Chris Daly was thrown out of at least four Band Camp’s during his youth.
Based on sheer volume alone, the likelihood of “accidentally” stumbling upon a gem at Band Camp is about as probable as finding the proverbial needle in a non-tattooed arm. Who the hell has the time to winnow through the hundreds, if not thousands, of CDs hosted on the site? What has two thumbs and smokes just enough pot to make it through the process? This guy here.
I have a very scientific method for deciding what is or isn’t worth checking out on a blind BC run—does the cover marginally interest me? Big pluses for cartoons and nudity, but only originals (no promos). Naturally, this formula led me to ㅣcㅐㅣRㅇ＿＿＿＿’s noon ep. Maybe it’s my infatuation with Asian beats, but the seemingly Japanese telemarketer on the cover enticed me enough to give the album a spin, and it was indeed a fortuitous wind that blew that day.
With a spelling like that, I suppose it’s not that surprising that I’ve been able to dig up very little on the beatmaster. I can’t tell if it’s a language barrier thing or what, but our email conversations haven’t been much more productive. I can tell you that he currently resides in Neirama, Tokyo, listens to Bluezr and Languid, and thinks highly of Dilla and DJ SHIBAKI’s works. Of course, none of this tells you anything about the music, which is why we’re all here, right?
On the aforementioned noon ep, Ichi, as I like to call him because we’ve never actually met, and it’s much easier to type, perfectly marries futuristic funk with dusty samples in a way that brings to mind the best of Nujabes. This is clearly a kid raised on anime, neon lights and various other stereotypes that come to mind when I think of Japan. I’d be willing to bet the guy digs Shinichirō Watanabe, too, as most of these tracks would nicely soundtrack an episode of Samurai Champloo. Layered levels of twilight synths rub like cat in heat against glitchy percussion, crated pianos and late night ennui. I’ve made no bones about my love for laid back, headphone funk—noon has that ad infinitum. These are beats for the blunted and blazed taking a late night tour of the city by taxi cab.
Download:
MP3: ㅣcㅐㅣRㅇ – “Juju”
Stream: ㅣcㅐㅣRㅇ – Noon EP
