San Francisco Bay Area-based electro wizard David Wang, aka Mochipet, is known equally for the versatile dance floor jams he produces and the purple dinosaur suit he dons when performing them. While his previous outing, last year's Microphonepet, featured a West Coast rap extravaganza of guests, his latest offering, Bunnies & Muffins, is void of vocals. Not to worry, Mochipet fills the space well with an orgy of sounds that stretch from glitch-hop and dubstep to global and symphonic stylings. More melodic and down tempo than his previous work, Bunnies & Muffins also employs a variety of instruments. "The Erhu Song" finds him flipping the Chinese instrument over a drum break while bringing the funk on "Fool" with a slap bass and crafty flute work from guest Spaceheater. Whatever it is, Mochipet's got the shit you like. Album opener "Anthem" starts with powerful glam rock metal riffs and wobbly synths, with a sudden tempo shift three-quarters through that kicks the track into a high-speed frenzy while "Oly," soft and airy, sounds like a forgotten track from The Postal Service.
-Z.M.
Music editor ZONEIL MAHARAJ took a break from his normal Hyphen duties ("get advance copies of albums, bootleg them sumbitches and slang 'em in the Mission") to profile iLL-Literacy, a spoken word crew he calls "some of the most creative live performers I've come across." San Francisco-based Maharaj has learned a few things about unconventionality from his own family: "My dad still kills goats in the back of his car shop. And there's a huge Hindu trident on my parents' front lawn. That right there should sum up how we roll." After two years with Hyphen, Maharaj is, sadly, leaving to focus on his role as editor in chief at urban culture magazine Oh Dang!, which he co-founded.
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