Joel Garden – r0t

Since the dawn of 2017, I’ve pretty much devoted my listening habits toward the lo-fi, instrumental Hip Hop/Beat Tape genre and have happened upon some impressive material.
Much of this style of music can be perused in the instrumental Hip Hop genres of the Bandcamp site with contributors typically hailing from the US, Eastern Europe and London. The style is full of rough and ready sampling techniques, woozy VST effects, jazz samples and funk breaks. Some of the material has a real sense of humour, whilst some is achingly beautiful and tracks usually weigh in at just over a minute.

I’ll be posting up any discoveries from time to time and first up, let me introduce you to Canadian beat-maker Joel Garden, with his latest collection  of instrumentals ‘r0t‘. The record traverses 13 pieces with a warmth created with reverb drenched samples, piano hooks and guitar lines, atop some slick downtempo beats. Standout pieces include the opener ‘Whoa‘ which pitches bass and jazzy piano, ‘Dripping‘ which is a hazy ‘Chill Hop‘ pieces full of echoing keys, the magnificent electro-acoustic guitar sound of ‘Flower‘ and the rhodes, strings and harp inflected melancholy of ‘shotClock‘.

All in all, another solid piece of work from Joel Garden, free from a clear concept and press release as the unfolding music does all the talking. What’s more, it’s set as a ‘pay what you like’ download (yes, free, if you really want to!)