Mimar the Beat Curator’s fourth weekly picks – Gezi/Soulless

It's been quite a while since my last deposit here, and well, such is the way of things I suppose. Anyway, Evis is hard to follow, and I've been tossing around a few 'picks' in my head for this weeks' write-up, and in the end, I figured I owed whoever you are out there more than just one selection, given my absence of late. So without further ado, I present the Mimar's fourth entry into this hallowed list of Mimar-approved beat-making legends; Gezi and Soulless.

Both of these artists reside in places where I personally haven't heard much in the way of good hip-hop, to be perfectly honest. Gezi's from Slovenia, and Soulless is from Russia, but if Kristaps Porzingis has taught us New Yorkers anything, it's not to worry about where a talent is from, so much as how damned good they are. These guys are cut and chop masters - which probably means they're tearing through MPCs like its their job... maybe it is? I'm not inclined to verify if these guys are amateurs or not, because... who cares? The music is good, and thus the recommendations stand. Anyway, Gezi is shredding up some good ol' soul here, and Soulless mashes up Pink Floyd and remixes the legendary New Yorker MF Doom aka Metal Fingers aka King Geedorah aka Viktor Vaughn aka... etc... so whether from Slovenia, Russia, or Jamaica, Queens, good hip-hop is good hip-hop.

On a side note, this thought gave me pause - hip-hop is international now in a way that it never has been before. How amazing is it that people all over the world are crafting, refining, and developing the art form with this kind of passion? So far, I've highlighted beat-makers from Holland, Japan, and now Slovenia and Russia. I never expected this to be the case when I set out to start writing these things up, so anyway, that was a nice realization.

It especially resonates that one of these is Russian - while our politicians lead us head-wise into war and calamity (perpetually), or fear-monger regarding immigrants and refugees, here we have an American beat-maker writing about (commending!) a Russian beat-maker regarding the common language of music, and more specifically hip-hop music. Given the time and energy that goes into doing this, and the degree of knowledge regarding music, sampling, mixing, etc, etc, etc. it goes without saying that even despite potential 'differences,' there's no doubt we could probably sit down and talk about music and chop samples up for hours. It's not an invitation, I'm just saying that it's a good moment to remember that despite the perceived differences we're supposed to have with certain people, at the end of the day, we're all just that; people - the products of our experiences - and as such, we're probably not all that different. Even though we're supposed to think of Russians as a threat, and Russia as this meta-physical manifestation of some kind of 'evil,' it's just a place with borders drawn on maps, full of people in most ways like you and I. That this artist is making hip-hop at such a high level speaks loudly to our similarities far more than it does any of those perceived differences. Music is one of those great equalizers, and carries with it the potential for so much more than just music or art.

Anyway, enjoy the beats of Gezi and Soulless, and as always, the songs I linked you guys to here are only a small sample of an otherwise fantastic selection of music that both of these beat-makers have up on soundcloud. Check out their music, and of course, mine as well (I put up a Brazilian sample-infused beat after I wrote my Lost Perfection rec for you guys, check it out), and as always, all hail the Mimar!

Mimar the Beat Curator’s third weekly pick – Evis Beats

Ladies and gentlemen, brace yourselves, hold your hats, make sure you're seated, and so on. You're about to have a new favorite beat-maker. Well, he is at least going to be among your favorites. I present to you Evis Beats.

Almost everything the man touches comes out gold, or so it has been in the short window that I've followed him. The track I clicked on first, which he just posted, pretty much explains it without my needing to so say too much more about why I think his beats are as good as I think they are. I was like "oh, let me go and find an iconic 'evis beat' to show the world what I mean," and lo and behold, the first one I clicked on, his most recent, did just fine. Then the next one came on, and was equally as impressive, and well, my job is done, in terms of why I'm choosing him - easy.

When I decided to write this blog, not long ago, to be honest, I already knew Evis would be one of my first posts. So I'm glad to finally be shining a spotlight on him.

