Yaeji — What We Drew 우리가 그려왔

ExperimentalElectronicHouse
Written By Akhil Srivatsan
 
ywwd
 

My feelings about this mixtape.

I love it.

An objective description of sound

Hazy experimental electronic music inspired by hip-hop, house, and vaporwave.

A subjective deepdive into the sound

Each short track is a hazy journey into the self. The percussions: diffuse kick-drums, muted snares, acid-drenched hi-hats. The voice: alternating between being used as an instrument (always a favourite) often feather-light and glitchy, and occasionally as percussive vocal track, alternating seamlessly between Korean and English in both these roles. The bass: shiting intelligently and without care. Most interestingly, the rhythm sections are so prominent, that the leads are kind of imperceptible. This doesn’t mean the mixtape lacks memorable moments:

MY IMAGINATION 상상, MONEY CAN'T BUY (ft. Nappy Nina) (oddly reminiscent of Timbaland), WAKING UP DOWN, and IN THE MIRROR 거울 being the most obvious stand-outs for me. Rarely have I heard the simple combination of bass + drums + vocals + synth done this expertly.

A confession about my relationship with the lyrics

The lyrics deal with the everyday, the mundane: easily my favourite lyrical focus. However, my focus often drifts away from the specifics of what’s being said, and onto the mood created by what’s being said. On the more straight poppy tracks, particularly MONEY CAN’T BUY and WAKING UP DOWN, this isn’t exactly true. Like on MONEY CAN’T BUY, the refrain Do, what I wanna [x many times] / do is be friends with you really focused my attention on the need for companionship in the modern age of self-absorption [what, it really did]. And on WAKING UP DOWN, this verse percussively repeated against the backdrop of a reverb-drenched melody shifting in the background was intensely relatable.

“I got waking up down
I got cooking down
I got making a list and checking down
I got hydrating down
I got listening down
I got you and me and we’re all so down
And we’re all so down
And we’re all so down”

A keen observation on visual aesthetics

The mixtape’s tracks, rendered in all caps alphanumerics in English + Korean are suggestive of two things before you even listen to a single note on the record. One, this is a record by someone exploring themes of identity in the intersection of two competing cultures within the self: the culture of one’s origin, and the culture one adopts. Two, this is a record of the internet, and draws on the web as a huge influence.

Where do I find the mixtape?

Here.

Overdue, perhaps. But who is Yaeji?

Yaeji is a Korean-American electronic music artist based in Brooklyn, New York. Her style blends elements of house music and hip hop with mellow, quiet vocals sung in both English and Korean.

The Music Box
Thou - Umbilical
Thou - Umbilical

I have yet to hear an underwhelming Thou record. A decade after Heathen, Thou’s 2024 release, Umbilical, is just as fantastic a representation of Thou’s brand of sludgy doom. Or is it doomy sludge?

Model/Actriz - Dogsbody
Model/Actriz - Dogsbody

Post-punk has made a strong resurgence of late. On some other occasion, I’ll list out some of the great post-punk records from the last few years here so I can better commit them to memory: Squid’s Bright Green World and the song Houseplants, Wet Leg’s self-titled records, Dry Cleaning’s New Long Leg and particularly the album opener Scratchcard Lanyard, others. 

Nourished by Time - Erotic Probiotic 2
Nourished by Time - Erotic Probiotic 2

Nourished by Time’s Erotic Probiotic 2 is – far and away – my favourite record made in 2023. I love its simplicity, a feature it shares with Sleaford Mods’ UK GRIM, another favourite from 2023. However, it shares its vocabulary with synth-based R&B unlike UK GRIM’s post-punk.

Pinegrove – Pinegrove on Audiotree Live
Pinegrove – Pinegrove on Audiotree Live

In this piece, I navigate the intricate soundscapes of Pinegrove's Audiotree performance, set against the backdrop of the bustling city and its ubiquitous cafes. My exploration of indie studio sounds, alongside an introspective study of key indie bands, unravels a tale of life, hope, rejection, and the unending rhythm of the urban existence.

Basement – Colourmeinkindness
Basement – Colourmeinkindness

I don’t believe I’m in a position to share any facts about the band Basement except that, in the 2010s, they played lightly distorted mildly noisy alternative rock. And that in 2012, they recorded an album called Colourmeinkindness, which has a sound that serves as a great backing track for the part of one’s life that’s punctuated by deeply introspective walks in the blistering heat.

12 RODS – My Year (This Is Going To Be)
12 RODS – My Year (This Is Going To Be)

12 RODS sit high on the list of all-time favourites I never expected to hear from again; in fact, until a week ago, they perhaps sat atop that list. A week ago, that is, when they released their latest single, My Year (This Is Going To Be), and announced an album to be released later this year, their first since 2002’s Lost Time.

Lady Gaga – The Fame Monster
Lady Gaga – The Fame Monster

The hypermodel before me sticks her arm out a couple feet to take what must be an immaculately captured self-portrait that’d put Van Gogh’s to shame. In doing so, she reveals her pronounced wristbones, bony arms, pale and sunken pits, textbook indicators of poor nourishment.

Nouvelle Vague – Nouvelle Vague
Nouvelle Vague – Nouvelle Vague

The one thing that kept her going through a set was the promise of a beer, some fries, and a big burger on the other end. As she breezed through one lounge cover after another – from a smouldering rendition of Love Will Tear Us Apart through an absent-minded interpretation of Making Plans For Nigel to a non-punk version Teenage Kicks – all she would visualise was that meal: bar food on bar china.

Radiohead – The Bends
Radiohead – The Bends

You’re in mainland Europe – somewhere in the continent’s northwest. Alone in an English pub run by the English, frequented by the English. Most brownfolk with a sense of history would likely find much of the imagery here discomforting, but most would overlook it. The pub’s been playing the Bends, all the way from Planet Telex on; this is a strange sort of place.

Nothing – Tired of Tomorrow
Nothing – Tired of Tomorrow

Sitting in the world’s most absurd café after completing the world’s most meandering walk, your phone suggests you listen to Nothing’s Famine Asylum off of their 2020 album, The Great Dismal. You’re reminded of an earlier album by the same band as a beskirted post-Soviet NFT scamster asks a vaguely Mediterranean dad-bodied man wearing a deep blue TOMMY JEANS tee to take a photo.

Akhil Srivatsan
Previous

Doomsday by MF DOOM, and the art of the comeback
Next

GoGo Penguin — GoGo Penguin