Looking back on the early 2000s, it can be hard to differentiate all the projects Yoni Wolf was involved in before WHY? took off: cLOUDDEAD, Object Beings, Reaching Quiet, Greenthink. Hymie’s Basement—the project he formed with Andrew Broder, who was releasing music as Fog at the time, and who went on to form The Cloak Ox and collaborate with Bon Iver, Armand Hammer, Denzel Curry, and others—stands out if only due to the fact that you can still easily track down the sole LP the duo dropped, their lo-fi self-titled debut from 2003, which you can find on Lex Records’ Bandcamp. If you’ve spent any time listening to Yoni’s Wandering Wolf podcast you’d know that he’s been toying with the idea of cleaning up and re-releasing some of these projects, but for now, unexpectedly, there’s a new Hymie’s track for the first time in nearly two decades.
“Phantom Throb,” released today, presumably with Bandcamp Friday in mind, is worlds apart from tracks like “21st Century Pop Song”—about 20 years removed, in fact. It sounds a whole lot more like your typical 20th century pop song, with the pounding hi-fi beats Broder’s been churning out backing both artists’ distinct vocals. There’s no word on a follow up to that first album, but “Throb” is an exciting teaser for what that could sound like. Listen below.
