Willy Sunshine is a Swiss beat maker, one who’s been making music for the last couple of years. This EP marks the follow up to his 2010 release, Electronic Relaxation. An interesting take on down tempo hip hop/electronic music he calls “odd-tronica,” Kitchen Blues Explosion sees Sunshine seeking to mix up the general formula of instrumental hip hop and push the expectations of his listeners.

The EP works to varying levels of success, but I do admire Willy Sunshine’s commitment to shaking things up, whether it be from the inclusion of dissonant noises, odd samples, or messing with the tempo and groove of the song. The opening track, “Flamant Rose,” demands a lot of patience from listeners right off the bat, slowly building the melody for over a minute while ambient noise plays in the background before the beat kicks in, only to drop back out less than a minute later, this time letting the melody play against a counter melody in the bass line. It comes together well, but it’s not necessarily the easily accessible song that many artists would use to bring in listeners. Things reach a more traditional down tempo groove that most instrumental hip hop fans will be familiar with the next couple of tracks, with Sunshine demonstrating the ability to compose some really peaceful and beautiful music. Of course, as soon as you get comfortable, that’s when Sunshine takes it to a weird place again, this time with the incredibly disjointed and dissonant “I shine you shine,” which, ironically, is all about creating tension. It plays out in a sci-fi/dystopian down tempo version of Johnny Greenwood’s score to There Will Be Blood, if that makes any sense. I think his most successful moment on the EP comes with “Getting hungry,” a psychedelic number that plays a marimba pattern off of a wah wah guitar, bass, chimes, really minimal drums, and synthesizers that are left far back in the mix. The composition and positioning of elements is really interesting, and the ability to make the song successful without a traditional drum beat behind it really speaks to Sunshine’s abilities. The only thing that’s really lacking amongst the EP with lots of interesting moments is the big moment when everything comes together.

Kitchen Blues Explosion is short, but Willy Sunshine explores a lot of unusual ideas in eight tracks. He does a commendable job in pushing and challenging his listeners, while also demonstrating the ability to just sit back and let the groove carry a song for a while. This might not be the moment when he reaches the next level, but there’s a lot to be said for a producer that’s willing to experiment and push the envelope the way that Sunshine does here.