Yppah: You Are Beautiful At All Times

 Houston, Texas native Joe Corrales Jr., known to most as Yppah, brought a new twist to beat-oriented music in 1996. He has remained under the radar as an independent artist all of these years and in 2009, he released his album “They Know What Ghost Know”. It is very easy to applaud Yppah’s underground approach, especially since the music on “You Are Beautiful At All Times” was not even a thought to most artists in 1996. Combining elements ranging from rock and shoe gaze, to electronic, dance, and hip-hop, one will not be able to pick out all of the styles the first take around. Lush synthesizers, guitars, and pummeling drum beats make up the majority of Yppah’s work, giving the music the moniker of low-key, blissful, instrumental hip-hop/shoe gaze.

Genres aside, Yppah takes you places that you never knew existed in music. Think of the delayed shoe gaze approach of My Bloody Valentine, mixed with the hip-hop beats of Wu Tang and the electronic wizardry of The Chemical Brothers. This is a far-out comparison, but relevant enough to give the listener a sample taste of just a few of the elements he or she may consume.

“You Are Beautiful At All Times” is a solid album all around. Yppah became a visionary with this album in 1996 and has continued the process over the years. I am not sure how Joe Corrales Jr.’s mind works, but in 1996, he was well beyond the music realm. Go get yourself an earful!