Lo-Fi Sundays 068 - Arthur_Clark

Breaking the beat straight out of Sevastopol, Crimea, Arthur_Clark weaves and sews melody and rhythm with a keen ear for the golden moments hidden away in his choice of samples. Channeling the notation and compositional vibe of traditional lo-fi flavors, he falls somewhere amongst the ambiguous lines of beats music, with elements of trip-hop and jazz overtures making their way to the surface of each mix. From breezy afternoons to moonlit nights, all manner of aesthetic and emotion is present in his discography.

By allowing so much color to shine through his sampled material, Arthur_Clark separates himself from the pack; the bright textures and the slow drenching of stereo space reinforces the strength of his arrangements. Crafty filters and spectral sweeping push and pull at his melodies, with slight EQ changes happening consecutively throughout the duration of his tracks. Not content to let the audio rest, the palette of his music is expanded exponentially through even the smallest bit of modulation. Through his clever homogenization of ingredients, Arthur_Clark is just as much a gourmet chef as he is a gourmet beat machine.

Going back as far as seven years, the catalog of Arthur_Clark covers a vast array of hip-hop territory, and no matter where one chooses to dive in, only auditory gold awaits. With virtually no fanfare and a fairly consistent output, he is a gem waiting to be uncovered by the multitude of ears hovering around the lo-fi world. Take this afternoon to familiarize yourself with our latest friend from the eastern hemisphere.

FOLLOW Arthur_Clark: Soundcloud / Bandcamp / VK

Lo-Fi Sundays 067 - Flavors

For boom-bap beats with the right touch of lo-fi aesthetic, tune in to the hard-knock sound of Connecticut-based beatmaker Flavors. With a deep catalog and a consistently slamming style, his music is perfect for hours spent studying, strolling or daydreaming. One will be satisfied drifting away with his beats as background, or digging into them to focus on their careful curves and layered sonic details.

He collaborated with a long list of talented beatmakers including soho, BLVK, chief, and floridomi. He has a particularly close relationship with this last producer, floridomi. They’ve performed together in Boston before, and their excellent collaborations, which fill this weekend’s playlist, informally take on the awesome “flavordomi” moniker. Flavors works with lo-fi motifs, but his production more often than not falls into the boom-bap bucket, and, here, his percussion hits harder than most. He’s able to crank the compression to 11 on kick and snare combinations that nearly blow out the speakers and compel your body to bump back and forth.

Because it’s just that good, his tune “empower” is included twice in our curated playlist; once on it’s own, and once at the beginning of his latest album “summit”, which was released just a few days ago and is available to purchase on Bandcamp. If you’d like to learn more about the producer, check out his interview with Pastry Beats, a Boston-based beats collective, which is coupled with a killer guest mix.

FOLLOW Flavors: Soundcloud / Spotify / Bandcamp / Instagram / Twitter

Lo-Fi Sundays 066 - Eyukaliptus

Smashing beats like a true beast from the East, EYUKALIPTUS delivers a diverse hip-hop package that spans the wider breadth of broken-beat rhythms. Based out of New York City, his tracks exude a palatable head-nod coupled with supple composition. From dazzling jazz overtures to traditional boom-bap flare EYUKALIPTUS manages to touch upon each nuanced niche of lo-fi music.

With classically bit-crushed percussion and the intonation of finger-drumming, the rhythmic dynamic in the EYUKALIPTUS catalog is hypnotic in its own right. The duality of the percussion and the flickers of sub movement create a pocketed groove for each track to rest in, fomenting the best aspects of every sample utilized in his discography. The sampling itself demands particular note, as his careful touch on each slice of audio allows the original texture to flourish while simultaneously blending into a new paradigm. As a on-going demonstration of attentive musicianship and song-writing, his melody structure fails to fall flat at any point, instead bringing a vibe and an atmosphere that feels especially weightless.

With three years of constant releases under his belt, the EYUKALIPTUS track count stands at 120 and rising. It’s no wonder his choice of style and tempo can vary so greatly, given his rapid-fire output. Various live mixes dot his catalog, featuring the delicious audible touch of SP 404 sampling power. With hands touching so many various aspects of musicality and production, watching EYUKALIPTUS with a close set of eyes can only do you justice.

FOLLOW EYUKALIPTUS: Soundcloud / Bandcamp / Instagram / Tracktrain

Lo-Fi Sundays 065 - Mirrorish

Instrumental hip-hop is often just one shade away from trip-hop, that debated and revered underground genre. In some respects, much of the ascendant lo-fi hip-hop sound could be classified as trip-hop. Without getting bogged down in genre talk, if you interpret that word “trip-hop” at face value, it’s just psychedelic hip-hop. And so many of the out of phase, off-pitch beats in the lo-fi universe are trippy as hell. Certain beatmakers are just inherently psychedelic, even if they’re not aiming towards it. Enter Mirrorish from the state of Maryland.

