Lo-Fi Sundays 048 - Tenki

Warming bones straight out of the deep Canadian tundra, Tenki is a sample-carving wiz with a slapstick approach to controllerism. The permeation of slices, cuts, and effects throughout the arrangement and rhythm of his tracks denotes a producer who is comfortable with the idea of using his controller not just as an extension of production, but as an instrument in its own right. The results can vary depending on how tactile the user is, but Tenki has his personal rhythm clearly in the pocket.

Atop the well-executed rhythmic phrasing and theatrics, his melodious cuts and compositions are integral to the evolution of his tracks. Flipped, reversed, pitch-shifted samples, and even palindrome phrasing sprout heavily dot the arrangement of each song. His choice of call-and-response between sampled phrases is the fuel that powers the evolution of his catalog. With 72 tracks and counting serving as evidence of sheer stamina, it is apparent that Tenki is poised to continue diving into a cornucopia of musical sources, and swimming back to the surface with a bounty of off-kilter material.

Follow Tenki: Soundcloud / Spotify

Lo-Fi Sundays 047 - Dwyer

Dwyer possesses versatility that is hard to come by. While all of his work is steeped heavily in hip-hop, you can hear influences being drawn from garage, trip-hop, breakbeat, folk and a wide range of old world styles. Half of his catalogue is comprised of dusty crackling soundscapes, while the other half encompasses chiller boom-bap tracks, including some tasteful remixes of older hip-hop songs. His use of samples provides layers of character & imagery, all while giving his productions a quality of antiquity that is unparalleled.  

Dwyer stays under the radar, and has been busy releasing “dwy-fi” independently on his Bandcamp for the past three years from his home in the United Kingdom. Recently, his tracks have been featured on compilations for TreeHôuse and SVNSET WAVES, and he contributed an absolute thrill ride of mix for Radio Juicy. In addition to producing, he also creates sleek mixed media collages that are used as album art for releases of his own music and others. In April 2018, he released a sample pack entitled “Textural Lo-Fi Hip-Hop” filled with organic samples in the same lane as his own releases. He seemingly makes a conscious effort to expand outward while moving in fast-forward.

His tunes are crisp and unique, and possess style and an innate ability to make your mind wander. “Depths” is a rare collaboration with Borealism that puts you in a time & place that’s hard to put your finger on, and plays like a soundtrack for a voyage. “Boulevard” begins with a pulsing a breakbeat fit for a South London club scene, and drops right into soft percussion layered with jazzy piano & saxophone more suited for a garden party. “Aventador” is a flawless mix of new hip-hop with obscure late ‘70s pop that hits in all the right places. “Money” & “Ey ma” are honorable nods to Ol’ Dirty Bastard and Camron that offer a remarkable twist on tracks that provide palpable nostalgia. You don’t have to dig far to find a track that truly speaks to your tastes.  

FOLLOW Dwyer: Bandcamp / Soundcloud / Spotify / Facebook / Instagram

Lo-Fi Sundays 046 - ningen

Transmitting raw jazz energy from Germany to the ears of the world, ningen is stepping up the paradigm by taking lo-fi straight into his own hands. From melody to stereo-imaging, this novel producer is bucking the usual reigns of sampled music. Taking a cue from some of the finer craftsmen of break-beat music, ningen crafts his samples from scratch, performing primarily through guitar and piano.

While the timbre throughout most ningen music is solidly engineered to permeate the lo-fi aural aesthetic, it is his phrasing that separates him from the pack. Leaning less on things triggered askew, and far more on syncopation within each bar, his rhythm carries as opposed to juggles. It is a dynamic that creates a pseudo sing-song attitude to his harmony choices. On occasion, there’s even been a true-to-life vocalist, Voca, who lends her musings to the ningen head-bop. Combining jazz overtures and hip-hop sensibilities isn’t a recent development, but he certainly has a touch and taste for the finer points of break-beat composition.

