L.A. duo 18+ are one of the most exciting groups out there. Their music is a bizarre yet seductive mix of hip-hop, electro-pop, trap, and appropriation music, a hyperextended reach into the repressed, insular fetishism of the virtual world, where simulacrum reigns and orgasms occur from a sweaty, distanced position. Their vocals, alternating between members “Boy” and “Sis,” mirror in part the artificiality of its video subjects — vacant, mimetic, questionably sincere — all of it fraught with the terrifying (digital) reality that reproduction in 18+’s domain is programmed, not biological.
Last month, 18+ released their third (and, in my opinion, strongest) release, MIXTAP3. It follows MIXTA2E from late last year, which made our mid-year list with ease several months ago. To continue the celebration that started this morning with Birkut’s review of their latest, I made an 18+ mix called MIXTA3.5, which culls my favorite tracks from both MIXTA2E and MIXTAP3, as well as a host of tracks so fucking good it’s hard to believe they haven’t been released outside of YouTube.
Stream below, and subscribe to our podcast here.
[00:00] 18+ - Untitled [unreleased]
[00:43] 18+ - “Forgiven” [YouTube]
[04:05] 18+ - “Chime” (MIXTAP3)
[06:24] 18+ - “Flap” (MIXTAP3)
[08:42] 18+ - “Execution” (MIXTA2E)
[10:36] 18+ - “Snarl” (MIXTA2E)
[12:54] 18+ - “Big Brutal” (MIXTA2E)
[16:47] 18+ - “Shame” [YouTube]
[18:25] 18+ - “Ode Crébillon” [YouTube]
[21:18] 18+ - “Want 2” [YouTube]
[26:40] 18+ - “TBO Intro” (MIXTA2E)
[28:37] 18+ - “feelsome” (MIXTA2E)
[31:22] 18+ - “almostleaving” (MIXTAP3)
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