It goes without saying that, so far, the “roaring” in this century’s version of the Roaring ’20s seems to be in reference to the sound of the raging fire in our collective dumpster. It’s been another energy-vaporizing year of social estrangement, widening political divides, and comfortable, middle-class living
Fort Worth Weekly
The Zen of Beatmaking
Sample magician BLKrKRT provides a boom-bap soundtrack to get centered by with the latest in his Black Siddhartha series of EPs.
By PATRICK HIGGINS
Photo courtesy of Phil Ford.
As the technology has been scaled down to the consumer level, practically anyone with a computer can become a “producer.” Digital music production software has helped usher in a sort of paint-by-numbers system to beatmaking, and, as a result, a lot of contemporary hip-hop suffers from an increasingly stale, plasticine, over-compressed sound. Luckily, there are still a few traditional, sample-based composers employing the nearly lost art of cutting up records. Culling sounds from vast musical palettes and maintaining an appreciation for and paying homage to strong musical histories, these artists continue to be the bright colorful spots that elevate the otherwise drab and bland modern hip-hop soundscape. One such artist is Phil Ford. The striking gen