Beats From The Crypt: Early Works

A beat tape of compositions made from old funk, soul, and jazz samples, and live instrumentation. Tons of far-out obscure samples and world instruments. It sounds a lot like the beat tapes put out by the Beat Junkies, Madlib, etc. Lots of rare grooves and moody atmospheres—it’s evident that a lot of record digging and emotion were put into this release. Personally, I feel it is best enjoyed it in its entirety, but check it out for yourself. Quality stuff.

FCC: 6?,18 TRY: 5,8,10,11,16

1. What starts out as a collage of slow-paced vocal samples slowly gains momentum as drums and percussion are added. This short, 43 second song includes a nice shoutout to San Francisco.

2. Opens with sounds of rainfall and some creepy-sounding dialogue. About a minute in, harsh drums are added to the mix and give a desperate, frenzied atmosphere to the track. Other instrumentation is later added as the tempo increases: electric guitar, synthesizers, horns, strings. Very “busy” sounding. Lots of great samples in this track.
3. Loud chimes and deep drums. A bit of gnarly spoken word over the track about heretics.
4. Deep, funky electric bass lines. Hype-up vocals and fast percussion lines give this track a lot of energy. Very exciting and upbeat.
*5. Saxophone blares and a dense, heavy drum rhythm. The last 30 seconds has some nice sitar and a few dialogue samples.
6. (FCC: Dick?) Slow Oud (Middle Eastern string instrument) lines, vocal samples (“because I’m a creature like you” and “I fight against myself”), plentiful scratching, and the sound of swards being drawn. This is the only track on the album featuring an MC (Azeem).
7. A very upbeat funk track with what sounds like a 7-year old singing “shake your body, shake it.”
*8. Some nice rhythmic changeup peppered with xylophone and some sax. Cool female vocals in the background. Also samples James Brown’s “The Boss.” A legit beat.
9. Eerie distorted guitar, so-so R&B vocals, strange looped samples and a delicate drum break.
*10. Steady drums and psychedelic elements—fades into an entirely new beat about a minute in, which features cool flutes and echoed vocals about dancing.
*11. A nice upbeat breakbeat with subtle wah-wah guitar. Dramatic strings and a bit of organ are also added to the mix.
12. A loud drumroll starts off this track and then leads into heavy metal guitars and frenzied screaming.
13. A very slow tempo song solidified by a strong backbone of steady electric bass. Male vocals resonate in the background.
14. Steady, amplified tabla drumming. Then the beat transforms into a nice bongo line. Lots of electronic elements give this track a mellow lounge feel.
15. Chill smooth jazz feel. At about 2:20 the beat changes into a dark moody soundscape. Lots of distorted soul samples, dialogue snippets and relentless bass bombs. The last 30 seconds has some nice orchestra samples and Japanese instrumentation.
*16. A poppy hook composed of chopped up very distorted vocal samples and world instruments. A heavy dose of chimes and clangy percussion. Another very “busy” full-sounding track with lots of instrumentation. Pretty catchy if a little weird.
17. Lots of vinyl hiss and a steady 4/4 beat backed by female crooning and xylophone. Sounds a lot like something DJ Shadow would put out—it reminds me of “Midnight in a Perfect World.”
18. (FCC: Shit) A 20 minute mix which combines lots of old-school hip hop with jazzy loops, and some well-known mainstream stuff. Curious.