If the kids from Stranger Things put their proton packs down and picked up a fat stack of old-school hip-hop, electro, and funk tapes, they’d most certainly dig the dirty loops Fyvr lays down on his Young Heavy Souls debut. Due out this Friday, Almost Happy is streaming in full a few days early below, right alongside the Michigan native’s track-by-track breakdown….

“COOL PLACE TO HANG OUT, MAN”
Probably my favorite track. I feel like it sums up that rawness I was going for with this whole project. Dry synth and drums, standard chord progression, simple beat. It’s really the simple stuff that gets my head nodding.

“ALMOST HAPPY”
This one is so obviously inspired by producers like Devonwho, but I love that style and I’m still experimenting and trying to find my own sound

“MUZAK AND GOLFERS”
I was going for a ’60s funk/soul vibe when I came up with that bass line, but it kind of branched off into the strange, heavily filtered little loop you hear now.

“DEMAGOGUE SIR”
I made this one years ago, but I revisited it for this album and really enjoyed fucking with those SP-404 effects.

“ALL WAS RELATIVE”
I confess; I stole this chord progression from a Robert Glasper song. It took a lot of practice improvising bass lines over those weird chord changes.

“YES, INDEED; OH”
I don’t remember what I was going for with this one, but I like it.

“OK? LET’S GO”
Are you tired of those dry synth bass lines yet? I obviously wasn’t. Just vibe with it.

“OPEN-SOURCE IGNORANCE”
I have a fond memory of making this. I left a Beat Haus show early in Brooklyn, because I was feeling mad inspired. I biked home, laid down the main beats and chords, then jammed for hours coming up with melodies. I think this is the only one that features that old beat up Rhodes I picked up in Queens.

“TUNGSTEN SKY”
I was imagining a sloppy drunk R-Kelly when I recorded the melodies. You can just make ’em out behind the chords. I like how weird this whole track turned out.