ApSci hails from the progressive pop/soul wing of indie hip hop label Quannum. The husband-wife duo of Raphael LaMotta and Dana Diaz-Tutaan sing, rap and play all sorts of beats; it’s difficult to categorize them without hearing them. The group’s second album, Best Crisis Ever, drops August 11.
Here’s some explanation:
ApSci have never done anything the easy way.
First off, they could have found collaborators in others who, well, weren’t from halfway around the world.
They also could’ve simply followed the same path on Best Crisis Ever that they did on their 2005 Quannum debut, Thanks for Asking, a dark, collabo-heavy hip-hop electro album that UR Chicago named “the freshest hip-hop album that’s come out so far [that] year,†SPIN.com described as a mixture of “Eminem and Bjork,†and XLR8R called “the real deal.â€
Instead, on Best Crisis Ever, the multi-national duo’s second full-length for Quannum, they change up their formula, filling up the guest spots with their own back-and-forth vocals, transporting their own gear and lives from Brooklyn to Sydney, and moving away from hip-hop towards genre-bending pop music.
Recorded in both New York City and Australia – and spots in between; “‘Til the Windows Rattle Off,†for example, was recorded and programmed in Malaysia, during some downtime at a festival at which the duo was performing – Best Crisis Ever is an intricately designed, lovingly crafted album, full of unexpected electronic bleeps and blurts nestled alongside Ra’s wordplay, Dana’s warm voice, which is in itself a versatile instrument that adds an alluring depth and charm to Ra’s complex, detailed production.
Here’s the track listing:
- 1. “Crazy Crazy Insane”
- 2. “Under Control”
- 3. “Camera On”
- 4. “Easy”
- 5. “Til The Windows Rattle Off”
- 6. “Cubic Zirconia”
- 7. “Big Adventures”
- 8. “The Dark & Bittersweet End”
- 9. “Let’s Rip The Town Up”
- 10. “Afford Me This Poetry”
- 11. “The Tradeoff”
- 12. “Swan Swan H”
- Bonus Track: “Let’s Go!”
“Under Control”
Here’s the video for “Under Control”
