Evan A. James – ‘Falling out with number 1’ CS
Evan A. James has been releasing music under his own name for more than a minute now. Look the guy up and you’ll find stuff he’s released via Adhesive Sounds and Pho King Tapes as well as compositions he has scored for a variety of video projects. Its clear that James approaches his craft from multiple dimensions, allowing his vision to bleed into every aspect of his output. As shifting and multifaceted as the sounds on Falling Out with Number 1 are, the music never masques itself. The source material is obvious from the get go (freeform, jazz, soul, classical, downtempo), but the result is something singular, a means of highlighting difference and contrast, and building an aesthetic molded out of opposition.
Rzuma – ‘Snow’ CS
Rzuma creates sounds that are as reliant on old school jazz as 90s east coast hip-hop. Snow is his first official cassette release but there is no lack of recorded material out there. The guy clearly has chops and constantly drops digital albums and soundcloud mixes like its his job. Rzuma’s sounds could easily be defined as instrumental hip-hop, but its obvious where his sound has a place amongst the recent Dirty Pillows continuum. No one layer of the music stands out over the other; even when vocals are incorporated they melt into the muffled beats and distant lounge jazz. You wouldn’t be surprised if this was part of the cannon of similar stuff coming out of LA at the moment, but its not, its from Germany, and its just as good.