An issue that still leaves a bad feeling in many people is when an electronic music producer — often referred to dismissively as “SoundCloud producers” because absolutely zero famous people use SoundCloud, no sir — samples or reworks an R&B song into a fidgety electro number (criticism includes a use of R&B vocals as ironic or leading to the erasure of black female vocalists). Both sides have pros and cons, as they always do, but Kobe’s BlackGlassG finds a clever way to move around that debate — if the sample at the heart of new song “With U” hails from R&B, he has rendered it into something from another dimension by absolutely layering it over with hazy electronics and chunky metallic sounds. Suddenly, the vocal isn’t the focal point, but a disorienting touch on a song where a bunch of them come together to form a good track. Listen to it, and “Take Time,” above.