His catalog is bountiful, with more than 10 LPs and EPs to his name. His latest release, Every Other Color, may be his most impressive. The production is crisp and clean, and it’s full of both straightforward head nods and also cinematic compositions. He produced a contemplative tape with British producer Drkmnd that journeys into a psychological abyss to find some paradoxical combination of focus and disorientation. Percussion limps along while whirring melodies create dissonance with the pads in the backdrop. The Mirrorish catalog is full of this sort of meditation music, beats that can stone you. He also has dozens and dozens of chops that hit the jazzy vein, with crushing boom-bap drums and dainty piano samples.

Often his tunes approach the atmosphere of downtempo electronic music while remaining in the realm of beats through their faithful use of sampled percussion. One can hear this on Every Other Color. The second song “Deadline” takes a dazzling dive down the rabbit hole. Here’s hoping that future releases from the producer continue to explore synthesizer work and incorporations of glitch. Seen from a bird’s-eye view, Mirrorish is yet another talented producer blurring the lines between beats and other styles of music, all amidst a damp psychedelic haze.

FOLLOW Mirrorish: Soundcloud / Spotify / Bandcamp / Instagram

Lo-Fi Sundays 064 - ColDrip

There’s nothing like a chunky, big-bodied hip-hop beat to make you sit up in your seat. ColDrip surprises us with his small cache of these slappers, which are counterbalanced with more thought-provoking, jazzy fair. His small catalog jumps around a few different sub-styles of lo-fi. It sounds like the assuredly talented producer is still finding his voice; seeing what’s hot, what’s cold, and what’s just right.

It’s easy to enjoy the fat stereo spread and twenty-pound compressed percussion in clips like “Littebitmore” and “Things Are Pretty Good”. Full compositions like “SidewalkJam” ft. rbi have more staying power, and not just because of their longer run time. The dynamic songwriting here demonstrate that the producer likely has more complex material to dive into. Most of that, in fact, is over on his Spotify account where three full LPs are available.

Based in Berlin, Germany, ColDrip’s music has been released by a cross section of labels including Dust Collectors, Brunch Collect, and the Syndey-based o-nei-ric Tapes, where his irreverent style sounds most at home. We recommend digging into a lo-fi feast on his Spotify page once you’re through this week’s curated playlist, then keep your eyes peeled for his next serious project.

FOLLOW ColDrip: Soundcloud / Spotify / Instagram / Bandcamp / Twitter

Lo-Fi Sundays 063 - upper class

If you aren’t familiar with Germany’s well-rounded sonic culture, you’d be forgiven for overlooking their abundance of stellar Lo-Fi producers and rhythm junkies. This week, we’re giving the spotlight to one such germanic beat shuffler; upper class is a straightforward, no frills producer with beats that send the head rocking back and forth between the roaring 20s, the R&B/Hip-Hop laden 90s, and the spice of modern sampling power.

There’s a distinct spread to upper class’s repertoire of various stylings and flavors; blistered trap rhythms, boom-bap slappers, a few tasty 4x4 dust-kickers, and a handful of savory tunes that exude a palpable weirdness in its best form. He flips samples like hotcakes on Sundays and dishes out a groovy, space-aged anthems that feel like an ode to hip-hop from some far off civilization. Prominent throughout his discography is a bevy of juicy bass lines, eschewing the typical sub rumble of his contemporaries, and instead utilizing mid-range tones sauntering in syncopated rhythms.

In 2018, upper class combined forces with nalim. to form the DIY label and collective CASSETTE NOIRE, focused specifically around the cultivation of beats music. With over 3 years of nonstop releases under his belt, as well as the aforementioned label initiative, upper class is clearly poised to continue pushing out content in no time at all. Keep your ears pealed on this fine-tuned player of the Lo-Fi, or miss out on the guaranteed freshness it is sure to project.

FOLLOW upper class: Soundcloud / Bandcamp / Spotify / Instagram

Lo-Fi Sundays 062 - mora.

Grainy, wavering, echoing notes are a hallmark of the ascendant lo-fi hip hop sound. Mora., a producer based in Buenos Aires, Argentina who’s been at it for approximately three years, hits these notes effortlessly. His sound surrounds the listener. The lead melodies in his music are set against a backdrop of pads which sound like a music box that’s been dropped into a bucket of water; shimmering echoes carried on crisp drums.

One, two, one, two marching forward to eternity in a dreamscape. His best songs are like blurs of emotion or vague feeling, like an idea or essence brushed up against but not fully captured. These beats encapsulate a sort of quintessential lo-fi aesthetic. Some, including “gone” and “laika” utilize certain samples that are flipped by many other beatmakers. This may agitate some, who believe too many producers are using the same samples. At the same time, certain samples simply lend themselves well to hip hop beats - “the standards” if you will. Mora executes these standards with class and creativity.

The producer has been featured on prominent compilations from Inner Ocean Records and lofi.hiphop. He does his own graphic design, or, as he calls it, “graphic design”. In spite of his apparent modesty, his work is quite good (see the cover photo for this article). He captures in this artwork the same grainy, wavering subconscious haze that surrounds his music.

