Chillwave might already be remembered as a flash-in-the-pan brainchild of a bunch of stoners with too much free time on their hands, but the concept behind the music was actually pretty good: draw all the warmth from faintly remembered songs, and then flip it into something fresh. Unfortunately, very few artists were able to actually get it together enough to make that concept a reality, and most of it just sounded kind of watery and half-assed. Hard Mix, aka the South Carolina-based Noah Smith, released the appropriately titled single "Memories" in July, as chillwave was gasping its last breath. But instead of emulating what came before, he made good on the genre's promise, finding a direction in a fuzzy, kind-hearted pulse and confident, direct drums.
Defaults, the debut LP from Smith, was recently released for free online to little fanfare. Which is too bad, because it's a smart, modest record that reveals itself only on repeated listens. "Memories" is still the centerpiece, and its vocal hiccups repeat themselves throughout the record. At points, though, this becomes repetitive. "I'm Gone" immediately follows "Memories" and they may as well be one extended track. In more experienced hands, this could be a good thing: repetition and multiple movements with slight variations are the building blocks of great dance music, but the details are lost here. "Memories" worked so well on its own, there's no need to expand on its basic premise.
In retrospect, the decision to give Defaults away for free online both helps and hurts the record. It's clearly a work that Smith labored over, but also one that doesn't show his full potential. It's immediately marginalized by its sanctioned accessibility, and could very well go unnoticed. However, Hard Mix is still a new artist with a ways to go before he's able to transition from the world of flash-in-the-pan blog hype to something more. By continuing to do what the rest of the scene around him failed to do, he has a chance to transcend being pigeonholed and shift into a whole new space where being innovative doesn't necessarily mean pushing boundaries. If the bright moments on Defaults say anything, it's that Hard Mix has it in him to make a dance record worth reminiscing about.
