With a wealth of hyper-creative producers and gifted beatsmiths, Russia has clearly established itself as an eldorado for abstract and instrumental hip-hop pistoleros. Lapti, DZA, Pixelord, Nocow, Moa Pillar, Demokracy and family have been flying the Muscovite flag high in a scene that keeps hybridising, pushing back its own limits into further pioneering audio grounds whilst being one of the most interesting segments of the wonky-beat worldwide network that stretches from LA to Tokyo.
Delivering yet another epic crossover of Vangelis-esque synthscapes and DJ Shadow’ian hiphopisms, Lapti’s new effort ‘V Tiraj’ makes for a fine vaporwave manifesto, as the Russian producer likes to label his music. Tracks like Humanoid Rights and Metalfoam openly reminisce of BoC’s detuned beauties but the Russian producer’s distinctive sound architectures are no kind of impersonal replicas, each track resonating and shining with Lapti’s very own presence.
Flourishing between deep wobbly basslines – Wushu – and highly-luminescent keyboards bleeps and bloops – Sextetris, boosted by a raw carnival of brute kicks and snares – LL, First Date and the stunning Plague – or magnifying mermaid-like coloraturas on the languid and catchy Sirens, Lapti’s sophisticated cuts design a lush audio dimension that goes unparalleled. Delicate and playful, never the nostalgia feels faded but rather well gaining in corporeality.
Familiar yet distant, digging from a plastic-like upper layer deep down an infinite rolling of blinding harmonics, V Tiraj fascinates as much as it intrigues. If you look around, very few beatmakers accomplish what Lapti does with this eight-tracker: surpassing the cut-and-paste schemes to offer a cohesive and almost organic journey through fully synthetic stratums of sound. A combination of ethereal beauty and melodic tour de force.
V Tiraj is out now, order a vinyl copy via Juno.
TRACKLIST
A1. Humanoid Rights
A2. Ushu
A3. Metalfoam
A4. Plague
A5. Sirens (Featuring – Nocow)
B1. Enter
B2. Lulaby
B3. Interlude
B4. First Date
B5. Sextetris
B6. Polar Bear
Discover more about Lapti and Gost Zvuk Records on Inverted Audio.