āBAM BAM (feat. Takoda)ā is the opening track on āI DONāT LIKE MY TELEPHONEā.the secondĀ sunkingĀ album for ANTI, and is like the sun breaking through the clouds.
Anchored by a groovy low-end – imagine if a walking bassline suddenly started breakdancing – the song moves with a propulsive but relaxed rhythm that sounds like ’90s drum & bass, floating from the jazz origins of their past work towards something more electronic and open-ended.
Featuring guitarist, vocoderist and producer Takoda, watch him and the band simultaneously resist and embrace the technology of the telephone on its promo videoĀ HERE.
Part of Seattle jazz fusion group High Pulp for the better part of a decade, the band members originally branched off intoĀ sunkingĀ to explore their other loves. From hip-hop to electronic music to indie rock, this is their time off to play whatever they want, with records such as āSmugā (2022) shooting off excitedly in all directions.
Part of this everything-all-at-once feeling comes from the fact that the two original members are polar opposites of each other. Bobby Granfelt is a producer, drummer and solo artist (as Bobbyy) who lives in Los Angeles and brings his jazz and hip-hop sensibility to the table, while Antoine Martel is a composer who embraces a more verdant lifestyle in a cabin outside of Seattle, works on films and makes eerie, sci-fi synth music under the name Sous Chef.
Now a trio with High Pulp member Victory Nguyen joining the band on modular synth, saxophone and flute, their new album is different to āSmug’. The product of a real plan, instead of just recording on off days, āI DON’T LIKE MY TELEPHONEā is tight, laser focused and more representative of who they are as musicians.
Built around Granfelt’s drum loops and Martel’s latest synth gear, these songs were created as a series of self-contained āmicro-compositionsā inspired by hip-hop beat tapes from acts like Madlib. In addition to new synths, they were fuelled by an increasing love of electronic music artists like Galcher Lustwerk, The Field and Susumu Yokota, whose cult classic āAcid Mt. Fujiā they cite as a particular inspiration.
The guest musicians also add a new dimension to the band’s sound, pulling it towards R&B, funk and even trip-hop. It is electronic music with a live sensibility. “We’re huge fans of Flying Lotus and Thundercat, so working with Niki Randa was special, especially because she hasn’t put out a lot of music recently.ā they state. They met many of the albumās collaborators in their local scene in LA, including Angel Deradoorian, a solo artist, member of Decisive Pink and former member of The Dirty Projectors, who collaborated with the band on āVELVET ROOMā.
The album title track is its breezy centrepiece, built on lightweight drums that flutter like nervous butterflies in your stomach, while romantic background strings gradually give way to a screechy lead gone haywire. The voice of Salami Rose Joe Louis adds to its sweet yet volatile sound, capturing the lovesick feeling that underlines a newfound vulnerability, where feelings take precedence over flashy playing.
āI DONāT LIKE MY TELEPHONEā sees sunking slowing down and making room for more complex emotions. “This isn’t an album making a statement about society or something. It’s just cheeky, like ‘fuck my telephoneā, of courseā, explains Martel. “It also goes to our love of machines, modular synths and all that stuff. Our relationship to machines is a big part of this record and gear discovery is like our Renaissance. So many of our inspirations are solo electronic music producers. But, we’re a band and we play live instruments. Sometimes I go see people and I’m like, ‘I wish you had a band. I wish you had a drummer.’ That’s us. We make music inspired by all these electronic producers, but we also play it live.”
I DONāT LIKE MY TELEPHONE
TRACKLISTING
1Ā BAM BAM (feat. Takoda)
2Ā CLOWN CAMP
3Ā HOW TO SWING (feat. Niki Randa)
4Ā TAP WATER
5Ā I DONāT LIKE MY TELEPHONE (feat. Salami Rose Joe Louis)
6Ā CASTLE IN THE SKY
7Ā KAZA DUM
8Ā CIRCUIT CITY
9Ā TUMMY (feat. Teleporter)
10Ā VELVET ROOM (feat. Deradoorian)
11Ā BAND PRACTICE
12Ā LARRY