The Daily Spin, November 19
KAYTRANADA | 99.9%
Welcome back to the Daily Spin, the series in which I review 365 albums during 2023.
Each album will be given a rating on a scale from 0 to 10. You can look at the entire set here. Additionally, you can check out a list of my favorite songs from each album right here.
Album: 99.9% (2016)
Artist: Kaytranada
Link:
99.9% feels like the sort of hypnotic RnB that would feature at a hazy club, low lights and the air laden with energy - driving bass and complex percussion spurring action across the dance floor.
This is what Kaytranada does best - his immense list of features, remixes, and his iconic Boiler Room show in Montreal (still one of the best videos to people-watch to) served as the prelude and the sampling platter for this record, with its star-studded list of features (Anderson .Paak, Craig David, GoldLink, AlunaGeorge) and the wildly patterned drums that sprinkle themselves through this record, developing a sound that now feels signature.
The way that the bass is manipulated to hit the lowest reaches while still playing second fiddle to the kicks and the polyrhythms keeps much of this album in the ‘addictive’ category for me - I could listen to most of these tracks on total loop. It’s clear that, for better and for worse, vocals are just another instrument to Kay, and that leads to some intriguing creative decisions - ‘DRIVE ME CRAZY’ has an outro that spans a third of the song, most notably - but it’s not like that doesn’t work. One of my favorite segments on the entire album is that outro, the way that electronic snare runs one-two for seven beats into the frantic doubled triple on the eighth, all while an odd high synth just sorta loops freely up top.
Few albums retain this immense level of danceability - and it’s even more impressive because it’s almost hard to focus on what to dance to. There are the crazy drum patterns that run through every track, the bass that tugs at your soul, and the wildly fun music above it will have your head bobbing, your leg tapping, and your shoulders waving to three different movements at once - and it works.
Rating: 9.7/10
Best Tracks: GOT IT GOOD; DRIVE ME CRAZY; LEAVE ME ALONE
Worst Tracks: VIVID DREAMS