Mosaic tiles and patchwork quilts exist as the physical world’s equal to Knxwledge’s short-tracked, compositionally meandering sonic sphere. Individual tracks may be short-lived, but they’re unique and bold on their own. And together, even when starkly different from one track to another, Knxwledge binds a project with the stick of something greater. Though widely describable is low-fidelity, experimental, riddled with classic samples, and instrumentally sparse, the broad strokes are able to placard a pretty clear image of what to expect with his work. And paired with its apt title, 1988, his new project comes to fruition as a modern exploration of the era that birthed modern hip-hop music.

 

1988 is ridden with samples – conversational, vocal, gospel – looped with lo-fi riffs, and though scarce, even pulls in a feature or three: Durand Bernarr, RoseGold, and longtime friend and NxWorries collaborator, Anderson .Paak. Through and through, 1988 feels like a classic boombox sample pack to flow over out front of the corner store. And piece by piece, though confusingly unattached, each track feels like it came from another time without losing a step in modernity. Another genial, clever full-length from one of modern music’s most carefully curatable composers.