TROYBOI - MMMM

TroyBoi summons an alien landscape with the bangin' bass music of "Mmmm."

TROYBOI - MMMM

Does anyone else miss dubstep? For a brief moment, it seemed like the euphoric utopianism of rave could be paired with academic intellectualism and soundsystem militancy to become a sort of dance music xenomorph. For its first few years, dubstep was smart, sexy, stylish, sonically interesting, musically adventurous and, well, good.

As is not uncommon, Americans got a hold of dubstep and sucked all of the subtlety out of it, removing the sleekness and the intellectualism until only the wubs remained, forever and ever, amen. Now, don't get us wrong - we here at We Are: The Guard like some Bassnectar and some Pretty Lights; we get down with The Glitch Mob and other forms of glitch hop. It's just that it can get to be a bit… much, at times. It's like a meal entirely of icing. Or a conversation comprised solely of shouting.

That's what makes "Mmmm" so refreshing, so essential. It's a throwback to some of the OG dubstep singles - think early Hyperdub or Skream - but still seeped in some latter-day electronics, with its Persian flute sample and steady rollin' two-step beat. It sounds a lot like what Fatima Al Qadiri might sound like if she were to making soundscapes for Venus instead of TaiPei. It's even better than that, though, which should tell you something.

TroyBoi's coming out swinging in 2020. It's been a minute since his debut album, as he's mainly been focusing on singles and EPs. Starting so early, maybe he's got a full-length in the works. At the very least, it's looking like we'll have a bunch of high-quality singles. "Mmmm" would be enough to hold us over for the next 11 months, either which way.

J. Simpson occupies the intersection between criticism, creativity, and academia. Based out of Portland, Or., he is the author of Forestpunk, an online journal/brand studying the traces of horror, supernatural, and the occult through music, fashion and culture. He plays in the dreamfolk band Meta-Pinnacle with his partner Lily H. Valentine, with whom he also co-founded Bitstar Productions, a visual arts collective focused on elevating Pop Culture to High Art.