Req "Sketchbook"

I decided to write about a great downtempo record this week inspired by the work some local artists (El Nou Mon, Chili, Hobo D, DJ Tats) as well as the rise in popularity of "LA Beat" music (Flying Lotus, Baths, Shlohmo and the hip-again Anticon label).

Req is a graffiti artist-turned downtempo producer, a kindred spirit of DJ Cam and DJ Krush. Allmusic.com rightly describes Req's music as "stripping hip-hop of its extraneous elements and focusing on the bass, the beats, and the atmosphere around them." Pitchfork echoes this sentiment, writing that "even the most minimal hip-hop production feels thick and cluttered next to Req's naked approach."

Sketchbook is the producers third LP, released on the inimitable Warp label in 2002. Sharing three tracks here, "Something," "Ampeg 18 KHz," and "Dolby C," the last being by far my favorite on the record. The simplicity of these beats is really their beauty. See, it's not that Req chose not to add more to each compositions, it's that there really is nothing more to add. Req: the Mark Rothko of beat music... maybe? See for yourself.



1. Req - Loop Bass
2. Req - Something
3. Req - I Seek
4. Req - Sketchies Death Track
5. Req - Colours
6. Req - Ampeg 18 Khz
7. Req - Upstairs
8. Req - Dolby C
9. Req - Symbolic 3
10. Req - Java Bytes
11. Req - Love Ache
12. Req - 3 of 4
13. Req - Wasp Zither
14. Req - Gap Clothing

Buy the record here.

Karate "Some Boots"

At the height of late '90s, early '00s indie rock, the era and scene that birthed monumental bands (well, monumental to me at least) like the Promise Ring, the Get Up Kids, Mineral, Sunny Day Earl Estate, Joan of Arc, and Braid, there was this strange band from Boston called Karate that was kinda jazzy, with guitar solos (LONG guitar solos) and extended improvisations, and a vocalist prone to spoken word passages. I remember being at house party in college with a bunch of hip kids who wore really tight clothes and read really cool books and knew all about art and listened to really great records and we smoked really great pot and listened this strange band called Karate.

That memory is probably more romantic than reality, but listening to Karate for the first time in years the other day I realized (or remembered) that Karate is still amazing and oddly still ahead of their time.


Some Boots is Karate's 5th album, release in 2002 on Southern Records. Sharing two tracks here, "Original Spies" and "South." The latter is all accentual percussion and Jeff Buckley-esque poetry from frontman Geoff Farina. "Original Spies" certainly resembles music from Karate contemporaries like Braid and Cap'n Jazz but is decidedly different (instead of the usual 3 or 4 minutes, "Spies" clocks in at almost 7 minutes... and is that a drum solo at the 4 minute mark????)

You pull out a record like this and inevitably think, "What happened to these guys?!" The last Karate record came out in 2007 on Southern, a live album recorded in 2005 and titled 595. Haven't heard that one. These days, Farina fronts a band called Glorytellers, and is other-wise an amazing person to read about, involving himself in music and art at just about every level.

1. Original Spies
2. First Release
3. Ice or Ground?
4. South
5. In Hundreds
6. Airport
7. Baby Teeth
8. Corduroy
9. Remain Relaxed

Hardproof Afrobeat "Hard Proof"

Most weeks, Yo... Have You Heard is going to feature something rare, something weird, obscure or just out there. This week we focus on an Austin local that's ripping it up around town, Hard Proof.



The members of Hard Proof (or Hardproof Afrobeat, depending on who you ask) carry plenty of pedigree. The hardproof horn section of Jason Frey, Derek Phelps, and Joe Woullard perform alongside the ever-popular Black Joe Lewis. Drum genius Stephen Bidwell shows his versatility performing in various jazz combos around town and in the post-rock outfit The Calm Blue Sea.

Hard Proof is the bands debut full length, a righteous mix of Nigerian funk, Ghanaian psych rock, and a nod or two to stateside contemporaries like Anitbalas and fellow Austinites Brownout.

Sharing two tracks today: "Bailiwick" and "No Consideration." Download and enjoy. Austin residents: celebrate the release of Hard Proof with the band next Friday at The Ghost Room. Kalu James and Businessmen DJs also perform.