KAYTRANADA’s latest set, AIN’T NO DAMN WAY! plays like a laser-focused beat tape made for moving rooms and 1 a.m. rides on the highway. Across 34 minutes, he locks into soulful house grooves, swapping showy features for sturdy drums, rubbery low end, and gleaming synth work. Compared to the guest-heavy BUBBA, this one feels leaner, tighter, and entirely locked into his own lane. You’ll hear splashes of P-funk, retro electro, and not-so-subtle nods to crate-dug hip-hop and soul.
Lead single “SPACE INVADER” is something of a mission statement for the LP. It opens with a retro drum-machine break—chunky kicks, crisp handclaps, pure park-jam attitude - before bright, arena-style stabs rush in. A vocal snippet floats through (“Gotta get away sometimes”), flashing like neon between the hits. Around the midpoint, the floor softens into airy, sustained strings while the drums keep nudging forward. Near the end, the keyboard stabs return and the energy spikes again. The last stretch sheds the muscle for a twangy, lo-fi digital piano, then cuts clean.
Another early highlight is “HOME”, a track that feels like a chromed-out glide through the cosmos. Reversed synth-brass chords bloom, a 90s-style electric piano ticks in quick steps, and then the beat hits. Chunky hip-hop drums, congas and claves, and a rumbly bass that warms the whole track. A fizzy, arcade-like lead flickers at the edges while everything bounces and sails at the same time. Near the end, Kaytra thins the room to bass, light percussion, and those echoing keys, as if the track takes a breath before rolling the credits like an old film reel.
The closer, “DO IT! (AGAIN!)”, flips TLC into a shoulder-rolling rush—lush strings, rocking drums, a buoyant cowbell/claves shuffle. The synth-bass steps feel friendly and confident; Chilli’s echoed “Do it!” becomes a gleaming hook of its own. Little 90s keys and guitar touches wink through the mix, giving the whole cut a warm, party-ready glow.
That energy keeps flowing, shifting colors on the next stretch. “GOOD LUCK” bops along with a Neptune-ish swing and soulful ad-libs, while “CHAMPIONSHIP” zips through bleepy, bubbly space-funk and intentional micro-glitches that will have you wondering if your phone’s signal is lagging (I had to hit replay a few times to make sure I wasn’t trippin’). From there, cuts like “TARGET JOINT” and “BLAX” show how far a single, vibe-heavy idea can travel: the first glides on bounce-rock-skate energy with MPC nudges, the second leans on a pulsing kick and string loop braced by glassy keys. Both stay minimal on the surface, but the groove keeps shifting in small, satisfying ways—little drum accents, tiny filter moves—so the momentum never lets up.
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And I’d be kicking myself later if I didn’t call out “GOODBYE BITCH!” and “THINGS”: the first is a tightly coiled strut—snaps, fuzzy brass, and a growling bassline that keeps teasing a payoff—while the second rides a sparse broken-beat pulse, echoing piano stabs, and that Steve Monite lift into a zoned head-nod. If Madlib’s DJ Rels-era Theme for a Broken Soul hits your sweet spot, these two—and the whole back half—will feel like a gift.
KAYTRANADA doesn’t just keep the floor moving on AIN’T NO DAMN WAY!—he makes groove itself the album’s whole argument, no feature needed.
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