Be sure to take your time peeping the thorough ningen catalog, as lo-fi is just one branch of his musical machinations. Featuring a few contemporaneous jazz and hip-hop instrumentals brimming with lush fidelity and balance, his personal flavor can be adapted to a number of thought-positive atmospheres. With 43 tracks and counting, we’re still digging through it all ourselves.

FOLLOW ningen: Soundcloud / Bandcamp / Instagram

Lo-Fi Sundays 045 - G Mills

G Mills has been working hard lately, from an epic tune on the BLESS Vol. 2 compilation, to a short but sweet tape on Dust Collectors, and an upcoming gig in his hometown of Brooklyn, NY next weekend.

On the upbeat, G Mills’ music is a classic spin on the lo-fi sound, and on the downbeat it’s a diverse and experimental approach to the booms and claps. He’ll work with traditional fare like melancholic piano licks, but he’ll warp them with a unique touch. The consistent richness to his music may be its most noteworthy quality. His compositions fill up the stereo spread. The sample selection is robust, as G Mills leverages the full weight and potential of each sampled sound, even a split second glitch. The mixing and mastering is on point, so that even soft or ethereal songs like “Somber” or “forte” with flavors deliver a strong punch.

A mini-tape Quantize on Dust Collectors is “an experiment in texture” for the producer, and it slaps. The pencil-scratching noise on the tapes’ second tune is inventive, and the dog breathing in the background is hilarious, but also a fairly legitimate way to bolster the rhythm. The third tune, “Whirling Dervish”, employs a key sample so drastically filtered that it blurs the senses with synesthetic beauty. The listener can simultaneously feel it like a summer’s first sunburn, hear it like a high ripple, and see it like a shimmer of orange sunshine.

Next weekend, September 29 and 30, G Mills will be playing a set at Forgotten Youth Concept Store on Moore St. in Brooklyn sometime between 11-5pm. Catch the vibes if you can. We also have reason to believe the producer has a major project in the offing somewhere, so stay chooned.

FOLLOW G Mills: Soundcloud / Spotify / Twitter / Facebook

Lo-Fi Sundays 044 - Saito

In light of the genre being rooted in a distinctly American musical flavor, lo-fi music is just as globally infectious as clean-cut hip-hop, and today we’re putting the spotlight on a choice character from the Italian peninsula. Saito is a groove machine in his own right, ripping through dozens of perky samples and delicious drum shots. He has six albums under his belt, each with double-digit track numbers, and most featuring a thorough collaborative effort between himself and a few other likeminded producers.

If it is indeed the ear that chooses the sample, then Saito’s ear is aimed directly at the heart of conventional soul music. The very first cut on his socials currently features a lovely flip of a track by The Supreme Jubilees, a once prolific American gospel group. Honing in on the particular tonal colors of full chords is a major strength for this producer, and is the bedrock feature of his discography. Running against the typical lo-fi motif of faded frequencies, the distinct sound to the Saito catalog is the brightness and clarity that exudes from his music. His emotive soundscapes take on a flavor that is a cut above melancholy, swaying the heart somewhere between nostalgia and smokey daydreams. Be it the budding vibrato of harmonized vocals, the bright snap of crystal clear hi-hats, or just the right twang of just the right string, the undeniable draw to his aural attitude means Saito is well on his way to being a three-star Michelin beat-chef.

Spread across several major streaming and distribution platforms, Saito’s music is fully available to anyone who happens to stumble across his musings. A member of the Japan-based BSC Crew, he has positioned himself to reach international audiences through the labels and collectives he chooses to associate with. His clear musical affluence is not only his most defining characteristic, but signals that the well is nowhere near tapped for this modern day bard of the beat.

FOLLOW Saito: Soundcloud / Bandcamp / Spotify / Facebook

Lo-Fi Sundays 043 - Solrakmi

Solrakmi consistently cranks out boom bap style trip-hop and jazz knocks. The producer will dabble in stripped-down, four-bar lo-fi formats although he sounds more at home getting down and layering effects on a wild set of hi-fi samples. Solrakmi appears at first enigmatic online, that is to say Solrakmi aka Karlos Henriques lets his music does all the talking. He doesn't appear to collaborate with other producers, although he did start a promotional channel Chill Select, and resides in Banbury in the United Kingdom. 

