The latest album from Julian Priessen is a handcrafted, meticulous work of art

Seven new tracks from the German artist were produced entirely by him with no sampled sounds

Dreams And Pieces Vol. 1 is the latest album from Julian Priessen, a musician based in Düsseldorf, Germany. As a member of the collective “kids in a candy store,” he is also a music composer for feature films, TV, documentaries, and more. Within his own musical practice, he creates emotionally charged music that features energized snippets to engage the listener and create space for them to drift away mentally and emotionally. Recording and producing all his music as a solo venture, he uses chance to shape perspective and discover different angles and approaches.

Priessen’s debut album in 2019 was Permanent Shore, a mixture of beats, found sound, song fragments, and more, all tied together through piano and bass undertones. More recently, in 2022, he released the single “Lovly,” from his forthcoming album, as well as the EP Fades. In 2021, he dropped singles including “Caught” and “Voyage,” as well as two EPS, Beam/In Bloom and Dawn.

His newest album from May 2022 features hip-hop-inspired rhythms and a smooth, funky sound with elements of jazz and rock woven throughout. The album is comprised of seven tracks, all of which are entirely created by Priessen himself, with no sampled sounds. Through his meticulous, handcrafted process, his music develops its own lexicon that is enchanting for the listener, provides an escape, and brings it back to earth intermittently to ground the entire composition in familiar elements.

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A new collection of Animated beats from Sweet William

Japanese artist Sweet William releases an instrumental album and 14 accompanying illustrations

Born in 1990, Japanese beat maker Sweet William has released his newest album Beat Theme. Known for his delicate track making, skilled sampling sensibility, and sonic scenes, this album follows his style using traditional Japanese instruments mixed over old school hip-hop and electronic beats. With an eclectic and multi layered sound, his work appeals to fans of DJ Krush, DJ Shadow, J Dilla, Biship Nehru, and Chester Watson.

Sweet William debuted his solo career with the album Lo One in 2015, featuring collaborations with JIVA Nel MONDO, Warbo, and Tsubaki. Collaborating again with Tsubaki in 2017, their album Jasmine gained heightened popularity in the Japanese hip-hop scene. Earlier albums by Sweet William include Orange (2016), la blanka (2018), Jasmine Instrumentals (2019), and la blanka instruments (2019)—a revisit of his 2018 release. Other albums in his discography include numerous collaborations including Arte Frasco from 2016 which featured artists from Lo One plus Yuya Sato, ANPYO, NF Zessho, and Jimmenusagi, and his previous release Brown from 2019 which featured deep beats collabs with J. Lamotta, kiki vivi lily, and Jambo Lacquer.

Beat Theme holds true to Sweet Williams’ down tempo, hip-hop style and features fourteen instrumental tracks inspired by his memories of beloved music spanning many genres. The album’s cadence is made up of dense musical compositions expressing a range of attitudes and rhythms. Tracks such as ‘Eat Two’ feature stark sounds and hip-hop rhythms that incorporate the entire body and express themselves through the heartbeat of the music. For the album’s release, Sweet William teamed up with Japanese Illustrator Moeno Otsu to create 14 illustrations—one for each track on the album—making this musical work a multi-faceted and interdisciplinary experience.

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DJ and Producer Odin releases her debut album

The twelve tracks of meditative sound bring the listener into an emotional journey

Odin Smith—sometimes called ‘Odiespice’—dropped her first album Between Worlds this spring. Following both her producing and DJ’ing practices, this album joins the two avenues. Based in LA and born in the San Fernando Valley, Odin has been DJ’ing since the age of 13 when she discovered the freedom and expression of voice that it brought her.

Prior to this debut album, Odin released Charmeuse in 2020 featuring four tracks including ‘Tiger’s Eye’ and ‘Opal.’ In addition to the EP, she collaborated with fellow LA-based musician Kohinoorgasm to release ‘Double Trouble’ in 2020. The single now features on her new album alongside the other two singles released this year ‘Hume’ and ‘Sticks.’

Between Worlds brings listeners twelve tracks of Odin’s honest sound, mixed and produced by her and mastered by FrythmBeats. Her meditative and sometimes trance-like songs blend with a deep energy, stirring up emotions within the listener. Her work looks to use experimental sound and electronic music to create nostalgic sonic atmospheres. She described this project as an ode to women who have supported her for her entire life, as she looks to encourage other women and girls to be their true selves and show everyone their extraordinary colors.

