Premiere: Boody & Le1f - Buoy

Buoy is a clear stand out moment on ‘Liquid’, the Boysnoize-released collaborative EP from New York rapper Le1f and his production partner Boody. With cavernous, tectonic groans and echoes, the track breaks open in the middle of the record to expose ominous new depths to the bubbly artist’s sound, and with its gradual build and minimal vocal, it reveals Le1f to be a master of patience. Feel the tension and wait for the release as you stream Buoy exclusively on Dummy, and scroll down to read our interview with the pair.

Hi, Boody and Le1f! What have you both been up to lately?

Excited that we’re about to put out this record that we’ve been stewing on for quite some time! We also just got back from a European tour together- which was pretty wonderful. We’re always working on new music too, together we just did a track for Mykki Blanco’s mixtape that just dropped, and we’re working on some songs for Le1f’s new mixtape together, as well as writing and producing for other vocalists.

You guys are long time collaborators, what is it about working together that keeps drawing you back to one another?

We started working together because of of a shared vision/aesthetic which remains. We both have a passion for experimentation and sound design, and our shared experiences over the years seem to keep pushing us in similar directions.

We love the spaced-out vibe on Buoy, and how much you let the beat breathe before the vocal eventually enters. Could you tell us a bit about how that track came together?

Buoy is a key moment in the record’s narrative – it’s the moment when the previously submerged manages to rise above the aqueous layer and become a part of the human world. The first movement represents this sort of struggling before the relief of the vocal – it’s all like reverse-drowning. It was the last song we made for the record- and maybe besides the (vinyl-only) “Born Underwater” – it probably sums up the vision for the record the best.

There’s so much innovative stuff coming out of New York rap right now. What do you think it is about the scene that’s allowed for such a burst of creativity lately?

New York is always innovative in one way or another. It’s the center of the western world, and as a result, is always painfully crammed with stimulus and influence. Artists can draw upon so much here, from so many sides of the city. Rap music in particular, having been birthed here, has been a means for creative self-expression in this
city ever since. Even when hiphop wanes (or waned) in the mainstream public consciousness, New York keeps doing it. Inevitably pushing that envelope is going to lead to some magical stuff. On top of that, there are just a heap of good musicians and performers who are choosing to use hiphop as a vehicle for their work right now- and it’s turning out. So far it seems to have inspired more experimentation and less boxing-in–– it’s also driven by the nonstop engine of internet culture- which is always starving for novelty.

What’s the best thing you’ve heard in 2012?

Helicopters, sermons in spanish from my window, diamonds in the sky.

Boysnoize released ‘Liquid’ on the 19th November 2012.