Very recently Solrakmi's tracks have appeared on Combustion from an outfit called Retro Jungle, and Solstice from Dust Collectors. In each case, you can spot the Solrakmi songs among the bunch if you listen for the big, blustering, highly-compressed boom-bap drums. His color-saturated samples are recognizable, too, but Solrakmi's real calling card is his love of the low-frequency oscillator or LFO, which he applies masterfully (hear the wobble in the sample at the end of "We Got This", or "Just Enough". 

There's a vital essence in Solrakmi's music that's instantly apparent. Most if not all his cuts project it. His chops are truly top notch, and the breadth of his sampling - he'll pull from anywhere - is exceptional. It's not his technicality or beatmaking prowess that captivates most, though. It's the strange alignment of samples that sends a quick chill down your spine, or makes you turn your eyes to the sky in perplexed gratitude. Karlos Henriques, the man behind the Solrakmi project, appears to be a humble yet talented man who does it all for the love of beats. 

FOLLOW Solkrami:   Souncloud   /   Spotify   /   Youtube   /   Bandcamp

Lo-Fi Sundays 042 - Sup Nasa

There is no denying that Space is a vibe, and Sup Nasa taps into that vibe to bring about some incredibly serene and well-intentioned music. Slinging beats from way out on the Italian peninsula, Sup Nasa is a member of the industrious NINETOFIVE record label, and sits right at home with a curated team of rhythm junkies and lo-fi bandits.

Speaking of rhythm, this lobrau cosmonaught has a knack for spinning the wheels of a good drum line into all sorts of musical roundabouts. The fibrous blend of sampled percussion loops in conjunction with quintessential finger drumming creating a balance between the organic and the synthetic. His extraction of samples is on par with the extraction of rare earth elements; constantly digging through the source song, chipping away at the surrounding frequencies, and bringing back to the surface prime cuts that are begging to be flipped inside out. With tempos ranging from sloth to rabbit, Sup Nasa doesn't like to sit in any one rhythmic pocket for too long, and his discography reflects this.

Hip-hop and space exploration often have more to do with one another than people first realize, and Sup Nasa is the official spokesperson for the lo-fi mission to Mars. Pounding away at intergalactic beats seems to be somewhat of a specialty for this Mediterranean muse. With a label like NINETOFIVE backing his productions, it can be safely assumed that we haven't heard nearly the last of his musical output.

FOLLOW Sup Nasa:  SoundCloud  /  Spotify  /  Facebook

Lo-Fi Sundays 041 - Soulchoppa

In practice, beats music is all about the chops. In theory, it's all about the soul. Enter Soulchoppa out of the southeastern United States. The young producer out of Georgia has just barely begun to rear his head on Soundcloud, but his beats already possess a touch of greatness. 

We were put on to Soulchoppa through the BLESS Vol. 2 compilation from Inner Ocean Records. The last tune on the massive release is Soulchoppa's "Sunset" and my, does it close the release with style. With this cut, the producer exemplifies a best practice of beats music; doing a lot with a little. The melodic line is just a simple series of notes played on one instrument, but it sits in the space between the drums just right. The listener can get up inside of each note on a meditative trip. 

The producer has one EP, one LP, one collaborative tape, and a couple singles on his Soundcloud. His extended single "Astral Projection" is especially captivating, again inviting the listener into a meditative, almost trance-like headspace. The collaborative tape with the New York City-based producer stxn_n has a few of those moments on it as well. This strong release comes courtesy of Dust Collectors, a growing beats collective not to be slept on. He's also already cleared a new milestone for beatmakers in the Southeast by playing at Controllerise, an established, exciting beat session in Atlanta curated by STLNDRMS and MICxSIC.

