Any release bearing the name
Samiyam is guaranteed to include thick, off-time beats and eerie samples chopped up on a sampler with a low bit rate. Released in 2016, Animals Have Feelings seems to have a tad more in common with the producer's 2008 debut Rap Beats, Vol. 1 -- a free-flowing collage of nearly two dozen brief, abstract rhythms -- than 2011's Sam Baker's Album, 2013's Wish You Were Here, or any of his EPs. Animals Have Feelings is a sprawling beat tape filled with grainy, pitch-shifted sounds, sinister chords, and spacy synth blips. On a few tracks, he takes a sunny-sounding psych-pop or soul sample and knocks the wind out of it with a slow bass-heavy beat. Other tracks feed '80s synth funk through recycled VHS or cassette tapes. The album's sad or menacing moments are offset by moments of comic relief such as the lighthearted cursing at the end of "Kimchee." The song title "Teebs Gets Angry" seems like a playful jab at a fellow Los Angeles beat scene producer, and it surrounds glitchy, buzzing bass and offbeat pianos with stuck-in-the-mud beats. It often seems like
Samiyam is smashing up crazy beats with no regard for how it makes sense to anyone other than himself, working only to satisfy his own creative muse and indulge in his own sense of humor. However, he's also adept at producing beats for rappers.
Jeremiah Jae and Oliver the 2nd trade casually aggressive verses on "Lord of the Rings," and "Mr. Wonderful" features
Action Bronson playfully ad-libbing his own flamboyant rhymes and breaking into an off-key rendition of a certain early-'90s freestyle hit. Most impressive is "Mirror," which backs up a typically intense, soul-searching
Earl Sweatshirt rap with slow, crushed beats and dirt-caked acoustic guitar samples. As wobbly and off-the-rails as his beats seem,
Samiyam is an incredibly focused producer, and Animals Have Feelings is a dynamic, slamming album. ~ Paul Simpson