Jneiro Jarel is a rare breed. With almost as many aliases as Kool Keith and an abstract production style to fit his personality disorder, Jarel's got the baggiest sleeves in hip hop – to hide all his tricks, get it?
With his own imprint Label Who distributed through Alpha Pup, a label that can do no wrong this year, Jarel's Android Love Mayhem EP poses a Waitsean question, “what's he building in there?” If the purpose of the EP is to build hype for a full length, what aural madness does Jarel have in store for us? Android Love Mayhem EP clocks in at a mere 21 minutes, but stretches that brief time with movements that match R&B interludes with down tempo. Micha Guagh of shoegaze band Apollo Heights makes the only guest appearance on “Going Home,” a track with a TV on the Radio aesthetic – a band Jarel has collaborated with. It would seem Jarel is one of those aliens that absorbs whatever it comes in contact with and creates material just as powerful as the source.
Alpha Pup is the perfect fit for this record as Jarel seems to have an awareness of the Warp/Braindfeeder breed on this EP, but this is far from a direct descendant. My words don't suffice, in describing Jarel's work. He calls his music “the viberean experience” and this EP is an embodiment of that term. I'm ready to call this one of the first great EPs of the year and hope a full length to accompany it drops before the next new year's ball.
Android Love Mayhem EP is out April 13 on Label Who / Alpha Pup.
