The conflict in the music of Young Architect, aka Y?Arcka, aka WHY?Arcka, aka Philadelphia-based Shawn Kelly, is between the modesty of his materials and the intensity of his intent. He does more with less than any other beat-minded producer I’m aware of. You can hear little bits of NERD in there, with his metronomic pulse and his affection for classic soul, and you can hear DJ Premier, with his ability to utilize acoustic instruments without losing their looseness, and you can hear J Dilla, with his taste for broken beats. But more than any of that you hear him.
Here’s just one track, “We Used 2 Be (Hip Hop),” off his delectable Half Order Out of Chaos:
[ Normally there would be a player embedded here that would play the track, but the Bandcamp one seems to be messing up this site’s HTML for some reason right now. To hear the track, proceed to youngarchitect.bandcamp.com. ]
The way he uses tiny snippets of a vocal and builds this flowing rhythm of pointillist misdirection simply deserves far more attention than it’s currently receiving.
Get the full set at youngarchitect.bandcamp.com.
More on him at arckatron.bandcamp.com, myspace.com/youngarchitect, twitter.com/whyarcka.
Wow, really cool beats actually! Love the minimal feel with just a few slight change ups here and there, and especially the part where it just drops down to the little electrical sound, hehe… Great track! although never did i think i would see anyone on the web use the phrase “flowing rhythm of pointillist misdirection” but I have been humbled, lol!