“Sour Lemon” shows off the fantastic faded flows of Kobenz.
Kobenz blend beat down hip-hop with heavy grunge aesthetics on “Sour Lemon”. Conjuring up imagery of witch house at its absolute darkest, the song has a heavy atmosphere that falls upon it. With strong nods to groups like Salem there is a certain wild-eyed intensity to it. Everything has a multi-faceted, multi-layered approach and it is easy to get lost in all the exquisite detail. Percussion here has a tactile, metallic gleam to it as it careens wildly. Hard to precisely pin down, the song also draws a bit from the balls-to-the-wall noise of Sleigh Bells, right down to the lyrical flow.
They let the grooves start up immediately and the volume deserves to be blasted in order to appreciate the sheer density of the mix. Evolving quite quickly the byzantine paths that the song undergoes feels quite overwhelming, even offering a nod to the geometry of Autechre’s output. Everything about it though does have a confrontational appeal to it, from the way the bass hits far into the red to the crispness of the percussive elements. It all works, and it works wonders. Layering different sounds on top of each other adds to the colossal display, for the sheer magnitude of colours means that the track contains multitudes. Even while it is dark there is a yearning there that feels quite incredible to fully behold, as the many details glimmer with such intensity.
“Sour Lemon” shows off the fantastic faded flows of Kobenz in crafting a world that feels distinctly his own.
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