Pinpointing French producer Brodinski will likely land you somewhere between the grotesque body music of Gesaffelstien and the woozy stoner trap of Lil’ Wayne. Enamoured of both the sounds of street and club, Brodinski has been reinventing electronic music and hip-hop quietly for some time now, though less prolifically as his aforementioned contemporary and Bromance signee. Since both artists appeared on Ye’s groundbreaking Yeezus, Gesaffelstein has arguably devolved further into the electronica / hip-hop crossover sphere, though for Brodinski, this has always been the case. Since the late 2000’s, Brodinski has been traversing the planes of techno and hip-hop, and the establishment of Bromance would solidify his status as a leader in the French underground. 2015’s Brava, his debut album, seemed like a breakthrough of sorts, with the ghostly bass and bounce of tracks like Bury Me weaving a distinct Atlanta influence into the DNA of his Parisian scene. It felt fresh, and audacious.
Old Nick, his latest effort, was an inevitability. Following in hip-hop tradition, Old Nick is the artist’s first official ‘beat tape,’ a collection of wordless tracks designed to be rapped over, in this case a collection of beastly trap and hype heavy hip-hop. Most tracks like Fuse, Alcyone, and Le Mutant, lurch along at the same plodding BPM. They are minimal and foreboding, empty save for monstrous drops of Brodinski’s signature decaying bass. Though with runtimes of less than two minutes, these tracks don’t really go much further. Minimalism has always been part of Brodinski’s arsenal, but here too little space is given for these sparse elements to reach their full potential. This is particularly frustrating in the case of tracks like 99942 Apophis, which opens in-media-res to a heaving, sweaty room of bass wallops and a backdrop of strangely distorted yelps. Similarly, Insidious with its libidinal grunts and heavy bass modulations, is Brodinski at his dark sided best, but in too small of a portion. This makes much of Old Nick come off like music made for Tik-Tok, or to soundtrack reels on Instagram.
Download and stream Old Nick here
Whatever satisfaction lies in here is tainted by the fact these are more snapshots than songs. Brodinski works best when given the breadth to extend his ideas, phasing from one style to the next frame by frame (Need For Speed comes to mind). In this case, Old Nick feels like a collection of these frames detached from the whole picture. Even if some of these frames are the meatiest bits, the real meal lies in everything else that’s been trimmed away.
Listen to 99942 Apophis from Old Nick below.
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