Whoever goes on Hudson Mohawke’s trip will have beautiful visions waiting

He is a pleasantly stubborn dance and hip-hop force, which has not been able to measure for almost fifteen years. Ross Matthew Birchard aka Hudson Mohawke produces inimitable beats for great rappers, from Pusha T to Drake and A$ap Rocky. On his solo records he lets loose all the reins, and he picks up elements from all musical styles that inspire him. But the Scot’s own work does not bring great success, it is often too complex and even nerve-racking for that. Not surprising that well-known singles like chimes (2014) and fuse (2009) do well in commercials and especially game soundtracks, as beeping orchestrations over nighttime images of cities like Tokyo and Hong Kong.

His new album cry sugar is full of strange tracks, in which the producer probably also wandered through misty landscapes during the making. If you are willing to walk with him, you are in for a nice trip. In intentions he cuts up old-fashioned and euphoric house vocals (‘I’m just searching for freedom, when I call out your name’) with constantly chopping bass and tinny synth chords. And Bicstan is a crazy circus of chopping acid, rave and happy hardcore, including smurf voices, that takes the clichés so far that they slowly get a tinge of avant-garde computer art.

cry sugar is a packed electronic party, which fortunately also has a few moments of rest, and tracks that should give Hudson Mohawke a real dance floor or playlist hit. bow, for example, is a beautifully dystopian, dragging hip-hop track, with captivating falsetto vocals by the unknown Clarence Coffee Jr. But the masterpiece is Lonely Days, in which he knits a string quartet through repetitive and shrill synthesizer sequences. In the finale, only the strings remain in the sound mix: an enchanting piece of contemporary classical music. It says everything about Hudson Mohawke’s visions. It’s good that we can watch him every now and then.