Tokorats

Chronique

Jonti couldn't be more at home on Stones Throw Records, as his sunny, hazy combination of left-of-center hip-hop production and psychedelic pop songcraft seems to play directly into the label's key interests. His ebullient 2011 debut, Twirligig, established him as a highly creative avant-pop alchemist and a name to watch, but following a 2012 companion release titled Sine & Moon, the elusive Australian seemed to disappear for a while. As it turns out, he was actually quite busy. He toured the world opening for fellow Aussie Gotye following his international breakthrough, he relocated to Los Angeles and New York before eventually settling back home in Sydney, he became a touring member of the Avalanches, and he worked with artists ranging from BadBadNotGood to King Krule. He spent all of that time working on his follow-up, scrapping an entire album in the process and recording countless drafts of every song. Tokorats finally appeared in 2017, and it seems to expand on the more pop-minded aspects of Twirligig while keeping the weirdness thoroughly intact. His feathery voice is given more shine here, and he layers and weaves it throughout the dense yet pillowy collages of vintage synths, lush soul strings, and subtly complex rhythms. His approach to song construction seems equally inspired by Pet Sounds-era orchestral pop records as well as sample-based masterworks by cratediggers like DJ Shadow and Madlib, with attention given to ear-catching sonics and stylistic left turns in addition to heartfelt, sometimes confessional lyrics. "Sleeping and Falling" seems to sum up the entire album in a freewheeling six minutes, with crunchy breakbeats, sumptuous strings, and whirring, bubbly electronics forming the backdrop for Jonti's longing pleas, including a refrain of "Love don't live 'round here." Halfway through, a vocoderized vocal loop pops up unexpectedly, nodding to the early days of hip-hop. Two other tracks find Jonti further incorporating hip-hop into his sound. The laid-back yet jubilant "Island Rose" is a celebration of individualism featuring Sampa the Great, a rapper/poet who has been likened to Chicago's Noname. Later on, MellowHype's Hodgy contributes a lovestruck verse that brings to mind the Pharcyde's "Passin' Me By," and almost as soon as his rap ends, the song seems to move in an entirely different direction. Following ethereal soul vocals from Midnight Mutants, the beat changes up halfway through the song, and it ends with an extended period of drifting. For the rest of the album, Jonti hops from sparse campfire folk ("Love Prayer") to disco boogie hustle ("Papaya Brothers") to bittersweet, nostalgic downtempo ("Meese Man"). Not all of his juxtapositions or segues seem to make sense, and the album seems a bit overstuffed, but Jonti's ambition and creativity are undeniably admirable, and the entire album is a delightfully strange trip.
© Paul Simpson /TiVo