Bookfa G Sudden
Press Bookfa Press / Girls Dem Need Mi

EM Records: ...YPY is back with his third full-length album, his second on EM Records, following his 2016 debut “Zurhyrethm”. YPY is the solo alias of Osaka-based Koshiro Hino, who has honed his rhythmic instincts as leader of the acclaimed Japanese band “goat” and the sound installation/theatre project “GEIST” and “Virginal Variations”. His preoccupation with propulsion is on full display here, across five tracks of varying density and intensity, all thoroughly beat-oriented, with skeins of synthesized and sampled sound stretching to the horizon, rising from a bedrock of minimal drum machine pulses, all lovingly embraced in a cassette-borne sonic fug. The cover image and title hearken back to Hino’s past, with the image obscurely referencing his yesteryear green mohawk, and the title derived from Talking Heads, but this effervescent album, though recorded using cassette technology, is not a sad tale of nostalgia, rather a look at a present/pleasant reality. Available on digital, 12-inch vinyl and CD. Cover drawings by NAZE.

New INDEX:Records transmission comes courtesy of Texan vibist Gi Gi. Trodding his own path of introspective, nu-age-infused ambient scapes and trip-hop-laced downtempo divagations, Gi Gi eases us in a distinctively soothing headspace. A self-driven, immersive audio bubble engineering a polychromatic mix of organic field-recording, exotic dub shades, lushly textured envelopes and smooth loungey jazz accents.From the A1, “The Lower”, a steady-churning combo of retro-stepping UK dynamics, 90s-schooled atmospheric dub and low-slung, LA beat-style swagger, down to the verbed-out summer pop of “Sinews” featuring Hysterical Love Project, Gi Gi puts on a riveting synthesis of seemingly distant varietals.On “Maiolica”, the mystique-imbued power of drums and shadowiness of the bass collides with the faux-organic vibrancy of singing robot birds; “Pyxis Glint” shows off an ambiguously feverish ASMR-like temper with its tightly woven web of chimey Andean melody and straight out Rephlex-fashioned escapism, whereas “Palm Slick” heads for further exhilarating heights through Hassellian brass flights a la “Blues Nile" and breaksy off-piste, all set at buckling a few knees along the way.A full-fledged, soulful trip-hop number disguised in matching neo-vintage camo, “Lilted Song” treats us to a fulfilling blend of bleached pads and FX-laden slo-mo percussions swaying with a strong couldn’t-give-a-damn attitude. Gi Gi coming up with the mind trip.

Young Echo: ...Highly regarded in underground circles since he first transmitted his styles via the airwaves at one of Young Echo’s infamous radio sessions back in 2012, he is a figure that could always be made out lurking in the shadows near the microphone, stepping through a thick cloud of smoke, holding a drink and putting soundboys to rest with an utterly deadly lyrical style and coolness.The perfect voice for Neek & Amo$’s obscure instrumental anthems, his style is free like the best of Jazz, and his wordplay is sharper than an architect’s pencil…‘I don’t fuck with fake tan, so please remove yourself from the reflection in my ray bans’….Step aside kid. Manonmars is the bo$$ now.A masterfully executed long player that will only get better with each listen, the third release on Young Echo’s very own imprint has been the talk of the town for some years now - and we’re glad it’s here now, out in the world.