Hey, El Keter’s morning; YOU SUCKED!
Nope, my day’s not going well at all. In fact, it’s barely started and I’ve already come within a millimeter’s breadth of putting my fist through a wall! This probably doesn’t bode well for the rest of my day, or the upcoming week. No, wait… Such pessimism isn’t healthy at all! And come to think of it, neither is physical violence, even if it’s perpetuated against inanimate objects. So, rather than administer a beating to some ancient slab of (likely asbestos-contaminated) sheet-rock, let us concern ourselves instead with beats. Beats that — though they might bang, knock and crunch just as hard — are a totally different breed altogether!
Put together by San Fancisco-based beatmaker Controller 7 (known for his work with Sole and Sage Francis, as well as a string of instrumental releases) and R-Rock of Chicago-based label The Secret Life of Sound, the multi-artist instrumental Hip-Hop compilation Invisible Superstars Vol. 001 is the the only ruckus getting kicked up ’round here this morning. And even if it won’t be doing any damage to my drywall, this collection of beats from indieground producers drawn from every corner of the map still packs a punch.
Though Invisible Superstars Vol. 001 features a host of talents I’d never heard of previously, the list of contributors included some names I recognized instantly, like PNS (of Chicago’s Molemen), Scott Matelic and the aforementioned Controller 7. And when I put the comp on for the first time it was “Thoughtless” by the Indianapolis, Indiana-based Matelic which I immediately skipped to. I’ve dug Matelic’s production work for the likes of Sole and Sage Francis dating back to the dawn of the New Millennium, and I’m almost positive I have a cassette of his beats he sent me back when I began writing about music online somewhere in my collection, so I had high expectations. “Thoughtless,” with it’s insistent piano loop, Bay Area pimp-Rap 808 drum-beat, cinematic string & flute samples, fluid saxophone riffs, and haunting vocal sample didn’t disappoint at all.
Scott Matelic “Thoughtless”
“Consumer” — Controller 7’s cacophonous concoction of growling Rock samples, Funk guitar, psychedelic strums & rambunctious breakbeats — and “Storm” — PNS’s bass-and-flute-fueled trek across some primordial barbarian dreamscape — didn’t let me me down either. But hearing the work of producers I wasn’t familiar with — like the fractured breaks, scratches and disorienting Dubstep-esque bass of Chi-Town-based Miles Tilmann’s “Chicken Salad Beats,” the mutant Drum-n-Bass (sounding like Radiohead’s “All I Need” in a frantic slap-fight with The Incredible Bongo Band’s “Apache”) of Meatsock’s “Another Place, ” and the ginsu-sharp chops, stuttery micro-edited breakbeats and Jazz loops of “Romoxy” by San-Fran’s Corsic — is what makes the whole thing worthwhile.
A few of the other guys turn in tracks that venture a little too close to ambient, abstract, psychedelic territory for my tastes (or for soundtracking a fight). But all in all, if you’re in the mood for a beating, Invisible Superstars Vol. 001 is a safe bet.
Take that sucky morning!
-El Keter