Shut-ins: “The Syndicated Television Series”
From behind the podium of this music blog bully pulpit, we’ve introduced you to the fresh northwest hip hop of Jellyfish Brigade (here and here). Let us continue our brainwashing.
Portland, OR-based producer Shut-ins is the newest member of the Neon Autumn cabal, a community of back-scratching musicians with ties to Jellyfish Brigade and Hive Inquiry Squad (a like-minded and like-membered hip hop duo). In an age of over-the-top production, Shut-ins’ collection of beats, titled Underwrought Works, is purposefully minimal. The percussion is bundled up beneath a warm envelope of fuzz—more in the style of late-90s Warp ambient than dubstep or electro. The closest analogies I can think of are Mount Kimbie’s recent masterpiece, underwrought itself, Crooks & Lovers, or perhaps the blown-out splendor of Boards of Canada’s Music Has the Right to Children.
Stream the album below—and if you like the grimy rhymes of Jellyfish Brigade’s Lucas Dix, et al., be sure to click through to the ninth song, “The Syndicated Televison Series,” wherein he and Gavin Theory make an appearance. If you head over to the Bandcamp page, you can download the whole shebang for free.
—Will Wlizlo
