BINKBEATS The "Beats Unraveled" Series

BINKBEATS, not a name most people know, not even most hardcore Hip Hop Instrumental fans.
This guy seems to have come out of nowhere popping up a few months ago on Facebook, YouTube, and SoundCloud. There is not much information about this Dutch producer, how long he has been making music, if he has any original material, or what he will do in the future. As of right now he has produced and posted one song a month for the past three months, all covers of Hip Hop or Experimental Electronic tracks. The interesting thing about how he plays is not just covering these songs that any underground Hip Hop fan would know, but that he is does it with live instrumentation.

Madlib, the producer that made the track The Healer for Erykah Badu originally, is best known as a "sample based" producer. It is interesting to listen to the two tracks, Madlib who sampled records to get the sound, and then you have BINKBEATS interpret the track back to live instruments; that were likely played in the original records that Madlib had sampled. BINKBEATS also uses looping techniques so he can have all the instruments that he is playing sound like a live band as they slowly build upon one another.

Flying Lotus or FlyLo is an Experimental Electronic Beat musician. For this interpretation BINKBEATS plays Getting There he uses a wide selection of Bells and Percussion as well as Piano's and Slinky's, he also introduces us to his vocals, which will be revisited in later tracks. This time using a mix of live instrumentation as well as on the spot sampling and looping (probably a lot like Flylo did in his recording) he brings this track to its desired place and starts to lay vocals over it until it is sounding a lot like the original. But because of the chosen instruments, a lot more organic sounding then electronic.

For BINKBEATS latest track Without You originally by Lapalux, he focuses on dreamy/dark Synths. The song slowly slowly builds with drums and vocals being played over the ever reaping Synthesizer samples. He also has a pretty memorizing Xylophone solo at around 2:45. Myself not being a fan of Lapalux or this song, was quite surprised as I kept hitting the repeat button to listen to this track again and again.

I would like to see BINKBEATS venture off and start creating original material himself. As you can see from watching his YouTube videos and the equipment he has, he could probably come up with some pretty impressive sounds. However if he never does, I will likely be just as satisfied with him releasing a cover version of a new song every month for our listening pleasure.

J. Rocc, The Taster's Choice.

J. Rocc, one of my favorite DJ’s, has always been best known for his work with and co-founder of the DJ group the Beat Junkies that started in 1992. However he has been doing so much work as a DJ/musician recently that it is possible he is gaining more fans these days than he ever has before. His run with Stones Throw Records started in the early 2000’s, what is Stones Throw most noted for? Well for starters, being one of the largest and most popular underground (indie if you prefer) Hip-Hop labels. Secondly, they have an extremely dedicated fan base; changes, no matter how small, do not go unnoticed for very long within the label. So when J. Rocc began DJing live shows for the duo Jaylib (Madlib and J Dilla), he tried to stay in the background and do what he does, “rock live crowds”. Only one problem with that, J. Rocc is good at what he does; if he cannot get a crowd dancing by the records he plays he will amaze them and put the crowd into a trance like state as his hands move faster than their eyes can see with his perfected turntable skills. So what happened after the Jaylib tour? You guessed it, J. Rocc seemed to be on the bill for almost every big live event and tour Stones Throw has been a part of since. With many 12” singles and podcast mixes following, and most recently he even released his first solo full length titled Some Cold Rock Stuf “Not a mix tape. Not a DJ album. Not a beats album. It’s the album.”

That was an extremely brief biography for the vast amount of work J. Rocc has accomplished so far, but I am not writing this post to talk about his entire music career, I am writing it to write a brief description about his Taster’s Choice Series. Volume Six was recently released, three long years after Volume Five came out. Volume six is an African/Reggae focusing on rare and obscure songs. Going in reverse succession Volume Five is rooted in Spiritual Jazz. Volume Four is unreleased, well, actually no one really knows if it has ever been created. The rumor is Volume Four was a Reggae mix, but with the release of Volume six being a Reggae mix, it is doubtful that if it even exists that it is also a Reggae mix. Volume Three is influenced by early and mid nineties Hip-Hop with a hint of Funk. Volume Two, a good mix of Funk, Jazz, and Hip-Hop, and Volume One a mix of Latin and Brazilian music. As you can tell, J. Rocc knows, listens too, and can mix a very eclectic range of music.

I am excited for more Taster Choice mixes in the future, not to mention other releases that I am sure he will release in between.  

