Remember Javis FauX and his incredible album, ‘KAIZO’? Well, that name is long gone but out of the ashes came Kuma Gold and ‘Golden’ is his newest release.
Golden is just shy of 21 minutes and the Seattle-based producer packs a tonne of diverse motifs into a short space of time. It starts with Infinity, a bouncy boom bap number while tracks like ‘Chuckie’ power through with urgency and a deep sawtooth wave bassline. Playful use of vocal samples is rife across the whole EP as are a variety of synths, basses, and string arrangements. I told you there was a lot of motifs in this thing.
But the title track, ‘Golden’ is my favourite. It’s in G-flat, which I love, and the array of different synths and instruments on offer are incredible. Then Kuma went ahead and followed it up with ‘Damned & Beautiful’ on a similar vibe. My dude SNAPPED! Oh, and peep that semi-rework of a cover of Thundercat’s Dragonball Durag for ‘Love Me Black’.
Everything knocks harder than Walter White on Golden and that’s testament to Kuma’s meticulous craft. Nothing you hear was just thrown together—not that there’s anything wrong with that. But it shows the kind of producer he is and the results are, to use a technical industry term, stonking.
Stream it below and follow Kuma Gold on Twitch.