It’s no secret that I’m a big fan of young Auckland
band Yoko-Zuna. Last year’s debut album, This Place Here, was a heady genre-defying
mix of the many styles we routinely categorise as “urban”, with a heavy
emphasis on sounds at the jazzier end of the spectrum. This week the band
released its follow-up, an EP called Luminols, recorded at Red Bull Studios in
Auckland, and released on Loop.
Once again the four-piece band nail it, as a unit,
and alongside the many co-conspirators involved, which reads like a mini who’s
who shortlist of the current Aotearoa hip hop scene – see the likes of Tom
Scott, P Digsss, Lukan Rai$ey, Laughton Kora, LarzRanda, and Heavy. The
five-track EP is another boundary-pushing, innovative, thoroughly mature piece
of work.
For me, the best hip hop is that which embraces a
live backdrop (see The Roots, as the most obvious benchmark) and that’s exactly
what makes Yoko-Zuna special amid a sea of young up-and-coming local hopefuls.
These guys use a range of instrumentation (that sax is a killer) and it’s
hardly surprising they – along with regular producer Cam Duncan – manage to woo
“big” names (in a local context, at least) like Scott, Kora, and Digsss, along
with the relative newcomers featured here. Just as they nabbed David Dallas for
the debut.
Without really wanting to single out highlights too
much, it’s that more experienced trio who provide special moments here; the P Digsss
(Shapeshifter) collab, ‘Lightning Sabres’ is an infectious excursion into
clubland electronica, Kora’s contribution, ‘One Question’, is as soul-drenched as
anything else he’s ever released, while Tom Scott (HomeBrew, @Peace, and
Average Rap Band*) adds yet another masterclass in rhyme and flow on ‘Orchard
St’. Complete with his trademark relevant, clever, and mildly-amusing set of
lyrics.
(* I think the Average Rap Band debut album, El Sol,
is one of the best local releases of 2016 so far, and I will review it for the
blog at some point soon).
You can stream or pick up a copy of Luminols on Bandcamp here, and check out this clip for ‘Lightning Sabres’ below:
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