Wonky Beats and Spicy Streets: The Sonic Journey of…

Born and raised in the UK, Clyde Beats was never one for the ordinary. From a young age, he gravitated toward the unconventional, the bizarre, and the beautifully chaotic. His journey through music began with the broken rhythms of old vinyl records his father collected, a jumble of sounds that twisted and turned in ways that spoke to his soul. But it wasn’t until he found himself in the heart of Putian, China, that his music truly found its voice.

Putian was a world away from the grey skies of Derby. The city was a vibrant tapestry of life, a sensory overload that pulsed with the energy of a place caught between ancient traditions and rapid modernization. Clyde had come for a change of scenery, but he stayed for something far deeper—the food, the culture, and the strange, unexplainable connection he felt to the city.

Every morning, Clyde would begin his day with a meditation session, sitting cross-legged on the floor of his small apartment, the sounds of the bustling street below filtering through his window. He focused on his breathing, letting the chaotic world around him fall away until there was nothing but the rhythm of his heartbeat and the pulse of the city outside.

After meditating, he would venture out to the local markets, where the air was thick with the scent of spices and sizzling street food. Clyde had developed a taste for the fiery heat of Sichuan peppercorns and the tang of fermented tofu, dishes that made his mouth tingle and his head swim. He believed the intensity of the flavours sharpened his senses, opening his mind to new sounds and rhythms.

Back in his apartment, Clyde would sit at his makeshift studio—a cluttered corner of his living room filled with instruments, old vinyl records, and tangled cables. He would begin to create, pulling sounds from the depths of his mind, from the streets of Putian, and from the pounding in his chest after a particularly spicy meal. His beats were wonky, and off-kilter, a blend of traditional Chinese instruments and glitchy, distorted synths that seemed to defy logic.

There were moments when the intensity of it all became too much—when the burning in his stomach from too much spicy hotpot mixed with the overwhelming rush of creativity, and he would have to stop, his head spinning, his stomach churning. More than once, he found himself running to the bathroom, vomiting up the very essence of his process, a strange, almost ritualistic purge of everything that was holding him back.

But Clyde didn’t see it as a setback. To him, it was all part of the journey, a necessary release that allowed him to dig deeper, to push the boundaries of what his music could be. He would return to his instruments, hands shaking, head still buzzing, and begin again.

The music that emerged from these sessions was unlike anything anyone had heard before—raw, chaotic, and beautifully imperfect. It was as if Clyde Beats had channelled the very essence of Putian into his beats, capturing the city’s soul in every wonky rhythm and offbeat drop. His tracks quickly gained a following, first in the underground scene in China, and then internationally, as word spread of the eccentric British producer living in the heart of a Chinese city, creating sounds that defied categorisation.

Clyde Beats became a name known for its originality, its boldness, and its refusal to conform. And while his process might have been unorthodox—meditating until he was one with his instruments, consuming food so spicy it made him sick—it was undeniably effective. Clyde Beats had found his voice, and it was as wild, unpredictable, and beautifully wonky as the city that had inspired it.

A Putian Quirky NuSoul Playlist for the Weekend

A few ‘more leftfield’ tunes on this playlist.

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Listen to ‘Hyper Reality 2: An English Gentleman’ here,

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