Thallus

This coming February sees the 5th aniversary of his death, but it seems that with every passing month comes a new raft of artists heavily influenced by the beats of J Dilla. Whether directly or not, the fingerprints of James Dewitt Yancey are all over the slender volume of work put out by Germany’s latest bedroom would-be-superstar, Thallus. Largely instrumental, the experimental tracks lionger in areas not too dissimilar to Star Slinger and his ilk, gentle but warped and utterly begging for someone to rap a few lines over the top of them.

in another era, this could’ve been attributed towards a certain scene or movement, but this is all too fractured to even begin to try to piece together. Post-dubstep is the hot term at the moment, but that doesn’t really seem right, and this feels more urbane and subdued than aggressive and atmospheric. Either way, on Between the head and hand, his free debut album, Thallus displays a masterful use of samples and a ferocious ear for scraping together a good hip hop track.

[myspace]