Sach O wonders if a producer will ever empty out his hard drive and call it “the dump.”
And the flood of free beats does not abate. If this were an era in which music required physical discs of plastic to be distributed, I’d bust out the old chestnut about being buried alive in the stuff in order to properly explain the amount of instrumentals passing through my collection on a daily basis. This surprisingly cohesive collection from TRC deserves additional spotlight however. Nominally a Bassline producer from Northern-England, these tracks have seemingly little to do with Sheffield dance culture and everything to do with blissed out experimental Hip-Hop and the intersection of classic Grime and Garage. In other words: uptempo beats to rap over with cherry picked elements from some of urban music’s most interesting moments over the past 20 years.
The foundation is the 808, but rather than fuss over and manipulate individual drum hits within an inch of their lives, TRC lays ’em down Drumma Boy style and keeps it moving. Then comes the cotton-candy synths that cut the difference between Outkast, Dr. Dre, Joker and Clams Casino if that guy ever cared about defining his melodies. Throw in some occasional 2-step skip, Grime wonk and totally unexpected guitar heroics and you’ve got tunes that don’t sound quite like anything else out there: totally raw but with a dreamy melodic tone that wouldn’t be out of place on a Big K.R.I.T or Curren$y record. It’s a cohesive affair that belies its free origins as well, I’ve heard more than a few properly promoted records this year that don’t come nearly as close to quality of these beats, be they UK or North-American. Recommended for fans of Araabmuzik, Girl Unit, Dam Funk and the occasional Jimi Hendrix aping axe work.
Download:
MP3: TRC – 155
MP3: TRC – Main Number
MP3: TRC – Back To Fluff
MP3: TRC – The Leak (left click)
