"Which is Wu is the second of a pair of nu jazz singles that merge the UK jazz vibes of Kamaal Williams (Henry Wu) with the splice-edit production style of Teo Macero on Miles Davis’ Bitches Brew. The song’s capricious nature is due to its origins as an improvised 90 minute session, which was edited into many spliced moments, mixed together live on a DJ board, and then finally overdubbed with electronic drums, rhodes, bass, and sax. For fans of Jaga Jazzist, Yussef Dayes, Flying Lotus. "

Which is Wu was my defining composition during the monumental summer of 2020. While doing post production for my iPad trilogy (BLDNTNDR, SLMTHCKNS, Firstness of Thirdness), it became increasingly obvious that I needed to write simpler songs which allowed for my band to stretch outside-the-box. Whereas the iPad trilogy tunes had long chord charts and melodies, Which is Wu is comprised of only short "hits" and a driving bass riff. The proof was in the sonic pudding, as the first studio session for Which is Wu produced over 40 minutes worth of session takes, each minute more inventive than the next!

Recording for Which is Wu began in August of 2020, following a live performance of this song in July and preceeding the sessions for "Witches Wu" in October. The session was recorded at Thin Thicket's Bearcave Recording in Youngstown, Ohio. This session included Unc D on bass (using Christian Labra of the Labra Brothers' POG pedal to deliver this iconic bass tone), Thin Thicket and Kevin Maxwell Smith on Korg keyboards respectively, and Damon the Soulful Samurai on drumset. The session was inspired by the trio-jazz work of Kamaal Williams, particularly the driving house-influenced jazz funk, where lush keyboard and drumset improv moves around a typically repetitive bass guitar motif. This session is notable for being the first time in which Thin Thicket applied his signature drumset effect: adding midi synced 808s to Damon's powerful drums.

Following this initial session, Unc took all three takes, over 40 minutes of the song, and utilized "splice-edit" production in order to cut up all of the best moments. Unc brought all of these short audio clips to Thin Thicket, who then used his analog DJ board to piece each splice together in real time. Thin Thicket's use of the DJ board gives the spliced-bedtrack some of its compression, as well as some short bursts of effects. The result of this is a single which goes in many directions, with irregular phrasing which keeps the listener on their toes. Rather than putting Which is Wu on a metronome, with plotted out measures that make for easy editing, the track bounces around "the one," in the sense that the various splice moments where placed in their spots without regard for keeping a consistent phrasing and pulse. [If you are a fan of "where's waldo" or puzzles in general, a fun game for you may be to listen to each session take and try to identify which splices made it into the final single! I'll give you a hint, the end of session take II is the intro!]

Overdubbing on top of this splice edit began many months later, in the spring of 2021. First to overdub on this fire track was long-time collaborator Nicholas Frank, who added rhythm guitar from his NYC apartment building 39 floors high and 4 blocks from Madison Square Garden. After Nick laid down heat, Unc added both additional bass overdubs as well as electronic percussion. While hi-hat esque drum samples were added, perhaps the most iconic for this track is the use of Taiko drum samples- the huge timbale sounding drums which occur on the 1 or 2, respectively, throughout the song. Next up, Cotton Mom contributed acoustic percussion, best heard at 0:21. At this point, Unc added a good amount of cymbals which are meant to strengthen impact points. The bass overdubs Unc D added are best heard following the sax solo at 2:18. Key to this overdub session were the overdubs added to the long note melody at 1:23. The melody was original played by Kevin Maxwell Smith when recording the bedtrack, but was reinforced by a series of overdubs added by Unc (bass, bass with 2 octaves up, piano, choir synth tone).

Following these overdubs, in May of 2021 the track was sent to esteemed saxophonist Mitch Lawrence (FunkyardX, Chardon Polka Band). Mitch recorded three fiery takes over the whole of the track. Unc took these three takes and spliced them in much of the same manner that the original bedtrack was spliced. Mitch's sax receives center attention and focus starting at 1:45, but the sparseness and relatively low-volume of his sax earlier in the song is a conscious effort to build anticipation to the later solo without losing some of the character which having sax in the mix adds. Unc's personal favorite aspect of the sax in this song is the effects applied during at 1:52. Using an octave pedal to raise Mitch's sax by 2 octaves, as well as a tremolo/chorus pedal, the sax ends up sounding like a majestic "sax organ," in the sense that it kind of resembles the higher registers of a pipe organ.


After Mitch laid down the goods, Unc put on the final-touch overdub of a clean, unedited take of Thin Thicket playing his 1974 Fender Rhodes (heard left of center), as well as some additional synth noises. After the rhodes, Unc was tempted to make the whole thing just a little fatter, so added synth bass (just a B which matches the bass riff sometimes) and midi kick drum.


Which is Wu will surely be a mainstay for live outings, so be on the lookout for live versions of this track making their way out into the abyss. If you have read this far, I commend you, but also this is not a joke, this a cry for help. #KONY2012