Dead Hunks

by sakuraba

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1.
Inexpensive Shit 01:25
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2.
Dead Hunks 03:24
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3.
PLS 02:23
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4.
A.I. 02:55
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5.
Lo De Ucrania 02:12
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6.
Fifty Foot Fang 03:48
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7.
Fine, Fine Drummer 02:58
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8.
Tree Four 02:45
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9.
Domicilio 03:00
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10.
100 keks 01:48
lyrics
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I need to get out of town Right now, before something goes down Mouth breath, mouth breather Mother fucking crawfish eater Boot licker, boot licker City-slicking, shit kicker Money maker, money maker Big heart, bigger faker Cow, chicken, pig Goat fucking, life taker
11.
Verano Siberiano 02:29
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12.
Where's The Good Knife? 02:02
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about

Have you seen that black and white photo of John Wayne in a bathing suit? If not, take a second and search, "John Wayne in a bathing suit.” I can’t remember exactly when I first came across this pic but it made a lasting impression on me. Here was the guy that symbolically became the American standard for unwavering, good ol' fashioned, square masculinity around the last half of the 20th century; but in this captivating photo, he looks hip, sexy, sexually ambiguous and totally at ease. Suddenly, John Wayne became way more interesting to me.

Around April of 2020, my wife Shanti and I were perusing Spotify playlists for the very first time. Being obsessive about melody, arrangements and clever ideas, regardless of genre, can render a lot of these streaming platform playlists useless. But, on this occasion, we were looking for innocuous sex music; something instrumental with a minimal beat and a slow tempo. In other words, vibe over substance in order to not engage the songwriting part of the brain during this intimate act. Enter Lofi Beats.

As a breakdancer, I was raised on the first wave of hiphop and later, as a musician, I was influenced by instrumental hiphop in the 90’s, but I arrived very late to this particular party that seemed to be centered around Spotify playlists. I also noticed that some successful artists in this genre didn’t even have a proper profile pic, much less a social media presence. This anonymity aspect was especially appealing to me. And sonically, I loved the vinyl crackle, the tape hiss, the minimalistic arrangements and the short running times. I was sentimentally transported back to my early years as a songwriter when all I had was a small 4-track recorder and various big ideas. I became obsessed with this updated lo-fidelity aesthetic.

Lofi Beats, much like early punk rock, also seemed to champion DIY values and it was an easy decision to just start making beats. After about a month, I decided to participate in the scene and thus, “sakuraba” came to be. Before too long, my singles started getting on hundreds of the seemingly endless amount of LoFi Beats playlists that exist and my numbers began to climb. Eventually, a single that I released on a small British label, got placed on three separate Spotify editorial playlists, and we quickly racket up a million streams. I was now able to pay my monthly wireless bill with beat money. This wasn't the party that I had imagined…

More and more of the beats on a lot of these playlists started to sound like elevator music to me. I theorized that the modern genre had peaked around 2018 and that I was now taking part in a scene that had lost its way. By this time though, I was more concerned with the prospect of making decent money instead of making good art, if I’m being honest. I also noticed that how I was personally discovering new music was becoming increasingly influenced by how many monthly listeners an artist had. But my wake up call came when I encountered a rumor that major labels were employing A.I. to make Lofi Beats in order to monopolize the editorial playlists. Absurd conspiracy or not, I couldn't deny that at the very least, it seemed totally plausible that A.I. could easily reproduce a lot of the beats that I was hearing. The release protocols focused around getting on more playlists suddenly seemed futile to me. So, I started to branch out. And the more I tried to imbue my beats with unique elements, the further my numbers dropped. After a while, I retreated from the game entirely and even got off of social media.

Dead Hunks is what started to materialize after a brief detox period. I slowly regained my sense of humor and started having laughs again during the music making process. I didn't want to make musical Xanax, nor did I want this music to be like the one-dimensional image of “The Duke.” Instead, I wanted it to be more like the guy from the unforgettable black and white photo: Engaging, conflicting and in the best of cases, divisive but funny.

credits

released October 20, 2023

All songs written, recorded, mixed and mastered by sakuraba at New Chimp Studios (Houston, TX & Bogota, CO)

©2023 sakuraba

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sakuraba Houston, Texas

Sakuraba is an instrumental, beat-based project started by Colombian/American, singer/songwriter, Arthur Yoria in the spring of 2020.

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