Chicago (via Detroit) producer Raj Mahal just came through last week with a new beat tape. Titled jaR, he seamlessly mixes eighteen beats featuring his grimy, homemade brand of upper-Midwest-urban boom-bap. Distorted analog synths and dusty, high-impact drums take center stage here, eschewing run-of-the-mill smooth soul samples for a futuristic, aggressively jagged hip-hop sound, and when he does appear to be using old funk and soul records he’s sure to chop the samples and tweak the levels until they fit correctly into the rough, foreboding motif of the project. While jaR is certainly an aggressive release, Raj Mahal manages to make it hypnotic rather than off-putting, with enough variety in the beats to keep the listener interested and enough attention to detail to make each beat a viable, stand-alone track.
Download: Raj Mahal – jaR [Bandcamp]