Entering a hazy audio dream world – lo-fi retro dance tones and gamer-like fragments of rhythm, keys, colours and voice. J_basco proves uniquely enthralling, with the rising brightness and soulful warmth of The Hug but It’s at the Tams.
Featuring an equally fuzzy set of visuals, representing the sheer joy and unity of the track, this is easily one of the most unorthodox but interesting and likeable new releases of the summer so far. J_basco rolls through the stages of the track with fearless attention to evolution and detail, but the opening moments far from depict that intention.
The music is ethereal at first, almost a wash of layers and synths, but it intrigues just enough so to hold attention. Then we get a touch of vocal, distantly mixed, and suddenly the music begins to grow more energetic and bold, more euphoric and celebratory. Tribal rhythms, new layers, more vocal meanderings, instruments and visual dancing – everything joins forces quite beautifully, throughout what ultimately proves an intoxicating and impressively original mix.
The arrangement is calm and chaotic all at once, and the result is that you feel a little like you might have missed something the first time around – some reference or sound, some change in energy, some subtle peak. So you listen again. And that’s the calling card of a great producer – that ability to bring you back, again and again, and the experience being slightly more enjoyable or revealing each time.
Listen to the first half of the track in stark contrast to the second, skip through out of interest, but also – let this play. Let the music ring out and envelop you. It’s a journey from partial sleep to fully awakening uplift, and it’s fascinating. A mighty introduction to J_basco.
Download The Hug but It’s at the Tams via Apple. Find J_basco on Instagram & Facebook.