Soulchoppa doesn't have the rarest samples or the dirtiest drums or the most popular co-sign. But he does appear to have that special something stirred into his beats that can stone a listener any time of day. 

FOLLOW Soulchoppa:  Soundcloud   /   Bandcamp   /   Twitter

Lo-Fi Sundays 040 - Rio Major

“Are you one of those so-called badasses?” As soon as that line rings in the ear, it’s entirely understood just what kind of producer we’re dealing with. Rio Major, the broken-beat project of Jonathan Eklund, is a crash course in beatsmithing and sample stitching. Eklund is by no means a stranger to musical prowess, nor is he freshly hitting the pavement. Through his all-encompassing platform Mindful Vibrations Audio, Johnathan pours the wealth of his production and composition knowledge through multiple musical projects. Being a multi-faceted musician is a strength without equal for discerning producers, and Rio Major displays a compositional understanding that begs to be heard and explored. 

The overall production and arrangement style of Rio Major puts an original spin on a classic interpretation of instrumental hip-hop. The potbellied fullness of each track is a testament to his ability to fill up the frequency spectrum while simultaneously honing in on the dusted and muddled tones so familiar to lo-fi music. Not but a few weeks ago, Johnathan released Systematic, a ten track album that serves as an ideal representation of the Rio Major catalog. Built upon precision cuts of instrumentation and smoothly processed vocal lines, the record knocks your head back and forth like a wooden drinking bird. Each track gradually expands on the jovial mood present throughout the record, starting strong and ending stronger.

In world where so many of our lo-fi brothers and sisters are confined to the title of “bedroom producer”, it is incredibly refreshing to find Johnathan Eklund constantly pushing his musical explorations through the open medium of Mindful Vibrations Audio. Running through his various projects, it becomes clear that Rio Major is just 1 piece to a larger musical puzzle. If you find yourself in a blissful mood after approaching Johnathan’s ongoing lo-fi saga, diving straight into the rest of his discography is sure to keep you indefinitely elevated.

Follow Rio Major:  Soundcloud  /  Bandcamp  /  Mindful Vibrations Audio

Lo-Fi Sundays 039 - tech flips

Coming out of Minneapolis, Minnesota, beats producer tech flips has just got it like that. Digging through his dense catalog that spans the past two years, one soon realizes that the producer makes nothing but zoned out hip hop instrumentals that cut close to the grain. 

The producer, whose name is Sonny Diggs, also helps to manage Mindbent Records, established in 2012, with Kagami of France and Ivory Crook of Denmark.  One of Mindbent's most recent releases is the scratching and thumping Momentum album from tech flips himself. Both with Mindbent and as an individual producer, tech flips appears to stay focused on the elemental aspects of beat making. His presentation and marketing is not ostentatious, and he's certainly not following any trends. He's flipping samples, splicing together cracking drum arrangements and makin' em bounce. 

The producer's name hints at what he's about. Frequently his tunes are rudimentary flips of classic hip hop, jazz and soul music. That's not to say they're easy to create or easy to forget, just that they're more like flips and less like compositions. This is, after all, close to the original method for making hip hop. Tech flips has put out two EPs recently, Precise Cuts and Stratusfeels, both of which are impressive and a bit more experimental than his singles. If you bump Precise Cuts in this week's curated playlist, notice the sample lampooning a woman who believes that sampling artists "like Van Halen" is "wrong" and "plagiarism". Get bent, says this producer. 

FOLLOW tech flips:   Soundcloud   /   Instagram   /   Twitter

Lo-Fi Sundays 038 - AywɛɛTիαSɛɛɗ

"We hereby declare ourselves to be another order of being...an astro nation of the united world of Outer Space." These words from the mystical jazz and thought pioneer Sun Ra are sampled in "Much Music More Peace", a beat suite from producer AywɛɛTիαSɛɛɗ (pronounced I-we the seed) aka Aywee. Music from Aywee could help form the soundtrack for this astro nation. The producer gathers pieces from the past of jazz, soul and hip-hop and collages them to create futuristic head-bopping beats. 

