UK producer, Subculture, and London-via-Brooklyn rapper, Goya Gumbani, today share their KRYSTIN EP, a hazy, evocative soul-and-jazz-flickered hip hop project, via Twisted Hearts Records & GGWav Records. Listen HERE and watch the “Letter to Pooh” video HERE.

The KRYSTIN EP is introspective and meditative: hip hop, but free-form and unreconstructed, taking you out of the club and into some low-lit corner deep in the subconscious. On “Letter to Pooh”, Subculture & Gumbani once again strike upon a brilliant producer-rapper connection, Goya’s mellow flow and bars ruminating on a haunted past, while Subculture’s always subtle production with its wavering chords, stuttering, spectral background vocals, mournful trumpet licks and cryptic samples float in and out of the mix.

Created only a couple of months after the passing of his sister, Gumbani reflects on the KRYSTIN project: “Working on this project I went through a transition of making tracks to making songs and I felt like I could be a lot more experimental. After the passing of my sister I felt like there were no bounds of limitations that I’d put on myself creatively. It was a whirlwind of grief at the time with the loss of many things in my life and it was a big awakening at that time with a lot of new things happening. Trying to understand my emotions. I didn’t know if I was coming or going, but the music was an outlet”.

Over years of touring, songwriting and DJing, the Haifa-born, London-raised Subculture (a.k.a. Edan Feldman-Vazan) has honed a penchant for marrying organic, soulful instrumentation with pulsing rhythms and forward-thinking synths and samples, always searching for points of connection between seemingly disparate genres. With this fluid approach and his ability to seamlessly maneuver between styles, the result is distinct: a collage-style of production that sounds as though you’re flicking through a box of dusty LPs in real-time, picking up a bit of hip hop here, some jazz there, psychedelic electronics and a little bit of soul too, all tinged with brushed snares, rap tempos, vinyl crackles and flourishes of global club music.

In late 2019, Subculture released his debut solo mixtape, I DREAM OF EVERYTHING, garnering praise from the likes of the New York Times, Fader, BBC Radio 1, The Line of Best Fit, COLORS, Jamz Supernova and more for its singular blend of soul, hip hop, post-punk, psych rock and jazz. Featuring collaborations with some of the UK’s most promising emerging artists, including Connie Constance, Rachel Chinouriri, Tertia May, Nayana Iz, Louis VI and more, I DREAM OF EVERYTHING spoke to Subculture’s communal ambitions, the product of years spent helping to foster a new generation of London artists producing experimental, psych-influenced, left-of-field electronic, jazz and R&B music. 

With their forthcoming KRYSTIN EP, Subculture now brings Brooklyn-raised, London-based rapper Goya Gumbani further into his ever-expanding fold. Goya has drawn acclaim from Pitchfork, Fader, Dazed, COLORS and more across a string of EPs and mixtapes, including collaborative projects with Joe Armon-Jones, Joy Orbison, among others. He was highlighted earlier htis year as part of NME’s 100 essential emerging artists for 2021 and i-D’s 2021 Ones to Watch. KRYSTIN is the apocalyptic, jazz-infused, psychedelic hip hop meeting point for the two artists, Goya’s lyrical meditations on love, loss and learnings slinking into Subculture’s nimble productions.

KRYSTIN EP by Subculture & Goya Gumbani is out now via Twisted Hearts Records & GGWav Records, buy/stream it here.



Tracklisting:
Intro Hymn
Angels & Fire (Feat. Tertia May)
Letter to Pooh
Valley of Def (Feat. Pearl de Luna)
Only Time Will Tell
The Little Reasons (Feat. Pearl de Luna)
Fish Out of Water

Stay connected with Goya Gumbani:
Instagram | Facebook | YouTube | Soundcloud | Bandcamp

Stay connected with Subculture:
Instagram | Twitter | Soundcloud | Bandcamp | Facebook