Loveskills (aka Richard Spitzer) is a Brooklyn-based producer of enticing sounds and eclectic electronica that pulls from the various influences of R&B, pop, hip-hop, trap, and electro-soul subgenres. With these, he fashions beats that amaze and astound, rearranging them into moving contraptions powered by copious amounts of the cool and crisp elements of EDM in liquid form. At least, that was my first impression.
His debut EP, Multiplicity, premiered last year with No Shame Records; now, we have the privilege of bringing you a review of the latest fruits of his labor. Loveskills’ Pure EP dropped today, courtesy again of No Shame Records.
The Pure EP brings to light some of the more ethereal components of electronica in its song selection, all of which move at a comfortable BPM pace (a rarity these days, if my anecdotal experience is any indication). The first track is a fantastic crossover cover of Smashing Pumpkins’ “Luna,” and is pretty much sure to draw you in if you like the idea of classic things coming in new flavors. Give it a listen if you haven’t yet, and fear not—the five tracks that follow it are just as certain to please.
“White Diamonds” feels like peering into a super cool, beguiling sort of refracted truth laced with LED lights and a backbeat; the R&B/hip hop influences shine through here, with Loveskills’ featured artist spouting a lyrical flow that is both smooth and, if my ears and understanding of metaphor do not deceive me, a touch risqué. The song “Pure Crystal” actually features a spot of guitar, which I can say loosely expands Loveskills’ genre surfing into the outskirts of funk territory. Pulsing rhythms and a solid house effect pervade through the duration of both tracks, and were it not for the ever-positively-oriented side of the music spectrum Pure roots itself in, I might submit that it, along with evocatively monochrome (emphasis on the chrome part) songs like “Chanel,” could be distant cousins of DYE’s “Fantasy.”
Within Pure can also be found a bit of nostalgia. The scratch work in “Fine Lines” combined with a beat that consistently rounds itself out like a blast of arctic air provides for just the right mix of modern and futuristic OST characteristics to send me straight back to my Jet Set Radio days. To top that, I actually scrambled during the first few seconds of “Point Of View” to recheck the title; I didn’t recall seeing a Cruxshadows remix on the song list (someone out there knows what I am talking about), but the hope was a bit of a stretch in retrospect.
This EP felt like it came charging way out of left field—like it turned its back on the foreboding obelisk of turntable-ism and just booked it until it found the promised land of crystalline whimsy that, lo and behold, gets realized when a talented producer deigns to compose music on a piano before caressing a synthesizer. I say this free of conceit: Pure comes across as both refreshing and unexpected, not at all unlike getting caught in a five-minute rainstorm on the most blindingly sunlit day you can imagine.
4/5