They Know What Ghost Know

Joe Corrales, Jr., a.k.a. Yppah (pronounced 'Yippah'), is back. The young Mexican-American from Texas debuted on Ninja Tune in 2006 with his album, You Are Beautiful at All Times, and has now released his sophomore effort, They Know What Ghost Know. Fashioning a rockier sound than last time out, the album draws on a cultural heritage that takes in not only hip hop, but various forms of electronic music, psychedelic soul, and rock as well.

Opening track 'Son Saves the Rest' is a wall-of-noise guitar pummeller, 'Gumball Machine Weekend' sounds like Southern-fried Go! Team with more soul, and 'Playing with Fireworks' reminds of the way you felt stuck between childhood and the adult world. The album's title track is West Coast rock re-imagined as trance-rite: a spooky, echo-heavy, drum-roll-filled set of repetitions and overlaps that builds into a tune that DJ Shadow might have dreamed of making in his heyday. 'Sun Flower Sun Kissed' gives a Texas make-over to the doomy grey skies of My Bloody Valentine, while 'Bobbie Joe Wilson' channels The Dust Brothers and proves Yppah hasn't lost his love of hip hop. Corrales builds moods through a combination of melody, rhythm, and sonics, and if those moods are mainly melancholy, they're also ecstatic.