When ZXPH’s new playlist appeared on my SoundCloud stream today, I’m not exactly sure what I was expecting, but I know I was pleasantly surprised. It is a quintessential short and sweet experience. The large variety of genre influences, which range from motown in ‘Gone’ to cut-up in ‘Star Zone’, are sure to keep your attention, while the continuity between the tracks makes it feel like a singular unified project. The use of background real world sounds and stripped down intros create a thematic link between tracks, as the songs also crescendo in complexity. Yet throughout all of the tracks, ZXPH at the core produces great synth lines and beats with a slow burn.
One of the highlights of these tracks are his choice and stripped down usage of samples. These include Rihanna’s ‘Ride’ in ‘Yen – 円を数えます’, MAGIC!’s ‘Rude’ in ‘Rude’ and, my personal favorite, Beyoncé’s ‘Drunk in Love’ in ‘Gone’— and those are only the one’s that immediately jumped out at me. Not since Fortune and DrewsThatDude’s collaborative remix have I been this excited by an artist’s use of ‘Drunk in Love’. So if you like to hear popular songs recycled and sampled, this is sure to scratch that itch as well.
https://soundcloud.com/itszephellis/sets/my-preference
You can check out more of ZXPH’s tracks on his SoundCloud and can find his ‘This Side of Grime’ volumes here.
Saint Audio 