Three Rappers, Two Punk Rockers, And Two Genre-Hopping Producers = One Weird, Wild, Poppy Soul Jam

Seems like a lot to crowd into just three-and-a-half minutes, but Ypsi-based producer BUFFAY was able to tie together three respective eight bar rapped contributions from Detroit MC's Mister/Blaksmith (a.k.a. Passalacqua) and Ben Miles, while splicing in the stabs of roaring guitars from Ypsi-based punk duo Jehovah's Witness Protection Program's recent single, "Well Song" to bolster a remix of his own work, "Holy Water." (Stream it HERE).

Ghostly, guttural vocal hooks open it up, sounding like some old gospel record, before cymbals start shearing along and guitars start jabbing, fiercely, rhythmically, with their acerbic electric growls; JWPP's elements add a nice scuff to the otherwise mellifluous surface of the soul-pop ballad, with the arresting hook of BUFFAY's melodic chorus.

 

First up is Blaksmith (Brent Smith), bringing the rousing buoyancy typical more to his contributions with Cold Men Young; Mister (Bryan Lackner),  similarly flexes the nuanced cadence and delivery specific to his own solo/non-Passalacqua-project, stringing together a head-spinning spiel of 10-words-per-second; Miles' piece reacts perfectly to the steady rock beat, surfing along a theme that winds it up nicely, linking lyrically, to the original JWPP rock anthem.

It struck BUFFAY (known, otherwise as established Ypsi producer Brandon Wiard) at last month's YpsiFest - seeing JWPP perform "Well Song" to a rapt audience all too ready to shout along to the chorus, then being followed by Passalacqua on the Woodruff stage.

"You guys need to do a song together," Wiard thought. So he took "Well Song," (from the album that he produced for JWPP titled The Glass Is Half Full), and "deconstructed and destroyed it; pitch shifted, time stretched, reversed, distorted..."

"I wrote the hook to keep with the "Well Song" vocals," Wiard said, "then told the guys the theme to run with for their verses. (Smith, Lackner, Miles) got into it and everything was really fluid/organic and it all came together in Ben's basement a few weeks ago..."

Wiard said he toned down the typically hyper-lascivious nature of BUFFAY's usual lyrics and atmosphere for this one - "like somebody took their dirty, artistic uncle to paint a mural at a preschool and put tape over his mouth..."

It should be noted that Ypsi-based songwriter/producer Jon Visger aided in this tune's mastering - himself, also, an inventive electro-dabbler (with his latest project Absofacto) whom you'll also remember from epic indie-pop group Mason Proper.

The single's streaming here.