Something wicked this way comes by way of North London as the mysterious K15 unleashes ‘The Black Tape’.
Over the past few years, the DJ and producer K15 has been steadily putting the hours in on the studio front and after last year’s ‘Insecurities’ double header of housier sounds caught our attention after no less than Detroit’s Kyle Hall posted the MAW influenced title track, this week sees his first EP of 2014 arrive. Unlike its predecessor, his latest opus sits firmly in jazz-inflected hip-hop and ambient territory, the seven short tracks seemingly drawing on the joint themes of life and death for inspiration. This is no more apparent than on the EP’s opener ‘Dealing With’ which kicks proceedings off on a slightly eerie note as a number of processed voices interject with opinions on of grief and loss, before the sounds of tribal drumming and chanting whisk us into the the first 2 minute plus track ‘Time Humbles Us All’. All of the beats on offer are well executed, and sit more like finely tuned sketches that all form part of an overall listening experience. ‘Beneath The Tomb’ bubbles along nicely, a piano delicately riding the heavy drum beat, and although not derivative there’s definitely a little Robert Glasper vibe to be heard in the production, while on the reprise of ‘Time Humbles Us All’, things hark back to the latter work of 4hero in the soulful drum and bass field, a fierce breakbeat slowly unveiling itself through the atmospheric build up. Both tracks would serious benefit from an extended edit but as brevity seems to be the nature of a beat tape, we will just have to hope that one day both get revisited.
The EP appears courtesy of the the digi-label INI Movement and it’s rumoured that ‘The Black Tape’ is the first installment of a number of colour-specific tapes. If this is to be the darkest, than we look forward to the next tape to see what K15 might have up his sleeve. In the meantime, you can stream the EP or grab individual tracks for keeps below or via the INI Movement Bandcamp page.