Words by Justin Turford
Luke Beats (aka Luca Romeo from Turin, Italy) is a new name to me but he’s no untested rookie. With more than two decades as a bass player, hip hop producer and with a number of releases under his belt, he clearly knows what he’s doing.
His latest release for the excellent Little Beat More imprint out of Vienna (more on the label below) is a high quality five-tracker of sliced and diced hip hop instrumentals, each tune a distinct marker of his deep knowledge of hip hop beatmaking. The music embraces a combination of influences - R&B, jazz, electronica and obviously hip hop but amongst the cut up samples and synthetic sounds there is a warm heartfelt humanness about the EP, at times we feel nostalgic and sunburned, at others lightly coated in the grime of city living.
Photo by Vito Delaurentis
Every track is a short one but contained within each piece is a tightly edited story. Opener ‘George’s Joint’ is all sunshine and hookah pipes with cosmic Roy Ayers-esque synths, slipped drums and a cut up jazzy guitar hook over an undulating sub bass. If D’Angelo came from L.A. this might well be his joint.
The aptly titled ‘Jungle Boogie’ is pitched-down Blaxploitation vibes. A cautionary groove of crushed heavy beats and an insistent growling keyboard and bass riff tempered with the subtlest of warm pads. Library music for the smartphone generation.
The slippery funk of ‘R0m30!’ is a particular standout for me on the release with its attention-seeking filtered synths and half time drums sliding and slithering behind a lush female vocal refrain, the jazzy-funky live bass from Luke allowing the song to breathe and swing. This has definitely got a more underground European electro-soul vibe (to me) and is shouting out for an extended remix for the dancers.
I’m not sure how retro ‘Retro Sunny Day’ is but it’s certainly sunny! A slice of spacey blissful R&B with its dream-pad chords and languid near horizontal tempo, a distant male voice offering to “give you my life” as a call-and-response of G-Funk-ish synths whisper to each other. Hazy, graceful and funky in equal measure, this is a sunny day I would happily retreat to.
The final track is obtusely the title track ‘Knobs’ (named after the knobs on musical equipment hopefully) is Luke in his maximalist hat. Noisy synthetic synths, distorted and carved hi-hats, punches of piano keys, and a small army of layered samples, squeals and space laser sounds teeter on near collapse but his mastery of his craft is evident. Mixed beautifully, like all of his productions, Luke manages to find headroom in the cacophony.
A fine EP that needs to be on loop - 9/10. Out now on Little Beat More.
More on Little Beat More
The Italian connection is strong with this Vienna based label. Owned and envisioned by Italian DJ, producer and events promoter Woxow, the vinyl-focussed imprint has dropped eclectic releases from artists as diverse as Colombian tropical-weirdos Romperayo and Conjunto Media Luna, Manchester’s hip hop-soul crew The Mouse Outfit, and the Arabesque fusion sounds of Carthnage, alongside a whole bunch of genre-fluid experiments that should place Little Beat More into the upper ranks of European distributors and champions of borderless music such as Switzerland’s Bongo Joe Records.
The label proclaims itself as - “A blend of sounds and cultures with a commitment to social and environmental issues, spreading meaningful music to go straight to people's hearts with awareness and love. From Latin America to Africa from the Middle East to the Caribbean and deep(est) Europe: a melting pot of influences and atmospheres that will take your soul on an endless journey around the world and beyond.”
As a longtime globetrotting DJ, Woxow is geared towards the needle on the record and has somehow managed to develop a decent sounding vinyl postcard (they’re not the first to try but they appear to have improved on it!)
Expand your ears and dig into Little Beat More…. https://littlebeatmore.bandcamp.com/music