Artist: Road Hog
Album: Tour de Hog
Label: Bandcamp
Release date: 13th May
Cleveland-born, New York-based, Galcher Lustwerk, burst onto the underground's frontline with his 100% Galcher mix back in 2013. Loaded with an album's worth of original material, the mix was a laudable craft down to its unique pairing of smooth, low-key house/techno cuts laid under his hip-house rap vocal touch. While Lustwerk's feet became firmly planted in the fast lane, sharing bills with the likes of Simian Mobile Disco, Omar-S, Levon Vincent and John Talabot, he found time to explore new terrain under the introspective car-themed moniker, Road Hog.
His third offering, Tour de Hog, is quick to advance the motoring theme in its follow up of 2014's D.W.B and last year's On The Lam. Keys in the ignition and we're off with the first track, 'Forest Hills', and with the thudded bass running under a rippling of metallic percussion, you can immediately envision that the wheels are in motion for a journey of sonic escapism. The relationship between the driver and Hog's soundtrack rolls into ambient, emotive territory with consecutive tracks 'Lee' and 'Industrial Valley'. House-laden track, 'Fairmont', bleeds with brooding, distorted synths and 'Chagrin River' heavily boots the accelerator back into motion with a gnarly rhythm that's interrupted with transitory, soaring synth pedals. Forcing Hog's journey to a climatic stall is '271', which is another atmospheric gem broken down by a contemplative blend of barbed house elements.
While Road Hog takes aim at the open road and transmits the value of having a quintessential soundtrack down to the meditative mindset an extended drive permits, Tour de Hog can readily find a home beyond the confines of a five-door motor.
Tracklist
1. Forest Hills
2. Lee
3. Industrial Valley
4. Fairmount
5. Chagrin River
6. East Overlook
7. 271
WORDS | Aimee Lawrence
