Darko the Super's 'How To Play Basketball in the Rain and Not Get Wet' Is a Hypnotic Masterpiece of Roller-Rink Dread
The Sonic Breakdown
The title is a koan and the tracklist is a basketball shelf — “Jesus Shuttlesworth,” “Space Jam,” “Hoop Dreams,” “You Know Ball?” — and both are misdirection. Bandcamp Daily’s Dash Lewis identifies what is actually going on: “dense, layered writing, a subtly morphing flow that feels studied, lived-in, and labored over.” Darko produces himself, and the record is self-released on his own imprint.
The Production & Mix
The Low-End: Lewis describes the palette as “riding out the apocalypse in a ’80s roller rink,” which is the most useful sentence anyone has written about this record. The low end is synth-funk — rubbery, slightly cheap in the way that is a choice — and “Space Jam” runs on a creeping version of it for barely two minutes.
The Spatial Dynamics: Credits are sparse and the two that exist are the interesting ones. Tom Rose plays guitar on the first two tracks, so a live instrument opens a record otherwise made of samples and synths. Marcus Pinn supplies turntable cuts on “Hoop Dreams” and “Sunshine,” and features on the latter. ialive guests on “Time Out.” That is the entire outside contribution, and it is deployed at precisely the right four moments.
Standout Performance
Darko’s own flow. Lewis’s phrase for the beats — “production that hypnotizes as hard as it hits” — applies equally to the delivery, which can read as confrontational, goofy or deliberately anachronistic depending on the bar. The reference points Lewis reaches for are E-40, B-Real and Biz Markie, which should tell you how little interest this has in sounding current.
Why It’s Certified
⚡ The opening title track runs 5:40 and is where the existential thread gets set up; Lewis calls it “an excellent way to set up his existential explorations.” “How We Gonna Pay Our Rent?” says the quiet part out loud.
🌈 The basketball references go deep enough to be real research — Lewis notes Terry Dischinger and Thabo Sefolosha both turn up by name.
🌈 Thirteen tracks, no filler, one guy, one imprint. WXPN’s John Morrison has called him the “spiritual son of Frank Zappa and Biz Markie,” and for once that kind of line undersells it.