This mix comes to us from Dallas, Texas based producer Wabi. He presents various underground sounds coming out of his home state that you may not be familiar with, changing gears frequently throughout. This is a diverse mix, so if the frenetic beats towards the beginning seem too much to bear, please do yourself a favor and keep with us just a bit longer.
I first encountered Wabi when he called me a “nobody” on Twitter.
I took that as a complement, of course, as any one listening at all is still a welcome surprise.
But this also kicked off some discussion about how digital music’s ephemerality differs from earlier phenomena such as cassette culture. Even when we take into account these huge caches of forgotten music, such as the 30GB of 1980’s noise tapes that turned up a couple of years ago, which tend to be lacking metadata, cover art, or even any identifiable markers, there are still likely to be huge amounts of music, produced for very small or private circulation, that will never be heard again. By now most of us have encountered the rumors of Soundcloud’s impending exhaustion of capital. The thought that all these many hours of work may simply vanish from the Internet raises a host of questions. Those of us who have hosted material there, or even just those who listen and have enjoyed this platform as a means of discovery in recent years, worry about what will become of this huge archive of amateur creativity. If Soundcloud does go under, what will happen to this series?
Well, we will figure something out. But in the meanwhile, take advantage of our archive while you can, download and share these amazing mixes, starting with this brilliant tour through the unheard of Texan artists. (Joseph Sannicandro)
NOTE: And if you are interested in giving to support the victims of Hurricane Harvey, please consider the following, suggested by 350.org:
To donate to an alliance of progressive organizations that will be advocating directly for people impacted hardest by the storm, click here.
To donate to TEJAS, a Houston area environmental justice organization that will be supporting recovery efforts in neighborhoods around Houston’s oil industry, click here.
Listen/download at Soundcloud
MINI-INTERVIEW
Introduce yourself, please.
Well hey, I’m Justin Wabs, I also make music as Wabi. I’m a composer based out Dallas, whose start came from hip-hop production.
Tell us about the mix. Based on the name seems like you’re repping some lesser known artists from your home state of Texas.
This mix was kinda a response to Hurricane Harvey. I wanted to show music of Houston and from other Texans, but not the sounds people typically attribute to Texas. As most people know Houston has a rich hip-hop/rnb scene, spawning greats like Scarface, UGK [ Underground Kingz], and Beyoncé, but there’s so much more. Houston’s Juke scene has always been amazing which I included in here. Also in the mix is some friends of mine: Dallas recently has had an explosion in lofi bedroom pop, which is surprising since metal has been the reigning champ here. Akari, Skirts and Mousetrap are all friends of mine and make amazing stuff. Along with that I included myself in the mix, because gotta get those follows [twitter, bandcamp, soundcloud 😉 ], even added an excerpt from a song from my new album coming out next year.
Anything coming up on the horizon for you that you want to plug?
A lot cool things happening soon so feel free to follow me on twitter or soundcloud [both linked above]. Happy to share some fun sounds.
Thanks so much for sharing some new tunes with us, Justin.
TRACKLIST
Footmerc – try to hide Feat. Juke nukem
NikuGutfuk – onryo/ wabi remix
Akari 93 – death sound
Skirts – hurts like hell
Substance – masculinity
Soraweb – rev
Propain – louder
Mousetrap – in love
Dat Grace – Come ride with a playa
Wabi – unreleased
Moondialer – Moon called but
Hot Peez – Holdin it down
Wabi – i am weak
Justin Wabs – on a plane going nowhere
griffin mcelroy – A rebuilding year
a closer listen 