Yes, that really is the best available photo…
[Video][Myspace]
[7.21]
Pete Baran: If I was reviewing the name, I would suggest Joy Orbison were the Helen Love who sang in Welsh (or at least I would if the song was called “Hyph Mngo Joey Ramone”). They sound NOTHING LIKE THAT. Instead they remind me pleasingly of The Black Dog, who never had a hit single, and neither will Joy Orbison. But then nor did Helen Love. It all makes me think that we haven’t quite got sorted out what a nineties revival would consist of yet. It should have stuff like this in it.
[6]
Anthony Easton: At the CNE this year, my friend Pat said that if he was ever a dance musician the highlight of his career would be having a song playing during the polar express. This would totally work, and I expect it on the midway this year.
[5]
Chuck Eddy: True. Adieu. Adieu. Adieu. Adieu. I drew. I drew. I drew. I drew. A jew. A jew. A jew. A jew. And you. And you. And you. And you. Achoo. Achoo. Achoo. Achoo. Whew. Over two or three repeated notes of pipe organ halfway lifted from “Love Lies Bleeding” by Elton John. Until it isn’t. At which point other stuff happens. I don’t get it.
[5]
John Seroff: I’m an all-day sucker for slow burn ambient into IDM into house tracks that layer beat &then vocal &then synth &then presets &then hook &then effects like an audio pousse-café, &then skim &then replace &then new beat &then new hook &then shuffle &then repeat ad infinitum. “Hyph Mngo” doesn’t have the complexity or joy of, say, Orbital’s “Lush“, but it’s as proper a mixtape Track One or a 9:00pm opening doors song as I’ve heard. Lots of uninhibited, open-ended promise.
[7]
Martin Kavka: When someone figures out how to put a vocal on top of this, it will go Top 10. But in the meantime, waiting to get to the emotional high of the huge slurpy chords from 2:00-2:30 is a wee bit boring.
[6]
Alex Macpherson: “Hyph Mngo” cuts up and loops an R&B vocal sample over a swaying, insistent two-chord riff and warm clouds of atmosphere; the physical effect is disorientating, like a momentarily overwhelming embrace, which is why “Hyph Mngo” slays on a club soundsystem; but it’s the aching emotion, all the more keenly felt for its oblique wordlessness, which lingers. Along with Ikonika, Guido, Joker and a host of others — even, from across the pond, Starkey and Pantyraid — Joy Orbison is at the forefront of some truly wondrous music-making right now.
[9]
Mallory O’Donnell: One thing you really never hear strolling away from the club at 4:17 in the morning: “Did you hear that new dubstep track they played? Shit was sexy!” With “Hyph Mngo,” Mr. Orbison has injected a bit of femininity into what is very much a boys’ noise. Of even more interest is the gauntlet being tossed down to dubsteppers who would rather travel inwards, embracing IDM clutter or D&B drama. Nah. No. Put some motherfucking house in it. Crucial. And not a moment too soon.
[9]
Michaelangelo Matos: The record this reminds me of is Alex Reece’s “Pulp Fiction,” from 1995, which in retrospect is a, if not the, major jackknife in the evolution of jungle from post-rave rhythmic mess-around to, as Tricia Romano put it, the “oh-Mickey-you’re-so-fine” beat. Not that the ecstatic/kaleidoscopic stuff that’s dominated my summer via various FACT mixes and related is exactly turning timid (as jungle did in its “coffee table” phase) or tech-heavy mean-faced (where the harder stuff wound up); this is just one of those perfectly placed/timed flash-point records, alongside Cooly G’s “Love Dub” and Joker & Ginz’s “Purple City.” I don’t even mind the wafty intro.
[10]
Ian Mathers: There’s an interesting queasiness to the sway of the synthesizers here, and long with those emotionally opaque wordless vocals it makes “Hyph Mngo” better than it seems at first. At first it just seems kind of mid-tempo but as you keep listening it becomes subtly disorienting and even kind of melancholy. It’s a neat trick.
[8]
Colin Cooper: Just lounge enough, just hypnotic enough, just moody enough, just clickety-clackety laptop beats enough…it’s a special kind of producer that makes garage/dubstep with a repetitive, nonchalant female vocal sample that even I end up loving.
[9]
Alfred Soto: With a femme sample that sounds an awful lot like Janet Jackson and considerably sexier in its sexborg way than anything she’s made in ten years, this won’t succeed in getting you on the dance floor, but it’s suitable for headphone listening, where the aforementioned sexborg voice gets more interesting as it grows more insistent.
[6]
Rodney J. Greene: I take it this is some of that new dubstep with actual sex that I hear tell about. Waves of warm synths simmer underneath a snippet of wordless coo which wanders about, filling in the space between the deep bass and shuffling hi-hats. The track constantly ascends, transcends, transforms as great dance music needs to do. I wish it went on for longer.
[9]
Additional Scores
Spencer Ackerman: [5]
Martin Skidmore: [7]