Beat It: Canooooopy’s Polymorphism Vs. Valleystayers

“Goodbye to the hackneyed ‘beats’!!!!!” So goes the last sentence of Canooooopy’s description of his newest album, Polymorphism Vs. Valleystayers. Confrontational statements are not a common sight in the Japanese music scene…at least not ones broadcast publicly…yet here we have a producer who has been gaining steam online over the past few months throwing at least a little shade at the still-burgeoning beat scene. Each week, you can find at least three new beat tapes popping up under the “Japan” tag and…well, there are some great beatmakers going today, but others aren’t really adding anything exciting to the conversation. Yet here comes Canooooopy with a 21-track beast of a beats album, one that never settles for familiarity. It’s a disorienting, fun ride.

Canooooopy’s beats are usually slightly strange – this isn’t a smooth album at all, and good luck trying to rap over anything present here. Rather, it’s a collection that intends to poke at the boundaries of contemporary beat music and see how much they give. There are songs here that are barely present, like the chime-heavy “Pocketable Submarine.” Other times, all sorts of sounds clash with one another, one of Canooooopy’s favorite tricks being the constant inclusion of sampled dialogue underneath the music itself. It lends “Enter The Aniverball” a very strange vibe, especially when the horror-movie bass plucks enter the frame. Even a relatively straightforward number like “With A Canopy, Silverfish” gets undercut by bleating sounds around the edges. This album isn’t great because it’s ugly, but rather because it’s unafraid to muck up the template of beat music. Get it here, or listen below.