BORDERLANDS: EPROM’S “REGIS CHILLBIN”

“Regis Chillbin” from Portland producer Eprom’s debut full-length Metahuman is a hybrid of two genres that I’m still unfamiliar with, but often vehemently dislike: trap rap and dubstep. I’ll immediately skip a track as soon as I hear the incessant rat-tat-tat drum machines of a Lex Luger production or a jarring mid-range bass drop a la Skrillex or Rusko. I can take all comers in a debate as to why both of these are gimmicky fads that’ll be relegated to the Virgin Megastore bargain bin in five years, but this is neither the time nor the place for that. No, this is the time to discuss why “Regis Chillbin”, a track which fuses the DNA of two of my least favorite genres, is really worth listening to.

The answer is simple. Eprom meshes the most crowd-pleasing traits of trap rap and dubstep with a highly trained ear while making sure to--and this is very important--never take himself too seriously. And I’m not just saying that because Big Sean isn’t here to flaunt himself over the beat with his terrible ass-themed puns (he arguably ruins Kanye West’s “Mercy” with his cancerous presence), it’s because, as Fact Magazine eloquently puts it,

he pushes the sound into “almost cartoonish abstraction”.

Breathy female uhhh‘s and clattering percussion weave erratically in and out of thick 808 kicks. Samples that sound like pitch-shifted water droplets taunt you from on high, reminiscent of a Ying Yang Twins track. And for Christ’s sake, the song is called “Regis Chillbin”! Dude obviously has a healthy sense of humor about what he does. There’s enough creativity at work here to satisfy skeptics like myself and it’s enough of a chain-heavy groover to please your most club-hopping friend(s). Check out Machinedrum’s thoroughly excellent remix if you want to see the insanity get pushed even further…listen closely for the pissed off household animals.

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