Oh, does time fly. With Christmas, finals and general procrastination constantly at my doorstep, I’ve sort of forgotten about my place here with Transmission Review, but I think it’s high time to get back at it for all of the three fans I’ve got clamoring out there. Today, the subject is a bit dated (26 days old as of starting this review, in fact), but I can’t just ignore one of the newest and most intriguing beat makers out there right now. His name is dakim. You probably wouldn’t notice him if he walked into a bus station, but if he ever showed you his work, you’d probably be a little short of words.

With soap, even before you press play, there’s something going on. All the tracks have a maximum of two variables in parentheses. The first seems to be a sort of note for the track. Track 13 is denoted with (b7), and track 15 with (b8). The second thing you’ll find in parentheses is either the word “AIL” or “HEAL”. Tracks 1 through 10 are marked with (AIL), and the remaining 8 are given the (HEAL) label. What these titles exactly stand for is up to the listener, but if you managed to get past the weird presentation, you’d start to get into the bizarre music. You’d think things like: ”
Everything is off,” and “This sounds so trippy!” or maybe even “What genre would you even call this?” but as far as I’m concerned, those are all great things for an artist’s sound to prompt you to ask. What you get here sonically is a mix of dreamy synths and little analogue samples thrown Polluck at often choppy beats, which are also rather synthetic. It’s as though dakim kidnapped Europe 1984 and brought it to L.A. 2007.

This all might sound off-putting. Choppy isn’t usually a word used in tandem with “good”, but this feeling of slight inaccuracy that dakim is constantly pumping out here adds to the music. The dreamy, often distorted synth hits certainly make an atmosphere, but to truly take you somewhere else, even the beat itself is odd. dakim makes a very brave move in doing this. Many potential fans might hear his music and instantly be turned off with the convention of tight timing thrown away. Here, however, is an artist that is more concerned with his sound and his vision than the opinions of SoundCloud followers. He may be one of the smaller artists on a smaller label, but the music is his focus, and that commands the utmost respect from anyone.

There’s no lyrics here, but you won’t find yourself bored. Each song is rather short, but all 18 tracks present very interesting structures and sounds for the musical analyst, and despite it’s slightly strange timing, dakim crafts very tangible grooves. It’s not hard to get your toes tapping or your head bobbing to a lot of the beats on the record. Listeners may, however, find this to be a repetitive listen, as many of the tracks on here are built around one central melody or structure. The production is also very raw, leaving a kind of rough feel on the mix. This L.P. is most likely not for the faint of heart.

Overall, dakim’s latest release is an adventurous, oddball plunge into a world of swinging robots, filled with surprises and trance inducing rhythms. Fans of experimental music, hip-hop and electronica will be intrigued. If you’re looking for something interesting to vibe out to for the rest of winter, soap might just be the little gem you’re digging for.

SYNTHS, ANALOGUE DRUMS, DISTORTION, WEIRD HIP HOP GROOVES, OTHERWORLDLY VIBES

TOP TRACK: ALWAYS THERE (B8) (HEAL)

TRACK TO TRY: MAY HOPE (BEAUTITUDE 4) (AIL)

LAME TRACK: none

9+/10

LISTEN HERE

DAKIM’S LIVE BOILER ROOM SET IN L.A.

image credit: Stone’s Throw Records