Holy Shit... Okay... So, I'm not sure exactly how to write this review; because as I'm writing I have Skifcha's new track "Baff Weats" playing on another tab and I can't stop head-banging. Because this kid just doesn't quit does he? The amount of new content this kid releases on a regular basis is the absolute envy of any producer on a free label or online medium; it only makes me wish that all these hard beats were organized into beat tapes or something on his soundcloud. But then again you can't really expect organization from such young talent can you? Not even slightly, Skifcha's fans know him better then that, he's gonna put out ideas as they fly into his head, a never pausing amalgam of sonic inquisition.
Into the dark and forbidding world of underground bass music this kid delves head first with little thought to genre or stylistic ristrictions, and personally I can't be anything but happy the scene has such a constant producer of hard bangers for all of us to enjoy and analyze over. It seems only a matter of time before some online music collective decides to harness this creative force we call Skifcha, and *holy fuck* I just hope the scene (and my eardrums) will be good and ready.
Picture it; brothers huddled around a lit blunt, along down some winding avenue or perhaps a parking lot near the ferry on some dark grey October afternoon. It's a moving scene, no? Lost souls in the cultural wasteland that is our home, striving to find a meaning behind their paths. It's these sorts of struggles and this kind of atmosphere I feel brings out the best in artists who grow up in environments like this; and I believe it's this sort of mentality that gave rise to The 90's Collection. These kids have talent man, there's no denying that; like some forgotten age-old Motown catalog from back when music was good without even trying, these vocalists ooze through your headphones with an undeniable skill-set and charm. And yet there's a moroseness behind the steady beat that Ceo has expertly laid down for them; a melancholy attitude that the gang seems to fit into comfortably; they vocalize their ambitions with the weight of the world upon them, dragging each uplifting thought and wish back down into the reality of these *ahem* dare I say it? slums we call home... This track was a mark of beauty in a particularly rough day of mine, and I feel people in this borough have been having a lot of those, so here, just take a listen ^__^
"...The day of; like, you ever stay up ‘til 9 a.m. to finish a paper for
school and go to school with no sleep? It’s kind of like that..."
"Literally; like, up ‘til the last minute. At some point, I finally feel good about the track; We
don’t take instructions from anybody because in the end you have to trust yourself and your own creative process and do what you need to do and make your
music."
"We don’t deal with A&Rs, we don’t deal with people’s
opinions, we don’t deal with managers or them bringing us song ideas ever... We’re very internal; we just decide at some
point 'hey, we’re getting close, this is when I think it should come out'.
We aim and strive for that moment and we work tirelessly and change songs
up until the last minute and because I’m mixing it and because I’m producing
a lot of it and because I’m tracking a lot of it, or all of it, we have
the ability to do anything at any moment." - Noah "40" Shebib
If you find yourself agreeing with this quote, cop this beat_tape, and you're welcome :)
You know, lately, I feel our cat-monster Skifcha has been in a sort-of transition; he's been producing these tracks that seem to juxtapose themselves with the standards in hard dance music as a more insightful understanding of that labyrinth that is 140 beats per minute. I know it might seem a bit off for some of his fans; cause Skifcha's supposed to be just grinding bassheads and snapping snares, right? RIGHT?! Well, let me assure you that this growth in soundscape this year so far has done way more then just add genres to the kid's resume (what's chiptune anyway?); it's also seemed to change the way he goes about his beats, and that's something I'm pretty hype to hear: a little less formulaic "step" and a little more classic "dub" That doesn't mean that I don't dig his complextro-esque fuck-your-face "...finish him..." shit (wait till you hear his track on our comp) but it is nice to hear tracks like these, and know that at least there are some kids on this island taking the time to study those classic roots.
This is a mix I'm glad I've gotten the chance to upload, mostly because other issues prevented me from hearing it that night as I would have liked to (loitering around the DJ booth as I usually do). Marred by horrible weather among other things the gig quickly turned into a bunch of bass-heads and their close friends spinning sets for each other, waxing poetic in the back about what this scene could become. I for one was incredibly invigorated by the talent I saw displayed at the lounge last week; it gave me the drive to work on creating a viable, sustainable scene for us on the island for the electronic revelation that's been quickly crawling it's way into charts and festivals across the nation. Make no mistake; electronic music is becoming our generation's medium. But more to the mix at hand, I feel like this set is a prime example of where our scene is currently; Amplify's style is, well let's say expansive, he reaches from far corners of different sub-genres and pulls them together to create cohesive sets that mesh and flow; and honestly, what more could we club-goers really ask for when swaying around with drinks in our hand? So if you agree bump this mix; and if you dig this mix go hit up his soundcloud/mixcloud and post ghetto comments everywhere (oh yeah, and tell him we sentcha lol)
Cause in truth, there's a lot of hard shit out there when it comes to bass music....like, a lot...... But when it comes to our little scene in particular there's this second wave that's been rising up slightly behind the darker beat-makers, a sound I'm hearing more and more as of late, tracks flush with chillness of pretty epic proportions; with these multi-layered pads atop of these lightly bouncing bass-lines, to the point where it's, honestly, just too fucking trill to be labeled Ambient so I'm gonna call it Ill-bient (if you'll allow me to dust off an old phrase). Because when I play these tracks for friends they consistently have this look on their faces like "...dude.......shit's audio sex..." So all of this brings us around to why I'm excited about posting this brand new track from The SHRNK. Cause this kid's pretty fucking ill; a producer that could easily grow to be the next crooklyn ambassador to the island, our generation's Old Dirty Bastard. (i know, i know... but with this kid's affinity for drug-use and party-life, that's actually not so much of a stretch; go listen to his track "xanny" if you don't believe me) We have to admit, these days it is more and more the producers that enter the spotlight, whether or not they're from the world of rave-bangers for EDM or the world of beatmaking for Hip-hop (or inhabit that weird unnamed crossover space in between) the fact is that the Jersey Club sound that threw shit like "Harlem Shake" and "Trapstep" up into huge popularity came from the DJs of our area, not the MCs. So I think it's safe to say that these alternative tracks that I'm hearing are definitely taking their place in the overarching sound of (whatever the fuck) this scene is turning out to be, and personally I'm getting bass-head chills mixing some of this softer wave (some of Phranq's tracks, TST's new single, etc) with the sick foot-stomping shit (basically any Skifcha track...) Like a Yin to the darker shit's Yang they mesh well together, because they're still inherently "bass music" But it's giving depth to bass music, feel me?
Have you ever wanted to play a track that undeniably proves to someone you have unorthodox taste in music?
Well then you should probably go download Jwenn Ba VIP (which apparently means "Get Low" in creole) because it is without-a-doubt that track in a nutshell. It slaps you across the face from the very first second, as trip-hop vocals mesh over pounding 808s and deep southern rap samples; the kind of track only heard in the most fucked-up parties, the deepest underground bass sessions.
But how did this monster come into existence you might ask? Well, S.I.’s home team Shaolin Squad got together with a trapstar from Cali by the name of Ded Beatz; and between the two of them produced probably one of the weirdest trap tracks we’re going to hear for while…
But then again, maybe not; maybe trap music as a whole is getting stranger, as more and more people tire of the standard laser-y “bangers” on YouTube every week, made by the same Flosstradamus and Brillz copies we’ve heard all throughout 2012. Maybe this year shit’s gonna get fuckin psychedelic and trippy as trap music takes a turn for the original…
