tankt

Hudson Mohawke, just 22 years old, has just released his first proper and widely-circulated EP on Warp Records. This thing has been relentlessly hyped as the second coming of hip-hop, with Hud Mo as J Dilla reincarnate, a comparison that isn’t entirely fair or even remotely appropriate.

It is clear he is talented beyond belief, and his music speaks with an almost innate knowing, like it was always meant to be. I know I have touched on this in the past, but I love the stuff that sounds so of-the-moment, yet clearly from-the-past as well. There’s a familiarity here, and it’s very comfortable too, but with a heavy dose of futuristic Fly Lo funk. How can you argue with his lineage:

At age 7 Hudson fell in love with jungle & rave music and it kick started an obsession collecting as much music of all genres as he could. At age 10 Hudson was making his first mixtapes, mixing between a personal cassette player & a broken hi-fi turntable. At age 12 he started making music, using only a Playstation. At age 14 he was the Scottish champion of both the ITF and UK DMC DJ Championships.

There is absolutely nothing forced or contrived about it, it’s just pure and simple musical genius:

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“Velvet Peel” is definitely my favorite on the six song EP entitled Polyfolk Dance. I both love that it’s just over two minutes long and wish it were an hour or more, and I can’t wait to hear the new album later this year. Between the new Squarepusher EP and this, Warp is tearing into the new year. May I please have a new Plaid album too?