Electric Wizards & Dusty Scientists

Your favourite beatmakers over at CrateKings.com (including yours truly) decided to get together and bring you 25 instrumental gems for your listening pleasure.

The work on display really is phenomenal and no matter what you would use instrumentals for; whether your an MC looking for something to spit on for your next mixtape, a DJ looking for some loops to scratch over - you need this. It's free so why not download it for the sheer hell of it?

Put together and conceptualised by a superb beatmaker and bass player extraordinare Matty Melks A.K.A The Crate Worm. You can see more of his beatmaking on his YouTube channel HERE (I highly recommend you subscribe)

Spread the word - the best of the best of the BEST is right HERE

Subtronik - Recalibration Log Files Volume 1

Recalibration Log Files Volume 1 is a mixtape from Toronto-bred, hip hop instrumental artist SubTronik. The 7 track, free download contains remixes and beat breaks hand crafted with love by the Gundam themed producer in her studio appropriately called "White Base."

"I usually don't make beats for emcees, I find they are too busy to rhyme on, but I really wanted to complete the vibe and showcase my work."

The mixtape is laced with a variety of sounds compiled in an old school, abstract manner, while still maintaining a true hip hop core and pays homage to a few of SubTronik's favorite bread and butter drum breaks. The best way I can describe Subtronik's sound is if Q-Tip went 50 years into the future, spent a year making beats, came back and made an album for MF Doom. It's mainly the little snippets of cartoon sounds and vocal soundbites that remind me of a Doom album which in turn draws comparisons to Madlib as the whole mixtape had a Madvillainy type feel to it for me; most notably on track number 5 - a remix of GangStarr's 'Just to Get A Rep.

"I'm not really trying to go back to the 90's although it is most definitely my favourite era of hip hop. I'm just trying to make my own sound, borrowing from the whole vibe and soul of past eras but still adding my own personal touch; My feelings and where I'm at currently."

It  also features verses from Mic Geronimo, INI, Pete Rock, Guru of Gangstarr, Crooklyn Dodgers and SubTronik's bandmate Seiko Romansu (the two come together to form the group "Lover's Anonymous").

The mixtape is available for free download at Subtronik's BandCamp page You can also follow SubTronik's blog HERE and stay up to date on the progress of the Lovers Anonymous album.

"It's going to be a pretty cool album. A lot of instrumental tracks with Seiko rhyming every so often where it fits. Nothing forced. We have the ideas pretty much done and we are waiting to see if we will be accepted for a community arts grant. Hopefully we get it, that way we can get some better equipment and really make a solid product. If the grant doesn't come through, we will still release it, but it will take a bit longer as we will then be upgrading White Base out of our own pockets."

Kensaye - Introspective

Kensaye is a Hip-Hop/Soul Producer from the U.K. He is currently working with two groups - 9dots and K.I Project aswell as Archa, Mensa and Speech Debelle. His music has been played on Westside Radio and Mystic FM, has featured in Hip Hop Connection Magazine, The Mercedes-Benz Mix Tape 27 and BET awards UK Cypher.

He's taken the time out from the above mentioned projects to bring us 'Introspective,' a 25 track, head first introduction to the inimitable style that defines Kensaye. There's a wealth of variety for the listener, from the soulful vocals and synth stabs of "What Can I Do" to "Send You An Invite" which to my ears is reminiscent of Thriller era Michael Jackson.

