Just like claiming to have a “wide culinary palette” didn’t actually help me impersonate my twin sister, the accomplished food critic Rose Devlin — claiming to have a wide “sonic palette” is a bit of a tautology without justification. So what? You use a DAW? You been on archive.org? You “plunder” much? Cool story bro…(this is the part where Benjamin Muñoz steps out of the shadows to son you, walking on his tiptoes in light-up sketchers.)
A newbie on the scene, his first EP for the London-based Push & Run label, Fear And Its Variants, is a cautious exploration of breakbeats, UK garage, and Brainfeeder future jazz. A sexed-up phaser runs through the whole thing like a panther slowly exhaling a hit of Big Cat Nip. There’s a real sense of cross-cultural exchange as well, with Muñoz laying down some tangy British influence like Marmite.
The EP’s penultimate track “In Coming Months” — which we’re proudly serving-up for you today — features a treble-y mumbler trading feelings with some disembodied House lyrics. Although inspired by a “turbulent 2016,” this one’s definitely got some feel-good summer vibes. It’s like I was saying back up top: slick sample-ology requires finesse, otherwise you end up with the honky aesthetic of an urban outfitters catalog. When deployed with a deft hand like Muñoz’s, though, it feels like you’re mixing the entire record store at once, drawing stylistic threads between genre racks that once stood like imposing barriers.
Stream “In Coming Months” below, and be on the lookout to grab Fear and Its Variants from Push & Run on June 2.
Fear And Its Variants tracklisting:
01. Fear And Its Variants
02. Cerulean Mood
03. In Coming Months
04. The Way To Grow
More about: Benjamin Muñoz