Aywee flexes all sorts of styles across a catalog of work that spans five years. His beats are distinguished by their tasteful integration of synthesizers and electronic motifs. Whether the music leans heavily on these motifs, like his mesmerizing Daydreams EP, or touches on them sparingly, like his Mirrors EP from Brunch Collect, they add a novel technologized texture to his tunes that is uncommon for most beatmakers.

He is fidelitous to his past, both musical and intellectual. His music references jazz legends like Charles Mingus, and Albert Ayler, and samples speech from leaders like the late Black Panthers icon Fred Hampton and the philosopher Cornel West. These elements, when couched in carefully selected notes, tones and timbres, create an esoteric mystique around the beatmaker's music. Sink deeply into it and you may be transported to other psychological realms. 

Aywee has a mighty workflow, having just released his twelfth beat tape, "Flyin' High". We've only included a pair here in this weekend's playlist, but they all to showcase a slightly different style each time. He's collaborated with talents like Ødyssee and EMERLD and contributed music to top-shelf labels like THA ReCoRdZ, Hip Dozer, and Kwaleeti. Ultimately Aywee is a creative soul whose music has the power to both entertain and enlighten listeners. 

FOLLOW AywɛɛTիαSɛɛɗ:   Soundcloud   /   Bandcamp   /   Spotify   /   Facebook

Lo-Fi Sundays 037 - OTESLA

Hailing all the way from Denmark, and continuing the trend of excellent European lo-fi, OTESLA comes correct with sly cuts and fully furnished beats. Their music especially excels in keeping a focal point, with each track typically revolving around some hypnotic rhythm or signature tone. With releases stretching back to a little over three years, OTESLA has released over 40 tracks and beat tapes showcasing their direct brand of head-nod hip-hop.

With no apparent fear of combining specifically synthetic tones in their compositions, OTESLA takes creative risks that serve to flourish particular passages and measures. The percussion and drum work throughout their discography is bright and emphatic, with the combination of organic samples and finger drummed turnarounds presenting a fresh interpretation on each sampled break. Melodious elements vary widely, with woodwind, acoustic, and digital tones being chosen on a whim to carry the main dialogue of the tracks. Overall, their style and flavor is a combination of melancholy scales, organic instrumental dialogue, and just the right cuts.

Having been featured on Chillhop Music’s 2018 Spring Essentials, we’re far from the only group with eyes on this unique beat smith. Given the outstanding quality of their discography, OTESLA is sure to be deep in the labs working on their next release, and all signs indicate that it will most definitely slap.

FOLLOW OTELSA:  Soundcloud  / Bandcamp  / Spotify

Lo-Fi Sundays 036 - Es-K

Beats from Es-K bump on a higher plane. This beatmaker, Robert Ronci from Burlington, Vermont by way of Kansas City, Missouri, is truly a sampling extraordinaire and a master hip-hop composer. He works frequently with rap vocalists and he's represented on some of the world's best beat labels. After years of writing instrumentals for rappers and producing compilation series, he just released his debut LP - a stunning, mystical work called Koan that transcends beats music entirely while remaining rooted within it. 

Es-K is on the official roster at NINETOFIVE and Cold Busted, two labels that provide beatmakers all over the world with a sturdy platform from which to offer their music. He also releases with Bucktown USA based in Brooklyn and Millennium Jazz Music based in London. In other words, Es-K is a real continental fellow. Bucktown is where one can find his latest vocal pairing, an album titled Rebirth of the Slickest with VVS Verbal. 

As a masterful sampler, Es-K knows how to dig, cut and amplify samples to create the classic sound of the past. Check out "Release (Let it Go)" for a neck-breaking example. At the same time, his beats forecast the sound of the future. His compositions stretch into new territory away from boom-bap and into lo-fi and quasi-electronic realms. One can catch the faint edge of synthesizers in his music. Check out "Gotaway" from his Beats, Etc. series on Bandcamp for an example. There you'll also find 24 installations of the Spontaneous Groove series on Cold Busted. Each installation includes approximately 10 beats. Do the math and you realize Es-K has an archive absolutely overflowing with knocks. This music is not available on Soundcloud. In many ways, it exceeds in sophistication and quality what is available from Es-K on Soundcloud save for Koan. If you enjoy this week's curated playlist, the rest of the iceberg can be found on Es-K's Bandcamp, linked below. 

