Sunking - Don't Like My Telephone [LP]

Los Angeles trio Sunking marry hip hop, and electronic influences on their 2nd album I DON't LIKE MY TELEPHONE. Childhood friends Bobby Granfelt, a jazz drummer and self-proclaimed hip-hop head, Antoine Martel, a synthesist and composer, branched off their mainstay High Pulp to explore their polar opposite tastes and make music as Sunking in addition to multi-instrumentalist Victory Nguyen. Their 2022 debut Smug, was more jazz-influenced, while I DON't LIKE MY TELEPHONE is akin to the early work of beat-driven artists Thundercat, Madlib, and Flying Lotus. They hand selected artists Salami Rose Joe Louis, Niki Randa, Deradoorian, and Takoda to lend vocals and help capture that spirit. I DON't LIKE MY TELEPHONE as a series of self-contained "micro-compositions," built around Granfelt's drum loops and Martel's new gear. In addition to, they were fueled by an increasing love for electronic music artists like Galcher Lustwerk, The Field, and Susumu Yokota, whose 1994 cult classic Acid Mt. Fuji they cite as a particular inspiration. The result is a record as vibrant as a kaleidoscope, and compact as one too, shuffling through more styles and ideas in neat, three-minute chunks of virtuosity.