Psychedelic Elephant - SHAO (2024)
Beijing-based Shao Yanpeng goes by SHAO (I assume goofy capitalization of your moniker isn’t really a thing in Chinese, but I couldn’t really say).
This seems to get described in various places with terms like ambient and downtempo, which are not at all what comes to mind for me. Most of these tracks are driving, pulsing, bass-heavy trance beats that support repeating higher register patterns on top.
It does occasionally smooth out into something slow and pleasant, like on Sometimes Incline and Fake Memory, but more often than not there’s a constant undercurrent of motion and momentum.
While many of the tracks have that psychedelic sense of always pushing forward, tracks like Fume and Circle Composition are great time-outs on the record that are much more playful and dancable.
The version that exists on streaming services seems to be the remixed and reworked version he made in 2022 and released in 2024. The original record was released in 2008, though I can’t find it anywhere to compare the two.
Coming from the 00s might help explain why the sounds of the various synth voices he uses sound like either straight analog or older hardware-based synthesizers. Or it’s just a choice he makes for the overall effect.
