Writer: Steve Fiorentine
Album: Ryan Hemsworth – Guilt Trips (2013)
I first got into Ryan Hemsworth a few years ago because of his work with Oakland hip-hop duo Main Attrakionz and because of his mixes that took pop and trap hits and wielded them into hour-long cloud rap abstractions.
On Guilt Trips, Hemsworth lays down a bunch of original blissful beats that drag the listener into a euphoric state perfect for doing nothing but vibing out. Album opener “Small + Lost” instantly transports the listener into a different state, much like “Motivation” did on Clams Casino’s 2011 Instrumentals mixtape. The album’s opening cut fades into “Against a Wall,” the projects first single, which features vocals from Lofty305 which fit perfectly over Hemsworth’s chilled out beats. With only two features on the entire album
(the other coming on album closer “Day/Night/Sleep System” featuring Haleek Maul and Bruiser Brigade’s Kitty), the listener is allowed to fully digest Hemsworth’s sparkling production without much interruption.
On “Yaeko Mitamura Is Lonely,” Hemsworth leaves the listener lonely but satisfied with a minimalist beat that brings to mind his mixes that put him on the map for me in the first place. On the following joint “Ryan Must Be Destroyed,” Hemsworth flips the script with a more heavy-hitting track that puts the Canadian producers versatility on display. If there is any message that this album conveys, it is that Ryan should not, in fact, be destroyed.
Favorite Track: Small + Lost
