Monday, January 24, 2011

Juakali - Freak You Back Ep



FREAK YOU BACK - OUT Feb 4, 2011 by juakali

Juakali - Freak You Back Ep

Hahah, oh wow...When you got Joe Nice writing your one-sheet for you, you know you got a hit record on your hands. "Freak You Back" has Plastician on the buttons, doing his thing with menacing buzz synths and a pumping sub-line. Eerie FX and a powered-down stuttering whistle round out the back-end for a polished finnish. Juakali's flow over the top has calm but commanding presence, spitting about Margaritas, Paparazzi, Hendrix and Yoda , basically blowing your mind in the dance club. It's weird though, I wouldn't really call this a party tune, it's more epic sounding than that and should probably be on a soundtrack somewhere. Plastician has beening caning the hell out of this one, so you all have probably heard it on Rinse FM and all that. TeslaRock channels The Others for a bit of a rootical 2006-styled remix of "Freak You Back", with congo natty riddims, flutes and a more minimal deconstructed bass. The verses clash a bit with this riddim, but the chorus fits nicely. It's for all you "emptyness is form" medi-nerds for sure. DLX's take on it is experimental and almost drum-step. The dark synths remain intact from the original incarnation, and the a chopped, stuttering amen break, drives it along with some occasional thumps from the bass. It's not my favorite approach to be honest, but it does capture that foreboding mood that's prevalent in the Plastician version.

The other original on here is "Tha Chillski" produced by Stagga and Monky, which is sort of a glitch-hop kind of tune in the vein of Bassnectar, but with more of a dancehall flavor. It's got a definite Adult-Swim quality about it, maybe something you'd hear at the end credits of Aqua-teens, or on their commercial bumps. To be honest I prefer tunes like this than 90% of the commercial hip-hop that's out there. I dig the blasted harmonic-whine of the bass, the simple crack-slap beats, and classic hits and stabs. It's got a nice demented video game feel to it. Juakali drops some sick measured verses with Dr. Octagon-eque inflections, but delivers a kind of silly chorus. It's a fun tune though, so I can overlook saying 'tha chillski' even though it reminds of the coolness of the "check you later" guy in Dazed and Confused. This is good a EP and well worth picking up for the originals. Stay tuned for a brief Q&A with Juakali.

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