I’ll be honest, I never thought I’d be this knee-deep into instrumental albums going into my website! It’s an area of music I haven’t been the most familiar with, but too many dope artists seem to be releasing them, so I had to review them, and today is no exception! Let’s get into it!
So, this is the latest beat tape by powerhouse producer GraphWize. A man I first discovered working with MC Bub Styles on the production, and since then I’ve been following his career, going to places I don’t see any other artist follow, and so with the anticipation of this new record, I had to check it out and see the hype behind it.
This project has ten songs with 24 minutes of run time.
For those who are unaware, Graph is the kind of producer who isn’t content with just staying inside the box. Whether it’s working for others or showcasing his own music, he’s always looking for ways to push the boundaries and create something ‘original’, and I feel this one is definitely another example of his ever-evolving approach to the production.
This album doesn’t sound like your everyday ‘Hip Hop Beats’ because he utilises sounds and influences you just wouldn’t hear elsewhere and definitely not with the mastery that he’s performing with!
I’d say, this album has a dreamy, closer to ASMR/Lo-Fi, and outer-worldly essence to it, with a lot of the beats having such a harmonic aura. There are a lot of angelic notes and chords. I love how you can hear those subtle keys just glistening in the background of most of the tracks, and whenever you hear those synth chords, it sounds like you’re listening to a montage to the 80s. It’s amazing.
I love how he’s able to mix in experimental, jazz, soul, synth pop elements into the traditions of hip hop. It feels like he’s hijacking an empty hip hop skeleton and importing his own versatile ideas and influences to create an experiment to his liking.
Because for a lot of these songs, you do still have the trademark traditional hip-hop patterns and drum beats, but it’s what’s added and is going on inside that blueprint that makes all the difference in this project.
For example, you have tracks like ‘Pressure’, which sounds like the kind of score aliens who kidnap you would play in their UFO as they fuck with your body with those looming synth chords repeating in a trance-like state!
Or the song ‘Night’, which sounds like an honest representation of its name because when I close my eyes, this beat sounds to me as if I’m walking through a forest in the dead of night, alone and pondering the weight of the world one step at a time.
This track has those acoustic guitars way off into the background with those deep bass lines, darkly melodic keys, and almost a folk influence to the track with that guitar.
Each song is representing something unique and special to itself. Each track has its own soul, characteristics, and personality waiting to be explored. Graph is such a rare artist that he can literally put life into the songs and make it feel as if you’re walking into someone’s flesh and blood as you explore the essence of the music in its most vulnerable and honed formations.
I knew this album would be good, but I wasn’t expecting this. From start to finish, this could very well be the most breathtaking 24 music you’ll experience all year.
https://open.spotify.com/album/5J0C89Lx1eowf8xAIrnICa?si=bMd-2-5qQfmmn6AyL7C8Ag
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