A few months ago, I was scrolling through my YouTube for random music to watch, which, funnily enough, is how I've discovered a lot of my favorite artists. And on that day which I am too lazy to check my YouTube history to find the exact date of, I was recommended a video titled "YAYAYI - YAYAYI (FULL ALBUM)", with a length of 2:10:52. I have a bad habit (or a good habit depending on how you look at it) of watching whatever random and obscure garbage YouTube will spit at me, a habit that usually leads me to random nonsense or just boring AI slop, but every now and then, will allow me to discover an artist like YAYAYI. I have a weak spot for artists with an undeniable prowess and an often baffling immaturity, and YAYAYI ticks both boxes in such a satisfying way. There's a thin line between throwing things around and making garbage, and throwing things around and making beautiful garbage, and I believe that YAYAYI belongs to the beautiful garbage camp. The more I've diggen into his discography, the more I've become roughly equal parts impressed, disturbed, entertained, and bored.
YAYAYI's 2013 self-titled somewhat debut album, only "officially" available on Bandcamp
and formerly Spotify before being taken down, really gives you the jist. The first three tracks, titled:
"VERTICAL - {}{}{}{}}{{}}{{}}{}}{}}{}{{}}{}{}}{{{}{}{}}{}{}{}{}{{}{}}{{}}{}}{}}{}}}{{{{}}{{}} 999%",
"PARALLEL - {}{}{}{}}{{}}{{}}{}}{}}{}{{}}{}{}}{{{}{}{}}{}{}{}{}{{}{}}{{}}{}}{}}{}}}{{{{}}{{}} 999%", and
"HORIZONTAL - {}{}{}{}}{{}}{{}}{}}{}}{}{{}}{}{}}{{{}{}{}}{}{}{}{}{{}{}}{{}}{}}{}}{}}}{{{{}}{{}} 999%",
yes really, account for the first ~45 minutes of the album, and consistent of what can only be described as
very noisy, drony, semi-ambient-but-not-really-because-it's-so-loud, weird, lo-fi-kinda music. This is then followed by 15 more tracks whose titles alternate
back-and-forth between "/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////" and "\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\", and are primarily
filled with heavily remixed versions of popular hip-hop/gangsta rap songs, such as
track 10, which is essentially a slowed-down, busy, and semi-chaotic remix of
Y.G.'s 2011 song "I'm Good".
If attempted by most other artists, this would probably come off as overly-eclectic, disorganized, and ultimately annoying to me, and there's a certainly non-zero chance that this album comes off to you that way. But when I sit down and listen to this album, the overwhelming production is so beautiful to me in so many parts that I can't help but enjoy the project through and through for virtually all its elements. Take track 9 for instance, which is a very slowed-down, bassy, romantic, passionate remix of MadGibbs's (Freddie Gibbs and Madlib) track "Shame" off their 2012 EP with the same title. There's a tinge of irony and unseriousness about the whole affair, as is almost always the case with YAYAYI, and right near the end, the track fades out, only to slowly be reintroduced by an obnoxiously loud bass, eventually exploding into a trap-beat, love-synth, bassy climax, filled with echoing, noisy vocals. Already, this is insane and would leave a permanent impression on me, but then YAYAYI doubles down soon after, slowing down the track even more, amping up the reverb on everything even more, turning up the volume of everything (especially the vocals) even more, forming a track so unique and moving, so viscerally emotional (and oddly sexual in a way) that YAYAYI felt the need to release just that section on the album's tenth anniversary on Bandcamp, making the speed change even more dramatic by speeding up the pre-drop and slowing down the drop even more (I think, it's a very subtle change). Such displays of unprofessionalism and unseriousness in music don't often hit such aggressive and effective emotional chords, so when YAYAYI pulls it off, and in such a stylish and unique manner, I'm hit with a level shock and awe that's hard to put into words.
When listening to most tracks off of this album, I'm reminded of artists like Neil Cicierega (spelled that first try, by the way) and his famous (or infamous depending on who you ask) 4-hour "Mouth" collection of mashup albums, fusing together popular music (primarily from the 1990's and 2000's) together to create hybrid atrocities/beauties like "Bills Like Jean Spirit", a mashup of Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit" and Michael Jackson's "Billie Jean". But with YAYAYI, the usage of his sampling feels much more different. For starters, while many Neil Cicierega's mashup tracks are often just instrumentals and vocals mix-and-matched into unrecognizable media blobs, YAYAYI almost always lets his production and instrumental work shine through, often coating the track in his heavily compressed synths and signature ear-bleeding snares to give it his own personality. While Neil's Mouth songs are mashup first and customization next, many of YAYAYI's tracks are heavily centered on his instrumental work first. Track 8 features some of his most intricate and grooviest production on the whole album, with the vocals only coming in nearly halfway through the song. In all likelihood, this album could likely stand solid as an instrumental work; the vocals, to me, serve as an ironic coat of paint across an otherwise competent, bleedingly creative, and often unbelievably stunning collection of instrumentals, creating a blend of the two that can draw tears both from laughter and from sheer beauty.
"Unfortunately half the album is unlistenable. 5 to 8 and 13 to 15 kinda makes up for it though. Wish those were the whole album."
- Leonetti, AOTY (40/100)
Oh, but let's not forget about the noise! Track 1, for example, is nearly 24 minutes long, abruptly starting midway into some noisy and heavily distorted sampling with no clear rhythm or melody to attach to, and ending much the same. Interspersed between these 24 minutes are random synth drones, loud & repetitive snares, samples chopped-up and distorted to all hell, and, as your head will make you aware of on uninterrupted listens, different ear-piercing ringing noises that plant themselves abruptly across the track. This track is not meant to be listened to casually, and is so confrontational in its discomforting soundscape that most opinions I've read of it online wish that these noisier tracks were rather shortened or outright removed from the album. There's about a million different ways that this could be interpreted, but from my perspective, I see it both as YAYAYI attempting to annoy the listener in a largely sarcastic and joking manner, and as him simply messing around and making noise because he thinks it's cool and creates for an almost entrancing experience. You don't start a sample-heavy glitch-hop/cloud-rap mixtape with nearly an hour of ear-damaging experimental noise without the intent of upsetting the listener, but you also don't create nearly an hour of this noise without enjoying it yourself to some extent. I see both of these attitudes throughout the album, this mixture of wanting to mess around but create something beautiful and experimental in the process, with some strong ambitions to throw the listener for a spin and perhaps even upset them.