Notwithstanding this catalog covering hundreds of songs over four or five years, this debut LP Koan is the real head-turner. Koan creates a supreme mood and curates an atmosphere of urban shamanism. A koan is a riddle or paradox that when meditated upon can spark enlightenment. Indeed this LP is an aural representation of this process. A cross-section of cuts from the album are included in this week's playlist, but we encourage folks to listen to the release in its entirety. Unlike some beats work, it's not transient. It has staying power. It's true composition. Fans of Emancipator, older Gramatik, and Uyama Hiroto will find some familiar territory here, but truly Es-K is carving out sonic space all his own with Koan. 

Es-K elevates the art form of beatmaking. While we're eager to hear what he'll offer next on the heels of this debut LP, we admittedly have some catching up to do on his back catalog. 

FOLLOW Es-K:   Soundcloud   /   Bandcamp   /   Facebook   /   Twitter

Lo-Fi Sundays 035 - [s.beats]

Coming out of Ploiesti, Romania, [s.beats] has stolen the spotlight for this installation of Lo-Fi Sundays. Coming up on a little less than two years releasing music, he has already managed shoot over 170 tracks out of the canon. Pushing out a massive catalog of music in that time frame is no simple task, especially given the depth of composition within each of his tunes. 

[s.beats] distinguishes himself in the world of lo-fi hip-hop through the fidelity of his chosen cuts. Eschewing the usual motif of overly-dusted percussion and gratuitous bit-crushing, he instead opts for drums that cut straight out of the speaker cones, followed by melancholy instrumental dialogue and rhythmic gymnastics. His philosophy on arrangement closely follows his choice of cadence, with consecutive musical phrases often expanding on the harmonics of his chosen scales. The calculated combination of Lo-fi tones with organic percussive timbres feeds a veritable life in his music, and [s.beats] never fails to capitalize on this aural dynamic.

If lo-fi hip-hop producers are now a dime a dozen, [s.beats] is no less than a silver dollar. His command of instrumental combinations and soulful arrangements put him amongst the those at the top of this particular musical chain. Go ahead and indulge the music of [s.beats] to you hearts’ content, as there is absolutely no shortage of tunes on his end. If the pattern holds true, we could be expecting a few dozen tracks over the course of the next several months.

FOLLOW [s.beats]:   Soundcloud   /   Facebook

Lo-Fi Sundays 034 - too ugly

The beatmaker too ugly aka toouglyboi is coming straight out of New York City, and you can hear it in his beats. He cuts clean samples and acapells from New York greats like Big L, Mobb Deep, and Method Manand splices them with spindly piano loops and dangling lo-fi drums. He executes this classic lo-fi formula perfectly, re-contextualizing hard-body rhymes into whimsical, relaxed, or melancholic loops and beats.

Too ugly just released his second beat tape titled All That Spinach. It's a great 20-minute spin. There's nothing on this tape or in ugly's entire catalog, really, that is unpleasant. Everything is smooth, particularly the back quarter of the tape. Smooth texture can be common to much lo-fi, of course, but ugly continues to elevate it as an art form. Tunes like "Kinfoe"and "How You Think" get the head bopping with their acapellas. This second track is one of two collaborations between too ugly and the beat farmer Dweeb. But too ugly's real gems are the pure instrumentals, utilizing maybe only four to eight bars of piano, like "Care Free" or "Mellow Taste". Too ugly releases music with the Texas-based label Always Proper and Dumb Nice, a burgeoning beat click that we've got our ears on. The crew's latest compilation The Nice Life features two tracks from him, including one collaboration with Lo-Fi Sundays favorite Fushou. 

