Brycon Unveils New Socially-conscious Beat Tape with Brutalism EP (Star Bakery Records/I Had An Accident)

Last month we told you about the latest installment of Brycon & G-Pek's There's No More Room In Hell (6) just in time for a last-minute addition to your Halloween-themed playlists. Now, less than a month later, Brycon has already returned with his next proper solo outing: Brutalism EP. It's being described as "a 7-song EP focused on city life and some of its associated hardships. Each track surveys and explores around these themes, but leaves the resolve in the listener's hands." More or less, a "beat tape" in most aspects of said term, Brutalism boasts slow mechanical drums, ethereal samples, hazy conga lines, and haunting voices, as well as an overarching conceptual theme.


Not entirely unlike J Dilla, Madlib, or even Kanye West before him, Brycon fully employs the "producer/musician as feature" theory here and is, indeed, front and center through and through. Additionally, to help fully flesh out this ensemble-like EP, Brycon has recruited a limited list of collaborators and fellow musicians to help fill out Brutalism, this including Chris Keys, The Genie, and Andres Lopez—all of whom previously appeared across Xiomara's Brycon-produced Seven Nineteen—as well as first-time collaborators Chris Haynes, Adeyemi, and Allen Kass.


In addition to these acclaimed musical collaborators, Brycon, also, employed some more collaborators on the visual end of things: photographer Michael Bixler provided foundational photos for the EP's cover, custom letters were designed by Gus Cutty, and music videos created by Cereal for The Kids, Growthstack Media, and Mike Evans, Jr. "The challenge in making instrumental music about the most serious issues put an additional weight on the visual aspect, but it proved to be a boon and a guiding star," Brycon explained within a press release. Brutalism was created over a three-year period primarily in Oakland, California by Brycon and his aforementioned crew of collaborators and cohorts.


Cumulatively, Brutalism's seven contained tracks cover an array of both social and musical themes, including, but not entirely limited to inequality, poverty, displacement, brooding sadness, detachment, anger, and the untortunately never-sending cycle of violence and grief. It's an extremely enjoyable listen, albeit, even if just for background music or mood music. Brycon's Brutalism EP is now avilable to purchase in cassette, CD, and digital formats, as well an an abridged 3-song 7-inch, via Star Bakery Records in partnership with I Had An Accident Records, Megakut Records, and Gurp City Digital.