Sasco - The Hottest Year on Record

I’m wondering if this is what it would sound like if Aphex Twin and DJ Premier teamed up for an album. Earlier in the week I wrote about a tape whose warmth shone through window panes while the sun set, but strangely this feels like the antithesis to that; a warmth so humid and muggy it feels like a fever dream, wrapped under an electric blanket a couple notches too high. I could definitely be wrong, but I think this is Sasco’s first full-length foray into a more hiphop-leaning sound, featuring a range of great modern-day emcees with each presenting their own unique perspective. It’s a testament to Sisco that the instrumental moments are just as integral to the tape as the verses, but both go hand-in-hand to push the album’s genetics; from what I can gauge, about striving to survive and finding purpose in a world that gets gradually harder to live in. The average global temperature reaching record highs every year and the world’s injustices often too much to bare or witness, but as Big Flowers says on ‘Doubles’, “I still don’t let it stop me” - our passions, our drive, our purpose whatever that might be. Whether or not I got any of the messaging right (which I probably didn’t), I love the claustrophobic ambience this album emits, really reminding me of Armand Hammer’s Paraffin even if it doesn’t sound the same. Sasco’s background in electronic and illbient makes this feel more like an IDM album even when deeply rooted in hiphop, every beat whether instrumental or not is so live and dynamic, crunching tapping and squelching textures moving between each ear like the sound of some mutant animal. It’s like he took the futuristic soundscapes of clipping and Dälek and threw them in a 200 degree furnace - whether it’s the warped hats on ‘Lost Cause Champion’ or melting drones on ‘Overshoot’, everything sounds like it’s slowing burning to a crisp. Between the excellent flow and fantastic features to drive the narrative home, I found this such a uniquely captivating listen from an artist who puts the overall experience before even the best sound design. It’s like listening to an auditory heatwave, or basking in a sun that’s too hot to ever feel fully comfortable.

KEY BEAT: Corrosion - Sasco brings this back down to basics with slow gritty drums that sound like they’re pulled straight of the Griselda suite, wavering and distorted drips leading you through to a serene and meditative finish. It’s such a beautifully paced and simply-laid track that’s just one of many moments on this that’s burnt into my memory.