Max Bell is slated to release his debut album, Youngest of Da Camp in the Fall.
You have a set BPM, one sample, one transition, and a week to make an ill beat. Go.
If that sounds like ideal audio dope then check out Team Supreme — a collective of producers/DJs and Low End Theory regulars — who are giving out head-nodding hip-hop influenced electronic jams gratis.
At the beginning of each week, one of the producers in the collective, which includes beat smiths like Colta (check Volumes 1 and 4) and Preston James (check Volumes 1 and 5), chooses a BPM, a sample to chop up, and a transition sound that everyone must use at the beginning and end of their track. At the end of the week, the tracks are collected and thrown together (back to back) to create a bass-dripping, ear-grinding, barrage of a mix—thus the transitions.
It’s the aural equivalent of a gangbang, with one producer at a time dressing up the barely legal girl named ‘beat’ in their favorite attire as she holds up her government-issued forms of ID, only to strip her down again and proceed to flick her figurative bean like those square pads on an MPC. Or something. But honestly, the best way to listen to these mixes is on youtube (you can also download them on tumblr). This way, you can see the producer’s name as their track is playing, which makes it easier to find your favorite producer giving you their money shot all over their respective vision of ‘beat.’
Now, despite the transitions, the jump from one track to another can be a little jarring at times, but ultimately that’s what keeps the mix interesting. They’re done in such a way that you get just enough of each producer’s track to both want more and to keep listening. Team Supreme bring heat and, at the very least, their beat cypher is a great thing to throw on when you’ve just sparked one of your own. But just for the record, I’d pick out something else if you and two other sapiens are about to get all Leon Phelps with the pina colada butt lotion.
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