One thing that stood out with all the tracks was the sheer energy that every single beat exudes. It's pretty much impossible to listen to this beat cd without getting hyped. The instrumentation is done very well, all synth sounds and samples used merge victoriously creating modern, monstrous anthems. The mix is very clean resulting in the kicks bumpin nice and firm but crisp and on tracks like "On The Couch" the percussion is panned just right creating an excellent sense of space in the headphones. To me, the mix is extremely important on instrumental projects as there's no lyrics or vocals to distract the listener - every kick, snare, hat, bongo, cymbal, synth, bass and sample has to be knockin just right or personally I switch off. Maybe not intentionally but subconsciously it's difficult to pay attention when someone has clearly not put 100% into their craft. This was completely the opposite with Kensaye - the perfect arrangement and mix had me listening more intenently than ever and the little vocal snippets of artists like Jay-Z, Eminem and Busta Rhymes had the same effect. One thing I ALWAYS criticise with BeatTapes is the length of the beats because often I find producers get too over indulgent and put out cd's 30 tracks deep with each track clocking it at well over 2 minutes but Kensaye has stuck to my preferred method of keeping each track short, sweet and to the point. The vocal samples in "I Want To Say" come in at the perfect points of the beat which is very nice. Consisting of a nice gated rising and falling synth, some keys and vocals in the background and simplistic drums. It's at this point I usually pick my favourite but i honestly can't! I think it's 'Paranoid'...then again, could be 'My Provider' or "Balance" which is very minimalistic but has such a great atmosphere to it - very Dilla sounding. Lose You is another favourite. Some rolling guitar strumming, sparse vocals and some beautiful piano playing the drops at the perfect moment all convolute effortlessly. "All About The Moon" is a favourite too - I did not expect that horn to come in!

I was extremely impressed by every single track on this and if I remember correctly I think Kensaye said this was his 1st Beat CD. If so you can triple my level of Impressed! A beat CD is a surprisingly difficult thing to put together. Most producers and beatmakers by nature are very particular, have a great attention to detail and would all describe themselves as perfectionists. If these are all your personality traits and you are trying to put together seamingly unrelated instrumentals to create something you can call a finished product, a 'whole' then already it becomes something very difficult and to pull it off as well, as professionally and as damn fuckin' heavy as Kensaye has here is a massive achievement in my eyes.

I'm sure I don't need to say much more?



Get it for FREE HERE where you'll find links to download it from RapidShare, MegaUpload and DepositFiles.

You can catch Kensaye on Twitter HERE
Or on MySpace HERE

Milkman - Apollo 2

Volume two of Apollo from beatmaker Milkman is up for download today. You can get volum one HERE.


Volume two kicks off with a smooth intro and a 'Life's a Bitch' remix which is extra nice. 'Blunted' featuring Selph Concious is excellent work. I can't say i've heard the original but the beat on this one fits perfect.

Alot of the work showcased here by Milkman is the right side of simplistic, it's nice and smooth, easy to listen to and follow and above all - is very good. Some nice chops exhibited, good sample choices and nice quality mix.

It's good that he's decided to mix up the format a little and include remix's as well as straight instrumentals, i feel that alot of beatmakers tend to get bogged down in making beat tapes 30 minutes long with just instrumental tracks - it's nice to see a switch up, especially one where the quality of each type of track is just as good.

'Have You' is very nice, really smooth and flows well - easy to listen to all day.

'So High' is a top class track featuring 'JayP' who spits a nice verse effortlessly. The beat and MC fit well together.

I'm struggling for things to write here as 'Apollo 2' is simply a very good BeatTape - solid work, a good follow up to volume one proving that Milkman is capable and focused.

Worth getting basically. HERE

fLako - The First Spaceshit on The Moon

This is by far the best piece of instrumental work i have ever heard.

Clocking in at just under 50 minutes and consisting of 30 beats - it seems that fLako agrees with my point of view that less is most definitely more as a majority of the beats are in the 1 - 2 minute range, with only 2 tracks entering 3 minute territory.

It is one of the shorter offerings, track number 2 - 'Hump' that stood out as my favourite, and one that i could bump forever with it's minimal 'wha-wha' organ sound and perfect drums bouncing over a simple bass line guaranteed to snap necks.

With so many reasons to like the whole BeatTape, it's hard to pick one defining feature that justifies me giving it the 'best ever' title, but i'll try.

