Photo courtesy of the artist
On Halloween (October 31), Brooklyn-based producer and painter Lil Jabba is releasing his second album, Grotto, on Local Action. The LP, according to a press release, was heavily inspired by the studio loft in which Jabba worked (which he also named The Grotto), and brings the creative space into being through sampling its various sounds, from the echoing of its pipes to its tones.One of the album's cuts, "Cave Painting," feels less like it was made within a confined studio and assumes the bones of a much larger space, like a multi-story Lynch-ian house that has long been abandoned—by the living, that is. A menacing, haunting presence is established from the track's first note, as the drum & bass-inspired track, overlain by a chorus of synths that sound like ghostly sneers and moans, fidgets and turns every which way like a person trying to lose an ill-intentioned band of poltergeists in a haunted house's maze-like hallways. In its final act, the track winds down to a slowed cacophony of demonic vocals, howls, and distorted synths before fading to black.Lil Jabba explained the genesis of the track over email. "Cave painting is classic Jabba," he wrote. "It's speedy frenetic and twists up and around. I was in a particularly zoned mood when I made this—think I finished it in one long 18-hour session and felt like a totem pole afterwards."Listen to "Cave Painting" below. Grotto arrives October 31 on Local Action; order it here.