FOLLOW mora.: Spotify / Soundcloud / Bandcamp / Twitter

Lo-Fi Sundays 061 - Mononome

This music speaks directly to the notion that hip-hop has no boundaries. Mononome draws inspiration from the crate digging forefathers and lends a vision that is all his own. This native of Greece has spent years digging for the right records to mold his sound. The approach is one that’s familiar, but it’s accomplished using an entire body of music from Greece that’s gone largely unheard this side of the world. The end result is a sound that is truly unique to Mononome (also to Greece). You can feel the culture teeming within the vinyl, and he does a proper job bringing that to the forefront of the compositions. This is another great example of when an artist takes a customary idea, and turns it into a novel concept.

The journey starts in 2011 with the release of Dream Sequence, followed shortly by The Secret Melody via Bulgarian netlabel, Dusted Wax Kingdom. The label has been a solid source for all things downtempo and abstract since 2007, and has hosted all of their releases for free listen and download on their website since its inception. In 2012, a partnership was made with Beatquick records, based out of Athens, Greece. This record label would become an integral part of a bourgeoning trip hop scene emerging within the country, and would go on to release music from some of the most prolific Greek artists. Henceforth his compositions have continued to be released via Beatquick, StillMuzik, & DLOAW & Co.         

This is the sort of sound that likely emanates from dark alleys in coastal towns surrounding the Mediterranean. There is a strong maritime feel, which owes itself to the music’s proximity to the sea. This is old world rustic boom-bap that tells a new tale using snippets of the past. Tracks like “Don’t Come Back” & “Leaving” offer the best examples of this sonic link to antiquarian styles of music. While some songs resemble a soundtrack for a day trip at sea, others might have you spooked walking alone at night. “Pitch Black Sun” and “Lie”, for example, are more suited for a trip to the graveyard, with dark, mystical undertones. “Dancing Scissors” is a track that inspires no comparisons. Off-beat drum patterns garnished with haunting vocal samples anchor a unique sound and style that deviates from most known patterns.      

In 2013, Mononome helped form an international trio with producers Jenova 7, Mr. Moods. This placed three stylistically disparate producers in the same room, and led them to create a sound that highlighted their individual strengths. Using a mix of vinyl sampling & live instrumentation Wax Triptych cycles through numerous genres and moods to paint pictures in the mind’s eye. Their album “A Tale of 3 Heads”, which would serve as a benchmark to the European trip-hop scene for years to come.

Most notable about Mononome’s work is how it’s created. All of his tracks are entirely produced, mixed & arranged with an AKAI MPC 2500, and the rightly producer takes great pride in this. The music is without digital influence, a nod to all of the pioneers who have brought us to where we are now. In this way Mononome is a link to the past, both through his music and his means of production. Allow yourself some time on this sleepy Sunday to settle into this masterful body of work.

FOLLOW Mononome: Soundcloud / Spotify / Bandcamp / Instagram

Lo-Fi Sundays 060 - NometronN

Bringing a weighty vibe and a bright musical disposition out of Kiev, Ukraine, NometronN steals the spotlight for this edition of Lo-Fi Sundays. Replete with all the dust, shimmer, and smokey veneer of archetypal boom-bap, NometronN strikes a careful balance between composition and arrangement, slicing samples while following the established melodies already within said samples. Be it a dark noire, a blissful overture, or a straightforward, diced-up beat, this rhythm junky is the source for hip-hop mood potion.

NometronN takes two distinct compositional approaches on a track-to-track basis. Firstly, for productions featuring a heavy vocal element, there is notably less splicing done to the warped instrumental additions. The rhythms and melodies are concocted to follow the established vocal pattern, which is often noticeably bereft of manipulation. Taking his other pronounced compositional route, NometronN flexes his finest cuts where vocals are left out of the mix. Splicing in arpeggios and one-shots are mainstay habits of beats music, but he manages to finesse those modular pieces with a particular flourish.

With just over two dozen tracks in the public sphere, NometronN is a new name in the cypher. Clearly possessing an understanding of the Lo-Fi philosophy, he maintains a purity to his productions that is sometimes lost in the nuance of designing this amorphous genre of music. With a steady release cycle and a presumed freshness to his musical output, it can be surmised that NometronN is far from dishing out his last serving.

FOLLOW NometronN: Soundcloud / Spotify / Deezer

Lo-Fi Sundays 059 - KLIM

KLIM aka KLIM Beats has a knack for sampling soul music. He’ll peel off a precious woodwind or brass arrangement from some long forgotten 45 and use it as the foundation for a bright new beat. With finely-tuned production and chops that stand out from the pack, and a recurring 1970s feel from the sampled material, KLIM beats are like a soundtrack for a trip back to the future.

