Kid Spatula - Joozy

Released: March 14

Mike Paradinas is known for his work on a number of projects, with his most recent under the alias Kid Spatula being one of his most eclectic. Joozy (the latest album under this moniker) is an innovative and entertaining mishmash of influences that winds its way through a bunch of genres and styles without getting bogged down in the finer points or getting hung up strict adherence to any of them. For example, you get the breakbeat inspired “Nadsys” that takes an opportunity to blend quick moving breaks and a bouncy bass with some rather ambient and chilled out pads and sparse leads. Then later, you get the downtempo jaunt that is “Lichtblau” that takes a solid and vaguely familiar beat which some nice synth improvisations on top. Throughout the whole album I found the variation among the tracks to be rather refreshing and kept my wondering what else was in store. 

Parts of the album did really well to subvert my expectations. In particular, the “Clubman” track was one that really resonated. The track suggests that, after two rather breakbeat heavy tracks, it’s going to lean in the direction of house or some variation thereof. But while it kind of does this, the beat never actually drops even through all the other elements sound like they are building to it. There’s a bit of a beat for all of maybe thirty seconds but the tracks keeps the anticipation but doesn’t really pay off in the way you would expect. I honestly loved this as it kind of came across as a more ambient track with some more aggressive synths, but really it was just an unexpected move and it kind of stuck with me. 

A similarly interesting track is the final track (before the two remixes at least) “Joozy.” It feels very stuttered about, like the rhythm is there but it never fully comes together. The intermittent breakbeat pieces are a fun touch with the rhythm as well as the main pieces put together something kind of slow and sluggish. But then there’s just this couple of seconds with the percussion going much more rapid. It gives a fun contrast and makes the pace feel unusual and delightfully weird. And I kind of feel this dynamic through the whole album as it morphs from fast-paced to almost lagging in as song transition, and even within some of the songs themselves. It works quite well and I appreciated the clever variations.