Max Bell holds the weight of 1.2 synagogues.
Hit + Run run the live screen printing game, which is probably a game you don’t think about very often. However, they are the best at it and unlike Khaled, their success doesn’t make them suffer. They ardently support of music they bump and believe in. especially the L.A. beat scene.
Enter Hit + Run’s latest compilation, 777. As with past Hit + Run projects (see any installment of their Road Kill series), the number of high-profile producers on here is staggering: The Gaslamp Killer, Ras G, Jeremiah Jae, J Rocc, and KNX are just a few, and many appear more than once. Short of going to Low End Theory, there’s nowhere else you’re likely to hear all of these guys back-to-back in 2013.
777 kicks off with “Triad,” one my favorite Mono/Poly tracks to date. A staircase of computerized keys, winding its melody through the Tron universe and embedding itself in your psyche. It’s the sound of a digitized sunset, both beatific and banging. After Mono/Poly’s “Triad,” Shash’u reimagines Vaughan Mason & Crew’s classic “Roll Bounce” on “Boogie Buster.” It’s funky and menacing, like someone threatening to smother you with their jheri curl. Or something. Think friendly parquet skate floor turned bow-throwing beat down. Then CrimeKillz provides the soundtrack for all three AM coke binges with “Cocaine Problem.”
Barring the aforementioned tracks and a few other outliers, 777 is a softer collection, something suited less for smoking on loud at the Airliner and more for a solo session. Zeroh’s “Legacy” makes me want a full LP from the LBC native even more than I did already. It’s one of the best displays of his raspy wordplay in recent memory, and bodes well for all (hopefully) future releases from one of the few men “free skating the East Bay.” Kutmah’s “Changin'” is mellow music for the ’90s beat junkie. The Gaslamp Killer’s contribution is my favorite. On “He’s Watching You” moody jazz meets subdued psychedelic rock.
There are others. 29 total. Raw beats and good times, bespoke for you to burn one or seven.
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