Steve 'Flash' JuonLet me introduce you to AshTreJinkins. This California based producer has been described as everything from “lo-fi” to “electronica” to “hip-hop” to “dance music.” Now I haven’t experienced the entire catalogue of Ash’s music before this review, but I would call it fair to say “Cryptid” isn’t any of those things. It probably helps to explain before we go any further that cryptids are animals that are theorized to exist for which there is currently no scientific proof. Bigfoot and the Loch Ness Monster are probably the two best known examples, but you could lump everything from werewolves to chupacabras into this category too.
It doesn’t take too long listening to this album before you realize the atmosphere is purposefully unsettling. Given there are no rappers spitting lyrics about brutally slaughtering innocent people for fun I wouldn’t raise it to the level of horrorcore, but the dank beats are paired with dialogue from what I can only assume to be a documentary about someone’s own cryptid encounter. On “Info_2” the unknown protagonist tells whoever he’s talking to that a .357 handgun wouldn’t have scared the creature at all.
A different person shows up at the beginning of “Luke Garu,” which I believe to be an intentional misspelling and mispronunciation of “rougarou,” another famous cryptid theorized to live in the swamps of Louisiana. I say “famous” lightheartedly though because I had never heard of this one before this album. Either way this track is easily my favorite instrumental of the whole album. It wouldn’t be out of place on a Madlib tape or a freestyle from a member of the A$AP Mob. It has what I can honestly only describe as an [adult swim] bumper sound — the kind of thing you hear after a commercial break and before the show you were watching resumes.
Other tracks are a little more difficult to get into. The production is clean — none of the instruments or samples are out of balance or seem to be out of place. Instead it’s an issue of Ash being just a little too into using his various effects on his PC to repeat, stutter, reverse or echo things. It’s a fun experimental sound but it makes it a little hard to bop your head to. I’m also not sure why somebody keeps saying “ashtray” over and over again on “No Light Pollution.” It’s not connected to anything I’m aware of.
I left “Cryptid” with the feeling that Ash is undoubtedly a talented producer, but that they also might be slightly unfocused when creating tracks. The theme itself doesn’t lack focus — the album is about exactly what it’s called and may leave some listeners feeling like they just walked out of a horror movie. It’s just a feeling I get that Ash could make bangers but instead decided to just fuck around for the fun of it. There’s nothing wrong with that except for the fact that Ash is asking for $9 (or more) for this album on Bandcamp. It’s fun for free but do you want to pay a Hamilton for someone to fuck around? Probably not.