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Image via HORSE HEAD on Facebook
The legions of artists working with a damaged, gloomy aesthetic has risen as of late, and it’s becoming harder for artists embracing this sound to stand out. HORSE HEAD is a producer and singer from Los Angeles that works with this style of music, but he still manages to carve his own niche in the crowded internet soundscape. His music finds him combining disparate elements with surprisingly cohesive results.
On “NUMB,” one of his most interesting tracks to date, he combines the disconsolate sounds of early Pacific Northwest-based emo with hints of ’90s R&B and modern hip-hop. It’s a strange mix, but just like Bones’ Surrender Dorothy side-project, it works remarkably well. These aren’t the only sounds he dabbles in, as he shows a keen interest in producing spectral beatwork alongside inventive inversions of R&B.
HORSE HEAD and like-minded musicians like Nok from the Future are offering a postmodern take on some of their favorite genres, inventing a new type of movement along the way, in a similar way to Yung Lean. These artists haven’t lived in world without the internet, and it brings forth some super interesting results that mix elements of IRL with elements of URL.
It’s making the internet exciting again, just when we thought we’d seen and heard everything. Even in the midst of all this, HORSE HEAD still manages to stand out. He might not be as initially confusing as Spooky Black, or have the same vivid and colorful aesthetic as Yung Lean, but he’s nonetheless providing the type of niche music that only the internet can truly provide.
