hip-hop/rap

All around excellent Taiwanese rapper. Very capable on the mic, great voice and flow, totally at home with a range of moods and deliveries, mostly the focus but can occasionally be just another element on the track. I can’t understand a word of what she’s saying, obviously. Also, great taste in beats in a range of styles, from modern takes on classic 90s sounds to new weird electronic stuff (both heavy and ethereal). She cites Jean Grae as an influence*, so you know she’s got good taste. This is a set of tracks I pulled from her Soundcloud page**, in chronological order of posting. English track titles for 12 & 13 courtesy of Google Translate since no English equivalent was provided.

no English FCCs

RIYL: Jean Grae

1. opens w/ old-timey movie dialog sample about people wanting to help each other (other parts of the movie dialog pop up later). strings and brushed drums come up, then main drum loop and bass kicks in, has some punch, but not too aggressive. hectic raps, occasional shimmery piano hits. dusty, nocturnal. updated take on old krush or RZA vibes. 3:54
2. swooning pads, muffled heavy drums, all sorts of dusky shimmery bells and key fragments. flows start on beat, drift off towards ends of bars. fades out just as bigger breakbeat starts. 2:15
3. beeps, muffled drums, way distant reverbed guitar fragments. melodic elements get detuned a bit later. ethereal breathy flows. reminds me a bit of lewis parker’s “masquerades and silhouettes” (which has an amazing pair of closing tracks, and zookeeper says it’s in the library, so you should give that a listen too). #2 and #3 go really well back to back. 2:06
4. slightly urgent atmospherics, stuttery machine beat. quick flows. wordless vocal wash in the background at points. 3:27
5. strings and choral vocals and rainfall give way to clanking shuffling break beat (like flylo doing an impression of early beasties). sly conspiratorial flows, go double-time for a bit in the middle, but stay loose the whole way. 2:47
6. breathy vocals, loping drums, languid fuzzy electric piano flourishes. later, claps and a bit of moog. flows bouncing around inside the bars, a bit of that ghostface conversational style. moog ends up taking over melodic duties from rhodes. 3:26
7. big slow 808, quiet electronic burbles, synth wash provides a hint of melody. quick vocals, occasionally glitched into shards, but as an accent that doesn’t dominate the delivery. low undulating urgent buzz in background later on. 3:04
8. classic shuffling break and piano thing, thick bassline, rapid fire flows occasionally chorused/multi-tracked for effect. pleasantly lo-fi and dusty, but still has some heft. 5:24
9. flute loop and short spanish sample (from an ad?), gives way to shuffling slow snares and brushed drums and bright electric piano, gives way to bigger more directed drums and relaxed flows. other melodic burbles and swirls of electronics. some humming, some more coffee ad samples. has a bit of a jazzy R&B thing sung in english towards the end. breezy slow summer afternoon track. 4:50
10. french dialog sample, dramatic slow dark piano loop, whining synth buzz, then big low-end crashes in with glitched vox (that straighten out into intelligible rap with occasional glitchy touches). dialog samples return when track pares down, then it builds back up with slightly more urgent rap and a new synth melody over top. prickly, slinky, aggressive but with some restraint. gets all big and fuzzed out by the end, then calms back down, ends on piano and dialog. 4:11
11. sort of repeat of 8, but heavier and less like it was recorded to cassette, still has some grit, but easier to hear the little background details, and a little heftier. 5:28
12. wall of static, modulated and slightly melodic, enveloping everything. hectic flows, drums heavy but muffled. ticky snares and woodblocks enter background around midpoint. like she’s rapping her ass off in a particularly musical oil refinery. 2:54
13. mellow plucked strings w/ slight twang, glitchy puffs of vocals, drums slowly glitch their way in and cohere to stuttery minimalist beat. strings get more and more decay and reverb, providing washes of melody. more straight-forward vocals emerge out of the clutter, casually bouncing around the beat. some quick glitchy little detours, but always comes back together. 4:04
14. clicky whirring shuffling beat with bleepy melodic elements, rather pensive, but not too nervy. vocals are quiet, but mixed prominently, gives a bit more of an intimate feel. languid flows with a couple sly giggles. 2:33
15. static, descending piano sample. slooow heavy drums, a couple muffled horn lines. lazy stoney mid-afternoon feeling. quiet slow half-sung vox, give way to halting quiet but determined rap. rap occasionally multi-tracked with itself and with earlier vocals. great slightly plaintive horn loop on the chorus. a bit of filter gives a submerged feeling towards the end, then back above the surface for the last verse. 4:00

recommended: 15, 2&3, 10, 11, 13, 9, any

* http://www.yesnomusic.co.uk/2013/10/aristophanes-interview.html
** https://soundcloud.com/aristophanesjean