a n a k

As with other artists on the Los Angeles-centric Leaving Records label, beat maker yuk. (Chad Valencia) creates experimental, sample-based music that is constructed in a manner somewhat similar to hip-hop, but branches off and plays with the form. He creates fractured, oblong beat patterns, but it seems like those are secondary to the hazy, often cassette-recorded atmospheres surrounding them. His tracks often feature mysterious echo-shrouded voices and incidental sounds like chimes or footsteps, and plenty of his tracks drift away from rhythm, bathing themselves in synthesizer washes and languid guitar lines. The beats to songs like "Aftern()()n" seem to hobble over, lazily stumbling through the humid fog, yet they still seem relaxed and at ease. Even though most of the tracks are brief, usually clocking in at less than two or three minutes, they're quite hypnotic, particularly the jazzy drum loop and floating drone of "001." The gentle guitar loops and throbbing beats of "Home" almost resemble a rougher, looser version of the Field's "A Paw in My Face," pointing to yuk.'s dancier side. Elsewhere, his sound experiments follow the same sort of warped dream logic that make fellow forward-thinking producers like Lee Bannon so hard to categorize yet exciting to devote attention to and try to decipher. a n a k is a thoroughly engaging album, keeping the listener guessing and looking forward to following wherever yuk.'s mind drifts. ~ Paul Simpson