Listen To The Beat, Write The Story

I have a problem. I love to listen to music but I find it hard to concentrate on anything else but the music when it’s playing. This used to make it impossible for me to study and listen to music at the same time, now it makes it hard to grade papers and listen. I look at songs like mini-movies, where the beat is the setting and the artist tells the story. If done right it requires my full attention. Sometimes I like my music to give me the setting but let me decide the story, pick the characters, and figure out how they make it through the 3 minute journey. This is why I love hip hop instrumental projects. Two producers that I met in Wilmington, NC, have recently put out instrumental tapes that do this extremely well:

1. Kon Sci (of Mindsone): Pizza And a Movie

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Yesterday I had a chance to play “Pizza And a Movie” from title to credits. The idea and how it is executed is really dope! He uses clips from movies such as Shawshank, The Big Lebowski, and The Shining, to give you just enough to picture where you are. Then he steps back and sets you free inside boom bap beats that are soulful and smooth. Even the beats themselves have an airy feel, filled with pockets that allow your mind to settle into the rhythm and give you more room for exploration within the sounds. I hope he prints some vinyls of this, I want it on my record player when I come home.

1. L’Orange: The Manipulation EP

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This project is more experimental with the samples it picks. It also uses more vocal samples within the beats, which L’O does so well at times you forget you are listening to an instrumental project. The beats have a 40’s gangster feel (to me at least). They are often dark and seem to make perfect progressions out of imperfect notes. I picture life through the eyes of someone less fortunate when I listen to this album; stories of pain and hardship are often the hardest to digest yet most intriguing. The Manipulation sets the setting for this while still giving you the room to create your own world within the boundaries.

If you are feigning for more check out Damu The Fudgemonk’s tape “How It Should Sound”