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DC Duo The Other Guys recreate LA Soul with ‘Los Angeles Shorty’

"Summer In Analog: Season 2" | Available Now: http://hyperurl.co/Summerinanalog2 Official Video for "Los Angeles Shorty" by The Other Guys Produced by: The O...

The beat focused producers release another effortless collection in their instrumental series

Mighty Joe and Isaiah are producers based in DC, but the sound and style they’ve been working on as the hip-hop beat duo ‘The Other Guys’ has forged connections across the country. The two have been deep in the beat community for a long time, bringing out vibes that glow with soul. The Other Guys specialise in music that gets heads nodding and energy flowing. Over the years they’ve lent their talents to areas like chill-hop, jazz-hop, boom-bap and study beats, keeping the vibe alive throughout.

A sound like that of The Other Guys draws a crowd, as well as other artists looking to collaborate. The two have found themselves working with the likes of Skyzoo, Tanya Morgan, Homeboy Sandman, J-Live, Substantial, Wordsworth, Young Roddy and Kooley High. New links mean new flavours, and the variety of artists featured on The Other Guys tracks has been nothing but beneficial to the duo’s growth and evolution.

Despite the frequency of joint projects, instrumental releases are dropped regularly by Joe and Isaiah, and it’s on such a collection that our featured track ‘Los Angeles Shorty’ has arrived. Slow and sweet, the song is one of seven low tempo tracks on the recent album ‘Summer In Analog: Season 2’.

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A return to the hazy beats of Nickelman

Yuki Kitano hails from Osaka Japan, where the skateboarding culture helped lead him to the genre of hip-hop and to his first experimentations with the MPC2000XL drum machine. Now creating beat tape and lo-fi sound as Nickelman, Kitano has picked up more than 15 years of experience as an electric artist and remains on track and on task.

Instrumental beats tend to be where Nickelman carves out his place, filling his extensive discography up with tracks which contain both cool vibes and a warm heart. While each release takes on a slightly different style, the mellow mood is consistent throughout, and although many of the artist’s tracks are instrumental, those incorporating vocals and found sound do so with careful consideration, making sure they complement the daydream synth and bring character to the song.

Coming up on the horizon as a follow up to 2019’s ‘Elements’ LP is a 12 track release set for August, titled ‘Butterwax’. It’s from this LP that our featured track ‘Fly’ is taken, an early introduction to the next major collection of beats. It’s what Nickelman does best, thick with soft beats and light with low tempo melodies, finished by vocals to furnish the sound with a touch of humanity.

Pre-order the album on cassette, vinyl or digital on Bandcamp or stream the single on Spotify

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Asta Hiroki brings textured hip hop to the Future Archive collaboration

Back in 2018, Future Archive Recordings started marking out their place in the electronic scene and supporting music in a way that suited them and the artists they worked with.  Skip ahead a couple of years and they’ve just released FUTURE ARCHIVE VOL 2 on May 29th, with Asta Hiroki heading up the collection of indie electronica.

Hiroki’s sound is affected by the UK resident’s work as an audio specialist for video games, contemporary dance and art installations, influences that find their way into the foundations of his ventures into experimental hip hop. There are aspects of lo-fi and glitch to be found in his tracks, as well as the occasional touch of soulful jazz.

The Future Archive collaboration album will be featuring Hiroki’s abstract hip hop track ‘You & Me’, a downtempo offering which builds upon a single melodic vocal sample repeated and re-edited to the point that it attains a hypnotic quality. ‘You & Me’ will be released alongside work from 14 other artists connected to the label, including Sun Glitters, Yppah and newer artists like Daily Bread. The compilation album is set to be ambitious, pulling in future garage, dark synth, downtempo, and future R&B. Asta Hiroki is relatively new to the label, but finds himself in good company.

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Home-grown in New York: Astral Bird’s ‘K2000’

Mixed by Will Owen Bennet Mastered by Nicholas Di Lorenzo

When artists spend time picking through samples, aligning up beat tracks, and getting in touch with sound that inspires them, that energy electrifies their work. Real experience and emotion makes real music, and the warmth that resonates through the beats created by Astral Bird forms a link between you and the people behind the project.

