Track By Track: ‘Psychoplasmics’ By Psychoplasmics

Psychoplasmics is the collaborative project of Lord Pu$$whip and Alfreð Drexler. Their first song, ‘101 Reykjavík,’ came out in in 2014, and they’ve finally followed it up with a long-awaited eponymous debut album. Here, the two take us through the album ‘Psychoplasmics’ track by track.

107 RVK
This one is definitely one of the strongest songs on the album. It’s a sort of sequel to our first song, ‘101 Reykjavík’, which is very personal as 101 and 107 are our postal codes in Reykjavík. We made this completely off our tits in Alfreð’s apartment and it was literally willed into being. We also had some whacked-out ideas like trying to recreate a recording of a real party with just us two, inspired by the intro of Marvin Gaye’s ‘What’s Going On’.

Miranda
The samples in ‘Miranda’ are from all over the place—bits from the soundtracks of an old Czech film, an old British horror film, the Icelandic rapper Gísli Pálmi, and a lot more elements. It’s probably the most sonically maximal track on the album. It’s a good taste of our style.

“We had some whacked-out ideas like trying to recreate a recording of a real party with just us two.”

De Pijp/Erdbeermund
We made these in hazy sessions on vacation in Amsterdam with our friend BNGRBOY, arguably the biggest producer in the country, who’s worked with everyone from Icelandic rappers to Ólafur Arnalds. He really shows his talents on these two tracks, especially ‘De Pijp.’

Wavy Friday
This was the last song we made for the album. It was a late Berlin night, and we chopped up an ill Japanese pop sample, recorded acoustic guitar on top of it and added a bunch of stuff. It’s a good example of the nostalgic, bittersweet vibe our beats often have.

Dolphin’s Delight
On this song, we wanted to go all out in saccharine smoothness, with psychedelic yacht rock vibes. We got our friend Indriði to shred electric guitar while Nnamdi Umez plays electric bass. Dolphin’s Delight is a type of truffle in Amsterdam and the cheezy idyllic picture of dolphins jumping in the ocean on the canister fit the vibe perfectly. We also used some recordings from an echo chamber in the abandoned radio tower Teufelsberg in Berlin.

Interlude ft. Jon Riverjoy
Here, Pusswhip’s dad, legendary Icelandic television personality Jón Ársæll, does an introduction to ‘Side B’ of the album. It’s supposed to add to the immersive vibe of the album, ending in a field recording of a car ride, which hints to the type of fleeting cinematic trip we want the album to sound like.

Kriminelt
‘Kriminelt’ has a dark boom-bap beat with cult Icelandic rapper TY of Geimfarar, which was an older group of similarly-minded guys who preceded our generation of forward-thinking hip-hop in Iceland. The beat is a tribute to the ‘90s, with samples from Stretch & Bobbito’s old radio show and sounds from the L.A. Riots, while TY raps absurdist & sardonic rhymes in Icelandic.

Gullhamar
One of the hottest young Icelandic rap stars, Birnir, mixes classic bad boy bully rap with seductive lines for the ladies over a Nintendo-esque beat. It’s our futuristic twist on classic ‘90s R&B.

Berlin Nights
‘Berlin Nights’ was our take on ’90s house from Chicago and Detroit, mixing an eerie, down-pitched piano sample with sounds from broken toys and 808s, as well as a funky bass-line on a down-pitched electric guitar.

Check out Psychoplasmics at their Facebook here.