It's only right that the home of hip-hop be represented in the beats community by a true talent like too ugly. Perhaps I've passed this man on the city streets once and didn't even know it. 

FOLLOW too ugly:   Soundcloud   /   Spotify   /   Twitter   /   Facebook

Lo-Fi Sundays 033 - Ekaj Ledeir

The summer has finally come in full force, with an overbearing sun melting us poor denizens on every street and avenue. In the ongoing battle to keep temperatures at a steady coolness, one outstanding beatsmith has the icy cuts necessary to bring you back down to a constant chill. The self-described “jazz head” Ekaj Ledeir is a card carrying member of the vibrant lo-fi community in the US.

When it comes to cuts, Ekaj may not have the sharpest knife but he has a keen ear for the delicate arrangement of his music. Chosen samples are washed, rinsed, and spread throughout the mix to keep tracks melodious, but oxygenated. The same theory of “too much is too much” can be applied to his manipulation of sampled audio; use the cut in the same fidelity it was recorded in, and you risk crafting an aural palette that is too obviously constructed from dissimilar parts. Consequently, using too much audio-processing can inevitably create aliasing and may water down good audio into chip-tune artifacts. Being mindful of this paradigm, Ekaj bit-crushes with more grace than a priest anointing holy water, with the same automation prowess as some of the production-intensive artists that propagate the modern landscape of electronic music.

If sample overkill is the death of good lo-fi hip-hop, then Ledeir's approach is the solution. With his released discography stretching back no longer than a year, he has managed to unleash a plethora of tunes on some major streaming platforms. The gradual development of his artistry is evident as one listens through each track, each beat tape. As always, keep your ear-mouths open for the stew brewing by this mans’ hands. In no time you’ll be fed until your near bursting.

FOLLOW Ekaj Ledeir:    Soundcloud   /   Bandcamp   /   Spotify

Lo-Fi Sundays 032 - Fushou.

Fushou. makes timeless beats. There's definitely trends in the lo-fi game, and there's nothing wrong with indulging them because they usually involve provocative sounds and versatile techniques. But fushou's beats rarely latch onto these trends. If you trace his catalog back to its beginning over two years ago, the beats then are consistent with the beats now. They've all got that organic and grainy texture and they really fill up the frequency spectrum. They're not exceptionally jazzy, or extremely lo-fi on that spacey, quasi-psychedelic tip. They're just pure hip-hop. 

The producer, whose real name is Tristan, hails from Arlington Texas and works with some righteous collectives, including Dumb Nice, a crew you definitely out to stay chooned to. Truly he's one the most skilled beatmakers out there right now. He's got all the right elements; strong composition, vocal and instrumental sampling of the highest caliber, cultivated taste in terms of sample choice, and a prolific and consistent workflow.

Many of his beats include extended vocal samples from classic rap tunes. He also works with contemporary rappers, as on "free.the.hold". He'a always collaborating, working with over a dozen other producers to date including Oxela, and too ugly. Certain popular acapellas are flipped by fushou. with supreme taste, like the verse from Nas' "Shoutouts". Sometimes producers will use an isolated loop from a tune to build a track. Fushou. will have an isolated loop, two or four bars or whatever, but as the tune develops those four bars turn into eight or sixteen and a narrative begins to develop instead of just one isolated bop. Peep this on the first half of his Mathematics EP, which includes some of the dopest instrumentals we've heard in a while.

At the end of the day fushou. beats have that "it factor", that special vibe. The samples just ensnare your mind and the drums turn cartwheels. He drops tunes consistently  so follow his channels and your bound to encounter consistent fire. Further, 12 full EPs an LPs are available on his Bandcamp to keep you bopping for days. 

