Yagya: Rigning

Maybe it’s just me, but I’ve been waiting for a dubstep album to finally hit me the right way. I think I must be one of the few that wasn’t bowled over by either of Burial’s albums and I certainly had an even harder time with Kode9 and Spaceape. It isn’t because I didn’t like the music. It’s because for some reason I still can’t get into the kind of toasting vocals normally employed by Jamaican dancehall MCs that have been employed on a number of cuts in works by the aforementioned artists and others in the genre. Yagya’s Rigning is exactly what I was looking for in a dubstep album and maybe it’s what you’ve been waiting for as well. Rigning is musically similar to artists like Burial and Boxcutter but there are elements of electronic music similar to artists such as Pole and GAS at work here too.

Rigning is Icelandic for “raining” and each track on the album is prefaced with the word, making for titles like “Rigning Sex” and “Rigning Tvö.” Every track here works extremely well because the beats and quesy keyboard tones complement each other perfectly. Space is utilized to accentuate each melody while the rhythmic aspects are slow and deliberate. The album is completely vocal free so if you also can’t get down with toasting but are interested in dubstep then this might be a very good place to start. Rigning is also easily solid enough to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with either of Burial’s albums but honestly this isn’t a contest to pit Yagya against leading lights of the genre. The point I want to convey here is that the album is gorgeous in a non-derivative way and absolutely excellent.

Previous Yagya albums Will I Dream During the Process? and the excellent and unfortunately out-of-print Rhythm of Snow were released by legendary electronic label Force Inc. Thanks to Sending Orbs, this should be the most widely available Yagya recording to date. I think Yagya’s Aðalsteinn Guðmundsson might finally be ready for his close up and it’s time to pay attention.