Saw this today, congrats FVF on the selection for that blog post!
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Producers have incorporated live instruments into their beats for decades, but lately there seems to be an increasing number of inventive takes on the approach. Enter Leroy “FatVonFree” Freeman Jr., a Texan who’s spent the last several years honing his craft while living in Japan. He’s an Alchemist devotee who’s translated the grit of the Delta blues into eerie beats with moaning guitars and deep basslines. Start with the fuzzy “insomnia,” where FatVonFree loops guitar riffs over a jagged beat with rattling tambourine that eventually gives way to spacey synths. It sounds like strange insects scuttling across the floor of a saloon with a jukebox full of Madlib. His “Portishead Tribute” is reverent without being a rehash; it’s a unique and eerie spin that never fully steps into trip-hop terrain. And closer “Cheers to a New Beginning” is an expansive, almost mystic track with psych-leaning guitars and percussion cracks and snaps beneath it. With luck, FatVonFree will explore and expand this sound into the future.