me thinking about this leaked track. XL Recordings' strategy of scarcity with Jai Paul's music is remarkable. I would say it was/is risky, but given the obvious talent, it isn't really. Artists of his calibre are very rare and afford unique opportunities for labels to roll out innovative marketing strategies.
Release some more tracks already..!
Jai Paul is about as secretive and enigmatic as Burial and as press-averse and slow-working as Terrence Malick. His story has always been a magnet for words like "allegedly" and "apparently," and conducive to conspiracy theories because so little is known about him for sure. XL signed him in 2010 on the strength of the "BTSTU" demo alone, and since then he's officially released only one other song, the gorgeous, hiccuping slow jam "Jasmine" (which came out, rabid fans are quick to note, in mid-April 2012-- very nearly the same day "BTSTU" was released in 2011 and those 16 tracks were uploaded last week.) Snippets of other songs have been passed covertly on message boards; journalists humble-brag about private listening parties where they've supposedly heard finished tracks (last December, XL sent out a Christmas card to a lucky few with a photo of Jai on the cover; it played a clip of a song known as "Str8 Outta Mumbai" when you opened it).
