Heard It Here First

In production and preparation of his debut album Baby Blue and the Super Moon, it appears that Kyle aka tiedye ky has been asking himself the same. Appearing at a multitude of big name events including Wakaan Festival, Okeechobee, and Camp Bisco, the producer is still a relative unknown in many circles around the ‘EDM world’.

Netting millions of streams between Spotify and Soundcloud – most notably on 2018 single “Green” – the young artist has mixed and matched music influences for years now. Two EPs titled Color Palettes characterized the duality of the distinct melodic and experimental approaches that tiedye ky takes towards his musical aesthetic.

Admittedly two and a half years in the making, Baby Blue and the Super Moon is considerably less this-or-that; instead, the young producer has embraced the intersections of the two sounds that he once held separate from one another. Fueled by distorted vocals, explosive synths, and interwoven instrumentals, no two songs are the same on his debut album.

The album’s opening track – “Over Again” – emphatically opens with a growling synth that fades into ethereal guitar tones. “Over Again” is largely characteristic of the album’s entirety: the percussive guitar and scattered sounds create a sense of urgency for a song that is overwhelmingly mellow.

Subsequent tracks such as “Never Cage a Butterfly,” “Hold On,” and “Lunar Girl” (feat. Renee King) evoke similar fluctuations between explosive electronic breakdowns and reverberating guitar riffs.

“I See You in My Dreams” is perhaps the most diverse track on the album. Exhibiting identifiable R&B/hip-hop influences, the song opens with whistle-tone synths before exploding into deep-house vibes with ever-present, gritty vocals. Punctuated with lasers, cha-chings, and dolphin noises (you read that right), the song sheds its layers the longer it goes on. More of a tear-down than a build, the song serves as its own lullaby in a fascinating and non-traditional fashion.

Aforementioned hip-hop influences are present throughout the record – tracks like “Don’t Do Me Like This” and “Pipus and Wine/Life on a Loop” feature the same distorted vocal style and boom-bap percussion seeing resurgence in modern hip-hop.

The latter tune features late-rapper and close friend Pipus, who delivers a warmly haunting freestyle in the track’s overture. “Pipus and Wine/Life on a Loop” embraces the duality of ky’s production talents more than any track on the album as it unapologetically flips from mellow guitar to deep bass.

Collaborative efforts such as this are no new concept to tiedye ky with the album’s title originating as an intended band name for Kyle and friends of his. While the album is undoubtedly a product of ky’s influences, companions, and own mind, it is a unique and personal statement of a record. The full-length debut firmly establishes tiedye ky as an innovative producer unafraid to represent himself and his complexities with unwavering authenticity.