Oliver Rodley: Lo-Fi...elevated. Inspired by artists like Nujabes, Ta-Ku, J Dilla, and Madlib, Oliver Rodley set out to produce his vision of lo fi and traditional hip hop music. A prolific keyboard player, producer, studio engineer, and DJ, Rodley is an electrical engineering graduate of both the University of Texas, Austin (B.S.) and the University of California, Berkeley (M.S.E.E.). His biggest musical inspiration came from his father, who didn’t play a musical instrument, but was a true fan of music. He had a vast record collection and an insatiable appetite for jazz. Rodley grew up listening to soul-jazz artists like Cannonball Adderly, Stanley Turrentine, Gene ‘Jug’ Ammons, and Art Blakey and The Jazz Messengers. And like his father, he loves the greasy, down-home, hard-swinging music swirling out of the Leslie cabinets of the Hammond B3 players: Jimmy Smith, Richard ‘Groove’ Holmes, Jack McDuff, and Jimmy McGriff. Rodley cites a wide range of influences from the 70s jazz-funk of Herbie Hancock, the unadulterated funk of Pfunk, hip hop from A Tribe Called Quest, Madlib, J Cole, Kendrick Lamar, Gang Starr, Common, Logic, Lupe Fiasco, Jurassic 5, and The Pharcyde, to electronic artists Jon Hopkins, Max Cooper, and Thom Yorke. However, he cites the electronic minimalist composers Ólafur Arnolds and Max Richter as influences on his most recent work. The new album, "Sweet Green Tea," is explores hip hop, lo-fi, jazz, alternative hip hop and beyond.
