Unusual pairings sometimes make for very welcome surprises. The duo Wilma Vritra, made up of London-based producer Will Archer and Los Angeles-based rapper Pyramid Vritra, met on the Internet to make music together. Three years ago, that resulted in »Burd«, one of the most overlooked hip-hop albums of 2019. Now, for »Grotto«, they have continued their transcontinental collaboration not on their own, but with occasional support from other musicians. This lends the mixture of introverted rap with introspective, self-reflective themes and eccentric samples from their debut album an additional facet that adds even more colour to their idiosyncratic, tranquil style. Fortunately, this does not jeopardise the quirkiness factor. »One Under«, for example, has a skeletal, noisy groove over which sparse strings are laid, reinforced by horns, all with pinpoint accuracy and low-fat dosages. Elsewhere, fretless bass and clarinet bring some jazz into play in »Clean Me Clean«, which fits perfectly into Wilma Vritra’s reliably strange sound. Their hip-hop features a lot of spookiness without the need to scream »hauntology« right from the get-go. And for nerds or simply Robert Wyatt fans, the one-and-a-half-minute »Wookey Hole« features an affectionate quote from his version of »Round Midnight«. Do we need any more arguments?
Grotto
