Since we just mentioned Metabeats, we’ll use that as a nice segue into some jump tempo stylees. (It’s a smooth wrench thrown into the downbeat theme that’s we’ve been keeping around here pretty consistently as of late.) When Meta transforms into his alter-ego Chesus, he partners with Rodski (and Tony Blitz and J.D. Stroud, sorry) to become C.R.S.T., where they deliver steady club bangers. The UK Funky joint we’re posting here is called “Mighty” and it refuses to stay put. From the 2 minute to 4 minute mark alone, the beat changes up three times and new percussion, samples and polyrhythms are added every few bars. Dancefloors, we still love you. (Artwork by Jasper Goodall [fixed] via TheMovementsMoving.)

It’s nice to hear an all original track with a Brooklyn rapper spitting over a subs-filled beat. Elucid collaborated with British producer Metabeats, AKA Chesus, to create this intergalactic joint called “Whirlwind Through Cities”. Elucid’s previously shown his affinity for bass music by spitting over the beats of Joker, Kode 9, 77Klash, and others on his mixtapes. Why reuse an acapella everybody’s heard countless times? Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but there’s such a large well of fresh vocal talent within our shores and we’d like to see more exposure for up and coming artists. (No disrespect to all the toasters out here – you know y’all keep killin’ it.) Emcess on the hip hop circuit seem to be more open to this type of collabo in other parts of the country. Like the West Coast, probably due to the whole Wonky thing. And presumably Atlanta, since the beats down there are more electronic oriented to begin with. Photo by Ian Fox.

Heinali‘s diverse mix of self produced music, loosely tethered together by dubstep, is so deep it resides underground the lowest layers of the ocean. The variety of rhythms, eclectic percussive choices, and scope of instrumentation are evident in the ever changing stalagmite soundwave that floats by so swiftly. The warm basslines powering this trip ripple in the underwater river. An infusion of organic elements in the sound palette glows in the background with an otherworldliness. The second half of this mix is our favorite, but standout cuts are “Blame You”, “Spivanochka” and “Ghost of a Chance“. You can download most of this mix for free at his bandcamp page. He also composes contemporary classical music, and makes a blend of electronic and classical music called classitronic. (Photo by Ian Sewell).

Emancipator, who’s been featured from time to time on this blog over the last few years, has a new album dropping this Tuesday called Safe In The Steep Cliffs.

It’s a hazy panorama of bucolic dreamscapes traversed with lazy-day tempos. The most impressive part is the obvious care and attention paid to the percussion throughout every song. Emancipator offers a vast selection of richly layered drums. Not only are they dynamic and full of depth, but they’re substantive in composition with interesting meters, numerous polyrhythms and more. As for the melodic elements, he presents a looped style of live instrumentation, but rarely allows them to linger long enough to outstay their welcome.

Overall, the album is comprised of a folksy, organic sound palette, sparking visions of rolling plains and pine tree canopies. You might refer to it as heartland trip hop.

The effort is a well defined improvement over his first release, Soon It Will Be Cold Enough. That album shared many elements with Cliffs, such as its pace, foundation of instruments, and atmosphere. But it was hard to distinguish one song from another. Steep Cliffs solves this by adding a significant stock of new sounds and instruments to differentiate each track. Occasionally that means it slips into the loungey wing of downtempo and even touches on the fringes of smooth jazz. But on the whole, it serves to utilize more colors from the spectrum.

The beauty of much of this album comes in the details. With each listen, something new is there to be found within it’s subtle depths. But that may be missed by a lot of listeners, given its relaxed pace. It doesn’t demand the listener’s attention, allowing them to tune in whenever they feel like it. The tracks also sometimes break off into spacey ambiance where thoughts roam wild, breaking concentration on the details.

But those breakdowns are exemplary of why some of the tracks are so good. They are the valleys of a diverse landscape that also features rolling plains and steep cliffs.

You might have heard tracks off the album on some of our previous mixes. Title track “Safe In The Steep Cliffs” was on the Downbeat Treaty and “Ares” on Dourbeat (both of these tracks remain the CS picks of Steep Cliffs). He recently posted “Cliffs” for free download, so grab that below. Painting by Frederick Edwin Church.

Looking to go out on Saturday and make it count for someone who truly needs help? Then roll through this spot. Even if you can’t donate money yourself, at least spread the word.

DOWNLOAD

A collection of mostly unreleased and new bass music from New York. From dubstep and dub to boom bap and garage. This mix is not comprehensive, it’s more of a snapshot. There’s quite a few more artists we’re really feelin’ out here.

Nate Mars — “Horizon feat. Juakali” (unreleased)
Soroka — “Uncrushable” (unreleased)
Jahdan Blakkamoore — “The General (Ticklah RMX)” [buy it]
Goonda — “Fearless (KRTS RMX)” [buy it]
Radiohead — “I Might Be Wrong (Slouch RMX)”
Mike Slott — “Gardening” [buy it]
Nebulla + Chromatik — “Slowburn” [buy it]
Sepalcure — “Feeling That I Know So Well” (unreleased)
TK Wonder — “Nightwalker” [buy it]
Yellowtail — “Mongoose” [buy it]
Zack Hagan — “rm1x 8-99″ (unreleased)
Mikey Dubs — “Kerala”
Dave Sharma — “How To Move” (unreleased)
Incyde — “I Know” (unreleased)

Original cover photo by Yeshvir Daamineni.

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A woeful piano leads in full anticipation of the crushing industrial glitch that hammers down a foundation of beat on top of it. Then a slashing violin loop emerges, wailing for lost nature. In the cold space left, a more nuanced melody is introduced, evoking a better articulated loss, which quickly disappears within the frantic cold modern industry of the beat. But a stronger bass finds a voice to keep its spirit alive, providing a prop for the eventual reintroduction of eloquent melody. It gradually grows in courage, crescendoing into an urgent pace and tone, replacing the loop and it’s intensity. Ultimately, it becomes a parrot of itself, and the mad loop reemerges for the ending. Cop the rest of Olafur Arnald‘s EP, Dyad 1909, at Erased Tapes. We also recommend “Vio vorum sma… (Dyad 1909 version)”, which is a piano solo. Painting by Carlos Tarrats. (And check our runner up choice for illustration.)

Eye candy. Starring a surreal sepia New York and a burning piano. By Jeff Desom. (via Caslon Projects)

It’s rare that a six minute cut stays fresh throughout the entire track, but Kether comes correct – and offers up the fruits of his labor for free. This downbeat joint switches the beat up several times and displays a dynamic array of tasteful, wonky bass. Although the bass is confined to rhythmic atmosphere, it’s continually interesting, if not melodic. The only thing we can complain about is the vocal samples, which strike us as sort of Chronicles of Nurnia type fantasy ish. But they only bubble up a couple times throughout the song, and the effects layered onto them definitely leave you wondering if they’re angelic or poisonous. Snatch this one up quick, because there’s only 65 downloads left at the time of this writing. Photo by Ralf Greiner.

Stereotyp, the Barefoot spirit, appears once again to leave behind another free gem. He delivers a beat that moves along effortlessly like floating downriver with a comfortably paced rhythm. The drift is assisted by the determined, echo-bled lyrics of Tikiman. Deep, subtle wobbles and low-end synth stabs wrap around you with the sensation of warm water. He offered this for free on his Soundcloud page until the download limit was reached. Now you can only get it here. But somebody please cop my dude a gift page – which has no download limit – to repay him for all the free music he’s given us. Photo by the Arrans.