Steven Julien Releases 808 PRINCE Album on Apron Records

By Dani Reyes, October 25, 2026

London producer Steven Julien has a new album out, and it carries the name he goes by now: 808 PRINCE.

The 10-track record arrived October 16, 2026 on Apron Records, the imprint Julien runs himself, Clash reported on release day. His Bandcamp page lists the same date and tracklist, and Apple Music carries the line "℗ 2026 Apron Records."

It didn't land cold. Apple lists four singles ahead of the album: AFTERS on August 7, 60SS on September 3, LOST on September 23 and MONKWAN on October 7. Clash's release-day story calls 60SS the lead single.

Steven Julien: 60SS

The beats started as a rap job

Here's the part credits nerds will love. Julien told MusicRadar the album began as a beat pack for a rapper. "Babyxsosa is an American singer and rapper who is a big fan of mine," he said. "She's signed to Roc Nation, Jay-Z's label. We always wanted to work together and she asked me to make a couple of beats for her."

He kept going. "I ended up making about ten tracks and sent them to her," he told the magazine. She liked them but asked for something closer to his earlier records Fallen or Bloodline, so he took the tracks he'd made for her and released them under the 808 Prince name. "The skeleton of the songs only took me a week to make, so the whole thing was a very fast process."

The name came just as fast. "I'll be honest, I just woke up one morning and named myself 808 Prince," he told MusicRadar, which also notes he previously recorded as Funkineven and that his first releases came out on Eglo, the label run by Alex Nut and Floating Points, in the late 2000s. Most of Fallen, his first album, was made on a Korg DW-8000, he said. The same piece notes he has worked with Yasiin Bey and composed music for filmmakers Steve McQueen and Jenn Nkiru.

Who's on it

The Bandcamp tracklist names five guests. James Massiah features on T2, James Massiah and J. Caesar both feature on LIME, Touch Sensitive is on MONKWAN, and Jarren and KIAH close the album on DRIVE.

Apple's credits list Julien as the composer on eight of the ten tracks. LIME is credited to Steven Julien and J. Caesar, and DRIVE to Steven Julien and Jarren Crouch.

On his own Bandcamp, Julien describes 808 Prince as "an electronic music project inspired by the Roland TR-808," one that draws "on house, techno, electro, acid and UK club music."

Steven Julien: 808 PRINCE

What the critics are hearing

Clash's release-day write-up says the record was "built entirely around the iconic sonic palette of the Roland TR-808 and TR-1000." It puts LOST "firmly into classic house territory," hears "a sub-oceanic, Drexciya-esque Detroit techno quality" on TTT, and calls T2 and LIME "spacious retro-leaning, rap-laced cuts." The magazine named DRIVE the focus track, "a brighter 80s-infused, funk-led anthem." Back in September, Clash described 60SS as "a ghetto-tech excursion."

Record shop Boomkat went with "crunchiest electro-acid" for 60SS and called the two James Massiah cuts "clear standouts."

Steven Julien: DRIVE (with Jarren, feat. KIAH)

Taking it on the road

Julien has been building a live version too. He posted 808 PRINCE Live at The Cause, a recording of what he calls a "live hybrid set" from London on April 3. MusicRadar reports he played that show on Behringer's RD-8 and has since moved to Roland's TR-1000. "It has the analogue 808, the analogue 909, all these other drum machines in there so it's just so versatile," he told the magazine.

Apron Records threw an album launch party at Radial in North London on release night, per Clash. Julien's official site lists Chico in Mexico City on October 30 as his next date, and Boomkat lists the black vinyl LP as a pre-order with an estimated October 30 date.

My read: this is the best kind of credits story. A run of beats built for a rapper ended up as a producer's own album, with his name and the machine's number on the cover. Hip-hop fans who skip electronic records should start with the James Massiah features and work outward from there.

Dani Reyes, Behind the Boards. Credits check: Steven Julien on '60SS'.