S.maharba’s very short self titled cassette album/beat tape plays like a fortuitous collision of two distinct forces. The first is a pronounced Hip-Hop influence which shows itself in heavily thumping drum programming, with stylistic nods to various specific producers scattered throughout. The second is the modern trend toward embracing a general low-fi aesthetic, i.e. making music sound like it was recorded on a battered Walkman from 1988. This trend manifests here in layers of distortion and disembodied samples sounding like they’re being played somewhere in the Mariana Trench and of course that ubiquitous fuzzy crackling sound made by a vinyl record. There are also a few sexy vocal samples of a girl talking in French that wouldn’t feel out of place on a Bobby Digital album.

All that combines into something which would probably fall under the ever cringe-worthy ‘progressive’ classification. Usually music under this moniker doesn’t move me, I don’t even like that Flying Lotus album everybody went crazy for. But this one right here hits the spot nicely.

To download the whole thing go to s.maharba’s bandcamp page HERE