The producer, whose name is Dmitry Klimchuk, hails from Kiev, Ukraine, and is a mainstay with NINETOFIVE Worldwide Beatmakers. He appears to perform frequently in his native country, with one flyer billing his performance as “Trip-Hop / Abstract Hip-Hop / Downtempo / Scratching”. His catalog runs over 25 albums deep and reaches all the way back to 2010. Upon revisiting those first EPs and tapes, one realizes how astoundingly consistent KLIM is. To be sure, his current output is greatly refined from a production standpoint and more thoroughly developed from a songwriting standpoint. His first cuts, though, offer the same smooth style and squeaky clean presentation we hear today.

Crafty with the stereo spread and space in his music, KLIM often composes tripped out, galactic atmospheres in addition to bursting, soulful knocks. Tickling synthesizers that may or may not be sampled give a light, mechanical touch to beats that are otherwise exceptionally organic. We recommend listening in full to his September 2018 album Soul Searching. The cover art is an abstract cartoon of a hand flipping - searching - through a stack of vinyl. Perhaps searching for the perfect sound and searching through one’s soul are the same exercise for Dmitry.

FOLLOW KLIM: Spotify / Soundcloud / Bandcamp / NINETOFIVE

Lo-Fi Sundays 058 - Mura Kami

Within the bounds of boom-bap beats, there’s so much that one can try. Producer Mura Kami likes to try it all. His beats run across a spectrum of styles, from familiar tape-delay fare to Brazilian-influenced bossa beats and phonk. It sounds as if he’s trying different production styles and finding his voice as a producer. His use of guitar samples is particularly impressive on songs like “Himawari”.

The producer hails from Morocco on the North African coast which straddles the Mediterranean Sea and Atlantic Ocean and is itself filled with influences from many different peoples and cultures. He’s been releasing music for under two years, but over 550,000 monthly listeners on Spotify attest to the appeal of his diverse instrumentals.

He’s self-released three strong beat tapes, his most recent being “As Folhas” which features delightful dancing key samples. Recently United Common Records released a Mura Kami single, “Motion”. This track highlights the producer’s raw potential. It’s a cohesive tune based on a simple two-note piano sample. A synthesizer beeps like a gentle alarm in, on top of swinging drums. If indeed he is finding his voice, he’s speaking confidently on the cut, which combines a handful of simple elements to create a powerful groove with magnetic emotional appeal.

FOLLOW Mura Kami: Bandcamp / Soundcloud / Spotify / Instagram

Lo-Fi Sundays 057 - ideism

Stepping out of low-fidelity hyperspace and onto this planet in just the past year, ideism spins a refreshing take on lo-fi musical moments. With instrumental confidence and an obvious inclination for jazz, ideism blurs the lines between producer and composer, melting and stirring the his own compositional elements into a stew of late-night sonatas and foggy overtures. On December 14th, he released a 13-track cassette, Everblue, through Inner Ocean Records. The audible, soul-charged quality of the record demonstrates a venerable command of aural attitudes and emotional soundscapes.

Everblue is a pure gem in a sea of cubic zirconia. Eschewing the typical sample-focused arrangements of his contemporaries, Ideism focuses on note relationships and spacial dynamics. “Voyage” is a journey personified, reaching from the top of the frequency spectrum to the very bottom. It beckons the listener to fall into its cradle of saturated textures and tepid synthesis. “Night crawlers” develops along a gleeful crescendo, resting and slingshotting off of its natural cadence. Foley-laden percussion swirls in an omnidirectional dance throughout the mix, creating a dynamic space in which the track grows and breathes. “Astral Relaxation” is exactly what its name suggests; lush arpeggios and delicate chords ebb and flow into the front of the stereo space, rearranging and falling away with each downbeat. The crystalline patching and processing on the melody synthesis has a particular shine that resonates with just the right amount of vibrato in the ears.

While ideism may have only a handful of tracks in the public sphere so far, his musical aptitude is astoundingly fine-tuned. Breaking the sample-centric mold of his contemporaries, he successfully captures the audio-physical experience of lo-fi’s euphoric textures through entirely original composition. Having the backing of Inner Ocean Records on his second release only reinforces the implication that ideism deserves close attention from casual hip-hop fans and dedicated heads alike.

FOLLOW ideism: Soundcloud / Bandcamp / Spotify

Lo-Fi Sundays 056 - el.

Although we’re not sure where producer el. aka Mighty Recordings may hail from, fingerprints of the northeastern U.S. hip-hop sound are all over his beats. Productions from el. fit well behind verses from your favorite rapper, although they’re just as exciting as instrumentals. He’s been making music for at least six years, but most of the knocks in our curated playlist come from the last two.

His music doesn’t mess around with the broad aesthetic of contemporary lo-fi, although the sound itself is indeed low-fidelity. In this way, el. beats can sometimes sound like a stylistic throwback, while still remaining on the cutting edge of contemporary beatmaking. Acapellas appear frequently throughout his catalog, but it doesn’t appear he’s worked with many rappers on original music. Our curated playlist includes some real nice bars from Dave East, and an acapella from Jay-Z and Cam’ron.

