what does haze sound like? it might sound like a foggy bassline coloured purple with reverb. it might sound like an acid-trip ambience. it might sound like a smokey synth or a trippy, futurist vocal. but it’s more than likely that it sounds like the bass-filled R&B soaked production from new jersey mystery man, hazy.
while i don’t condone attaching ridiculous affixes to the term trap — see whispertrap, lovetrap, glittertrap — what could we call hazy’s particular brand of hip-hop flavoured, precisely produced gossamer beats? cloud trap has an interesting way of doing hazy’s music justice. chopped up rap vocals meet drums and straightforward melodies in what might seem like a basic approach; but the beauty is in its simplicity. if his debut album feels is any indication, less is always more.
choosing to keep his identity and most his personal details cloaked in mystery, hazy goes only by his moniker. we don’t know much about the producer, but we do know that he takes inspiration from the likes of xxyyxx, blackedout, and littlecity favourite ryan hemsworth — it comes as no surprise really, the ability to take grimey bass and turn it pretty, soulful and, at times, sensual is pure hemsworth. the 90s inspired R&B vocals on feels‘ tracks like “so i know it’s real” and “stay” are on-point as well.
of course, i’m powerless to those kinds of tunes. i discovered hazy’s soundcloud catalog when my friends the techno kittens included one of his tracks in their weekly round-up. i reached out immediately. it turns out that hazy has only been producing for a little over a year, making it all the more impressive that his sound is so well-developed. when i spoke with hazy about putting together the next speaker session, it was clear that he and i are on the same page when it comes to music:
“i believe that music is a gateway to the human soul and with that it is also a reflection as to who that person actually is. everyone is different in their own special way, so with this mix i tried to show who i am as a person. the tracks range from emotional beats to heavy bass bangers that are both old and new.” – hazy
hazy’s summer-ready mix features his own productions, clamscasino, ryan hemsworth, d33j, djemba djemba, and hot sugar — the perfect remedy to the brume and obscurity of the city in the heat.
follow hazy / soundcloud / twitter / facebook / bandcamp
download feels on bandcamp
