[Review / Sampler] ARCHITECT - "Butter Soul"

As one half of the duo Homeless Derelix, West Coast producer Architect has been making underground heads nod to his personal vision of Hip Hop production since the early 1990s, as well as helping to define the sound of indie label 75 Ark. His new release is called "Butter Soul" and is bound to satisy both old followers and new listeners alike. Entirely instrumental (as in devoid of any emcees or singers though it does features vocal samples) Architect crafts what to my ears sounds like a wild sonic Sci Fi flick through samples, beats and loops. Blazing trumpets, suspenseful strings, dreamy Rhodes, booming basslines, power house drums and movie samples are all part of a rather intense menu that's a worthy descendent of the idea of the beat tape as album. Rarely letting a particular beat play for more than one minute "Butter Soul" is sprawling with musical ideas that puts the aforementioned sonic world through constant transformation. Despite the huge number of different sounds, instruments and sampled genres it however never feels unfocused as the producer undoubtedly got a great ear and attacks the suite with a true DJ:s attentiveness to mixing and blending. 

"Butter Soul" is the latest release on Drasar Monumental's Vendetta Vinyl, which is more and more establishing a signature sound, and they have once again chosen to encode all of the music into only two 15 minutes tracks for the digital versions. It's a good choice as this is something you should experience in full, from front to back and perhaps back again. One area where I find too many instrumental Hip Hop album fail in, and where Dilla's "Donuts" was one of the most important projects in changing the course, is the length of beats. Many producers let tracks that hold the listeners attention for a minute and some change without an emcee instead play out for three minutes or more. The tracks within here are not fully formed songs in and of themeselves but rather parts of a larger whole that together creates a complete composition - a composition that is defined as butter soul. Highly recommended!

You can purchase Architect's "Butter Soul" @  Vendetta Vinyl now. Check out the sampler below...

[Out Now] AYATOLLAH & DRASAR MONUMENTAL are THE BOX CUTTER BROTHERS

As I often say when I realized that I had completely forgot to post a gem, its always better late than never, and especially when it's a relative new release from Drasar Monumental and Vendetta Vinyl who has supported The Lost Tapes for years now and the love is definitely 100% monumental. The labels main producer Drasar Monumental of course proved with his album/EP trilogy with MF Grimm that he's one of the most forward thinking producers doing it at the moment, while never losing his ear for true Golden Age boom bap. He's been putting out some excellent mixtapes a long the way, featuring illy remixes and such, but  now we are finally getting a brand new release from the man on Vendetta Vinyl.

Entitled "The Boxcutters Brothers" the twelve track album is a joint effort between Drasar and equally incredible legendary producer Ayatollah who provides six instrumentals each (one side of an LP), featuring nothing but "heavy chops, ill compositions, and 12 sliced up instrumentals for you to rock out with". The full title of the album is "Ayatollah & Drasar Monumental are The Box Cutter Brothers - Heavy chops, ill compositions, and Sliced Up Instrumentals" and is available for order via VendettaVinylVietnam.com now while they are still available. Peep the back cover with tracklist below.

DRASAR MONUMENTAL - "Every Posse Get A Flat 2.0"

Drasar Monumental keeps 'em cominng; running the label Vendetta Vinyl for just a couple of years have already resulted in a working relationship with the immortal MF Grimm, releasing the first of at least two EP:s in their outstanding "Good Morning Vietnam" which I STRONGLY recommend to readers of this blog, I even write a very positive review of the record that you might have seen (I can't find it in the search motor here now but maybe you have better luck if you're looking for ir yourself). I got a package of the wax yesterday, along with some other goodies from Day to Day Entertainment, and this EP souds (of course) even better on wax, so order while you still can.

Drasar is a producer and DJ, and his latest endeavor is forty minutes mix of straight heat, featuring nothing but raw shit, or as he himself put it: "I'm talking forty minutes of nonstop turntable abuse, rudeboy pressure, Battlefield producion, and all that wild shit that will make the average herb tremble in his skinny jeans..." Haha, that's some great shit, so TURN THIS fucker up, sit back and enjoy some real DJ:ing from Drasar.

MF Grimm & Drasar Monumental - "Be Noble"

Drasar Monumental & MF Grimm's superb "Good Morning Vietnam" EP is available now on Vendetta Vinyl and is one of recent releases that you absolutely must check out. Now you can check out the first single from the project, a blazing cut which is titled "Be Noble". Head over to Vendetta Vinyl to order your copy and read up on the label and it artists, and click here if the player don't embed.