Snakehips - 'Stay Home Tapes'

Ahead of their Coachella appearance over the next two weekends and receiving over 2 million streams for recent track ‘Cruzin’, UK electronic duo Snakehips have just released their brand-new EP ‘Stay Home Tapes (= –__– =)’, offering a crisp blend of electronic and hip-hop influences that’ll be sure to get you up and about.

‘Stay Home Tapes’ begins with the charismatic groover ‘All-Stars Intro (~_~;)’. The introductory piece lures you in immediately with a condensed feeling in the instrumentation, ensuring that not all their production techniques will be given away just yet. Despite this, Snakehips pursue to give us little snippets of the strings striking through, the smooth bass-line and the colourful guitar riffs which all become vital to the core of the piece once the rise sets the scene for an emphatic drop. The hip hop influence becomes more apparent once as we move through, exemplified through the punchy percussion that bleeds through the mix providing significant swagger to the soundscape.

‘For The F^_^k Of It’ from its inception is centred around the silkiness within Jeremih’s melodies, combined with a minimalistic approach in the percussion that transcends a care free feeling throughout. Jeremih’s playful and catchy melodies are further heightened with the implementation of an empowering bass-line that drives through. The lively nature continues to be accentuated with the addition of Aminé’s charming vocals that further accentuate the good-natured vibe scattered throughout the song.

The highlight of the EP lies within the synthetic bass driven ‘Déjà Vu’, which enlists the vocals of Knox Brown and Chaz French. From the word go, it is almost impossible to not be bopping your head along to the groove created through the bass and tight percussion on offer. This sense of groove is exemplified with the various vocal techniques on display, adding various splashes of colour to the palate. Through the offerings from Knox Brown, we see Snakehips utilise several methods such as the haunting lowered harmonies as well as the catch and release nature within the first verse that create significant depth within the overall mix of things.

In ‘Stay Home Tapes (= –__– =)’ we see Snakehips continue their mastery of electronic hip hop music, and sets the podium for the duo to continue their global domination of the realm for many more years to come.

Rating: ★★★★