Kaytranada - BUBBA

Kaytranada
BUBBA
2019
Spotify

Kaytranda is an incredible electronic producer, and slow as hell at putting out new music. Since the release of 99.9% in 2016 Kaytranda has been almost completely quiet. A few remixes here, the occasional one of single there but nothing in terms of a forth coming album, or any talk about new stuff. That was until this week. Seemingly out of nowhere Kaytra linked up with Khali Uchis for the single "10%" and a mere days later the album was out. BUBBA picks up where the previous record left off with psychedelic electronic beats inspired by R&B and Hip Hop. Kaytranda's music has always felt like it existed somewhere in the future, but this album takes that up a notch. Little care is given to song structure or time with one song completely changing within the span of two minutes. Kaytranda's style has always been a bit ADD, where He doesn't hang on an idea for too long before dropping it and moving on. The only time He pushes this mentality back is when He has a vocal feature. He shapes the track to serve the vocalist, rather than going completely out on his own. It makes the tracks without features all that more exciting, because you never know where they might go. It could be a slick groove like on "Puff Lah" or a trppy psychedelic adventure like "DO IT". Now Kaytranada does rely heavily on features for this album, but none of the big names you might expect. Instead Kaytra keeps his features pretty indie save for Pharell on the last track.

Kaytranda is really similar to Jamie xx where it feels like there needs to be a force of nature to get them to release an album. They are artists who don't really do deadlines it seems. Their music is also similar in how of the moment it feels. BUBBA doesn't sound like 99.9% even though it's the same artist, it feels like a real progression and a real shift. The last album had more celebretory moments and was more connected to a classic song structure. on This record Kaytranada feels free of those constraints and the music is allowed to go where it wants. The second half of the album does tend to drag a bit as the songs become longer and the features become more prominent. "Vex Oh" which sounds like reggaeton Kaytra style is hardly his best track and it just sort of keeps droning on and on. "Scared to Death" is a blistering star of a track that goes from bold to bolder as each new movement is unveiled. There is so much to unpack with this album, because it is so incredibly diverse. Tinashe is the absolute standout feature on the record, with her warm vocal sneaking in on the track and setting it on fire. This is a really great album, and comes on the heels of a year that didn't have a lot of them. It's nice to hear some magic coming back.

8.7 out of 10