FOLLOW fushou.   Soundcloud   /   Bandcamp   /   Spotify   /   Facebook   /   Youtube

Lo-Fi Sundays 031 - KiLaMDaPro

Another Sunday, another snooze of the alarm, another high-noon awakening best accompanied by some juicy lo-fi goodness. This week, we’re honing in the spotlight on KiLaMDaPro, a Maryland-based sample collage artist with a highly digestible output of hot beats. While many lo-fi producers tend to find themselves pigeonholed by the genre’s usual trappings, KiLaM manages to find a gentle balance between allowing samples to breathe organically, and finding those precision, two-second cuts that weave an arrangement into a true composition.

His music has an identifiable characteristic of maintaining the same rhythmic focus as much of the r&b and blues music that is sampled in the first place. Of course, the traditional hip-hop underpinnings are often there as well, but it's that last-minute shuffle of the hi-hats coupled with that momentary piano flutter that really tie the knot for this man's productions. Bringing a composition to life requires more than fancy MPC parlor tricks, and KiLaM brings the right musical stylings to the table in order to properly serve a dish at peak temperature.

It is highly encouraged to enjoy KiLaM at one’s leisure, as his discography is quite vast for some two years worth of productions. With what appears to be a quick rate of succession between tracks, keep an eye peeled for frequent releases.

FOLLOW KiLaMDaPro:  Soundcloud   /   Bandcamp  

Lo-Fi Sundays 030 - mai.

Nuša Javorič aka mai. chops samples over drums with exceptional taste and skill. Her beats fill up the stereo spread. Space is rarely a concern for this sampling wicken from Slovenia. Her cuts go for straight color. Her high-pitched vocal leads will snatch your soul for a second, rising above rich clips of choral and string arrangements. She has an impressive body of work on Soundcloud alone, and a small handful of singles on compilations including Inner Ocean Records' Women of the World Compilation.

Generally, she's exposing every second of a sample and setting them on top of big drums.  When the strings get to sliding in synch with a quick slamming beat, the groove is seductive and impossible to ignore. Still, mai. softens the tone at times and does utilize some reverberating negative space, as on "midnight" or the indecently low fidelity, stoned-out movement "Mist". The drums are cut from cloth so durable yet soft. Peep the snare in "maybe", a collaboration, rare for this producer, withＡＲ 援憶ぐ. These percussion samples strike that rare balance; they're so smooth yet rough and grainy. 

This hip-hop gets back to the core elements of the boom-bap sound while still pushing the distinct emotional presentation of contemporary lo-fi.

FOLLOW mai.:   Soundcloud   /   Facebook

Lo-Fi Sundays 029 - Kushu

Sometimes, hip-hop is served with trimmed edges, a fresh polish, poise, and the mandatory pinch of rebelliousness. That isn’t the hip-hop we’re looking for; we crave the most broken of beats, the blasé sampled cuts, the slapstick nature of the boom-bap phenomenon. This Sunday, the musical machinations of Kushu will be providing our mid-flight meal as this self-described brewer of “stoner music” keeps us steady lifted and hazy-eyed.

Poking through the vale of the ever anomalous lo-fi community, Kushu finds the elusive musical “pocket” with tremendous ease on a track-to-track basis. The signature rhythm of fingers smacking onto the pads of a sampling controller are as pervasive as the effervescent overtones of his chosen melodies. Filling the air with too many cuts often yields a plate too full, and leaving too much open space in a composition can dither the major points of tension and release with the arrangement of a song. Kushu finds the comparable middle ground, spicing up the air with the right pinches of hollow synth leads and classic piano flutters. From the words chosen in his sampled lyrics, to the particular methods of dusting and bit crushing put to use on his tracks, there is a distinct, unique flavor that permeates from the surface of his music straight into your eardrums.

If combining ambient palettes with the familiar head nod is your motive, then Kushu should be your first destination for your lo-fi needs. Like most of his contemporaries, he has a quick turnaround time on the release of productions, and it shouldn’t be beyond reason to expect fresh cuts from Kushu in the near future. His most recent release, the Songs of the Islands EP, is a choice entry point to dive into his vivacious brand of gunslinger beats, but what justice is done if you don’t dive into the whole catalog?

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