Album: Hyperpotamus, Delta (El Molino Music)

 

Andy Gill
Thursday 05 January 2012 20:00 EST
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Hyperpotamus is Spanish musician Jorge Ramírez-Escudero, who brings a new rigour to the notion of solo performance: all the pieces on Delta are structured from his own looped and layered vocal tracks, painstakingly built into exotic sonic edifices without using any actual instruments.

Staccato percussive phrases combine with sung basslines to underpin his theatrical bluesy croon, tracks like "Seahorse for Dragon" producing an absurdist romantic doowop, with various disparate harmonies surrounding and counterpointing the (mostly English) lead vocals. It's all done with meticulous attention to detail – "Electroclash" apes the oozing decay of a real synth bassline – with the finished tracks blending beatboxing, Take 6-style a cappella jazz and Wilsonian banked harmonies. Can't wait to see him do it live...

DOWNLOAD THIS Seahorse For Dragon; Sailboat; Una, Grande y Libre

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