Osheyack & Nahash - Club Apathy

  • Not-so-apathetic club music.
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  • The music coming out of Shanghai label SVBKVLT makes me nostalgic for hearing GHE20GOTHIK for the first time in the mid-'10s. At the time, murmurings about a suffocating genre called deconstructed club music were just beginning to terrorize New York City dance floors. Experimental club music has veered into interesting directions since, but it's still as functional as ever. In a 2015 interview with SVBKVLT affiliate Nahash, he admits that the rhythmic pulse of his music can be attributed to his love for early '90s acid jazz. But "Of course," he jabs, "your untrained, unfazed ears can only perceive a bunch of deconstructed BRRR PZZZZ TRRRR URRRRRGHKKKKKKSSSSSS." Nahash and Osheyack are Shanghai transplants who produce music that floats in electronic music's more hostile waters. Their latest collaboration hints at various global influences that fan out over hardstyle, reggaeton, hard drum and gqom. The record often bares its teeth with pummeling kicks and sinister melodies, but it also engages in light banter, in part due to mangled, pitched-up vocals. In "Pegged," for example, a chipmunk vocal squeaks, "All the way inside!," its garish sweetness contrasted by a punishing bassline. "The Heel" is blissfully sadistic—unrelenting bass smacks your eardrums with little reprieve. It's the kind of track that would, in normal times, have you gleefully shelling out five bucks for ear plugs during peak hour at a questionable warehouse. The pair also enlisted help from one of Amsterdam's weirdest producers, DJ Marcelle, for a cheeky remix of "Less Than A Pound Of Flesh," which still elicits a loud cackle from me after multiple listens. The bleating vocals of the original are paired with samples of literal bleating sheep and choppy, irregular breaks. The title track feels distinctly SVBKVLT, wielding forceful chants and laborsome polyrhythms that make it difficult to conjure apathy when listening. Actually, the effort put in makes the record even more of a marvel.
  • Tracklist
      01. Osheyack & Nahash - Club Apathy 02. Osheyack & Nahash - Pegged 03. Osheyack & Nahash - Less Than A Pound Of Flesh 04. Osheyack & Nahash - The Heel 05. Osheyack & Nahash - Less Than A Pound Of Flesh (DJ Marcelle's Just A Few Ounces Remix) 06. Osheyack & Nahash - The Heel (Nkisi Remix)
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