Kicking off as a high school duo in New York, Benn Gabriner and Jake Brussel Faria have been piecing together singles which string together gems of innovation. Their approach to the sound they’re collaborating often changes, the mood in their tracks shifts around to hit on different vibes, and it’s apparent that the two are searching for different techniques to mess around with and try out. There’s no discoordination in the end product though. Bars of synthwave link together with found sound, glitch and jazz-hop. There’s an overall atmosphere of mellow lo-fi house, but always with an original flavour.

Gabriner and Faria are now divided by distance and based in LA and Brooklyn respectively, with a fairly sporadic release rate. On this occasion however, we’re presented with a solo effort from Gabriner as he releases ‘K2000’ under the Astral Bird moniker. The New York inspired soul is still there.

Grab the track over on Bandcamp or stream it on Spotify.

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Beat-tape aficionado Nickelman’s ‘Sweet Blunts’

As Nickelman, Yuki Kitano has been creating music for more than 15 years, making his own mark on the beat-tape and lo-fi scene. Originally from Osaka Japan, Nickelman’s solo talents have been developing alongside his long term musical collaborator FROGMAN. Sharing a passion for deep beats, the two artists have worked to build ‘Freemanz Production’, releasing a tidy discography of chillout and jazzy tracks which manage to slow down time as you hit play. This partnership was also behind Deepconstruction Records, a label out there to support contributions from the worlds of lo-fi, hip hop and rap.

Nickelman’s collection of solo music has also continued to expand, with 13 separate LP size offerings up on his Bandcamp. The tracks presented carry deep vibes, glowing synth bass and a hazy atmosphere that surrounds the listener.

The pace of production hasn’t slowed, and the most recent addition to the discography was added in early January of this year. That said we’re looking back a little further to 2019 with the music on display today. ‘Sweet Blunts’ was supported by the record label URBNET last June as part of Nickelman’s ‘Elements’ album, and the bpm sits between typical lo-fi and instrumental hip-hop, maintaining a warm vibe rather than a melted one.

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Sifting through vinyl, with Klanger: ‘Ghetto Sale’

Klanger’s heart and soul seems set on music collection. Through flea markets, record shops, blues, jazz and funk, this German artist walks the path to find the perfect sound, and clearly has no problem stopping along the way with each new discovery. The samples Klanger collects find their way into his tracks, as the curator turns producer. Influences on his work are plentiful, including Lee Perry, MF Doom, Jay Dee and far more than I can write here.

His tracks tend to follow a Lo-fi Hip-Hop feel, a genre which is everywhere right now, to the point that the market is a little saturated. Surely everyone’s managed to get all their chilling and studying done by now? Quality is obvious when you hear it though, and what Klanger brings out with ‘Ghetto Sale’ is something fresh, with a real twist of funk. It’s warm, cool, and the low quality sound really does add flavour here. The percussion is tight and sharp, but the bass and vocal samples beneath sound it like they’re underwater, something that just works magically.

Klanger’s online discography is still growing, currently consisting of individual singles rather than full albums, but hopefully we might see some larger movement in the future.

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Superb lo-fi hip-hop: Emapea's 'Modern Ways'

Standing atop a smooth discography of funk, dub, jazz and lo-fi, Emapea seems like an artist you might have already heard during those late night sessions when the rest of the world seems asleep. Tendency for hip-hop instrumentalism aside, there’s some deviation and experimentation with the genre and medium by which Emapea’s sound is delivered, but you can be assured that tracks will be well thought-out and intoxicatingly mellow.

With the love for lo-fi online right now, I don’t doubt that this Polish producer’s tracks will have found their way into a huge amount of carefully curated chill playlists. Certainly his tracks have been picked up by one of the high quality lo-fi YouTube channels STEEZYASFUCK, both in the past and more recently with a beat tape uploaded just a couple of weeks ago.

Emapea has often released with LA’s Cold Busted Records, however his recent song ‘Modern Ways’ found a home with Universal Music Polska. It’s a silky track with a minimal vibe and restrained piano and guitar samples, slipping in some jazz groove into a work already secure in its funk credentials.

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