SABZI-Parthenia and M+A

Posted on October 29th, 2011 by ekko

Here’s a post for my buddy Chris who posts on nothing but instrumentals and beats these days.  First up, Sabzi’s Pathenia.

I got curious about this one ’cause it’s from the producer for indie backpackerrappers The Blue Scholars, and I’ve always dug their beats.  There is one vocal track here as well–featuring  Nasir Kalani–but the variety between the kind of laid back swing you get on BS albums and some faster beats as well.

Free at Bandcamp.

Taste one song:

Quimbara Wang

Next up, the Italian duo M+A.  This one’s a gentler record, much more of the hypnotic variety.  But I’m really diggin’ it.

Yes Pop

Liko Lene Lisa

Tags: Instrumentals

FALSIDE-Snare Conditioning (EP)

Posted on October 1st, 2011 by ekko

Falside’s Snare Conditioning is, technically, a beat tape.  That means it’s instrumental and sample-based music without a lyricist.  But unlike most beat tapes, it isn’t a bunch of beds waiting for someone to rap over them.  In fact, it would be hard for someone to use this collection as a backdrop.  Falside’s songs—and I do mean songs—include such healthy amounts of vocal samples that they almost sound like…Songs.

Great stuff.

Get it here (mediafire).

Taste it here:

Stacks of Boom Bap

Green Tea and Nicotine

Tags: Free Album!, Hip Hop, Instrumentals

JK SOUL-Dinner With FAT Beatz

Posted on July 7th, 2011 by ekko

Know who JK Soul is?  Probably not.  Should you?  Definitely yes.  He’s a beatmaker who has been classified in just about every standard genre: Hip hop, trip hop, turntabilist, chill, dub, funk/soul/jazz, etc., but these are mere words.  Here’s a stark fact: Other than Madlib and Diplo and maybe a handful of others, I never, ever listen to sample-based, primarily instrumental music.  It sounds like a bed to me–like something waiting for lyrics.

But I’ve listened to JK Soul’s fourth album thrice already.  And I still find cool stuff there.

The dude has a rep as the best “scratch DJ” in Slovenia.  I can’t speak to what the competition is like there, but I can say that this latest album definitely puts him in a class with MF DOOM, the afore-mentioned Madlib, and those other producers who breathe rarified air.

Oh, and you might actually have heard of him: He just recorded with Lil’ Wayne.  But cop JK’s own stuff–it’s hot.

JK Soul Get Over It

Video: A Love Has Died (watch it for the music–there’s not much to really see)

Tags: Hip Hop, Instrumentals

THE PORTLAND CELLO PROJECT-The Thao And Justin Power Sessions

Posted on January 30th, 2010 by ekko

Is there an instrument sadder than the cello?  I don’t think so.  The Portland Cello Project are a collective of Oregon artists, which have included both Thao Nguyen of Thao With The Get Down Stay Down (who created the second best album of 2008) and Justin Power, who makes beautiful indie folk. 

I wish I’d heard this 2009 release sooner, because it would have been a best-of-the-year candidate.  The The Portland Cello Project kicks off with a painfully sad religious piece, “The Lamb,” by JohnTavener, before bringing in Thao to play one of her greatest songs, “Beat (Health, Life and Fire).”  The Thao songs aren’t very differently arranged than the album versions (except for the extraordinary rendition of Tallymarks), but the addition of live cello gives them a little more gravitas.  They’re great–and the “cello solo” during Violet is a pretty cool cello equivalent of cock rock.

This was my introduction to the work of Justin Powers, and it definitely made a fan.  Oh, and there’s a cover of Pantera’s “Mouth for War” performed by the PCP, and a song by the grossly underrated band, Norfolk and Western.  This album gets my highest recommendation.

Buy it here for just $11.70.

Beat (Health- Life And Fire) (Featuring Thao)

Tags: Indie rock, Instrumentals