Diversity and variety.
In my eyes, very few producers today have it. fLako demonstrates a tremendous amount of the stuff over the course of the beattape, with Accordians on 'Shake It Harder,' harps on 'Lullaby,' and flutes on 'The up Wind.' This is, not just in terms of which type of beats they are or which type of mood they induce - but the drum sounds and patterns used, the instruments and arrangements in place.

Many beatmakers start off either making sample based stuff or creating original compositions with a variety of synths and virtual instruments and for many a time will come when they decide to crossover and blend the two. fLako is so good at converging samples and original instrumentation that i don't even know which parts are sampled (if any) and which are not.

'Welcome' is another favourite of mine with the rising and falling choir voices and a nice, gritty bass lead. The drums are perfect, i especially like the snapy, echoey rimshot on the snares.

There are elements of other producers, most notably J Dilla in alot of the bass and drum work; 'Yea Yea Yea Yea' in particular, which rolls along effortlessly. I love the drums work on 'Lullaby,' and the track in general is stunning with wonderful, Dorothy Ashby style harps and odd drum kicks that sound out of sync but work so well together. Mostly however, fLako has a style that is all his own, having created what many beatmakers strive to produce - a perfect representation of their work and approach to beatmaking. 'The First Spaceshit on The Moon' is perfect in every sense of the word - and stands as a blueprint for all beat tapes to follow. Take note!!!

Download it for free HERE

Add fLako on MySpace HERE

Js.One - The Joy Inside

'The Joy Inside' opens up with a really nice intro, reminiscent of MF Dooms beat work and flows suprisingly well without any hi-hats, fading out nicely to lead into track number two.

'Touch The Sky' has some excellent strings and drums to compliment perfectly with some really warm hats that sound to me like they've been downsampled(?) to around 9-10 bits giving a lovely wonderfully crunchy sound.

The whole E.P has a nice feel to it, like a cross between MF Doom, MadLib and Stevie Wonder and it sticks to my personal rule of keeping projects like this short and sweet. All the samples used sound from the same era and as a result - gel really well and make the track transitions seamless.

Well worth the DOWNLOAD

Well worth the BLOG

and well worth checking out other material by Js. One HERE and HERE.

*Please note that the above image is not the cover art for 'The Joy Inside.'

H1P - ArtArea (BeatTape)

Today's free download is brought to you by H1P - a Croatian (yea, we get em from all over) beatmaker whom i came into contact with through Crate Kings.

The intro that starts of the BeatTape is lovely. I know, only Nans and teachers say 'lovely' but that is the best word to describe it. Atmospheric and rich; Lots of spacey, echoey strings and some well arranged drums that work well as part of an intro as they don't crowd the rest of the track. All of this helps to set up the rest of the tape.

Throughout, the overall mood is quite sullen an laidback with a varied mix of synths and samples, basses and strings.

'My Angel' is a favoutire of mine, it's hard to tell what the sample is as it's been ran through some kind of flanger or gater which gives the track a really interesting sound. my only criticism of this track is that when you have a sample arranged as nicely as this one is, you need to bring the drums and they could use some work on one or two tracks.

Overall - some lovely beats, a sterling show of what H1P is capable of and certainly worth getting.

Get it HERE

Check out H1P on SoundClick HERE

Milkman - Apollo

Milkman is a beatmaker from California who was brought to my attention on the excellent (and frequently mentioned) CrateKings website/forum.

his debut BeatTape 'Apollo' is a nice mix of instrumental work and remix's which help to break up the structure of the tracklisting and throw a bit of variety in there. I was mainly impressed by the work on offer here as the description given by Milkman that Apollo is "basically the first beats I've made since I got the MPC in August."

For just under 6 months of what must have been a pretty big learning curve for a newcomer to the wonderful ways of the mighty MPC - the work displayed is exceptional.

