This Is Our Jam: HNC, “I Dream I Dead”

Over the last few days HNC's "I Dream I Dead” has played as the phantom backdrop to my life. In normal terms, we'd call this "getting stuck in your head," but "I Dream I Dead" is more hypnotic and visceral than that. The track is a gorgeous exercise in counterpoint that begins with a glittery chopped loop (imagine The Field’s “A Paw in My Face” slowed by half), which gives way to angelic vocals echoed by pitch-shifted groans. HNC is headed by Yuppa, a Tokyo-based DJ and member of Twee Grrrls Club, whose work hints at a larger landscape where apposition and opposition intertwine to create simple beauty. If this all sounds overly dense or abstract then let me clarify: "I Dream I Dead" is pop music, and it's catchy as hell. (via International Tapes, where you can watch the kaleidoscopic video)