Giancarlo Renzi is one busy man. We recently spoke with one of Costa rica’s premiere beatmakers on the eve of his visit to Mexico for the Ticos Quieren Tacos event and now, just a few days from that show, Raido is dropping a brand new song for your listening pleasure.
“Low Key” is our first chance to hear what Renzi has in store for us. The track will be part of a double album entitled Aware 哀れ which will feature no samples. That’s right, the sounds that you will hear in this release are being created through synthesis and video game processing.
Aware 哀れ takes its title from the Japanese word which roughly translate to the bittersweetness of a brief and fading moment of transcendent beauty. While this might take you an extra second to process, it’s actually something we may have experienced before. Personally it makes me equate it with an instant nostalgia for things we are enjoying so much that we feel we’ll miss them the moment they stop. “Aware” might not be exactly that, but it’s something the track has made me ponder, and I consider that a good thing.
“Low Key” actually is rather light in the nostalgia department. Sure, the chest cavity-rocking bassline comes from straight out of your Super Nintendo but everything feels right and fresh. Jesse Baez of the band Coctel again lends his rhyming skills to the mix which adds a catchiness to the song, making you want to listen to it over and over again, thanks in part to the use of a vocoder on key parts of the chorus. “Low Key” boasts a deep beat and ultra digital instrumentation. Everything feels right, like a great dystopian sci-fi movie; it’s also Raido’s most hip-hop track so far.
We’re not sure when Aware 哀れ will drop but Raido has certainly gotten our attention.