While many alumni of the post-COVID digicore boom have migrated from angsty, Drain Gang-inspired SoundCloud rap to grungier, sometimes guitar-based songcraft, 20-year-old rapper-producer kuru ’s fixation on the cybernetic sound has only deepened with time. Alongside beatmakers like SJR and twentythree , they’ve helped establish the sound of the TooManyStrikers collective, one of the most prominent rap outfits in their native DMV area, backing the rambly street rap of Jaeychino and SlimeGetEm with glitched, IDM-adjacent synthesizers. If the sound of kuru’s latest solo album, Backstage hologram , is any indication, the influence goes both ways. Re:Wired, their 2024 debut, established a distinct aesthetic palette modeled on Shin Megami Tensei graphics and the lost future of Y2K optimism, but the record was occasionally bogged down by its proggy ambition.…