7×7 beat series

To say this one snuck up on me would be an understatement. I’d never even kinda heard of the 7×7 Beat Series (out on the equally mysterious All City Dublin label) until I clicked out of sheer curiosity about 20 pages deep into browsing New on eMusic. Here are the basics:

The Deal: Seven 2-3 song singles from seven different artists released monthy-or-so, with the last installment being released last week.

The Sound: Diffuse, warm electronic music with an airy hip-hop feel. Since it’s seven different artists, the sound obviously seeps n’ creeps into different stylistic nooks, but there is a clear, cohesive 7×7 sonic m.o.

The Artists: Completely unknown to me except for Warp signee Hudson Mohawke.

Recommended If: You’ve been silently stewing that we don’t have Los Angeles on the site; you thought Donuts was too short at 31 tracks; you have a few downloads left and wanna branch out; you like things that are good.

The Highlights:

Snowman, Vol. 1: The “funkiest” of the batch. “Street Corner Music,” with its “Roc Boys”-esque clipped horns and undulating siren thing, is one of the best tracks in the series.

Mike Slott, Vol. 2: Stuttering boom-bap like a more OCD Flying Lotus. Lots and lots going on here — 1/2 second vocal snippets, Herbie Hancock keyboards, dirty Dilla beats. Both tracks very, very solid.

Onra, Vol. 7: Deep, dizzying and almost psychedelic, “My Comet” is the track that immediately made me think I might be onto something here. It’s the kind of production Q-Tip wants for his not-totally-softbatch version of neo-soul that he’s been chasing for since Kamaal the Abstract got shelved eight years ago. It’s like that… but better.

Honestly, just check the samples — you’ll know right away if this is for you.