Nosaj Thing (us)

Emotion vs. technology.

Soul vs. machines.

Beauty vs. dissonance.

Dystopia or paradise?

Love or regret?

Nostalgia vs. right now.

Paranoia.

Acceptance.

These are among the various binary flavors that Jason Chung explores on Parallels, the
 fourth full album released under Chung’s distinctive moniker, Nosaj Thing. Masterfully
dimensional, Parallels represents the acclaimed Los Angeles-based electronic producer/ composer/ performer’s most diverse, vital work yet. As such, Chung sees
Parallels represents a kind of redemptive rebirth. The album’s compellingly elusive,
 uncategorizable sonics developed out of what he terms a personal & musical “identity
crisis.”
“My previous records reflected the anxiety of living inside my own imagination,” Chung
 explains. “For Parallels, I went outside of that: it’s all about trying new things, creating
new worlds. In the past year, I faced up to my own internal struggles & became more
 social. This allowed me to jump styles & genres – exploring different emotions and
sounds beyond what I’d done before. I’d make something ambient and cinematic, and
 then create a dancefloor beat, along with a broken hip-hop groove – and then try to
 make them work together.”
According to Chung, working with a group of collaborators on Parallels that combined
 both longtime friends and new creative partners added “new energy which pushed me 
not to limit myself. Everything felt fresh and alive.” The title Parallels in fact evokes the 
intense, intimate duality Nosaj Thing and his collaborators share. Chung is known
 specifically for his innovative, unexpected musical pairings: Kid Cudi hit up on Nosaj
Thing via his MySpace page in 2006, resulting in Chung producing Cudi’s
 autobiographical classic “The Man on the Moon.” Kendrick Lamar flowed over Nosaj’s 
ethereal boom bap to create the YouTube gem “Cloud 10”; Chance the Rapper,
meanwhile, freaked a Nosaj beat for his 2013 breakout masterpiece “Paranoia” and
 appeared on Nosaj Thing’s previous LP, 2015’s Fated. Chung and Blonde Redhead 
vocalist Kazu Makino are also longtime creative partners on each other’s work; her 
voice appears on Parallels as an otherworldly spirit animating the icily ‘80s-synthetic 
“How We Do.”