The overall style could be described as 'back to basics,' but there is nothing basic about each and every beat as all sound like they've been carefully crafted with each kick, hat and snare matched perfectly to the varied and well chopped samples.

Stand out tracks for me are 'Theme' which had me nodding like the Churchill Dog! (only UK headz should get that reference, for everyone elses benefit - ENLIGHTENMENT)

The Shimmy Shimmy Ya remix was crazy and dare i say it - on par with the original.

'Kick The Truth' was a collaborative effort with another CrateKings regular 'GrimeShine' - the result is sublime, so smooth.

Finally - a One Love remix that is as beautiful as it is banging.

Start to finish, 'Apollo' is a sterling piece of work and hopefully an indication of what we can expect form Milkman in the future.

Download it HERE

Add MilkMan on MySpace HERE

Or, come and visit MilkMan, GrimeShine and Me at CrateKings

Figment/Mash-Up Productions Beat Sampler 0.3 - Abstract

The latest edition of my series of beat samplers.

Part three - Abstract, is a (small) collection of instrumentals i made using some experimental techniques, and just having fun.

Download it HERE

Kid Konnect - The Epic

Beatmaker 'Kid Konnect' has just finished his first beat tape "The Epic'' and let me just start off by saying well done, because For a first effort, it's a good lesson to beatmakers looking to do the same. Konnect has kept it short and sweet, blessing us with only 5 beats - not enough to give too much away and just enough to leave us wanting more.

It's hard to define 'The Epic' or confine it to any one genre of instrumental. All you need to know is that it bumps from the outset. The fact that a beat tape consisting of only 5 beats can have this effect as it's so diverse - is another acheivement in itself.

01. "My Lord" - I knew this was my favourite before i heard any of the others. A great way to start the beat tape off, with a banger of a beat. The samples chopped really nicely and has contrasts between really hard hitting sections and some nice jazzy George Benson style guitar bits in there too. First class beatmaking right here.

02. "I'm Sure" - So nice. The sample is so nice and the drums fit perfectly over it. Impressive that a beat this smooth can follow one so hard and still be just as hot.

03. "Knocks" - switches it up a little here with something more synth sounding. This one probably won't be for everyone but it's a good piece of Hip-Hop all the same and nice as a change of pace.

04. "Never Hear" - starts with some really nice vocals and kicks in to yet another banger. Drums are nice and tight and the bass compliments everything perfectly. I recognise the sample as it's from quite a recent track (i think) but i would never have thought of flipping it like this. Perfect.

05. "Smoker's Delight" - another smooth joint (excuse the pun) which i could honestly loop forever. The bassline is perfect with a westcoast feel to it.

If you're an emcee looking for a beatmaker to get at, download it.

If you're a fellow beatmaker/producer/dj/whatever - download it and take notes.

If your neither of these. Download it.

Get it HERE

Crate Kings Dig CTI

Another entry for the fast growing Crate Kings catalog, this time me and some other very talented dudes over at Crate Kings.com decided to dedicate an album of beats to the legendary jazz label 'Creed Taylor Incorporated.'

The result is fantastic. More and more people seem to get involved with each of these projects we do and it makes for a better final product as everyone brings their own unique style and perspective.Mixed by fellow Crate Kings member Rafferty, with cover artwork by myself.

Download it HERE

Please feel free to also check out our previous effort, 'The Mancini Project,' consisting of beats sampling the work of conductor Henry Mancini.

Welcome!!!

'Strictly Independant,' is a blog for independant hip hop artists and groups to share music and hopefully get a little more exposure. If this is you, email me a link to your album/mixtape/whatever and i'll post it up here. Let's start with my latest project, a series of Beat Sampler albums, each featuring 8 instrumentals all fitting a specific theme. Volume 1's theme is ''Lazy,'' lots of laid back, easy beats. My name is Figment, i am an emcee/beatmaker from the U.K, i make beats under the pseudonym Mash-Up Productions Get it here