Alternate title: I’m glad I didn’t start writing year-end content, because here comes an album to disrupt it a bit.
Osaka’s Yullippe excels at dark, unnerving dance music. Her third album Selfish&Anchor continues this dive into the shadowy side of the genre, and results in her most cohesive album to date. Which isn’t to say her previous full-lengths were lacking, but this one literally flows, songs blending together to create a rumbling mover set in the darker corners of sound. The opening title number sets the tone — over eight minutes, it builds from water-splash samples to the sound of Yullippe’s voice rippling, before an industrial beat slides in to take control of everything for a bit, silence breaking up its march. The rest of Selfish&Anchor plays around with the loud/soft dynamic, “Kokot’s” ample room making the fried beat all the more menacing and “Orbit’s” woozy structure made more effective by the elbow room it gets to stretch out. What makes it truly stand out, though, is her ability to make such claustrophobic sounds inviting. Get it here, or listen below.