Record Review: Young Magic

by | Feb 29, 2012 | Hip-Hop & Electronic, Reviews

Young Magic

Melt

New York, NY

“Exiting the chill wave for the new shambling, tribal electronic frontier”

Following their You with Air EP, featuring the captive gem “Sparkly,” New York’s Young Magic generated buzz as the antithesis of chillwave, offering a connection to the electronically experimental, yet highly influential domain trod by Animal Collective. The debut LP Melt is uniformly connected and ambitious, featuring tribal rhythms, lots of angular, juxtaposed grainy samples and heavy beats. The effect is mesmerizing and dreamlike. Melt is unquestionably suited for headphones to fully capture the depth, broad spectrum and subtle nuances lingering in the vocal harmonies, electric textures and relentless attention to sequencing detail.

The lyrics are mired in instrumental folds, but an attentive listener will hear them as a part of the instrumental ether. Songs like the percussive “Yalam,” with beats tossed from ear-to-ear, invisibly transitions into “Jam Karet,” an ambient color wash with hypnotizing male/female voices, repeating “All the kids on the road / Never gonna die.”

Early M83 is an easy comparison where listenability, although certainly present, isn’t the spotlight. Rather, Melt explores dimensions, sound stratification, consistency and pattern. Melt is an extraordinary release, seeking endless complexity and intrigue. The listener is left with wonderment and longing for the works that follow. (Carpark Records)

Engineered and Recorded by Young Magic and Trent Gill

Mastered at JLM in Brooklyn by Joe Lambert

Produced by Young Magic and Trent Gill

youngmagic.bandcamp.com