These acapella choices combined with the fundamental northeastern style of his beats and some additional context clues (see the sample at the end of “Dynasty”) give us the impression that el. hails from the Big Apple. It appears the vast majority of his music is self-released, although he did drop a few jewels with the Australian “creative agency” St. O’Donnell. In early 2019, look out for a project called Que Mas? from el. releasing on Beatbliotek.

FOLLOW el.: Soundcloud / Instagram / Facebook

Lo-Fi Sundays 055 - AJMW

Hailing from across the  across the pond in West London, musician and producer Ashley Warden concocts groove-blending lofi and fireplace beats under the moniker AJMW. Without fanfare and shiny post-production, Warden breathes life into smooth and dynamic arrangements that respond with organic points of tension and release.

The musical notations and stylistic approaches vary from track to track with AJMW. His classic head-nodders, like “Content”, feature rustic jazz arpeggios and smokey, hypnotic percussion. Other productions take a vivacious uptempo route, such as in “Play It Out”, a collaborative track with NY-SEA and tomppabeats. Regardless of the tempo and creative direction, every composition in the AJMW catalog hosts a delicious palette of variable textured and instrumental flurries.

Warden has had his music featured twice through Chillhop's seasonal compilation release, most recently in the fall of 2018, and the summer 2017 prior. Already two for two with one of the foremost beat-centric labels in the current musical landscape, it can be surmised that AJMW is poised to breakout across other familiar hip-hop platforms in tandem. As with every sleepy Sunday, rest those weary eyes while Ashley Warden soothes your soul with a beatific serenade.

FOLLOW AJMW:   Bandcamp / SoundCloud / Spotify

Lo-Fi Sundays 054 - delt

One of the draws of lo-fi hip hop is its consistency. It’s so easy to sink deeply into a groove when the tunes roll over, one after another, kick after snare after kick after snare with atmospheres that shift but never too far from a focal vibe. Bumping out of Spokane, Washington, the producer delt is a paragon of consistency, and the result is a smooth sensation for listeners.

delt offers lilting jazz beats and boom-bap fare, mostly. The tunes are simple yet profound collages of piano, drums, bass, and vocal samples, with the occasional woodwind, brass instrument, or acoustic guitar. There is one cut, at the end of a tape called “Throwaways”, that makes excellent use of a harmonica sample. That’s not something we hear too often. They’re particularly talented with the piano sampling, though, snipping just the right melody, pitching it down or adding tape delay, and letting it rock.

The producer has had tracks featured on compilations from the equally consistent imprint radio.wavs. Given delt’s consistency and knack for producing a quintessential lo-fi jazz beats, hopefully their music appears on more labels and compilations in the future. Zone out to some tunes and your mind will wander to delightful places. Focus in on one, and you may find strong emotions well up within yourself.

FOLLOW delt: Soundcloud / Spotify / Bandcamp

Lo-Fi Sundays 053 - a.bee

Beats from Dutch producer a.bee are recklessly experimental. From dizzying chopped percussion and atmospheres that haunt, to synthesized bass that verges on an acid sound, the producer’s approach is one we don’t stumble across frequently in the wide world of lo-fi beats. Many of their cuts have a non-linear format. They don’t follow traditional song structures, especially not those which are germane to lo-fi hip hop. Although the producer does have a few familiar 1:30 knocks like the outstanding “qdt oek jee” which kicks off this weekend’s curated playlist, whenever it seems they’re following a recognized pattern it’s usually a trick.

There’s a deep and prominent dark side to a.bee’s music. The atmosphere in “Cbcq Cq Gnx Replc” is straight spook. At the same time, this darkness creates a feeling of exciting mystery. As a result, much of a.bee’s music slouches towards the trip-hop genre. Then again lo-fi hip hop and trip-hop overlap so frequently that they’re often the same thing. This motif of dark mystery is likely why bsd.u’s lofi.hiphop label so favors a.bee’s music. The producer is featured on five of the label’s ten classic compilations, and the aesthetics align perfectly.

For beats, of course, it always comes back to percussion, and a.bee’s is totally dialed-in, especially on tracks like “regen”. The sourced material is organic, textured and varied, and it also sounds like some precise reverb and compression has been applied so that those samples cut through the mix. “germ.nate” is one of our favorite tracks from the producer. It’s based on a sample of deep, rich, synthesized tones playing a mystical melody. We’ve heard the sample twice before in tunes from leavv and mora, but a.bee leans less on the sampled material than the others have, and arguably gets more as a result. The producer hardly has any presence online, but definitely stay chooned to their Soundcloud account for more dark and mystical fire.

FOLLOW a.bee: Soundcloud / Bandcamp / Youtube

Lo-Fi Sundays 052 - Axian [Interview]

One year ago this publication began covering beats music, or more specifically what’s referred to as “lo-fi hip-hop”, through this column. It wasn’t necessarily in line with the electronic music The Rust typically covers, but we felt an urge to recognize the broad community of producers who create these universally accessible beats. Lo-fi hip-hop is typified by dusty, percussive overtures, warped instrumental samples, and the nostalgic veneer of low-fidelity production. Whether by accident or design, the texture of the music became the genre’s namesake, distinguishing this distinct musical and emotive motif from the wider sea of hip-hop music.

