Aaron Taos Masters The Art of Genre Bending With EP ‘GUITS’ [Stream]

Brooklyn’s Aaron Taos not only blends musical styles on his EP, GUITS, but he also gets away with it so smoothly. Taos’ hoarse voice takes you from folk rock on “Blow” to surf pop jams with “Jilabun.” He blurs the lines that separate genres in order to make his very own, and the end result is a genre that’s unapologetically individual. Taos grew up listening to hip hop, evident in the synth drumbeats of “Hands,” but seems to have comfortably followed his voice to more rock tones. “Ill,” a chillwave standout from the impressively self-produced GUITS, is unique and dreamy in its mellow sound, following that familiar laziness that consumes your entire being post-breakup. It’s, quite simply, the worst, and that’s exactly what Aaron Taos sings about on “Ill.”

After getting dumped, you don’t want to — you refuse to — move from your bed because that entails actually doing something, and you’re just completely unmotivated to do absolutely anything. Aaron Taos sums up that feeling pretty perfectly in “Ill,” and puts that lack of motivation front and center. Lyrics like, “I don’t wanna go away” and “I’m so confused on how I’m gonna move on” totally and shamelessly capture the stillness that takes control of you. Aaron Taos’ hoarse vocals are fitting for this dreamy retro pop song, and he unabashedly pulls off the lackadaisical attitude this guitar driven track is all about. Getting dumped sucks and this song manages to poke fun at the mental and physical daze that follows breakups.