Japan’s historical capital, Osaka is written all over this album by Yoko Solo, aka Brandon LeSan. Spaced out, wacky, alien, out of context, densely populated, digressive, transgressive, industrial, noisy, manzai, double-talking, vibrant, eccentric, bursting with energy, shamelessly outgoing and as delicious as octopus dumplings.
Crafted from the wreckage of the furious, eclectic gift-rap of Pancake Circus and Quake Trap, Yoko Solo sees Quake member Brandon LeSan pursue the boundaries of Hip Hop and electronica with frightening lo-fi abandon. ‘The Beeps’ is by turns a giddy, dysphasic, sample-chewing curveball of jumble rhythms, freak beats, terminal breaks, cyber-flashes, mutant jazz and downtempo sleaze. It’s like negotiating a minefield of helium balloons at the end of gravity’s rainbow. Or something equally ridiculous. There’s even some cranky funk guitar riffs screwing up the mix of ‘Pigbucket blam blam’. The stuff of joyful nonsense indeed.
Fans of Four Tet, Squarepusher, Aphex Twin, Fridge, Boom Bip, perhaps even the wilfully perverse monster rap outfit, Clouddead will delight in its fractal magic, but your average clubheadz won’t know what the f**k is going on. There are not even any ballads.
Strangely tropical, occasionally rather pretty and fantastically noisy all round. But really rather lost in translation.