Author: Esh

Configa has been deep in the trenches for several years and has finally emerged with an album the world needs to hear. Having refined his production process, Configaration Vol 1 can rightly be called a Magnum Opus (he wont mind me saying!) due to the quality of the music and selection of features who do not disappoint, from the endorsement of Public Enemy's Chuck D, to the Godfather of rap, Spoonie Gee, to Juice Crew legend Craig G, a banger with Reks, a welcome introduction to a dope emcee called Vietnam and even a feature from the late great Sean P!

Giallo Point is currently blazing a trail with his production and getting the recognition he deserves. Someone who has been in the heart of the UK scene for decades and seen a lot, his traditional approach and ear for dope sounds and drums is now being appreciated globally on more projects than you can shake a stick at. I was lucky to get this Q and A from a man who is always working.

Back with another fresh LP, instrumental this time, Scratch and Sniff is another great addition to the rapidly expanding Jazz Spastiks discography. For this album, the Scottish production duo have cooked up more of their funky grooves, overlayed with crazy informative vocal snippets, cut up throughout with each track dedicated to a specific theme, a smell, with a booklet included that I'm afraid to actually scratch and sniff.

Here we have a jazzy instrumental Hip Hop album produced by Serbians Zupany and DeeJayDee getting heavy with the chops on the jazz samples, cuts, live instruments and crunchy beats. They are joined by saxophonist Ivan Blanuša adding another live element to the mix.

This is one of those producer albums you need. Not much seriously dope Hip Hop coming out of Australia for a while, so here comes Mr Volkoff to prove they still have some heavy producers down under.

Producer Remulak has come a long way with his Village Live label in the last few years, putting out many gems and now his debut LP is here and it's a banger. Mainly instrumental, 'Earth' has a great organic sound with laid back pianos and smoothly chopped layered melodies while keeping the drums hard throughout. The album features two tracks with vocalists, 'Hookah Pen' featuring Justo (emcee from group The Physics) and 'Passing Time' featuring Melody Myla (singer), both on point.

To say George delivered the goods with this album is an understatement. Continuing where 'From the Sticks' left off, he takes us on a cosmic journey, from the dreamy countryside of Dorset and into the stratosphere and the unexplored universe. The soundscapes he creates have both an originality and a familiarity to them -perhaps the key to his magical powers, alongside his fastidious attention to detail and quality control - which turns the album from a collection of individual pieces into a unified theory of George's essentially 90s Hip Hop sound.

The Summit aka DJ Drinks is a UK producer known to a few for the quality of his productions, and epitomizing the 90s jazzy boombap sound that is currently enjoying a mini renaissance both in UK Hip Hop and globally. This album is somewhat of a hidden gem, stylishly presented and opening with a superb moogy-analogue thing, it then breaks into a series of lush beats with heavy drums, low filtered bass lines, vibes and / or echoed voice samples etc.

Fortunately for the world, the Village Live label has released the Chairman Maf album '1976' on wax, originally only available digitally (released in 2013). Maf has already gained quite a bit of attention from his other instrumental albums which each bring to life the musical universe inside his mind, drawn from an extremely diverse range of sounds and samples. Both 'Paint' and 'Soup' are great listens and '1976' also has many layered bangers.

Moe Love from Ultramag is back with this selection of beats recorded between 1993-2015 made on the SP 12/1200. Moe's beats contain many of the elements you would expect keeping it simple throughout, with some easily recognizable samples (Skull Snaps etc.) and whole lot of other seriously ill dusty stuff he's chopped and looped for your listening pleasure.