Hip-hop: Fiendish - Phonograffiti XX (2022)

50 / 100

Phonograffiti XX comes across as a lightweight instrumental hip-hop instalment. While there are glimpses of creativity, much of the album feels underdeveloped and fails to leave a lasting impact.

Fiendish is an instrumental hip-hop project by R.G. Taylor based in the United Kingdom and has been active since the early 21st century. Although the project is fairly old, its main Bandcamp releases began with Phonograffiti X in 2018, followed by Phonograffiti XX in 2022 for the 20th anniversary, thus it’s unclear whether these are compilations or not.

Even though it carries lo-fi and lounge tags, the ten tracks across 20 minutes in Phonograffiti XX actually lean more toward straightforward hip-hop. Piano additions only appear on “First Up” with a rather dark tone and its most iconic synth/bass, and perhaps also in “Lowdown,” which comes closest to the lounge model. This is followed by “Fiendish Theme,” highlighting fairly emotional synth/pad lines, and “One,” which ventures into lo-fi experimental territory with scratching effects. “Lowdown” also includes vocals in its closing section to accompany the hip-hop vocal-driven tracks “Get Ready” and “One.” Meanwhile, the songs after “One” offer standard mechanical drum patterns, except for “Soundsill.” The sonic character of the last four tracks feels more comical with synths and a sort of trumpet, similarly as “Starline.”

Overall, the song structures are simple and ordinary with moderate tempos, produced in standard quality, with “Starline” standing out the most to my ears. It feels like listening to amateur music, though I don’t deny Fiendish’s far greater experience compared to myself.

Therefore, Fiendish doesn’t leave a particularly strong impression on me, but there are still some tracks worth trying.

Best tracks: “Lowdown,” “Fiendish Theme,” “One.”