The Boat Party

Detroit’s Kyle Hall must have been born with abstract beats coming out of his fingertips. He was just 21 when he made his 2013 debut album, and already had some ten EPs or singles under his belt, every one of them completely rewriting the rules of house music. Hall can take a single drum machine and tenth of a second of voice and make it groove for five minutes (“Flemmenup”). He can use digital distortion and low sample quality like Hendrix uses overdrive and feedback (“Grungy Gloops”). He can take a standard disco loop, let a single hissing hi-hat completely overwhelm it, and it be sublime (“Measure 2 Measure”). None of it makes any sense by any rules but its own, it should be by all rights unlistenable, yet it entices, intrigues and grooves like a mother every step of the way.