Tuesday, March 11, 2014

Gold'n Haze - Bounce

So what if street kids had class? Beyond that, what if the street kids had somewhere to exemplify said class? Imagine a club built under a rusted out bridge, where the slum-dogs and corner delinquents gathered to express there mutual interest in things that make their heads sway back and forth. So now there they are, making a classy ruckus, the air choked with thick smoke, the dirt floor littered with discarded cigarettes and forgotten 40's. But just as the instinctual angst begins to provoke boredom, someone runs over and screams "Yo; Haze just showed up"

What follows is a low-key event of professional lyricism and lackadaisical swag; the perennial Gold'n Haze (formerly known as our own Young Lavi$h) has risen from the grave to bring back the crunkness, and we here at FTS couldn't be hype(r?) about this. His new persona doesn't seem to be much of a far-reaching departure (much to the relief of his old fans, I would assume) but he does seem to bring a little more creative flow-structure and a certain 1-2 step formatting to his verses. All in all, I'd say your in for quite a treat; so I hope you've armed yourself with something to smoke, because the Haze has indeed arrived.

JTTG - Solar Beam

So a quick update for all the Temple fans out there; JTTG and Co. are still grinding, still dropping beats, one has to wonder what direction they're headed in after the release of Volume II. One can only assume some live shows may be in the works down the line.

This recent track by JTTG seems to announce itself with a bit of devil-may-care flambouyance; waves of monotone synth lines washing over a simple beat that tends to stroll through it's pattern on the crispier side of his style. Lone howls and echos ring around the wetness dripping from this beat, which to me adds a certain nonchalance to the whole thing. So all in all a very nice track. This producer also seems often fond of breaking his tracks up in the middle with a slow descent, before rising again for a crescendo in the second half; which seems to be saying "ok, so that was chill... But what about this?!" Which is a cool format when messing around with smoothly tempo'd orchestrations.


Saturday, March 1, 2014

Ahmi - Praises

Next up we have this exquisite work from Ahmi, it's called "Praises" and to be completely honest this track deserves nothing less then the utmost of what it's title refers to.

Now I know what your probably saying to your computer/phone screen right now; "but, come on, FTS hype an Ahmi track like every other week, don't they?" Uhh... While that may be technically true it can't be argued that it hasn't been for good reason. This kid's library of beats is worth having in my opinion for any music lover who considers themselves infatuated with the weirder sides of hip-hop, showing expansive range when it comes to style, this producer cranks out varied work on a daily basis.

This beat in particular speaks to an old-school, almost Nujabes kind-of vibe, the raw snares hits and stacked bass drums pounding away in elegant timing under a swirl of delicately balanced sound that almost forces the loop button to be used (if only to relieve one's self on constantly going back to here it just one more time.) But if you don't believe just give it a listen and see for yourself. Because as with most this kid's tracks, after you've heard it once you almost always need to hear it again.

Le Marq - March Mix

So while we've been off on other projects; some pretty awesome work has been going down for the island lately, and we'd like to take the time to share some of it with you.

First off is the new mix by Le Marq (formerly Staten Island's own "Amplify") this producer/DJ has been putting out consistent work in this scene for a while now and this mix is no exception, in fact he has seemed to take his crisp knowledge of modern trap music to a new level of taste when it comes to dirty synth lines and rebounding 808's.

I've always been jealous as hell of DJ's who know how to tread that delicate balance between club-style hip-hop and rave-themed trap madness, it's a talent which many artists fail to master and end up having their work pigeon-holed into one category or the other. But rather then walk a fine line, this mix seems to unabashedly sway from one style to the next with almost an almost lackadaisical attitude towards genre specific pieces of work.

All in all this mix bumps something fierce when it comes to personality, and we here at F.T.S couldn't be more pleased with the newly reascended Le Marq sprinting from the gate in the race to the forefront of the island's burgeoning trap scene. If you had any doubts as to what destination we're heading towards, one listen to this mix is all you'll need to rest assured the scene is headed in a positive direction.