There’ just something about New York, and i’m pretty sure it’s not just in the water. It’s in the air, the food, the clothes, the buildings, the people themselves. Something about the place consistently turns out startling art on the leading edge of its discipline. Brooklyn resident Krts lives up to his surrounds. With this, his first EP, tantalisingly short at 23 minutes (not including the bonus remix included with the download version), he’ certainly one to keep an eye on.
Opening with what feels like an audio snapshot of his surrounds, “Love or Logic’ paints a picture in many colours and hues, reflecting memories and dreams, desires and past tales long forgotten. Short cuts of sax over wonky beats and out of time mallets, work together to provide a suited sonic postcard from the Big Apple. With the EP’s title track “Hold On’, Krts shifts into a sound which suits him: clacking beats over a simmering bassline, with a simple vocal laced on top, it fits together into something which will hopefully become his signature. Given that he employed the same sound on his recent remix of Long Arm’ “When We Fall’, indications point to these hopes being positive. The spacious opening of “Whatever’ continues for the duration of the piece, a beautifully simplistic ode to Brooklyn’ bustling Indie art scene. “Rooftop’ clicks and rattles like a scratched record, as refrained drums steadily build into the foreground. Everything slowly swells together into a blissful overflow of synth and horns riding together above it all. Final track “Ghosts’ has trains looping through the background, and could be the soundtrack to a quite Sunday afternoon in, watching the world go by outside the dusk filled window. Muted xylophones float over the beat before squiggly beats swell with tension, before retreating just as quickly. Included with the downloadable version is a bonus remix of “Hold On’ by Glenn Astro, who takes the original and spins it into a decidedly 2-step feel, shuffling the beat and bass into an afro freak-out.
Krts is really onto something amazing. With his gentle and uncluttered approach to music making, it shouldn’ be long before people will start to take notice. Another Project: Mooncircle release exposing new and exciting talent, and another to feature beautiful cover art from Bioniq, Hold On both sounds and looks amazing. Simple, unassuming, and gorgeous.
Nick Giles