Although it’s exploded in popularity in the past five years or so, lo-fi hip-hop is niche music. It’s written about infrequently, save for general overviews of the style which tend to focus on its Youtube popularity through 24/7 streaming channels. This emphasis can paint lo-fi hip-hop as more of a novelty than a serious approach to musical communication, and that doesn’t jive with the reality on the ground. So 51 beatmakers later, to mark one year of progress for this column, we decided to publish a conversation with one of the genre’s eminent representatives, Alexander Fjellerad Thomsen, better known as Axian of Aarhus, Denmark. In addition to covering who Axian is and just how and why he makes his renowned spacey, sample-cut music, we ended up discussing beats music generally, the “lo-fi community” at large, and how this music is beginning to fit, sometimes not so snuggly, into the wider music industry.

While he’s “not going to say [he] started it,” Axian was one of the first people to begin associating imagery from anime with lo-fi hip-hop through his Youtube channel.

Perhaps the most surprising aspect of Axian’s beatmaking career is how recently it began; he’s only been producing music since December 2016. Before this, however, he was making mixes of other people’s beats and publishing them on Youtube and Soundcloud. Some, like his “Dozing Off” mix which has 3.2 million views on Youtube, have become classic artifacts or “standards” of the style. All demonstrate Alexander’s discerning ear for emotionally rich music and his strong sense for curation.

Alexander says he’s always been into experimental hip-hop, but he remembers when he caught the bug for beats music specifically. “My experience coming into all of this was through Blazo. That’s where I really made the bounce from hip-hop into straight instrumental, jazzy hip-hop.” Released in 2011, Polish producer Blazo’s Colors of Jazz LP is a foundational text, as it were, in the canon of beats music. “It brought along so many more incredible things in the world of underground hip-hop.”

For almost all of the nearly two years Axian has been producing, he’s been working on his debut LP Chronos, which was released by Inner Ocean Records in September and features collaborations with other eminent producers like Borealism and Kuranes. Like many contemporary producers, Alexander never seriously studied another instrument before getting into beats. As we spoke, he flipped his webcam to show the keyboard on the desk in front of him, remarking that he’s teaching himself to play keys. On Chronos he played about 45 percent of the melodic material himself and sampled the other 55 percent. Spacey, deep, and a bit dark at times, the record epitomizes what Axian has always honed in on - a sound that is deeply felt as much as it is heard.

As we continued to speak via video chat, our conversation began to explore topics larger than Axian’s own music. “When you look at something like lo-fi and how it started, it’s very free from all of this, how you say, ‘norms’ about music,” Alexander says. “It’s so careless, you can experiment in so many ways. I feel a strong connection to genres of music that allow for so much creative freedom.” If beats music is wide open in a creative sense, it also strays from certain norms of music promotion, distribution and marketing. As a result, lo-fi producers face an uphill battle accessing mainstream markets.

Axian’s first LP Chronos was released by Inner Ocean Records in September 2018 (Artwork: dwyer)

Coinciding with changes over the last decade to the ways in which people consume music, lo-fi hip-hop is mostly distributed and digested within fervent online communities. Copyright laws and royalty contracts create barriers to the legitimate distribution and sale of a genre historically rooted in the sampling and reconfiguring of composed musical material. While streaming platforms like Soundcloud and Mixcloud have somewhat lax regulations on what is contained in uploaded content, more monetized platforms like Spotify and Apple Music have strict rules on the nature and origin of the content they allow on their platforms.

One platform where producers have begun achieving wider recognition for their music is the plethora of playlists curated by Spotify itself. Songs selected for playlists like “Lush Lo-Fi” or “Lo-Fi Beats”, each with over 500k followers, reach huge audiences, and as a result the producer may receive royalties which are not insignificant. As these avenues towards recognition and compensation have grown, however, Axian points out certain unintended consequences, one being the establishment of “norms” where before none existed. “I’m sure quite a few people are tailoring their music to fit these playlists. I feel that these playlists and collections have garnered so much power that they are influencing the producers for the negative. I won’t take that to a super far extent, but I believe at least a small extent, that is a reality.”

The prominence of this playlist model for lo-fi hip-hop can be attributed in part to the work of Athena Koumis, former Music Culture Editor at Spotify. Athena led the curation of many of these large, popular playlists and communicated frequently with some of the style’s prominent tastemakers, ensuring the playlists were kept up to date with fresh, new sounds. If anyone has had their finger on the pulse during lo-fi’s rise in popularity, it’s been Athena.

