Lockah - Yahoo Or The Highway

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  • Lockah emerged just as trap was beginning to take hold of American dance floors. His music, packed to the brim with chipmunk vocals, was the antithesis of the dark dubstep fusions that birthed the genre. Over the past two years, the Scottish producer (now based in Brighton) has refined his sound into a decadent sort of electro funk that feels a tad more restrained. That's the theme on Yahoo Or The Highway, Lockah's debut album on Donky Pitch. Most noticeably, Lockah's music has become graceful. First single "If Loving U Is Wrong, I Don't Want To Be Wrong" is a fist-pump in slow motion, with its swooping leads and cooing vocals. It's held in line by chunky '80s drums that frame the track instead of dominating it, revelling in the contrast between the music's soft and hard elements. Lockah has a way of piling on the hooks, and by the time the rolling piano comes into view, you might be fist-pumping yourself. Yahoo Or The Highway is best in its twilit moments. Despite its title, "Some Velvet Evening" is more velour than the deluxe stuff, a toy incarnation of booming '80s power ballads. "Cleft N Twain," with its twitching hi-hats, takes us deeper and darker still. These highlights show off a mature sense of composition, but Lockah hasn't quite worked out all the kinks. "Ayyo Technology" mows down its intricate backing track with a stuttering vocal that doesn't add anything other than cacophony. A few of the tracks feel too similar, as if everything on the album was made from the same Lego set. Still, a samey sound palette is justified when it's this addictive, and Lockah's music is so joyous it can be hard to resist. Earnest and often cloying, Yahoo Or The Highway isn't for everyone, but in Donky Pitch's candy-coated world of upturned hip-hop clichés, Lockah's a star right next to The Range, Ghost Mutt and Slugabed. His debut album comes closer than ever to proving it.
  • Tracklist
      01. A Face Only Another Could Love 02. Some Velvet Evening 03. Ayyo Tricknology 04. Contact High Wit Big Lockah 05. Thick-Ass Jawn Riddim (Devil Mix) 06. If Loving U Is Wrong, I Don’t Want To Be Wrong 07. Cleft N Twain 08. Summer Jorts (Some Cats Still Do) 09. Shark’s Sad Mouth In The 1st Pic 10. Heartless Monster 11. Every Song Was About U 12. I Went Home 13. Street Jam To The Second Power
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