Rainbow Party

STREAM

You must be logged in and have a valid library card to stream downloadable content

Punky noise, woozy hip-hop and oddball electronics are throwing a rager and it’s a colorful one. Such is the basis for new Ghostly signee Psymun’s Rainbow Party EP, a three-track foray into the far reaches of hip-hop from the Minnesotan music-maker. After forming part of the acclaimed Thestand4rd project (along with Corbin FKA Spooky Black, Bobby Raps and Allan Kingdom) and releasing solo work on Pink Label, Psymun returns with an impressive sonic statement that's customarily emotive and adventurous.

EP opener “Glitch Tundra” features frequent collaborator Chester Watson dropping in over a sweeping, ominous beat, all fog and chilly echo. Stretching out over seven minutes, a sinister vocal sweeps overhead while synths stagger upwards and dip beneath before a psychedelic, rowdy turn rips deep into the project’s heart.

The rest of Rainbow Party doubles-down on the project’s noise influence. Borne out of a prompt from Ryan Olson of fellow Minneapolis outfit Poliça, Psymun endeavored to make a set of music entirely at 55 bpm, and two of his experiments evolved into the finished tracks included here.

“I Need My Boy,” in a departure from some of his prior production work, relies almost entirely on an arsenal of hardware to thump and wail. The result retains a voltaic and warm sonic quality which Psymun says even he finds hard to emulate without his newly acquired synthesizers.

“Confetti” also makes use of analogue equipment, but works within a palette that may be more familiar to the producer’s fans: jangly percussion and aquatic melody intertwine for a slow-burning but dynamic exercise in leftfield beatmaking. As the track draws to a close, vocalist K.Raydio drops in for a phantasmagoric few bars before the noisy cannon blows once more. It’s an aptly titled closer, streamers drifting from above as the festivities come to an end: a party to be remembered in technicolor.

COMMUNITY REVIEWS

Average submitted by Q' on June 30, 2023, 8:12am Not really my jam but ok.