On Alex Zhang Hungtai’s stirring debut, Badlands, the artist embraced dark and forgotten roads through lo-fi drum loops and grainy guitars. “Lone Runner” guides us through the same deserted path. Beginning with a clapping, dry rhythm that unveils an ambient and surreal cloud of guitar strumming, Hungtai’s trademark sermon drags us into the dust storm. [...]

Welcome to the latest installment of an ongoing mixtape series in which I highlight some of my favorite voices online and beyond. This week we catch up with Vancouver’s Dirty Beaches, the nom de tune of ghostly crooner Alex Zhung Hai. As mentioned last month, Zhung Hai crafts surreal washes of mood and sound—an aesthetic [...]

My first impression of Vancouver’s Alex Zhung Hai, who records under the name Dirty Beaches, was that of a cross between Richard Hawley and Leonard Cohen if, say, collaborating with Angelo Badalamenti.  An impression that still stands. Zung Hai’s upcoming LP, Badlands, is a surreal meld of 50s crooner cool coupled with blurry washes of [...]