Back in March of 2021, yk Records released the debut EP from No Stress, entitled Prelude No. 1. It's a wonderful combination of jazz, hip-hop, glitch, ambient and all sorts of styles that blend together masterfully. It's only 18 minutes long but it's a wonderful ride from start to finish... in my biased opinion.

The EP struck a chord with Ryan Norris, aka Coupler, and he started working on a remix EP. The fruits of that labor are now available everywhere in the form of Reinvention No. 1. The writeup for the record goes into some detail about some of the original seeds of inspiration for Norris being Madlib, DJ Shadow, MF Doom, J Dilla and other "left-field hip hop" artists. Over the years, Coupler has become more associated with ambient music than hip-hop but hearing Reinvention No. 1, it's clear that Norris is getting back to his roots.

Obviously I'm biased whenever a yk Records release comes out but I think this is a wonderful piece of work. These reinventions manage to have their own identities but don't lose any of the magic of the original tracks. They are much longer form than the original songs but if you let yourself be a little patient, it really pays off. The drums on "Wake Up (Wide Awake Remix)" are stellar.

Get it on Bandcamp or streaming.