- Fit Of Body is the project of Ryan Parks, an Atlanta resident and cassette label owner whose influences span post-punk, house, local rap and the grainy nihilism of skate videos and WorldstarHipHop clips. As the man behind Harsh Riddims Blood Sucking Cassette Co. (a reference to Ed Templeton's Toy Machine skate brand), Parks provides a platform for disparate artists like RAMZi, Stefan Ringer and the experimental MC Bluntfang. Now, after a pair of cassettes and some online releases, his Fit Of Body alias steps out with a vinyl release that harnesses this anarchic energy, crafting addictive, modern disco-not-disco with stream-of-consciousness mutterings.
His formula is laid out on opener "Carol Haze," a track replete with dubwise paranoia. Some ominous piano and melodica waft over janky, jacking percussion as Parks intones, "Help… Carol." A bassline that could have come from a Liquid Liquid record eventually enters the mix. Those sounds are pretty much it, save for an errant guitar and some winsome pads comprising the outro. But there's a spacious quality to Fit Of Body that feels at odds with the ultra-minimal construction—Parks has a way with the mix, stacking elements like Jenga blocks to create a wobbly, impressive whole. "John Mikel" again splits the difference between no wave and hazy, lo-fi house. The lyrics muse on post-Tinder alienation, before Parks flips the script. He raps, "We all got somebody / Because our cell phones / Ignore you when they're through / As long as we're together / Say you just love to do whatever."
CGI boss and fellow Atlantan TWINS lengthens "House Music," a song on Harsh Riddims' first compilation, from a scant two minutes to an eight-minute version for the DJs. Though the EQ is beefed up and the track is eminently playable, it still retains Fit Of Body's signature disembodied haze. A Galcher Lustwerk edit of an unreleased early Fit Of Body track closes the record. It possesses the blurry, cruising vibe of the New Yorker's Road Hog project, but is completely beatless except for some heavily delayed percussion that sounds like it's piped in from a distance. It could be a lullaby, just like Fit Of Body could be a day in the life of Parks: a groggy morning, work, a trip to the skatepark, a loop through the club and a blunt segueing into a stoned dream.
TracklistA1 Carol Haze
A2 House Music (TWINS Edit)
B1 John Mikel
B2 Track 4 (Galcher Lustwerk Remix)