The Californian producer put together an album of beats from the last few months of 2018. I found Ruffian Kick last year while waiting for a plane from Nice back to the UK. I was glad to find a new release in 2019 and his most recent is a belter. LEAVES. is, as he describes it himself: some beats from the fall & winter seasons….
We reviewed The Hell Hole Store’s Three The Hard Way. Greetings, everyone. The holidays are finally over, or almost over if you work in a grocery store. However, there’s one gift left under the tree. There was no name on the wrapper, so I took it, opened it, disposed of all evidence of my sin, and gave it a listen. The gift, called “Three The…
It’s a new moniker for Starchildluke as he releases his fifth #Road2Switch series. No prizes for guessing where the name Shrill Evans comes from. But in case you didn’t know, it’s a lo-fi take on the late piano maestro Bill Evans. And Starchildluke took that inspiration for his new alter-ego on new album, MONOLITH. He describes it as “a sub-20-minute journey through jazz and classical…
We reviewed Clear Soul Forces’ new album, Still. It’s been way too long since we last wrote about Clear Soul Forces. So when I heard they had a new album out, I had to right that wrong. The acclaimed Detroit trio released Still, their first full-length album in four years after numerous solo projects in that time. The last joint LP was Fab Five, released…
Another transatlantic duo meet for the follow up to their 2017 debut EP. We reviewed Edison Av and Sik Sense’s Above the Ground. Hip hop has no boundaries when it comes to creativity. The second biggest ocean on the planet isn’t the obstacle it once was for artists back in the day thanks to the internet as Edison Av and Sik Sense know all too…
A little late but the UK producer is back again with his fourth #Road2Switch album release, BOWSERTAPE. In arguably his best release of the series, Starchildluke brings us BOWSERTAPE. He’s called it an “alternative love album” loosely based on Bowser’s “relationship” with Princess Peach. To tell the tale, Starchildluke has used mostly R&B samples with a random mix of skits per his trademark style. As…
The Dutch beat maestro is back with Smoetsie, his third release. (No pun intended!) It’s not been that long since we discovered Thijsenterprise and his sophomore release, Stepbacks & Setbacks. It’s actually been 6 months between that album and his latest offering which is a long time in an age of Bandcamp hip hop. This one is called Smoetsie (Dutch slang for “smutty) and it’s a concept…
The UK producer drops the second album from his #Road2Switch series. We covered Starchildluke’s last album, Boas Festas, when it came out for Christmas. His aim was to release one album a month in 2019 for his #Road2Switch series, a fund created to buy a Nintendo Switch. January’s album is called VENOMTAPE and uses a variety of rock samples and frantic samples. Inspired by Madlib’s…
The Japanese duo return with a new collab project. Japan’s influence on hip hop should not go unmentioned. The nation gave us anime which has become synonymous with the genre’s lo-fi variant. Some of the greatest DJ’s were born there: DJ Kentaro, DJ Krush, The Silent Poets, and the late Nujabes. From the underground, Bugseed continues to reign supreme. His heavy style of boom bap…
Lo-fi boom bap with Zelda and Mario samples? AC3Beats’ Nostalgia lives up to its name. I didn’t get my first games console until 1998 but I played on a few in the preceding years. Whether you were like me or you had them growing up, you’ll appreciate the subject matter on AC3Beats’s new album. Nostalgia has been described as “the musical equivalent of a big, warm…
