LA-based Punk/Rap Artist Kurupi Shares New Single 'Patterns'

Kurupi, the project of the LA-based Paraguayan artist, Josh Sanchez has shared a new single and video for "Patterns" which arrives with news of the debut album, No Esperes – set for release on May 31 via Hit the North Records.

The new body of works comes on the heels of November's EP, Mano which found Kurupi early fans at the likes of FLOOD Magazine, FADER and U.S. radio landing on the Hip Hop Chart at WXAV, Chicago, IL and WKNC, Raleigh, NC.

Known for his diverse and eclectic live shows that find the middle-point between rap, hip-hop, and punk; taking inspiration from the likes of Paris Texas, JPEGMAFIA, Death Grips and System of a Down, Kurupi has been generating buzz within Los Angeles for a minute now, finding support in the Discord threads of Pigeons & Planes along the way.

No Esperes acts as an accumulation of Josh's recent output as Kurupi. It pulls together the tracks found on Mano and ties these with the AA-side singles, "Mutt" / "BounceWitMe" and standalone, "Stove". Kurupi's output is very collaborative so while being helmed by Sanchez, he frequently taps into the tight-knit friendship group that he surrounds himself with for features and production work. 

Inspired by the DIY punk/rap shows that he attended as a teen, there’s a feeling of community imbued in the album tracks with regular appearances from FourHEAD, v_nus m_jia, J Promptu and Specifix, as well as one offs from Diani and Tony Ramirez with Cudimitsu mixing and mastering the full project and montie producing the track, “Mano”. It's a lively, eccentric release that dips in between genres and influences carrying a freedom with it that was previously embodied by the likes of Odd Future and BROCKHAMPTON, cut with the slacker-rock aesthetic of Beach Goons, FIDLAR and Wavves. There's something about No Esperes' ability to flaunt genre stipulations – and utter lack of care for them – that plays into the community and reckless spirt at the heart of the record. It's an equal bouts cathartic and introverted, peering inwards to find what it needs to let go of the most. Kurupi finds himself at the center of an exciting time in the LA punk/rap scene, emerging at the same time as the likes of Belaganas.

Although collaboration, friendship and freedom exist in the method behind No Esperes, the record itself meditates on grief; the immediate shock of it and coming to terms with difficult life events. Sanchez wrote the majority of the debut album in early 2020 around the time that three people close to him passed away.

Tracks on No Esperes such as lead single, "Patterns" explore some of these more somber themes. "I wrote "Patterns" about seeing schizophrenia and psychosis develop in a couple people in my life," explains Josh. "I felt that they did not have access to resources that should've been provided. There's frustration and confusion embedded in the song. A general tone in the song (and album) is a sense of doom that I felt throughout 2020." Musically, "Patterns" emerges as the type of song that Josh was trying to write throughout his entire teens: "All the melodies came from listening to System of a Down religiously as a kid. All the instrumental twists and turns came from listening to bands like King Crimson, Car Seat Headrest, and King Gizzard. I always really wanted to write songs that just felt like an adventure. I wanted listeners to feel like they really didn't know where the song was going next and just be down for the ride. To take my love for rapping and have it exist in these types of landscapes."

“Ñandajera” leans into Sanchez’s Paraguayan Guarani heritage: “Nandejara means God in Guarani. This is a spiritual song about saying goodbye to people who have passed away.” The title of the glitchy synth-punk track, “Mano” translates to “death” in Guarani while also being slang for brother in Spanish. Other tracks, “Moorland” and “Deep State Nine” evolve from coming-of-age moments in teen life and growing up in California. The former is inspired by indie punk bands such as Beach Goons projected through the lens of bedroom production and drum machines (Sanchez pulled drum samples of r/drumkits on Reddit adding to the faux-live band feel of the EP), the latter is an ode to kissing goodbye to your teens and moving to LA.

Kurupi finds its name as a character in Guarani mythos. “It’s a boogie man character in a lot of places, but not where my parents grew up. I chose this name when I was like 14 because firstly, It had ties to my roots and secondly, I thought it was funny that I didn’t have anything out and when people looked the music up, they found that. It’s kind of goofy as f*ck, but I’ve had the name for almost a decade now so what can you do. I never really refer to myself as Kurupi, always treated it as the name of the project, but I’ll refer to myself as Kurupiman to not feel as connected, haha. Basically it’s not that deep.”

Tracklist:

1. Patterns
2. Mutt (Feat. FourHEAD)
3. BounceWitMe (Feat. Jxde, FourHEAD)
4. Moorland
5. Drowning
6. Stove (Feat. FourHEAD, J Promptu)
7. Mano (Feat. montie)
8. wtf (Feat. FourHEAD, J Promptu)
9. Deep State Nine (Feat. v_nus m_jia, FourHEAD)
10. Ñandejara (Feat. Diani, Specifix)
11. Detour Part I (Feat. v_nus m_jia)
12. Detour Part II (Feat. Tony Ramirez, J Promptu, Specifix)
 

Photo credit: Emma Sophia Valles

To post a comment, you must register and login.