Sami Baha Mix For The Astral Plane

With a simple refrain (“he ballin’ like the mavericks”), Turkish producer Sami Baha became a tantalizing figure, an almost entirely unknown quanity on one hand, but an artist who had crosshatched an aesthetic into the muddy earth of club music with surprising ease. “BA VIRD V1” was an instantly recognizable hit, a cornucopia of infamous loon samples, 808 bells and start-stop, electro-paced percussion, but it also achieved a style, maximalism, that has been out of vogue for several years now. Like Young Thug’s flow, Baha’s aesthetic is one of overload, and like Thug’s elastic, structure-crushing flow, there’s more than a little Lil Wayne alien DNA floating about. That unquantifiable DNA is what connects Baha’s productions to Glass Swords and not “mediocre trap hit 2013”, both a taste for chaos and a simple, undefinable sensibility. It’s what separates Visionist from the choral VST wielding masses and Evian Christ from the aforementioned trap masses. Sonic experimentation and a preference for grit and harsh sounds each play a part, but it also comes down to visual presentation and the simple avoidance of cringeworthy motifs. Regardless, Baha has developed an incredibly likable sound that touches on Atlanta rap, grime and kuduro, a clever combo that might end up overwrought in a less effective producer’s hands, but comes across effortless in the Turk’s repertoire.