I've created a sub-genre, in my head, that I refer to as 'Japanese beats' - my genre's name is not artful, nor particularly clever, but anyway, I've come to see a distinct style of beats coming out of Japan of late that excites me (the more, the merrier, right?). Growing up musically with the likes of DJ Honda, Japanese hip-hop was never completely off the radar, but there wasn't a unified sound that I could call specifically Japanese. DJ Krush came around (into my knowledge, anyway) and something started to percolate, and more recently, Ta-ku, and more and more Japanese artists via soundcloud and the like, and there it was; a style emerging that, to me anyway, seemed distinctive. It's clean, it seems to be more, perhaps MIDI controller-based, rather than MPC-based (I could be wrong on this), which means more loops, less chopping, a kind of 'refined' sound, which outside of these Japanese producers I wouldn't identify as a redeeming quality (I've always been into the dirtier, turntablists, or the Dooms and Madlibs of the beat-making world myself), but with these guys it just kind of worked. There's often a kind of 'twitchy' electronic sound to the beats, subtle, but which adds to the aesthetic, and certainly contributes to setting the style apart. Anyway, I'll keep on the look out for more examples of this style that I'm talking about, but Evis certainly has mastered it, and if he isn't already, he should be viewed as a pioneer in Japan for what he's doing.

Enjoy the beats (and as always, check mine out too, while you'e at it.).

Mimar the Beat Curator’s second weekly pick – L.P.’s Groovin’

Mimar the Beat Curator’s Weekly Spotlight - the week of August 26th: L.P. (Lost Perfection)

This week I’m shining my little, slightly defective flashlight on L.P. I first heard him right about when he released this track on soundcloud—a kind of tripped out, Pete Rock meets Rob Swift type of beat that I played out by listening to too many times. Anyway, back to the present, and he put this new track up, another very solid track which I've nearly played out in the same fashion; so I thought it was high-time I paid my respects to L.P. here in my second entry as ‘Mimar the Beat Curator.’

This week it’s L.P’s track, Groovin’, though he’s worth a follow and a thorough listening beyond just the one track. It’s actually been two months since this track was put up, but I heard it and knew it needed to be mentioned here, as well as his whole body of work, which is pretty damned enjoyable to listen to. The Raydar Ellis mix just seemed far too fitting as a first entry, so I held off on this one. Still though, L.P. deserves the spotlight.

The Brazilian sampling off this track is phenomenal—it’s been a while since I’ve messed with any Brazilian samples myself, but for those unfamiliar with the process of 'beat-making' there are periods of time when certain types of samples, or samples from certain regions and local genres get really big; whereas we’re now in the middle of a Turkish psychedelic epidemic (of which I’m fully on board with—love the shit), there was a time not long ago when these Brazilian jazz/bossa nova-styled beats were really making their rounds. I think any decent beat-maker has a good bit of Brazilian music, and probably gets excited at the prospect of messing around with samples from that grouping. Anyway, this track here is a great example of Brazilian sample usage. L.P., of Groningen, in the Netherlands, is a master of the craft, and I hope the man catches on, as his talent is deserving of it. Anyway, enjoy the beats. 

Mimar the Beat Curator's First Weekly Pick - Raydar Ellis' Mixography:The Collective vol. 2, Native Tongues

Mimar the Beat Curator's First Weekly Pick - Raydar Ellis' Mixography:The Collective vol. 2, Native Tongues

Mimar the Beat Curator’s Weekly Spotlight - August 19th: Raydar Ellis

Hey guys. Since I hate self-promotion anyway, I’ve decided to focus more on shining a light on other folk’s music a little bit. I'm still making new beats, and have plenty of beats that I haven’t edited enough to put up, so keep listening for those (To hear my beats, you can click here), but I’m going to do a weekly spotlight on a beat-maker you probably don’t know, and a track that caught my attention for one reason or another.

This week it’s Raydar Ellis’ Mixography: The Collectives - Vol. II, Native Tongues.

I’m normally going to just find a track from someone, usually a beat-maker (though this time I’m featuring more of a traditional DJ, which I’ll likely do occasionally) who caught my attention on soundcloud. I’ll assume many of you will likely not have heard what I post, but this week, in my first edition, I thought I’d do something a little different. This is a DJ’s set, and having just been featured on okayplayer’s site, you very well may have heard this. Still though, the music he mixes was so formative for me, musically, that I feel like this is the perfect intro to this weekly spotlight thing.

If you don’t know who the Native Tongues are, then just go to google, wikipedia, whatever, buy yourself a good 20 essential albums or so (I’m not going to list them here, you can find that kind of thing anywhere and I assume you’ve heard of Google, yes?), and by the Gods, you’re welcome.

Anyway, listening to this mix is like listening to my playlist circa 2001 (and often still to this day), only mixed really well by a clearly talented individual in Raydar Ellis, who I’ll be sure to keep track of from now on. Enjoy the beats and remember… All hail the Mimar!