Axian’s discussion of the playlist model, however, points toward deeper ethical implications. As these playlists are the locale for popularity and recognition in lo-fi hip-hop, are they impacting the fundamental ingredients of the music contained within them? “I know it, because I see it on a daily basis with producers I’m friends with on Facebook and through submissions I receive for my own playlist [“Dozing Off”],” says Axian. “I don’t want to complain too much about Spotify, because I’m doing pretty well there, and it’s doing good for the community as a whole. I feel you just need to also realize the negative aspects.” Despite his observations, Axian does recognize the playlist model as the best game going right now, although it could be better. “As a community, I don’t know what we should do exactly. It’s complicated, and playlisting is a fine solution.”

In the wake of Athena’s work with a plethora of lo-fi labels and producers, lo-fi hip-hop now has a firm and well-deserved foothold on Spotify. In addition, a number of labels and artists were simultaneously following the same pattern. The label Chillhop Music has garnered over 750,000 followers on their most influential Spotify playlist, “Lofi Hip Hop Beats”. A recent change to the submission guidelines for their label releases, however, highlights a fundamental issue in the propagation of lo-fi.

“Personally, I love Chillhop, and I support them to the end because I feel like they’re doing the right thing,” says Axian, whose EP Gaia was released through Chillhop in 2017. “But when they stopped the sample usage, or they stopped accepting music with samples, that was such a big transition in the community. Chillhop was the frontman or whatever. They’ve always been supporting hip-hop of all kinds in the underground community, and it was kind of weird to see that happen, but I get it.” This summer, Chillhop Music announced that they would no longer accept label submissions that included samples. Alexander suggests that Chillhop’s motive was to stay on the right side of publishing and copyright laws. He hits a major nail on the head, as running afoul of such laws can quickly result in the seizure or forfeiture of profits and/or having entire domains and labels shut down overnight.

“They started making money, getting bigger than they may have thought they would. In one way I get it, but in another way, you can mess with a sample so much that it’s unrecognizable. As an artist trying to understand a label [Axian himself runs a label called Celestial Blue with rappers Obijuan and loom], I get where they are coming from, but I think it split up the community a bit. A lot of the older lo-fi heads, said ‘oh man that’s a trash move’. Then there are the new heads who are trying to get into sample-less music. And I consider myself somewhere in the middle, maybe a bit more on the older head side.

Axian is noting a phenomenon that is as old as the music industry itself, wherein artists will curate their musical content to fit the desired motif of the labels that are sponsoring or highlighting the music. This potentially calls into question the fundamental integrity or “authenticity” of those productions. Conversely, these unforeseen barriers and obstacles to publishing lo-fi music have brought about a wave of innovation and creativity amongst new producers. Instead of sampling content from external musical sources, artists are training themselves in conventional instrumentation, recording that instrumentation, and sampling their own arrangements from scratch. In this manner, one can create everything that is holistically lo-fi music and simultaneously be able to own and distribute that music without issue. As stated before, Axian is himself learning the keys.

This was not the first time Axian has spoken on the subject of how and why music is influenced the way that it is. Indeed, “I think about this all the time,” he said. Beyond how the music is influenced, there is the function of that influence itself. In an interview with Public Pressure in 2017, he said “Everything has to be fancy, or about money, drugs, and sex to make it in the mainstream, and I think a lot of people are conforming to the belief that that’s the way things should be.” Alexander believes this is not coincidental. “At some points in my life, I’ve thought that we’re all controlled to a certain extent. It is funny thinking about these things, because not everything is coincidental. It’s not just trashy music. It’s not just popular because it’s popular. There’s someone making the decisions behind the board. There’s a great logic behind it, but it’s just not the right ethic.”

“It’s about who they’re appealing to,” Alexander continues. “I have some friends who are school teachers for the lower grades. They always talk about how all the kids are referencing all this music that is so inappropriate for kids. I think that’s something we may not be so aware of; how it affects the kids. I’m personally very against that.”

For his part, Axian will continue to make music which speaks “the language of feelings”, as he referred to it in Public Pressure. He continues to release deeply emotive singles regularly, many of which, like his latest, “Evocation”, are included in our curated playlist. He’s also working on a side project with another producer. Their first release will have some “soft beats” as well as some “hard slappers”.

“Slappers!” I repeat gleefully.

“Yea, slappers, that’s what we refer to them as in the community. Something has to slap in the hip-hop community.” For an example of one of our favorite slappers from Axian, check out “Rockin” in our curated playlist or “Adamite” from Chronos. Regarding his side project, “it’s beats, but it’s a lot of different stuff. Lately I’ve been moving towards more electronic stuff. Not to make electronic music, but to make hip-hop, or ‘synth hop’.” By earning himself popularity, Axian can create freely and continue to chase that language of feelings without worrying so much about whether or not it will reach people’s ears though this playlist or that label. “I’m basically in a place where I can do whatever I want to, as long as I keep it real. That’s my philosophy.”

So again, this Sunday we encourage you to kick back, relax, perhaps put on your thinking cap, and enjoy a curated playlist of music from a talented beatmaker. Regardless of the methods for promoting, naming, selling, or making lo-fi hip-hop, there’s one quality to this music which almost all can agree upon, and Alexander verbalizes it well. “You can convey so many things without saying a single word, or you might even spark something inside someone that you never intended to, and that's the beauty of it in my opinion.”

