Intellitronica

Giraffage

Giraffage
Giraffage

Giraffage, the moniker of beatmaker Charlie Yin, just wrapped up a tour with one of the most popular names in electronic music: Porter Robinson. On his current tour, however, he is the headliner.

In a recent story on indie music blog Pigeons and Planes (run by Complex Magazine), Yin was named one of the “14 Rising Bay Area Artists You Should Know.”

While electronic music is often regarded as unsophisticated music designed for the dance floor, Giraffage was recently described as “intellitronica” dance music. His sound is a nice change of pace, and his home on Brooklyn indie label Fool’s Gold Records (founded by legendary DJ A-Trak) puts him in good company among musicians like Chromeo, Kavinsky, Party Supplies and Danny Brown.

On Facebook, Yin lists his genre as “idk idc whatevr dude.” This is playful, certainly, but also accurate. His music can sound like an R&B song, a video game soundtrack and a dream-pop beat smoothly blended into one. You’ll like Giraffage because you can dance to his music when he comes to WOW Hall, or you can listen to him while falling asleep — it works either way.

Giraffage is a sample-based producer who effortlessly flipped Swedish-American singer Mapei’s single “Don’t Wait” into a sparkling, danceable beat. It’s an oft-reworked track, but his effort is my favorite released by anyone not named Chance The Rapper.

While Giraffage shines most in his remix album of various songs by pop star and R&B producer The-Dream, the best starting point to a collection would be his first LP, Needs (2013).

“I went through the worst time of my life and also the best time of my life while writing the songs for this album,” Yin writes on his Bandcamp page, where the album is available to stream or purchase.

Giraffage performs with Spazzkid and VNDMG on the “No Reason” tour 9 pm Saturday, Feb. 21, at WOW Hall; $13-$20. All ages.