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.

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.

LE MARQ VOL. I by Amplifynyc on Mixcloud

The Shaolin Temple - Volume II

For a long time during my childhood I was addicted to video games; and one in particular I was always ravenous in my consumption with was Final Fantasy. I played those games to death, man. But slowly yet surely as I grew older I began to stop buying them as they came out (I think, maybe IX was the first I actually didn't buy) which of course I told myself just had to do with me getting older, and perhaps just naturally falling out of love with those kind of games...

In a similar vein to this new release by T.S.T.. the already infamous Volume 2... I used to listen to everything related to alternative hip-hop; from the slightly funk-oriented acts of years past like De La Soul and Digital Underground, to acts more around my generation such as Gorillaz and Aesop Rock.. Something about the cultural instinct to pull back and the overarching tide of the popularity of mainstream "gangsta-rap" appealed to me on a very deep level. Imagine, why would any group make music that doesn't sound like whatever else is on the radio? It's a thought that drew me towards it from a very young age.. But yet again, slowly but surely as time past, I began to fade away of the simple pleasures of of crisp beats surrounded by lush atmosphere, and ended being drawn towards more heavier genres as I grew older..

Now, I know what you must be thinking; why is this kid giving me his fucking biography?
I CAME HERE TO HEAR ABOUT VOLUME 2 DAMN IT

Well, it's all tied together my friend ^__^ because when I sat down to listen to this beat-tape in full; reintroducing myself to the world of the experimental soundwaves that Shrnk, JTTG and M2 delve into so richly, I also happened to start a playthrough of Square Enix's (the makers of Final Fantasy) brand new game out in the states, Bravely Default.

So while playing through this throwback classic role-playing adventure game and listening to all of my recent favorites from the Temple kids (you can read my reviews for two of my favorites Insanity and Someone Like You) I realized something: Most of the things that we loved as children, we loved because they touched a very instinctual part of who we are as cultural beings. It's not always necessarily because "we simply got older" that we fell out love for them, many times it's other much more obscure little reasons that drift us away, andbelieve it or not it is possible to come back to these past pleasures.

So while you really shouldn't need any convincing to give this tape a listen, let me make a small suggestion (it may sound kinda hipster-y, so you don't have to.... but you should) before you go on this journey through the spatial textures of the shaolin ;) do yourself a favor and listen to it doing something you love, perhaps even something you've loved in years past. Because I feel in essence that's what this album reciprocates to the listener; love from time since past.

Ahmi - Overstand / Overstand VIP

Holy shit; alright so before I start rambling, just hit play, like, just hit play... Ok, so anyway (you hit play right?) this beat starts out like most of Ahmi's beats tend to; some next-dimensional sample from the bowels of the slow-riding groove center known as trip-hop, which usually makes most of us just cock our eyebrow and mutter something along the lines of "where the fuck does this kid find this shit..." But then the beat comes in and let me be the first to tell you, the coordination between the sample splicing and rolling hi-hats is absolutely ridiculous (this kid has has a way with his high pitched low-reverb hat-lines that make it sound like he stole wind chimes out from some ancient chinese god's tomb...man, like... I'm telling you) and overall this "simple beat" seems to strive to be anything but. Overall the only thing I feel we could say against it is basically the same personal vendetta we have against all of Ahmi's recent work; why so short? One has to imagine a kid as insane as this could expand so much further down the line with these creations; what happens when an Ahmi beat hits the four minute mark? What does Ahmi making a bridge to an instrumental sound like? These are questions that Ray and I would probably kill people to obtain the answers to...



And just because we love you, behold; the super secret redux...

DJ KayLo - January Mix

So the ride from my house to my job is about 10-15min (unless my car decides to be an asshole, then it takes much, much longer T_T) and this is time I'm usually browsing around on the internet for things to listen to; and it was during this daily EDM fueled commute that I stumbled across this mini-mix by DJ KayLo.
Now I find a lot of us use the commute as a preparation towards upcoming events when it comes to our playlist, if we're going out for the night expecially, we tend to pump ourselves up with a mix filled with hype to get us pumped, because FUCK IT right? We're going the fuck out, fuck school, fuck work, fuck it.
So this weekend when your headed to some rave or party or even just out with your friends to get some drinks, do yourself a favor and listen to this mix; it's a colloquial blend of traditional house, with some sprinkling of electro-step and other power-play genres here and there; a good litmus test for the make-up of the standard club scene currently I feel. Also, while we here at F.T.S. can't wait to see the young KayLo expands into next conceptually; this mini-mix does seem to be a good starting point, showing all the potential fans that she's good at what she does, for the kind of parties that she plays.