Portland Cello Project

The Portland Cello Project's Record Store Day release Homage is amazing! Plus it is on orange marble vinyl and limited to 350 copies worldwide. I stopped at Music Millennium early in the morning and could barely make it upstairs to the vinyl section. The already narrow aisles of the store had now turned into squirming, snaking, lines of music lovers all waiting to purchase the music they had carefully yet hurriedly selected. After browsing the vinyl for a few minutes I realized I did not want to stand in the ever growing line that was already at least a forty-five minutes long. Because of this, I passed up on the Portland Cello Project (PCP) vinyl as well a few other selections, assuming that I would find them elsewhere. After visiting Anthem Records, Everyday Music (which I figured would have PCP), I was lucky enough to get one of the last copies at Jackpot Records. I am excited I found it, it was the only record on my list that I really "needed". It is that good. Portland Cello Project has three other albums on Compact Disc, Homage is their first on vinyl. A non-limited version of the vinyl, plus a CD copy can be found on their web store. PCP's style is based on upon the idea of playing cellos in a way your normally wouldn't hear cellos being played. For Homage specifically the idea was to interrupt Hip-Hop instrumentals. On this album a few of the songs they tackle are by OutKast, Talib Kweli, even Lil Wayne's hit Lollipop is covered. Most of the songs stick to the original, however certain tracks take on a life of their own and you would never realize it was a play on another song. Many of the songs feature drums, trombones and other orchestra like instruments. PCP's crew is always changing depending on who is available for tour, and it is rumored that they have over 900 songs to choose from when they play shows, therefore no show is ever the same set. Earlier this month they played a concert of Pantera covers exclusively. I could go on and on about the group, but if you would like ore info about Portland Cello Project it can be found here and here. Homage, best buy of the year so far, will probably finish out the year as the best buy.
Next review will be on John Haughm.

"They’re here to shake the foundations."

The Quakers get their name comes from earthquake, a 35 member Hip-hop group that focuses on three producers: Fuzzface, 7-Stu-7 and Katalyst. You can read more about them here. 
I love instrumental music, Jazz, Classical, Hip-hop beats, Noise, Electronic ect. so it goes without saying that when amazing producers and composers make music with lyrics I love when they release the instrumentals of the original songs. Normally this takes months or years to come out with the instrumental only albums, but Quakers are releasing their debut album with both the original and instrumental versions 2 CD or 2LP  formats. Split evenly originals on one disc instrumentals on the other. 
From what I have heard from them the music is amazing. Touching on Big Band Horn Jazz, Electronic, to everyday Hip-hop. I pride them for being creative and finding a wide array of rappers, but sometimes I don't want to here someone rapping about stuff I don't care about, let the music speak. Poetry in music is creative, encouraging, and inspiring, it has its time and place. With Quakers they are letting us choose what we are in the mood for. Check out a few of their tracks here, if you like what you hear, buy the album!

Badbadnotgood

Badbadnotgood, all one word, is a group that specializes in playing Jazz covers of Hip-Hop songs. It's interesting that Hip-Hop is heavily influenced by Jazz music. Now there is a wave of modern Jazz bands covering Hip-Hop tracks. Badbadnotgood is one of those bands, and despite their name, one of the best. One of the great things about the band is, you can tell they enjoy playing music, they are not in it to make money. All of their music can be found for free on their website, click on the download tab. They also have many tracks available for listen on YouTube.
Badbadnotgood, unfortunately, is best known for their covers and work with Tyler The Creator. In my opinion, Tyler is literally bad bad not good! His lyrics are more vulgar than artists such as Eminem, and he can't rhyme as as well. His music is not worth my time, one of my biggest pet peeves in music is when an artist uses explicit language just to use explicit language, his tracks are full of obscene language to get people to react, not to develop the story or idea he is rapping about. On the flip side, Badbadnotgood's instrumental covers of Tyler are beautiful, they also cover MF DOOM, the late J Dilla, and many more. It is groups like this that remind us that music is still being made or remade for the enjoyment of playing music.

"Seeds"

"Seeds" a new collaboration from The Beat Konducta, Madlib and Georgia Anne Muldrow. Madlib's musical output is ridiculous, just last year he released nearly 6 albums and 6 mix tapes while still working on side projects and his Jazz group(s) Yesterdays New Quintet. But this project will be his first full length release with a female artist. Georgia Anne is a great producer in her own right, however for this release she has given full production responsibility's to Madlib so she can focus on the vocals. This is the first time she has ever given up this role! “Not handling production and focusing strictly on the lyrics and vocals was a very different experience for me. It was as if I walked into someone else’s world and built a hut. But I’m very proud of the hut we built and am excited about the release.” –Georgia Anne Muldrow
With both of these seasoned musicians trying something they have never done before makes this upcoming release more exciting. Check out these two tracks, Seeds and Husfriend from the 7" they released earlier this month. It sounds like they are both at their best for this one. I can't wait to hear the LP which is set for release on March 27th 2012.

Copyright Criminals - The Movie

Copyright Criminals is an hour long documentary detailing the controversy of sampling previously recorded music, to add to your own sound production. Interviews and comments come from both sides; the artist on one side and the law on the other. Focusing primarily on sampling in hip-hop music, issues come up like: Is sampling as creative as playing ones own instruments? Is it possible to take a prerecorded sound and change it  so much that it is no longer owned by the original artist? Can you tell if a hi-hat sound came from Clyde Stubblefield, Malcolm Catto, Ringo Starr or the artist making the new music? These and many more questions are discussed and answered in this short but extremely entertaining film. If you already have a Netflix subscription, you can stream it for free, if you would like to purchase it afterward or do not have Netflix you can order a DVD and special features from the movies website. Whichever format you choose, I recommend you watch it, if you are at all interested in hip-hop music or if you are interested in copyright laws and bylaws, this film is worth your time.