Rubby - Pájaro Malo

  • With help from producers like DJ Python and KILBOURNE, Rubby connects the dots between Brooklyn techno, dembow and R&B.
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  • Rubby and New York producer KILBOURNE have been working on the material for Pájaro Malo for a couple years now. Though it's only a five-track EP, the record has a momentous feeling to it, like it's the Dominican-born, Mexico City-based artist's coming out ball. It certainly sounds big: "Sunrise - Intro" blooms to life as a hybrid between hurtling Brooklyn techno and sumptuous '90s electronica, buoyed by Rubby's crystal-clear vocals. He has one of those voices that's instantly galvanizing. There's a quiet power to his sparing use of vibrato and dynamic range. . Rubby works with KILBOURNE on the more flamboyant "Tight Corridors," a double-entendre tribute to darkrooms with something of an electroclash vibe. On "Tight Corridors," Rubby is brash and almost bratty, but on the chilled-out dembow of "Sink Feel," produced by DJ Python, his voice takes on a seductive lilt, wrapping around the contours of the instrumental. Rubby slips between harder techno and these reggaeton-influenced rhythms with ease, highlighting the growing interplay between varied strands of club music from all around the Americas. The EP closes as grandly as it began with "Holy War," where Rubby croons,"All we need is destruction," over a writhing LFO bassline (courtesy of producer RIP TXNY). But it's not threatening. Rather his "holy war" is against the "trodden paths" of life he's trying to escape from. "I knew I wanted something outrageous, extremely queer and, most importantly, empowering of non-normative sexual experiences," he said in an interview about the EP and its accompanying video. In its canny fusion of hard techno, dembow and pop balladry, Pájaro Malo walks an untrodden path with style, confidence and swagger. It's a short EP that makes an big statement
  • Tracklist
      01. Sunrise - Intro feat. Kilbourne 02. Tight Corridors feat. Kilbourne 03. Solo feat. zorenLo 04. Sink Feel feat. DJ Python 05. Holy War feat. RIP TXNY
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