LoFi Beats, by CLOUDWARMER

From New York Jazz-Hop Duo CLOUDWARMER comes this lovely long-playing beat tape – LoFi Beats.

Self released at the beginning of May, 2022 – LoFi Beats lives up to its namesake, packing 16 dusty instrumentals into its hefty runtime. The sounds themselves are classic yet diverse – we hear the duo seamlessly blend orchestral passages with chopped drums and foggy horns. Put simply, the bass booms and the beat slaps!

I feel transported back in time to the heyday of beatstrumentals on Soundcloud and Bandcamp – the late 2000’s saw a rabid flourishing of lofi, crusty boom-bap beat tapes from the likes of Boom Baptist, All These Fingers and Gloam. I have a personal affinity for this type of beat tape – sleek samples paired with classic percussion patterns, stirring together to create a relaxing yet nostalgic mood.

Even better about this release – the mad lads decided to unleash these puppies under a Creative Commons license – making these little beats PERFECT bumpers for your next YouTube project or even potential for remixing! We have to give love and respect to anyone who unleashes music in this most creative manner.

Grab the beat-tape now via CLOUDWARMERS Bandcamp page – be sure to explore the rest of CLOUDWARMERS excellent projects while you’re over there.

WOLFEP064, by Retromigration

WOLFEP064 is a 6-track Jazz-House project by Amsterdam-based Retromigration, released by Wolf Music Records UK.

This EP is perfect Feel-Good Friday sounds – dancing between retro house shuffles and hip-hop boom baps. High groove-ability meets extremely high re-playability. Packed with mellow energy, perfect for drives to the beach or perhaps a little pregame session. Classy and classic house music with a healthy dose of sunshine.

Slide over to Bandcamp to pick up the 12″ Record or stream/purchase the digital!

Blue Lab Beats – Motherland Journey (2022 Blue Note Records)

Artist: Blue Lab Beats

Album: Motherland Journey (2022)

Label: Blue Note Records

Genre: Neo-Soul / Jazztronica

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Over the last several weeks I have been teaching my junior high school music students about the cross pollination between the jazz and hip-hop music genres in modern music. There is no better contemporary example of this than with Blue Lab Beats’ masterful debut long-player for Blue Note Records, Motherland Journey.

Much like the title suggests, MJ encompasses a kaleidoscope of influences and sounds while still retaining a distinct identity. They fuse the sounds of the African diaspora with modern instruments and rhythms from the London underground music scene, resulting in a melange of jazztronica, afrobeat, neo-soul, funk, and fusion. Guest stars abound, adding contemporary pop, r&b, and hip-hop flair to the smooth fusion instrumentals laid down by producer NK-OK and multi-instrumentalist Mr. DM.

At 17 tracks and an hour’s worth of listening time, one would thing that Motherland Journey might strain to maintain a sense of cohesion and unity with all the genre-skipping, but the opposite is in fact true, as MJ instead plays like an expertly-curated celebration of the London underground electronic music scene.

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Thomas Jacob Jr is a Producer, Composer, Singer-Songwriter, Music Educator and Digital Artist currently based in Arizona – Bringing us rare and interesting selections from his extensive Vinyl collection! For more content follow his vinyl-dedicated Instagram account

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𝕭𝖗𝖔𝖔𝖐𝖑𝖞𝖓 𝕲𝖆𝖗𝖉𝖊𝖓𝖘 by NANCY

Oh would you look at that face! How could you deny such blissful pleasure – sure pure joy, a joy you will obviously find after indulging in this lovely little beat tape by NANCY. Brought to us by Liebermann & Schwartz, a mysterious new imprint – 𝕭𝖗𝖔𝖔𝖐𝖑𝖞𝖓 𝕲𝖆𝖗𝖉𝖊𝖓𝖘 is a delicious little 7 track tape, packed with smooth samples and dusty chops. It’s pretty much been on rotation for me this past week. Premium piano riffs float effortlessly above boom bap percussion – doing justice to the proclaimed brooklyn theme, evoking feelings of rainy streets and kebab meats….

Gardenia, by SUNFLOWER

Subtle slaps and satisfying claps – premium chilled out beatstrumentals wait for you inside this little unassuming release from producer SUNFLOWER. These 5 tracks demonstrate finesse with chops and drums, flourishing and swinging in all the right ways. With a touch of boom-bap and jazzhop flavors, this one is destined to be on repeat for a while…

Too Busy, by LBT

Jazz/HipHop collective LBT (Live Beat Tapes) blesses us with an amazing new 5-track project “Too Busy”. Impressively diverse jazzhop with lots of emotion and musicality. Featuring a rotation of vocalist, giving the instrumentals a healthy variety and room to explore sonic possibilities. Next Lifetime has become an instant favorite of mine, big badbadnotgood vibes on this one. Hope this one gets a physical release sometime in the future, but for now enjoy the digital edition via bandcamp…

Locations: France, by The Jazz Jousters

The “Locations” series from Millennium Jazz Music never seems to fall short of amazing, this one seems extra delicious…..

Spacedtime on the Beat (Vol. 2), by Spacedtime

Big collection from one of my favorite producers Spacedtime. Over 20 tracks of recent productions featuring tons of great emcees.

FTP – Tone Oliver (Instrumentals), by Spacedtime

Here is a little collection of instrumentals from producer Spacedtime’s latest collaboration with Tone Oliver.