.L.W.H.: "Regulate Ur Gat"

The Tape Hiss Hooligan, .L.W.H.‘s debut and CMG’s eighth best album of 2011, was a many-splendored thing. A banger of a cloud rap record disguised as a skronky lo-fi synth epic dressed up like a loose-jointed concept album, it felt schizophrenic and cohesive all at once. Ideas, sounds, and affects were thrown around with an abandon that felt chaotic, at first, before repeated listens revealed the meticulous sound-stiching at work behind (and, in the flawless transition pieces, between) every track. Even if the Green Ova crew hadn’t turned in what might be their most focused, powerful group performance yet, it would have been a bizarre little marvel of a record; as it stands, it’s perhaps the tightest and most sonically bold work to be associated with the cloud rap phenomenon to date.

.L.W.H. has been keeping busy since then. He’s got two projects in the works: one is a rap album which he’s promised will make Tape Hiss Hooligan look weak by comparison; the other is CIA TV, an instrumental record which prominently features frequent collaborator Astrronomy and is set to drop this summer. “Regulate Ur Gat” is the final single we’re being treated to from CIA TV before the record drops, and it is a treat. The track is built around a lovely synth-string progression that recalls the whirling disco euphoria of “Spinning 87,” but shows a little more restraint and unfolds more patiently. This main loop—which feels perfect for springtime, somehow, with its budding sense of joy—is only the tip of the glacier: when it’s set atop the diverse textural and harmonic movements Hodge weaves into the background, the track takes on a lush density that is almost disarmingly gorgeous.

At one point, about halfway through the song, the beat and theme drop out and are replaced by a lonely synth line—dissonant, directionless, lost without the cushion of its surroundings. And just as you start to wonder if the song has, like, died, this lonely melody is swallowed back up into the full splendor of Hodge’s strings and the devilish genius of the tangent becomes clear. It’s like .L.W.H. just wanted to throw us off for a moment with a little hint of ugliness to make sure we weren’t taking this generously lovely track for granted. It’s the sort of erratic touch that is characteristic of this daring young producer, and that makes me think that CIA TV is going to be a record worth putting on repeat for a long time.