Mike Dean - 4:20

MIKE DEAN has the biggest names in hip-hop in his address book, having produced for Kanye, Travis Scott, Frank Ocean, and Beyoncé. But when the LA hitmaker found himself hunkered down at home during the 2020 coronavirus pandemic, he decided to apply the experience of self-isolation to music of a considerably different character. Digging intohis extensive collection of hardware synthesizers, he composed a sprawling, 93-minuteforay into space music, more Tangerine Dream than Dark Twisted Fantasy. Assembledalmost entirely from one-take sessions improvised live for fans on the internet, 4:20 proceeds like a descent into the deepest recesses of the mind. Pulsing minor-keyarpeggios and gradually unfurling envelopes drive the music stealthily forward, castingfleeting glimpses back at Kraftwerk, John Carpenter, and Jan Hammer.

The mood begins dreamily in the early passages of "THE FIFTH DAY,” but soon turns darkas overdriven, pitch-bent solos twist ominously through the frame. Drums don't enter themix until "THE EIGHTH NIGHT PART 1," when thudding kicks and blasts of white noisesuggest a nightmarish approximation of trap music; in “THE NINTH DAY," the arps speedup and turn monotone, as though Dean's confinement had entered a fidgety new phase.All that restless energy boils over in the closing suite, "THE TWELFTH DAY," four-to-the-floor kicks accelerating beneath gravelly waveforms, tones getting meaner and murkier—until, in the final minute, the tempo slows, and gorgeous chords emerge like the sunpeeking from behind dark clouds. Out of desperation comes acceptance, and maybeeven something like hope.

01. THE FIFTH DAY PART 1 [02:49]
02. THE FIFTH DAY PART 2 [02:49]
03. THE FIFTH DAY PART 3 [02:26]
04. THE FIFTH DAY PART 4 [02:09]
05. THE FIFTH DAY PART 5 [03:00]
06. THE FIFTH DAY PART 6 [02:16]
07. THE FIFTH DAY PART 7 [02:00]
08. THE FIFTH DAY PART 8 [02:54]
09. THE FIFTH DAY PART 9 [02:12]
10. THE FIFTH DAY PART 10 [01:23]
11. THE SIXTH OR SEVENTH DAY [04:08]
12. THE EIGHTH DAY PART 1 [05:45]
13. THE EIGHTH DAY PART 2 [04:38]
14. THE EIGHTH DAY PART 3 [03:30]
15. THE EIGHTH DAY PART 4 [05:05]
16. THE EIGHTH NIGHT PART 1 [02:22]
17. THE EIGHTH NIGHT PART 2 [04:11]
18. THE NINTH DAY PART 1 [04:23]
19. THE NINTH DAY PART 2 [03:31]
20. THE NINTH DAY PART 3 [03:15]
21. THE NINTH DAY PART 4 [03:51]
22. THE NINTH DAY PART 5 [03:16]
23. THE NINTH DAY PART 6 [04:14]
24. THE TENTH OR ELEVENTH DAY [04:46]
25. THE TWELFTH DAY PART 1 [03:06]
26. THE TWELFTH DAY PART 2 [03:14]
27. THE TWELFTH DAY PART 3 [03:20]
28. THE TWELFTH DAY PART 4 [03:06]