FOLLOW Axian: Soundcloud / Spotify / Youtube / Bandcamp / Facebook

Lo-fi Sundays 051 - Xon'a'jazza

Channeling the smooth noire of jazz and ballroom sonatas, Xon’a’jazza is a hidden gem reaching out from the Russian Federation. Combining dusty instrumental motifs with craftily sampled hip-hop verses and a particularly clean mix-down, his productions are set aside from typical lo-fi in their stereo depth and percussive clarity. Sticking to his guns and honing in on a developing motif, Xon’a’jazza is an artisan beat smith with a few twists up his sleeve.

Sampling instrumental content is a balancing act between the notes that are sought after and the notes that are clipped away. Altering and warping any recorded audio is going to yield results that could be wildly different from the original source material, and sometimes this process can distort tones and frequencies beyond the desired effect. Xon’a’jazza has made a choice habit of letting his sampled material breathe as much as possible in its original format, preserving the quality and harmony of his cuts and melodies. No matter the vibe or the tune, he will assuredly find a way to sneak in some sliced vocals from a bevy of veteran hip-hop artists, including Method Man, Quasimoto, Notorious B.I.G., and Jurassic 5. Dive in deep enough, and there’s even a rare example of “lo-fi” jungle music, a musical easter egg waiting to be cracked open and enjoyed for all of its odd and whimsically chosen source material.

With just two years worth of tracks presented on a public platform, Xon’a’jazza has carved out a raft of musical artifacts and audio anomalies in the world of lo-fi productions. Looking at the rapid turnover rate of his recent releases, it can be surmised that even more juicy tunes are just around the corner. Having made such a bombastic impression, this cold-weather Slav is now firmly on this publication’s radar.

Lo-Fi Sundays 050 - Furozh

“…And I sound the way I feel.” Smooth and resonant words that producer and peacemaker Furozh seems to live by. Furozh beats carry with them the sound, swing and essence of the concrete jungle of New York City from which the producer hails. They also carry an inspiring and necessary message of peace, goodwill and uplift in between their breaks and sample-cut melodies.

The bulk of his beats are cut from the familiar dusty cloth of sample chopping. He also at times produces in a futuristic digital style, with tunes like “Night” and “Time Zones” featuring Obuxum as examples. Then these two styles collide, for example on a track like “Congo”, and the past becomes the future, and both become right now. Demonstrating his flexibility, Furozh also produces music like “Pharaoh’s Cadence”, another collaboration this time with haNN_11, that nails the vogueing saturated, tapefuzz sound. Collaboration is inherent for Furozh, and a handful of his albums are co-produced with other beatmakers.

The extent of the producer’s catalog is hardly captured on SoundCloud, from which we curate these playlists. He owns a deep, deep discography on Bandcamp dating back four years and bookended by his most recent Revolutionary Love LP. Furozh frequently performs his music in and around New York City. Most of the dates are announced on his Instagram if one was trying to catch a performance.

FOLLOW Furozh: Soundcloud / Spotify / Instagram / Twitter

Lo-Fi Sundays 049 - wowflower

Based out of Boston, Massachusetts, wowflower is a young beatmaker with an exceptional talent for melody and atmosphere. He creates vibratory fields full of colorful static backed by fuzzy, textured percussion. Wowflower works with multiple tempos, and his boom bap cuts, though rare, are spectacular. Usually, though, he’s rocking with a slow, hypnotic nod that pairs well with spacious and ambient melodic stylings.

His output is almost obscene. At 22 years old he’s released 14 albums and a pair of mixes. It’s likely that most of that is hardly touched upon in our curated playlist, which features compositions from the past 18 months or so. According to an interview he gave with Japanese blog Vinyl Mafia (“for the beatmakers”), Kyle James Torr-Brown (wowflower) first began “tinkering” on Garageband at the age of nine. His latest “EP”, Tundra Noir, with a killer title and a 30-minute run time, is masterful. The release is cleverly named because it is indeed veiled in shadow, not full darkness, but in shadow in the vein of noir aesthetics. The textures and yearning notes conjure images of a sun-stained, cold white plain. For a great example of his boom bap beats, pay attention at the 19:15 mark.

As we touched upon with last week’s feature on dwyer, there is a growing emphasis on texture in beatmaking. Wowflower displays an exceptional ability for applying texture and contour to his compositions. One can hear this right from the jump in this week’s playlist with “Sunlight Wake” off Musings Vol. 1 a boutique compilation and the first from Dead Gorgeous Records. Just listen to those drums. Wowflower told Vinyl Mafia he’d like to become a pianist or a film maker. It appears to us that he’s already splitting the difference between these two occupations by creating these absolutely moving cinematic beats.

FOLLOW wowflower: Spotify / Soundcloud / Bandcamp / Facebook