- Alex Gray plays guitar and MPC as a member of Sun Araw's live band, and that project's spaciousness is analogous to his solo material as Deep Magic and Heat Wave. As the latter, Gray has released a series of mixtapes that put psych and hip-hop through the sister lenses of chopped & screwed and dub, and while it seems practically everything has been druggily slowed down in the last few years, there remains something entrancing about his technique. I'm Fuckin You Tonight, released on Deep Tapes at the end of October, stands as the high point of his work as Heat Wave thus far. Coincidentally, it's also the closest he's come to making an actual Houstonian mixtape.
While similar in loved-up spirit to OG Ron C's vaunted F-Action series, Gray's focus on looping helps him sidestep any accusations of copycat dilettantism. Moreover, he adds a fair amount of his own sounds, namely tinny, synthetic percussion, dub effects and heaping amounts of compression, situating his tracks somewhere near Leaving Records' output. Unlike his peer Expressway Yo-Yo Dieting, Gray is disinterested in warping his sources beyond recognition, instead offering a flowing, heady warmth that owes as much to his edits as it does his curation.
It's hard to go wrong when your source material comes courtesy of R. Kelly, whose lines form the basis of several pieces here, including the title track, which heightens the sleepy sensuality of his duet with The Notorious B.I.G. Elsewhere, an altered "Echo" is made into a yearningly anthemic opener, and "Sex in the Kitchen (Remix)" is transformed into "Some of That Chicken," purring along in languid bliss. Gray rounds out the package with airy modifications of loungey soul and Ready for the World's "Oh Sheila." Above all, I'm Fuckin You Tonight is a lot of sultry fun—accessible enough to remain true to its mission statement, and stoned enough to stay quirkily unpredictable.
Tracklist01. Intro
02. Echo
03. Doin' It
04. 'Ludes
05. Many Waking Eyes
06. I'm Fuckin You Tonight
07. Some of That Chicken
08. Forever More